Macy’s Flower Show

Services: Illustration
Illustration & Design: Aaron Johnson
Creative Direction: Joel Anderson

The Project

Macy’s contacted us to create a series of posters to depict the theme for their annual flower show. 2016’s theme was “America the Beautiful,” and it featured the six main regions of the U.S. and the flowers native to each place. We also created a lettering treatment that could exist as a separate logo for signage and other applications.

The Challenge

The Macy’s Flower Show is all about flowers, so the floral theme had to be present in each of the six regional posters as well as in the main hero image. Each region of the USA is unique, so creating variety with continuity would be difficult.

The Solution

We created a red, white and blue logo with flowers across the top. Staff artist Aaron Johnson rendered seven colorful posters that were used in the flower show to lead the crowds on a floral tour of the USA. Each design celebrated the unique climate and vegetation of six different flower growing regions in America.

The Masthead

The top portion of all the posters included a patriotic masthead logo that could be used separately for marketing and branding.

Poster Concepts

The biggest challenge on the main composite poster was figuring out how to show the flower-laden torch of Lady Liberty along with scenes from all six different regions of the USA. We tried a collage approach and also a design that used the rays emanating from the torch to act as separators to the six regional scenes.

Main Poster

The end result was epic. The rays from the torch worked perfectly as dividing lines between six very different regional scenes. The next six posters would be depictions of each region inspired by the sliver shown on the Lady Liberty poster.

Regional Posters

Hand lettering and type styling were important tools in capturing the cultural flavor of each region. Colors, iconic wildlife, and geological features also helped to set each regional poster apart.

I believe that illustration can be a powerful tool for connecting emotionally with our customers by creating an experience that feels truly unique. I can personally say that our collaboration with Anderson Design Group on the Macy’s Flower Show poster series over the last few months has proven to be one of the highlights of my career as Creative Manager for Special Projects at Macy’s.

Gregory DiBisceglieSenior Creative Manager, Macy’s, Inc.