ART DIRECTION - CREATIVE DIRECTION & DESIGN - BRANDING - GRAPHIC DESIGN

Easter Set design

a cultural challenge for a christian tradition

Easter is a big holiday in the United States, not so much in Cuba, where I come from. And even in the United States it’s sometimes a stretch to think about it beyond the colorful eggs and bunnies. 2024 was the first time I was faced with the challenge of creating a campaign for an American Church. Downtown Hope is a modern, non-denominational church with a high respect for the common elements in the Christian tradition. They needed to communicate and celebrate such a season with both modernism and tradition in mind.

AUDIENCE: Church Attendees and the city of Annapolis, MD.

the overarching concept: the table

Five gatherings would encompass the whole celebration: Palm Sunday; a Night of Reflection on Thursday; Good Friday; Easter Sunday and a recount of the Road to Emmaus as Jesus was appearing to his disciples after his resurrection.

Many of Jesus’ teachings happened in conversations with people, often while feasting around tables. We agreed on using a depiction of a table as a symbol of the season while adding other simple graphic elements to identify each of the five gatherings. Here, I was able to get the help of Kenzie Riniker to create the icons.

Colors would represent the iconic wine (representing Jesus’ blood) and bread (Jesus’ body). Typography would combine the modernist sans-serif Neue Haas Grotesk, normally used by Downtown Hope, with a more traditional Jenson typeface, adding character and moderate solemnity to the occasion.

designing branded promotional pieces is always fun, it’s like creating your own universe.

the church space

Design transcended the 2D realm. Assembling a small team of collaborators we rearranged the chairs normally facing the stage. My idea was to make a physical table the center of the space and facilitate the contemplation of its symbolism. Chris & Dana Bobik joined to decorate the table for the Thursday and Friday events.