I designed this digital poster for comedian Ali Sultan in March 2020 when the new realities of the pandemic abruptly set in. Being the ever resourceful comedian, Ali took comedy to the virtual stage over zoom. Ali hosted two weekly comedy shows: an open-mic night and a comedy showcase hour. I designed the digital flier for both reoccurring events. The shows were different in nature but born from the same conception hence the same compositional design but with separate branded colors.  I designed both a still poster and also one with motion to be used in different ways on instagram as social media was the main form of sharing show information for Ali.  The still poster was a static post and the moving poster was designed for an instagram story.

As for the design inspiration, I looked to the past for aesthetic choices. It was difficult to process the new pandemic realities and given the scary and surreal time, I was inspired by the unusual color palette and trippy visuals found in psychedelic poster artist, Wes Wilson’s work. Here’s an inspiration board for the design:

I also wanted to ground the psychedelic concept to our time and to the virtual comedy shows. The shows were bright and quirky but were still a bit absurd. There’s definitely a disconnect sitting alone viewing the “crowd” through tiny boxes on your computer screen. I tried to show this fragmented space visually through the distant circle gestures. There were gaps in communication and lags in internet connection but nevertheless these virtual shows were innovative and created a way to still see each other in the darkness.