senior thesis | Mount ida college

Typography and Circus Advertising

What do the circus and graphic design have in common? A lot actually! The history of the circus is rich with design, illustration typeface and art. When choosing a theme for my thesis, I knew I wanted to incorporate my love of dance and acrobatics with design, illustration and photography.

The printed book was written, researched and designed by me and to this day people still ask “you actually wrote and designed that?” Why yes I did! The photography in the book is sourced and cited but the photography and illustrations in the rest of the projects comparing vintage to modern circus advertising was all done by me with contributions from some of my awesome aerial students and friends.

I dedicated this project to my Mom, because if it wasn’t for her telling me to get my life in order and go to school, I may have just ended up running away with the circus!