US Irish whistle festival! We want your ideas!

[O'Mulriain]

Okay, "fipple" and "fest" have been sent to your e-mail. Sorry it took so long to get "fest" done, I messed up on it yesterday so I had to restart, and today I've been working on a PVC Bb whistle. Can't wait to see the finished art.
So, these festival things... how exactly do they work anyways? To my understanding the administrators make up a schedule with classes and concerts and such, and craftsmen come from far and wide to exhibit their work. Then ordinary musicians such as myself sign up for stuff, attend things, and browse the stands. Am I correct?

[nickthepiedpiper]

Updated Poster.... getting better... slowly I think

[Cayden]

Nick,
Just my humble opinion, I think the text completely covering the silouette of Paddy ia "too busy". I would eliminate that which covers his head, making reference to the Oregon Coast in the text below the horizontal whistle.

I also think it would look better if a letter F was used in both words Fipple and Fest otherwise those unfamiliar might read it as Fipple est.

Other than those points, I think the artwork is fantastic and again the inclusion of the silouette of Paddy playing the whistle most appropriate.

Nice work by O'Mullrain on the lettering.

Cayden

[Noreen]

Eventually figured what btw means. Once the Éigse and Fleadh in Derry is over I'm free. There is a long break to the Paraic O'Keeffe festival and Stroketown. I'm usually back teaching in mid-September. Best of luck
A suggestion from my husband re poster - as the profile of Paddy is so sharp, could you use a face-shaped profile of the Oregon coast!!!. Also less busy, as suggested by someone else.

[O'Mulriain]

I think it looks quite nice, if a little busy as has been stated and re-stated above. I also agree that the "est" looks a little detached from the "f". Kind of a hard thing to remedy without making two "f"s, which of course would not fit into the silhouette very well. As is it looks fine, what to do next is your choice. I especially like the toned-down colors you used for all the different whistle names, it matches the sunset perfectly.

[ytliek]

Another design suggestion is to move the Fip letters down closer to est letters allowing the "F" to capture more of both words. Or as suggested, use two "F"s and I agree about the Oregon land mass being darkened to give balanced weight to poster overall. Grounded. So many ideas.

Nick, I noticed on Noreen O'Sullivan's website http://www.noreenosullivan.com/ in the "contact" link you could directly contact her concerning the festival, or other matters, take a look. It may be hard for everyone to keep up with festival progress with all of the forum topics, you know how topics get buried quickly, and buried is lost interest.

[Peter Duggan]

Updated Poster.... getting better... slowly I think

It's 'flageolet', Nick. And please (with the best will in the world) Google 'effective poster design' and/or 'effective advertising poster design' then talk to a good graphic design pro about what you want to get across...

Sincerely
P

[nickthepiedpiper]

Thank you all for the input! I tried to do what most of you requested. everything under the whistle will be changed as soon as I can add specific festival details and artists etc.

BTW, I am a graphic design professional, and this whole message board thing, believe it or not, is part of my process. Where else can I get such a great sample of whistle interested folk who so readily share their opinions? so again, many thanks for all your suggestions.

if you want to see a couple examples of my design you can visit here:http://www.ethnicwind.com/#!design-samples/cf3j

[Cayden]

Nick,
The new revision of the poster looks awesome! GREAT WORK!

Cayden

[O'Mulriain]

The new poster design looks great! I think it conveys quite well what it's meant to, and not without style.
It's really quite interesting to see how the festival plans are developing. I have no doubts it will turn out wonderfully.

[Peter Duggan]

BTW, I am a graphic design professional, and this whole message board thing, believe it or not, is part of my process.

Fair enough (and it's looking a bit better without trying to cram/shape all that text into the silhouette)...

But surely you now need a space between '2013' and 'Coos Bay'? And why are some things ('Food') capitalised and others ('beverages') not? And why the different length dash before 'Fantastic Food and beverages' (are the others maybe just hyphens), or the double space before 'try their whistles'?

[nickthepiedpiper]

That section will be eliminated when all the artist info is added, it's just to fill space. Thanks so much for the Help.

The website is active: http://www.fipplefest.com

Feel free to be my editor there as well!

I'm going to start a new thread as the official announcement thread, since this one was for planning and idea sharing, and I do appreciate very much all the feedback, ideas, and criticism. This event wouldn't have been nearly as good without them!

[Magickdancer]

On the white whistle, would you consider swapping it out for a real one? It looks a bit stretched out, and seems a bit out of place compared to the rest of the poster. I could certainly see something like either a generic-looking brass whistle (the kind made by Generation, Dixon or Feadog), or perhaps a beautiful wood whistle like an Abell or Oz. If you used one of the high-end whistles, it will show people how the whistle is more sophisticated than they think, too.

Kristen

[nickthepiedpiper]

I used a graphic version of a whistle, because I don't want to have a specific
Name brand on there. I am a whistle maker and I could easily put one of my high end wood models or something, but I want the poster to promote the festival, not my business, or any other maker. I am still looking for sponsorship, so if a whistle company like Clarke would sponsor the festival with a sizable donation happy to change that graphic to one of their whistles. So for the time being I'm just gonna use the graphic until something else happens

[ubizmo]

Nick, I mentioned ocarinas to you on FaceBook, since they are fipply instruments too, and also because you might be able to draw more participants and sponsors.

Your intention, however, seems to be to make the event specifically about whistles, in which case bringing in the ocarina community would be a distraction. I couldn't help thinking, though, that Nancy Rumbel, a brilliant ocarina player, lives in the Pacific Northwest...