Introduction
Westfield High School’s annual classic rock concert asked me to design a poster and t-shirt that visually represented the theme “Rock ’n’ Roll of Indiana.”
This project required balancing nostalgia with contemporary appeal. The design needed to resonate with students, parents, and donors while remaining visually bold enough to drive ticket sales and merchandise fundraising.
Problem
How do you make Indiana history feel exciting, modern, and worth wearing?
The challenge wasn’t a lack of visual material, but the opposite. Indiana imagery is familiar and often overlooked, so the design needed to reframe something ordinary into something memorable without losing its local authenticity.
Background Research
I began by researching vintage classic rock concert posters and merchandise to understand how illustration, typography, and limited color palettes were historically used to signal genre and era.
Because the event is student-led and dependent on merchandise sales for funding, the design also needed to appeal broadly, not just to high schoolers but to parents, grandparents, siblings, and friends, while remaining cohesive across both posters and apparel.
Rather than leaning into a generic rock aesthetic, I chose to ground the design in Hoosier visual language, using illustration as the primary storytelling device.
I took inspiration from a view outside my childhood home — a simple Indiana cornfield — and reframed it as a bold, graphic focal point. By elevating a familiar landscape instead of reinventing it, the design feels authentic while still visually striking.
Final Design
