Audio By Carbonatix
Earlier this month, the American Advertising Federation’s Metro Phoenix branch announced this year’s ADDY winners, which honor the best in local advertising campaigns.
One young ADDY winner caught our eye:
Raven Cruz, a 20-year-old senior at the Art Institute of Phoenix, won best in show in the student category for a trio of minimalist movie posters.
The posters were a passion project for the San Diego native, inspired by her love of dystopian science fiction and horror movies, “the kind that make you uneasy because they could actually happen,” Cruz says.
When news happens, Phoenix New Times is there —
Your support strengthens our coverage.
We’re aiming to raise $30,000 by December 31, so we can continue covering what matters most to you. If New Times matters to you, please take action and contribute today, so when news happens, our reporters can be there.
After taking classes in graphic symbolism and typography, Cruz began working on the series with Inception.
“I liked the original poster, but I thought it showed too much,” she says. “They were almost giving away the whole movie.”
Cruz’s designs are incredibly thoughtful, serving as personal
homages to the films. They’re posters only a fan could design — an idea
reminiscent of the work of Olly Moss, who Cruz says is one of her heroes.
The posters are also the result of hours of watching and re-watching the
movies. Cruz says her notebook is filled more with research and notes
than actual sketches.
Cruz hopes to follow in Moss’ pop-art footsteps and become a poster designer, but the student designer has even more talents up her sleeve. She won a second ADDY award for digital illustration. Follow Jackalope Ranch on Facebook and Twitter and Pinterest.