Entertainment Key Art Concept & Design

Theatrical | Streaming | Home Entertainment | Television

The Hollywood Reporter defines the term “key art” as “the singular, iconographic image that is the foundation upon which a movie’s marketing campaign is built.”  It is the image that appears on the film poster, in magazine ads, on the DVD/Blu-Ray Cover and on the streaming movie thumbnail. Entertainment key art marketing has the power of story to influence and motivate consumers, creating an emotional connection between them and the brand. Key art can be extended from the realm of film to any intellectual property: a book cover, an album cover, a game cover – all of these have key art that is re-purposed across the marketing campaign.

Does it evoke an emotion?

This is the intrinsic purpose of art – to resonate subjectively and it comes into play in the creation of key art. Fear, uneasiness, happiness, joy, excitement, intrigue, anxiety. Everyone wants to feel something and key art created strictly and only for the poster or cover art makes you feel something. Some of the best posters and book covers are those that leave room for the audience to project their own thoughts and ideas – to fill in some of the blanks with their imagination.