The Fillmore Theater, formerly the State Theater, is a historic multi-use entertainment venue located in the Detroit Theater District along Woodward Ave. The building also contains the State Bar with a separate entrance. It’s across from Comerica Park were the Detroit Tigers play. 

The marketing staff at the Fillmore approached me to design a line of merch for the theater and bar. Working within a few popular themes - music, Detroit automotive culture, the history of the building, etc. I created some simple, yet classic looking design layouts for various garments and accessories.

Because the theater and bar are well-established venues with iconic facades, and recognizable signage I didn’t want to stray too far from that with any over-fancy or superfluous design elements. This means I kept it clean and basic, and in a few instances I just reformatted the pre-existing graphics to better fit on garments. With other designs I tapped into the theater’s music legacy. 

Additionally, with a location close to the professional sports areas, and thus visited by many sports fans, I thought it was a good idea to throw in some designs using team colors.  

The State Bar is attached to Fillmore Theater next door. For these designs I followed the same formula - using some existing signage and fonts as designs, and embellished with creative liberties on some.

Design themes include elements taken from the famed marquee, and neon baseball sign, along with some references to broader Detroit culture like Ford, the auto industry, and the music culture.