DYAO nurtures the talents of the Rocky Mountain region’s finest young musicians as an integral part of their musical education while offering valuable cultural opportunities to the community.  

Each year, we are tasked with developing the season’s visual theme— one that is integrated into the printed and digital material, including concert programs, posters, mailers, electronic marketing, web banners and invitations. This is fun AND challenging because they strive for clean, modern design while incorporating photography of the stars… the KIDS! We also must consider stockholders and input from the board of directors.

Last year they worked with a professional photographer. We combined these fun, energetic images with color screens for a fun, vibrant monochrome effect. For each event, we would switch out the photo and the color, keeping the basic effect the same. We kept it simple with bold type and line rules jetting on and off the design for a bit of structure and motion. 

Examples from this series are shown: a poster and a 3-event postcard, both printed. For smaller digital pieces, we opted to not use the photography. 

The organization’s main fundraiser is an annual gala. This year we decided to “class it up” with a simulated gold foil texture inside a text mask, to keep it under budget. Even though the event turned into a virtual gala due to COVID, the design was still widely received.

Check out this great organization at dyao.org.