For the past couple of years, the theater department has displayed professor Gary Will’s playbills for various plays and musicals.
Will is a graphic design professor at Bradley who has been given the opportunity to design these posters, which are just the latest in a long career of graphic design going back 25 years.
Twelve posters Will designed from previous years of production are currently part of an exhibit being held at the Hartmann Center Gallery through Sept. 24. The decision to display his posters as a collective exhibit happened for several reasons.
“They are only ever viewed one at a time, and it presented an interesting retrospective to see the different approaches and styles all in one gallery,” Will said. “After the exhibit, we wanted to hang them all around the lobby of the Theatre building to make it a more dynamic space when visitors entered.”
Will said he is proud to be able to design posters that help benefit the Theatre Department and Bradley. In fact, he said he hopes this is something he can continue to do in the coming years.
“I thoroughly enjoy designing them,” Will said. “I’ll keep creating new playbills for the theatre department as long as they want me too.”
As a practicing graphic designer, Will has designed many different projects throughout his career. He said some of his favorite pieces included creating assorted brand identities for banks and stores, CD booklets and websites.
“Each one has been a creative challenge in its own right,” Will said.
According to Will, it’s important to take every project you are given seriously as a designer. He said he implements the same principles in all of his work to produce the best outcome possible. As for the posters he designs for the theatre department, he works with Scott Kanoff, interim chairperson of the Bradley Theatre Department.
“When I design anything, it is as a practicing professional graphic designer independent from the art department,” Will said. “I work directly with whoever the ‘client’ is. In the case of the theatre playbills, I work with chair Scott Kanoff. It is a collaborative venture throughout, as are most of the projects I have been involved with.”
Kanoff echoed Will’s statement about working together.
“Gary’s a brilliant designer,” Kanoff said. “You’ve got to make a strong statement, give people a flavor of the production. It’s a really wonderful collaboration.”
To see more of Will’s work, students can visit his website at art.bradley.edu/will.
Will said his website “gives my students and anyone else wanting to read the posts an opportunity to follow my ‘journey’ through these projects.”
