Alison Simao

2021 Senior Exhibition Artists

Alison Simao

Art + Design: Graphic Design, Photography Minor

About Alison Simao

Alison Simao is a graphic designer and photographer from the Providence, Rhode Island area. She previously earned her Associate in Arts degree from the Community College of Rhode Island before moving on to the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth to earn her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Graphic Design, with a Minor in Photography. Within her work you will commonly find these two mediums embraced within one another. She's greatly inspired by pop culture and loves creating bright, eclectic pieces that not only tackle social and cultural topics but additionally contain playful elements of humor and wit. (She’s also always keen for a good dad joke if you’ve got one.)

Statement

Tranquility is a music festival that emphasizes on the healing and collective qualities of live music.

Growing up and throughout my college career, I found that music and the live concert experience were a very comforting medium to engage with. It also came in especially handy when needing a positive outlet for the stressors of life. This inspired my desire to curate and develop a music festival that would not only be enjoyable for the attendee, but contribute to the advocacy, fundraising, and offering of resources for various organizations that support a social cause. For 2022, Tranquility will have a centralized focus on organizations that assist in helping those with anxiety and depression.

I wanted to create a deep audience connection in each step of the design process. The deliverables were designed in order to provide the most authentic experience possible for the viewer in our current digital environment. The festival’s artist lineup was curated with the input of participants who completed an anonymous survey inquiring which musical artists or events had a profound impact within their own lives. The responses of these participants were further taken into large account in the development of the visual systems used. As a final element, a specialized audio/video experience was created to allow the listener to feel as if they were physically immersed within the space of the event itself.

It is my hope that this project not only sheds light on the importance of valuing the influence creative factors have within our daily lives, but also recognizing how it can be used as a healthy mechanism within our culture to process and heal.

These videos contain tracks from the headliners and sub-headliners of each day of the festival. They have been transformed in order to provide an immersive auditory experience for the listener. Press play, and welcome to the world of Tranquility.