David Badounts is a Creative Director for major brands.
For Ben Stiller's The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, we were tasked with designing a theatrical poster that visually encapsulated the film's central tension between the quiet, overlooked life of Walter Mitty and the sweeping, cinematic world of his imagination.
Walter, a negative assets manager at Life magazine, spends his days cataloging photographs, yet he yearns for something more, something extraordinary. Our approach leaned into this emotional duality. The final key art shows Walter Mitty standing atop a mountain, briefcase in hand, gazing out across a vast and dreamlike horizon. The composition reflects his shift from passive daydreamer to someone actively writing his own story.
Typography was drawn from Life magazine's classic editorial DNA: clean, timeless, and centered. By anchoring it at the top, the type design served as a metaphorical "north star" for the character's internal compass. This treatment became the throughline for 20th Century Fox's full suite of marketing materials, from bus wraps to award-season placements. The result was a poster that felt both dreamlike and grounded, just like Walter himself.
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Role: Designer + Creative Director
Client: 20th Century Fox