Event symbol poster

The pattern

This still is filed under Event symbol poster.

Define

A symbol or allegory that makes an event feel like a destination. Not a timetable. A magnet.

Mechanism

Attraction by emblem. Date and venue ride under a picture that already means come.

Verdict

We are filling a room, a night, or a run of dates

Why it works

The title is staged, not just printed: a cream fog with a speckled edge rolls across the sheet, covers the base of a black skyscraper and surrounds a lone man in silhouette who gestures into it, so BIG WHITE FOG names what the eye already sees. The line A Negro Drama sits in the black sky above, which lets the white fog read as more than weather. The practical facts, venue, dates, curtain and two prices, are held in a solid black bar at the foot so they never compete with the picture.

The big idea

The title becomes the scene: a big white fog rolls over a black city and around a lone man, under the words A Negro Drama.

The offer

Admission 25¢ and 40¢ at the International House Theatre, 1414 E. 59th St., Feb. 17-18, Thursday and Friday, curtain 8:30 P.M.

The proof

Named credits: Federal Theatre presents, by Theodore Ward, staged by Kay Ewing, sponsored by International House Theatre.

Lines from the ad

BIG WHITE FOG

A Negro Drama by Theodore Ward

Admission 25¢ & 40¢

Steal this when

When your title names something that can be drawn, and staging it across the whole sheet will say what the event is about before the credits do.