INTO THE WOODS
are we into the woods yet / are we into the woods.
The task of updating the Into the Woods licensing art was to visually connect to the old art for brand continuity while giving it a new and digitally compatible look. As with all licensable show brands, we needed artwork that was evocative and mildly generic so that it can represent the show no matter the production.
titular.
All good Key Art needs a clean vector foundation. I developed three different title treatment options.
modern.
Fragmentation of the fairy tale rather than the fairy tale itself
legacy.
Slightly updated, digital version of the original licensable title
classic.
Strong visual connection to the original Broadway art
theme party.
I used visual themes of a book / forest in all our Key Art drafts. These sketches demonstrate a variety of designs around these elements, evoking different moods and energies.
and then there were four.
We narrowed the original set of drafts to four Key Art looks.
daylight.
This version brings the palette into the gold and earthy browns to communicate a lighter, more joyous mood than is typically associated with the show. I coupled this with the classic title treatment as the strange shape and sharp edges of the trees give this otherwise placid daylight affair a hint of a twist.
magic.
Using books in our work proved problematic, as a book cover is a still, solid presence that makes the art feel static. I chose instead to use a book in motion with aggressive light. The storybook lettering of the legacy title blends with these elements to create a mood of magic and mystery.
abstract.
This version took a completely different approach. The figure, color, and saturated darkness invoke cryptic mystery while the fragmented, magazine cut-out title treatment adds to the general overall feeling of intrigue and foreboding.
moon.
This is the closest to our original art — I used the legacy title treatment, pulled the most interesting element from the old version (tree branch and moon), and integrated said element into a full forest background. Saturating the greens to jewel tones lends this version a bit more maturity and dynamism.
the moon always wins.
Stakeholders chose the moon version. This is now the licensable artwork for Stephen Sondheim’s Into the Woods.