Project Log #VCD302 | Blog 6

My promotional poster series for the band Salted Ham aimed to show their chaotic, funny and energetic personality, with posters that reflected how the band performs live and how they present themselves online. Speaking to their lead singer, Hamish, gave me ideas about their musical influences and helped me understand their style and gave me ideas for the kind of visual energy I wanted to create.

The final design shows a theme from their concerts, where the band throws packaged ham into the crowd. This real act of stage craft, reflected in photos from their Instagram felt like a perfect way to capture their fun and slightly weird style. I added an audience member reacting to the flying ham to make the scene feel alive and more interactive.

From a technical side, I used a pastel colour palette and bold, geometric shapes to reflect the youthful style I had seen in other band posters. I also thought about how this design could move if it were turned into an animation. The ham flying through the air and the audience’s reaction could easily be animated to give the poster even more energy.

Even though I created a simple animation, I used motion design ideas like showing a clear action (the ham), a reaction (the audience), and using layout to suggest movement.

One of the biggest turning points in this project came when I first tried a different idea, to design the poster like a butcher shop sign, using meat cut illustrations to represent each band member. While this idea looked interesting at first, I realised it didn’t really match the band’s music or vibe. It felt too forced, so I decided to go in a new direction and focus more on their Instagram content instead.

Another key design decision was exploring how to convert band photos into cartoons, to try and  capture their personality as expressed in their own posts. I started by using online tools to test different styles and created one version I really liked. This experiment gave me new ideas about how illustration could enhance the band’s image in a fun and engaging way. I then began drawing my own versions to bring more originality to the work. Although I faced some technical issues along the way, the process showed me the value of experimenting with both digital tools and hand-drawn approaches. It also reminded me how useful it is to stay open to different methods and to adapt when challenges come up.

A third key decision was choosing the colours. Instead of using the exact colours from the photos, I created a soft, pastel colour palette inspired by the band’s Instagram feed. This choice gave the poster a playful, light feel that fits their image well. This could also be extended to other promotional material to form part of the aesthetic of their brand. 

In the future, I’d love to animate this poster using After Effects—adding movement to the ham, the crowd, or the text. I’ve been inspired by studios like Giant Ant who mix fun illustrations with animation in a really engaging way. This project taught me how to turn a band’s personality into visual design, and I feel more confident now using humour, storytelling and design together to create work that stands out.