Scholarship Royal Swedish Opera

Graphic Design - Illustartion

03-2022

︎ Graphic Design 
︎ Painting 
︎ Illustration

Barbro Salén was an important patron of opera. She started the foundation Barbro Saléns stiftelse which hands out annual scholarships to promising singers.

Every year, for the past ten years, a student at Berghs School of Communication is elected to design the Scholarship in Barbro Saléns name. With multiple students applying for this opportunity, I was elected and my design was given to the amazing singer Johanna Nylund. I was invited to watch her perform “Aida” after the ceremony. 

Design Motivation:

With this diploma i wanted to portray the powerfull and dramatic sensation which can be conveyed through opera. The silhoutte outlined is reaching up as if in the midst of their act, they’re embraced and swept away, in their performance. 

I used hand drawn sketches together with botches of watercolor that i cut and edited in photoshop. Here I wanted to combine the the older approach, using watercolors, sketches and akvarell, a more artistic track commonly seen in opera, together with modern digital tools, combining the new and the old. 

I wanted to use a font which is straight and clear, this to remain strong and empowered. I wanted to combine the romantic, emotional sense found  in the opera with the powerfull and strong. For me the opera is power, elegance and emotion. Which is what i wanted to portray in my design. 

In selecting colours and patterns I took inspiration from stage clothes; pampered suits, extravagant gowns, elegant cloths and shimmering jewls. I wanted to capture the opera as a whole, beyond the powerfull voice, encompassing the clothes, the props, the set and the emotion. 

Aside from this, my main goal was that the person who received this diploma and scholarship felt a sense of pride, honor and prestige, truly feeling their ability and talent to suceed.