Graphic Design for Annex Theatre’s ‘Leave Only Footprints’

In October 2024, I directed the Marketing for Leave Only Footprints at Annex Theatre, an immersive and haunted house experience. I implemented a cohesive campaign of visual storytelling, promotional strategy, and an atmospheric design to bring the eerie mystery narrative of a missing hiker who encounters cryptids in a Pacific Northwest state park to sold-out audiences. Starting with a poster design, I balanced creativity with strategy to develop the key assets and color palette into unforgettable digital and print materials used for advertising, printed signage, and programs.

• Project Role: Graphic Designer, Marketing Director
• What I Learned: Iterative Design, Digital Asset Development, Print Graphic Design, Video Editing
• Tools Used: Canva, Mailchimp, Meta Business Suite

Poster and Postcard

As a devised production, when it was time to create the artwork for Leave Only Footprints, we didn’t know all of the details about the production. We knew it would be a haunted house, there would be a puzzle element, and that somehow, cryptids would be incorporated. We also knew that the audience would be immersed in the woods. I wanted to incorporate some mystical elements, to leave room for the magical components being developed by the writers and designers. After a few rounds of design, custom illustrations of the creature and pentagram, and a custom titles that I created, we created the first poster. I used these components to devise the postcard and publish the press release.

Digital and Print Advertising

To promote the show, I created artwork for The Stranger’s Fall Arts & Performance quarterly print edition, sidebar advertisements on local websites, and a series of Mailchimp email newsletters. For the ads, I was challenged by maintaining readability, where to place the creature’s eyes for maximum effect, and displaying a consistent blue color for the woods across platforms. When we first announced the production in our newsletter, I was able to use the show summary as the primary copy. As we ramped up advertising, I developed new copy to entice our audiences.

As part of the marketing for the show, we also featured a trailer, which I developed with the Vision Mixer Justin Lauer. We brainstormed an idea based on the missing hiker in the woods. In our trailer, it’s a different hiker who has explored the woods and is truly lost. It’s about what could happen if someone ignored all of the warnings in our show. First we see them preparing their bag, then venturing out to hike, where they are taken in the night. I selected Interlaken Park as our primary filming location. We borrowed a vintage camping set that one of the scenic designers had scouted, and headed out at dusk. In our crew was Emily Pike, the director of Leave Only Footprints playing the hiker, videographer Benjamin Laurance, and Justin. Although I started out as the director, all four of us developed ideas organically as we got deeper and deeper into the woods and gathered inspiration from our surroundings. I even realized that we should have a “journal” (since the audience would be discovered pages from it) and offered my notebook as a last-minute prop. Justin edited the video and added sound effects, and I created the beginning and end. I also directed the script editing and recording with the voiceover, done by Charlie Harding Morrison.

Because of the work we had done on the trailer, I was excited to quickly spin up a trailer for our live stream option, which had another story altogether about a paranormal investigator who acts as the viewers proxy in the experience.

Social Media Campaigns

Once we had production images available (taken by Laura Johnston), I was able to generate a unified campaign showcasing the various locations, evoking the torn paper from the lost hiker’s journals. I also wrote copy inspired by what audiences would experience and giving credit to all of the artists.

Welcome to Hollow Hope State Park. When you arrive, you’ll be greeted at the Ranger Station (designed by Bella Rivera) by an informed yet skeptical park ranger, played by Kasper Cergol or Janet Holloway-Thomas. As you learn all of the park rules, be sure to investigate all the distinctly eerie details, like unspecified specimens.

ll is not well in Hollow Hope… There is more than one missing hiker, and the electricity is out in Mueller’s Cabin, designed by Jack Jessamyn Bateman-Iino).

Was that…? Did I see…? It was definitely a Ghost (played by Hannah Wang or Daisy Schreiber)… and it seems like she has some unfinished business.

Can you unlock the mystery?

Just past the Oakfern forest in Hollow Hope State Park is Dissonant Bay, designed by Emily Sershon. You’ll hear odd and and possibly frightening sounds as you move through the dense bull kelp, where you’ll meet an alluring and enigmatic siren, played by Branik.

The siren and her waters carry many secrets. Can you discover what she is hiding?

At the farthest end of the trail in Hollow Hope, you will hear a creature so terrifying, you may want to turn back. But if you want to uncover the mystery of the missing hiker, you’ll have to push past your fears to enter Limus Caverns, designed by Sasha Bailey and Devon Thistle Alicea. There you will discover what, or who, awaits you.

The creature, played Jaret Miller or Jana Rae Blumberg, may try to scare you away, but the secrets of their cave are worth a visit… or two…

You’ll encounter many points of interest as you wind your way through Hollow Hope, and you may want to find a place to take a rest. At Lovers’ Leap Campground, designed by Charlie Harding Morrison, you’ll come across a cozy campfire under a full moon, hot and cold libations, and more clues to solve the mystery.

But be sure to be wary of any other campers, played by Kate Koehler-Platten or Patrick Hogan, and the stories they share. They may know more than they’re letting on…

Printed Signage and Programs

As an immersive show, Leave Only Footprints encouraged audiences to explore nooks and crannies of Annex Theatre that we don’t typically open to the public. We also wanted to emphasize the nature of the state park, so I took on the task of creating signage for each point of interest at the park. I printed the title text in the National Park typeface, then traced it onto cutout cardboard with sharpie and paint pen.

As audiences solved the puzzles associated with each point of interest, they uncovered a mysterious journal entry left by the missing hiker. In order to keep things moving, we printed out each journal entry for audience members to collect and read on their own. There were five days in total, each printed in the same font and featuring a similar “torn paper” effect in the background.

For productions at Annex, I typically create a printed program. For Leave Only Footprints, we converted the program into a trifold “park brochure” that featured a title “peek” component.

Since not all of the titles for cast and crew were revealed in the park brochure, I also created a quarter-sheet, double-sided “credits” slip for people to take home.

For Next Time

Developing the marketing and printed materials for Leave Only Footprints was an incredible experience. I’m proud of how we developed a cohesive and unforgettable visual identity that evolved along with the production. There is a plan to do a similar style of immersive production in 2025. Although it will not be set a state park, if there are any signage requirements involved, I would like to get an earlier start on creating them. And although we can never predict what audiences will do, for the standard printed materials, we have a better idea of how to guide folks to interact with them in the ways we want.

Categorized in: Event, Graphic Design, Project