The Footloose Program

The final piece of the footloose puzzle, the program. This meant unrequited love stories with printers, musical directors and photographic subjects. In keeping with the theme I've been using from the start of this project, the work is completely based around an industrial town to reflect the storyline.

This was only possible with the help of producer Sarah Doherty and photographer Ryan Ponsford. Sarah, between all the dramatic episodes involved in producing a show with 25 teens and a co director in quarantine, always had time to speak to me and crack a cynical joke or two. And she was more than prompt in supplying the content for the program. Also, she was kind enough to meet at my house before I told her I was about an hour away, she came anyway. Overall, a pleasure to work with.

I was extremely lucky to have Ryan on board, I literally called him while he was involved in a professional shoot for 'Freedom' furniture. He donated more time than was necessary for the final piece and if it weren't for his ingenious gift of photography, the program would not have had half the impact that it does. His eye for colour, pattern and composition is astounding and I see him going a very long way with his passion.

So here are some of the the spreads that stood out to me.


The front and back cover, I love the greens and it basically sets the tone for the show; rusty, electric, grungy.


This is my favorite spread, the tree mixed with the chicken wire, newspaper and factories; it encapsulates the whole teenage love story thing perfectly. Also happy with my type setting here :)

One of the main reasons why I took on this job was to gain experience in type heavy pieces such as this. Each page had a 4 column grid so the spacing was even and clean, which some extra room for Ryan's photos.



Not as text heavy but still a bit to deal with. Again, the photography just gives it so much depth. All the images have this human presence via absence vibe going on; it's evident that people have been there, but it still looks slightly eerie.

The type and general page setting was inspired by skating mag Monster Children and Blanket Magazine, check them out, they're beautiful.

If there's one thing I learnt from this job, it's that the final product, although imperative, is secondary. The most important thing is to be easy to communicate with throughout the entire process and always keep the client up to date.

Make friends basically.