My four jobs are Auror, Quidditch Player, Potioneer and Dragonologist!
When I first heard of this project, the idea of presenting through the jobs being “job posters” stuck in my head! Then I thought, “okay since we can be anything, what is one thing I wish I could be?” and I immediately thought of superheroes, supervillains and Harry Potter!
I wanted to be Batman, Superman, the Joker and Catwoman. I also wanted to be an Auror, a Quidditch Player, a Potioneer and a Dragonologist. But in the end, I chose to do Harry Potter jobs instead as I feel that the wizarding world and I, we have some sort of similarity! They create magic with their hands, I get to create magic with mine too as I’m an art student :’) I create magic out of a blank canvas!
Initially it was quite difficult for me to work as I kinda just designed it however I felt. For example I designed Potioneer to just have the basic elements: a cauldron, some smoke etc. So I felt that it was quite lacking and decided to change it!
That’s when I realised that I needed to focus!! Literally, and for my artwork.
So I narrowed it down to this: what do I like about each job that makes me want it?
Auror: I love that it’s prestigious and exclusive
Quidditch Player: I love the fame
Potioneer: I love that I get to create
Dragonologist: I love the risk
After being clear on what I was going to focus on, I then had to brainstorm on how to bring my message across clearly!
Auror: I love that it’s prestigious and exclusive
Auror training is extremely difficult and intensive, so there are few qualified applicants. According to Minerva McGonagall, no Auror had been taken on for three years prior to 1995.
Aurors are the wizarding world equivalent of an elite police force!
As I think of prestigious and exclusivity as one, I decided to just focus on exclusivity instead! Because the fact that the job is exclusive is what makes it so prestigious! So… this brings us to the next question, how do we show exclusivity?
I chose to do it by visually setting my auror design apart from the other 3 designs! For the auror design, it’s significantly darker than the rest (also because it’s related to the Dark Arts). And I printed it on matte white cardstock unlike the rest! For the rest, I had printed them on newsprint coloured cardstock as Joy suggested! So visually, there is a distinct difference between this and the others.
Also, I included a tagline for this which others do not have, it is “the few, the vigilant. auror”.”The few, the vigilant” kinda already gives an idea that it’s gonna be difficult to get this job since only few managed to get it, thus showing exclusivity and prestige! I also felt that this is the best way to show exclusivity and prestige! There’s this air of snobbishness (like woah we are 2 cool 4 u man) and I love it HAHA
In addition, because these are job posters, at the top/bottom of the other three posters, I have included ways in which interested applicants can apply. But for auror, there’s none! Instead, there’s a lil code 62442 in which interested (and vigilant) applicants have to find out how/where to use it, and to use it to apply for an interview. Fun fact, if you key in 62442 on the telephone, it says “magic”! So that’s a hint for them that the interview place has to be accessed by a telephone booth.
Quidditch Player: I love the fame
Quidditch is a wizarding game that is played! Usually, the catching of a snitch (which is done by the seeker) gives the team a win as it is equivalent to 150 points. So seekers are the ones who end the game, and all eyes are on them!
Everything in this composition leads to the snitch! From the background lines converging, to the hands pointing to the snitch.
The snitch is in the form of a trophy as, in the eyes of the seeker, catching the snitch would guarantee the team a win! And as everyone’s attention is on the snitch (shown by hands pointing), the seeker wants to grab the snitch and with it, grab everyone’s attention.
Potioneer: I love that I get to create
A potioneer, as the name suggests, is someone who makes potions for a living!
To show the aspect of creating, I decided to use a dull colour for the ingredients going in, and to use many colours for the smoke coming out that symbolises the end product! This is to show that while the ingredients going in are dull and boring, I still get to create exciting and new stuff!
Dragonologist: I love the risk
A dragonologist is a magizoologist who specialises in the study of dragons.
To show the aspect of risk, Joy suggested I play with scale to show just how big the dragon is! So I added in mountains and also made my human tiny to emphasise the size of the dragon!
To show that I love risk, my lil human is running toward the fire and embracing it!
For my initial drafts, my vectors didn’t really match the theme and the whole retro look and feel. So it was back to the drawing board for me! (more like the illustrator artboard ahhaha)
(the evolution of my lil humans)
Also… For the Quidditch poster, I was contemplating for a long time! I wanted to initially do it like a “zoom trail” from the broomstick. So Joy suggested motion blurring the font! But the thing was that for a thin font, motion blur came out weird and not visible. And for a thicker font, it looked very ‘stiff’ and unnatural.
So after thinking, I decided the best way was in fact to introduce my name through the goal hoops/rings!
