DSVC Presents Erin Sarofsky Poster

Throughout the year, the Dallas Society of Visual Communications brings in world class speakers to inspire the organization with insights from various corners of the design industry. In February of 2016, Erin Sarofsky of Sarofsky Design spoke before a sold-out audience to discuss the agency’s specific brand of motion graphic design. From small beginnings to designing the titles of tentpole movies like Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Ant Man, along with a nice body of commercial work, the agency approaches each project with out-of-the-box thinking and a storyteller’s perspective. Squires & Company was honored to be asked to design a commemorative poster that would be given out at the event and given only the parameters of having the speaker’s name and the event details on the poster itself.

Our approach to designing the poster began with a healthy collaboration with the printer, Ussery Printing. Before we even started design, we discussed what type of printing press we would be working with and what the specification of the poster could entail. In these early conversations, we asked Ussery if there was anything in particular they might like to show off and discussed the potential of showing their inline varnish effects. Also, knowing that the poster would be produced on Topkote, a premium coated paper, we wanted to design something that really showed what the paper was capable of as well.

Capturing what Sarofsky Design does, which is highly kinetic, presented an interesting challenge. So, we abstracted the Sarofsky type to imply speed and movement and mimic the look of keyframe animation. Many event posters are typically designed vertically, but our choice was to design the poster landscape, because it recalls the widescreen aspect ratio of film and television. The varnish technique we used applied a dull varnish to most of the sheet, except for the Sarofsky type, the event details and decorative elements. This allowed the gloss of the sheet to come through and create a very striking, but subtle effect. The colors were comprised of four brilliant PMS colors and a PMS black to purposely create a really eye-catching effect. The poster has one easter egg as well – if you look at the top of the poster the event’s date is written out in timecode.

The event and the poster were a huge success and the posters were flying off the table the entire night. Erin Sarofsky even mentioned how honored she was by the poster, particularly the thoughtful design. Squires & Company really enjoyed collaborating with the DSVC, Ussery Printing, Clampitt Paper and Topkote and the challenge of designing the poster for an agency whose work we not only respect, but refer to often when discussing film.