Arts and Culture

Work done with the Arts and Culture sector in the US and in Europe.

Gaiety-launch-issue-covers

The Gaiety Theatre Reopening – Launch program

After the £2M refurbishment everyone in Ayr was curious about what the Gaiety Theatre was like inside and what was “behind the curtain” so to speak. We fueled this curiosity by not giving anything away on the covers of the inaugural program — you just had to look inside.

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If you think Maas Creatives might be able to help you with your project, please get in touch. Katja would love to discuss your project with you.

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gaiety covers

The Gaiety Theatre – cover design

The most innovative idea for the Gaiety programs was to have two front covers. I recognized that with a diverse audience and a diverse program, as is typical for community theaters, it was advantageous to have to take advantage of both opportunities – front and back cover and offer two different propositions equally.

The newly reopened Gaiety was an unknown and to mitigate pigeonholing, this approach spoke to the diversity of their program. The program could be displayed both ways. Depending on your preference you would reach for the program featuring the show you were drawn to. So rather than dismissing the offering because it didn’t interest you they doubled their chances of connecting and engaging with you by presenting two very different options.

On the “back” front cover I could get away with a more avant garde or more niche appeal shows while the front satisfied the theater’s need for something with a broader appeal. A perfect balance that reflected their offering.

One noticeable design change happened when the refurbishment was totally completed. I replaced the black background of the masthead with bright flat colors to signal this important and final stage.

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cab-calloway-poster

Poster Design for Cab Calloway

A jazz poster design for Cab Calloway performing at the Glasgow International Jazz Festival. Photograph below with his daughter, holding our poster. This poster was a team effort with two of my classmates, Thomas and Clare.

Wikipedia

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Wild Milk Book Party Poster

Wild Milk and Cookies Book Party Poster

I am a huge fan of this extraordinarily brilliant writer/poet. I find her writing magical. It is vividly sureal and deeply moving and I sincerely hope everyone gets to read her work. I ‘m crossing my fingers that reading her makes you a better writer – how can it not? But if you really want to write well take her courses/workshops. I know I will be.

In the meantime, I’d recommend reading her monthly column Happily for the Paris Review. Everything she writes is about fairy tales and motherhood.

Paris Review

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Chris Bren as the moster

Nervous Breakdown – Behind the Scenes

In Greensboro, those familiar with the Rock 92 morning radio show, Two Guys Named Chris, will know Chirs Demm and Chris Kelly. You may not know that Chris Demm (looks like this before he has his coffee) but is an absolute delight despite his furrowed brow. Nervous Breakdown by 4 Leagues Media was directed by Dan Robinette and starred Chris Demm as the monster alongside Chris Kelly as the sheriff.

See more behind the scenes of Nervous Breakdown stills photography here. See New York Fashion week here and also You’re Invited, directed by Andrew Kaplan here.

Rock92

Below is a short teaser (my cut) of some video I captured…

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white-poster

White Poster

This production is exquisite. Designed for 2-4 year olds but ideal for anyone with imagination and a heart for diversity.

Catherine Wheels

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milton glaser exhibition poster

Milton Glaser – Talk Poster

I created this poster with Milton for a talk and book signing he was giving. The poster became significant because the typography inspired Milton’s last update of his company logo in the mid 2000s.

When I first visited the firm as an intern in 89 he was using this design. The concept was based on a Dada principle where you take the least important thing and make it the most important thing…  As you can see on the envelope below, the street number which is normally the smallest, least important element of the brand (the name being the most important) is made the most dominant element.

Inspired by the poster, but using a lighter weight of Gill Sans, the 2005 red logo with his name in four lines of equal length was a visual play on the pronunciation of his name. Poetically perfect in three lines of three letters, each line a perfect syllable. :-)

milton_glaser_logo
Milton Glaser website

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Fridge, a film by Peter Mullan, film poster

Fridge Film Poster Design for Peter Mullan

A film poster design for Peter Mullan.

What can I say. This was an honor. I’m such a fan of Peter Mullan’s work. The film starred Gary Lewis and Frances Higson was the producer.

The short film won many awards: Best Short Film 1995 – also winner of 12 international awards, including BAFTA Scotland, Best Short Film Award 1995; Cork International Film Festival Best European Short Film (joint award) 1995; Atlantic Film Festival Best Short Film Award 1995; Grand Prize of the Bilbao International Film Festival 1995.

Katja on IMDb

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Pascal Lacroix – Brand Voice

Personality and voice. I knew from the first moment I spoke with Pascal that I had to have his voice on the website. He has a french accent and when he speaks his voice relaxes you.

The outcome was this very personal, brand-building  narrative video. It immediately deepens the connection with visitors. It helps visitors relate to his work in a more meaningful way than just browsing through still images.

The audio was directed remotely. The video content was captured by Pascal himself and a friend of his. I edited the final piece to tell the story about how he works and designs at his studio in the mountains.

Below is another short video, this time speaking about a specific piece created for the Flight theme of the American Design Council, Living Collection.

Design, direction, editing and production, by Katja Maas

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Culture Sparks – Make IT Happen Animation

Created for Scotland’s national agency for the arts, Culture Sparks in collaboration with the Rudman Agency. Campaign GetAmb:IT:ion. Make IT Happen was a National initiative funded by the lottery to help Arts and Culture organisations get more from IT.

Design, scriptwriting, storyboarding, animation.

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Culture Republic Access All Areas Animation

Created for Scotland’s national agency for the arts, Culture Republic. Their ACCESS ALL AREAS national conference focused on equality and diversity. Following the conference, we integrated the “equals” (=) symbol into their brand mark to emphasize their core value of equality.

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