Designing the perfect stage that sets the right tone and elevates a performance is certainly no easy task. To maximize the impact of your set, consider implementing these 4 important philosophies:
Go Big Or Go Home
For a stage design to be effective, we have to first consider the element of scale. Large lines and big shapes have a lasting impact, making them memorable for your audience. We must remember that a stage is, by comparison, much smaller than the room that it’s in; your design needs to compensate for this size difference by being larger than expected in order to make it stand out.
Small Details Go Unseen
When it comes to stage design, the phrase “it’s all in the details” doesn’t quite apply. Tiny elements like wood grains, intricate patterns, small shapes, and thin lines go unseen by the audience off-stage. Ditch the fine details and focus instead on implementing larger design elements.
Go Wall To Wall
To create a professionally finished space, you’ll want a design that occupies the entire stage as best as possible. Fill in the gaps and erase large, negative spaces by adding more of the same or complimentary elements, in order to create a complete, cohesive design.
Hide The Ugly
Most stage spaces have unsightly design blemishes such as colored carpet, wall panels, banners, wood veneers, pillars, colored walls … the list goes on. If you don’t take care in hiding or remove these elements, they will ruin your overall design. Paint, remodel, resurface, blackout, or take out these elements because, if you keep them, they will compete with, and even overpower, all the good you have done.
