Graphic design,
identity development
& typography
The UnderTOW Poster Series
Promotional Material
In 2014, Te Rākau Theatre began producing an ambitious four-part play series about the arrival of foreigners to Māori shores. All plays are set in the same location (Wellington, New Zealand) but in different time periods (1840, 1869, 1917, and The Day After Tomorrow), each with characters, a chain of events, or objects that connect them together. The posters needed to show all the plays are unique standalone performances, but a part of a larger suite.
The underlying texture on all posters is the Treaty of Waitangi (T.O.W), and each play has a central illustration specific to it – Te Wheke for The Ragged, a Kurī for Dog & Bone, War Monuments for Public Works, and Whiro for The Landeaters. Each illustration was designed to interlock together with the others, and traces of each play are present in all of the posters, with an evolving depiction of Wellington running along the base.
Writer: Helen Pearse-Otene
Director: Jim Moriarty
Marketing & Publicity: Aneta Ruth
Client: Te Rakau Theatre