When creating new stage designs and places of worship what questions do you ask yourself and your team during the design process? How do you be intentional about your design and incorporate ideas with weight and meaning? These questions stump a lot of creative teams when it comes to stage design. Below is a list of important questions your team should run through before you settle on a new design idea.
The list below is not my own. I found it buried in a blog post by Eric Wolfe titled, “Are you sharing your expertise to bless others?”. This list was an example that supported the main topic of the blog post, but I found the list so helpful I wanted to make a blog post dedicated to it.
17 Questions You Need to Answer When Creating a New Stage Design
- What is the end goal of the services that happens in the space?
- What is the vibe and feeling you want to help communicate?
- Who is the target demographic?
- Who in the audience will be reached regardless of the branding, environment and artistry? Remember that these are not people to design for. Do not be influenced by them.
- Who might only be opened up to the communication by the environment you present? This
is the group you want to design for. - How might you use resources you already have available to support your vision?
- What alternative ideas might convey such themes with increased beauty, power and depth?
- What ideas might work well because of how clear the symbolism might be?
- What of those ideas would be so cliché that it would actually turn off the artist in the audience?
- What metaphors can you weave into the design to add depth of beauty and meaning?
- How long do you want to live in the look? A series? A season? A weekend? Indefinitely?
- How will you light the set? How will you light the art and communication? Will the lighting on both feel unified?
- How can we play on the strengths of our creative and production teams?
- Will it look good in the room we are using?
- How can we position each person to help visually connect the guests with what is being communicated? Break the 4th wall!
- What scenic and/or lighting might be considered in the room? In the lobby? Before and after the event with advertising, social media, etc. How does the branding transcend the stage experience?
- Think through everything that people might see. Certainly do not let anything be a distraction and push into every opportunity to help enhance the story.
What questions do you ask yourself when creating a new stage design?
