One of the first projects I did for Casey Jones Village was a promotional campaign for the grand opening of their train museum. I have seen my fair share of grand openings and they are generally not very impressive. At best, they tend to be an admirable effort. That is, until this museum opened. I was overwhelmed by the energy and excitement of everyone present. That is the kind of energy and excitement that inspires me to rush into the studio and get back to work.The campaign was a simple project: invitations, ceremony program, information form, and a logo. Since I’ve already blogged about the logo, I’ll just summarize the other components:
The invitations were fun because it forced me to research some of the design practices of the late 1800s and early 1900s. There is a lot of floral scroll work and whimsical ornamentation. It is rare to find display type that hasn’t been warped or shaped in some exotic way. Next was the informational type. Modern design frowns on the use of many typefaces in a single design. Turn-of-the-century design is just the opposite. It was hard to let myself do it but the result was a nice nostalgic effect. This was a single color design, 5.5×8.8 (about), on a cream color card stock.
For the program, it was decided to print in black and white, in-house. Referencing an old mortgage bond for the Greenville & Columbia Railroad Company, I fashioned the little lines surrounding the “Ribbon Cutting” banner. The rest of the typesetting has a more formal feel due to the formal nature of the ceremony.
Finally, the Casey Jones Historical Fund form was created to distribute to folks interested in contributing a donation. Although forms aren’t too exciting, it was another opportunity to play with the ornamentation around the logo.
I’d like to thank the folks at Casey Jones Village and encourage you to visit them if you are ever coming through Jackson, Tennessee on I-40. It’s right off of the highway and it’s a lot of family fun. Thanks, also, to Heather Hornbeak at Cedarway photography for the photo of someone (probably her) holding the program. Check Cedarway’s stuff out as well.