Class – Art Direction
Instructor – Douglas May
Instructor – Douglas May
The Mysterious Bookshop is an independent bookstore located in New York City, New York that advertises itself as “The World’s Oldest & Greatest Mystery Fiction Specialty Store.” Other than selling mystery fiction, this bookshop also hosts author events, runs literary clubs, and publishes physical and digital books. The shop needed new formats and designs for its advertisements because it primarily advertises itself by posting photographs of the shop's interior on social media, limiting its outreach to unengaging visuals shared in a singular space. Thus, I sought to design posters that could be set up in multiple locations and played on thematic visuals associated with the mystery genre. Advertising the shop with an emphasis on its mystery theme persuades readers that mystery books are their next big read, and that the shop is where they will find their next good mystery book.
After researching what goods and services the shop offered and comparing their current visuals to competitors' brands, I began with sketches. Multiple iterative rounds of sketching took place while I gathered reference materials and determined what mystery-inspired visuals to pursue and recreate in Photoshop. I then began experimenting with images as a material, beginning by cutting out magazine letters and photographing them for my first poster. I learned how to replicate a burnt effect for the second poster and referenced redacted documents by testing out Photoshop brushes for the third poster. I also cut out projects from photographs to add a human touch to the posters, as if an unknown person had used their own hands to craft these peculiar messages. The store's logo was then applied to the posters as a transparent image. Finally, I tested fonts and added the store's address and website to each poster.
The final posters capture themes of the mystery genre and tap into our desire for interesting stories. They convey the Mysterious Bookshop as a unique and engaging experience that understands and provides mystery-focused literature. The posters' success will be indicated when there's a notable increase in the number of first-time customers visiting the shop and when more patrons become returning customers.
