Only cry in the rain Poster

May 2025

Personal Project

Personal Project

Chuu’s Only cry in the rain is a song I had stuck in my head for weeks. The dreamy instrumental paired with Chuu’s vocals captivated me. I designed this poster for fun to experiment with my design skills and express my love for this song.

Only cry in the rain

May 2025

Personal Project

Chuu’s Only cry in the rain is a song I had stuck in my head for weeks. The dreamy instrumental paired with Chuu’s vocals captivated me. I designed this poster for fun to experiment with my design skills and express my love for this song.

Light blue poster with water ripples in the background. Text at top says "Only Cry," with "cry" in cursive. The bottom text says "In the rain." Collage of 4 images separates the text, taken from Chuu's Only cry in the rain music video.

Overview

Chuu was a member in Loona, my favorite musical artist/group. Following her release of Only cry in the rain in April, I kept playing the song over and over. My love for the song and motivation to create led me to my objective—create a poster using visually harmonious typography, texture, and composition that conveys the wistful feeling I get when I listen to Only cry in the rain.

Process

I started by browsing Pinterest for ideas, where I mainly searched for designs that also used rainy or water-inspired visuals. I took inspiration from photo layouts, vibes, and typography combinations to incorporate into initial sketches.

Sketches of initial poster designs. Top features trains, middle features drawn elements of rain and paper, and bottom features water ripples.
Sketches of initial poster designs. Top features trains, middle features drawn elements of rain and paper, and bottom features water ripples.
Collection of inspiration poster designs from Pinterest. They are predominantly blue and feature water imagery.
Collection of inspiration poster designs from Pinterest. They are predominantly blue and feature water imagery.

The left shows sketches of the three different design directions I was considering. They were mostly inspired by the themes present in the music video. The right is a compilation of posters I was taking inspiration from while sketching.

Then I scrubbed through the music video to compile stills that I could use in my final design. The compilation of screenshots I was considering using are on the right. The images I ended up choosing for the final conveyed both happy and sad feelings, mirroring the feeling of longing and nostalgia I get from the song.

After sketching three different poster ideas, I settled on the direction I wanted to go in. I focused on a water ripple visual that included an emphasis on cursive. This would convey the elegant yet somber feeling of the song.

Then I scrubbed through the music video to compile stills that I could use in my final design. The compilation of screenshots I was considering using are on the right. The images I ended up choosing for the final conveyed both happy and sad feelings, mirroring the feeling of longing and nostalgia I get from the song.

Collection of music video stills from the Only cry in the rain music video.
Collection of music video stills from the Only cry in the rain music video.

After sketching three different poster ideas, I settled on the direction I wanted to go in. I focused on a water ripple visual that included an emphasis on cursive. This would convey the elegant yet somber feeling of the song.

I turned my sketch from paper to digital through experimentation with photo editing, image layout, and typography. I had a clear idea of what I wanted it to look like, so it was just a matter of my technical skills matching up with the design I had in my head. During the process, I experimented with what details I wanted to include, which is shown below. I got feedback from my friends during this part, and their criticisms led me to my final design.

Final version of the poster.
Final version of the poster.
Variation of final version of poster. Has a camera graphic on the left and umbrella graphic on the right.
Variation of final version of poster. Has a camera graphic on the left and umbrella graphic on the right.

On the left is one iteration I had, which had no extra graphic assets. On the right is an iteration with extra graphic assets—the camera and umbrella. I ultimately decided to exclude these assets since I wanted to keep it simple and they didn't fit into the rainy theme enough.

Ultimately, I was able to create a poster that accurately represented my love and the feelings I experienced from the song. I stuck to my design vision and satiated my creative desire to see Only cry in the rain turned into an aesthetically-pleasing poster.

Yuting Pu

Yuting Pu