Ideal Night Out Project

Awarded Best Storytelling - Best of Ringling College Showcase 2022

Contributors: Samantha Foster and Abigail Hanly

Narrative

“You are cordially invited to travel back to the roaring 1920s by none other than famous Italian singer, Nella Regini. Nella wants you to personally attend her black tie formal event, located in her privately owned nightclub. Enjoy a night of delicious food, luxurious drinks, a swinging atmosphere, and more. But be warned! This party takes place in New York City during the United States’ Prohibition Era, a time where the selling and consumption of alcohol was illegal. So have fun during your night out, but remember: DO NOT GET CAUGHT, DO NOT SHARE THE SECRET PASSWORD, AND NO SNITCHING!

As per your invitation, you will be requested to provide a password when you knock on Nella’s portrait for entry into the main party. If you do this correctly, you’ll be invited into a speakeasy unlike any other, but if you don’t, well as the saying goes, snitches get stitches...”

Design Process

Inspiration

My project partner and I were highly inspired by Prohibition Era color and design schemes when we first started this project. We were drawn to creating a speakeasy because it holds so much potential for developing narratives and incorporating vintage designs into a themed, immersive environment.

Research

To best support an environment that is designed to look like a Prohibition Era speakeasy, I collected data from various design catalogs, websites, and magazines to use as references for popular design trends in the 1920s. My partner and I also decided to use a spokeswoman to base our narrative off of, which is where we got the name and inspiration for Nella Regini’s.

Ideation

During this brainstorming and ideation process, and after collaborating with my project partner, I sketched out possible room designs with various points of view to best understand what the final design layout would look like. I also drew out a possible 1920s-inspired design for signage and invitations, which we ended up using in the final product.

Props

Nella Regini's Speakeasy Invitations Handed Out During Presentation