overview
overview
“Sound of Dawn” is a hypothetical music festival that occurs during December 20th and 21st—the first calendar weekend of winter—in Inverness, California. The guiding metaphor of the festival is to offer attendees a gentle reminder that no matter how dark it may get, there will always be light. Musical acts range from folk and classic rock to more ambient and textured sounds.
“Sound of Dawn” is a hypothetical music festival that occurs during December 20th and 21st—the first calendar weekend of winter—in Inverness, California. The guiding metaphor of the festival is to offer attendees a gentle reminder that no matter how dark it may get, there will always be light. Musical acts range from folk and classic rock to more ambient and textured sounds.
Wordmark
Wordmark
Warmth, humor, movement, music, and introspection are all pillars of the festival spirit. To communicate this sense of warmth, hand-carved wooden sculptures and blocky wood type felt like natural references. The result is a custom drawn wordmark for the festival identity. To add motion and movement to it, I added a variable height axis to the wordmark that allows it to animate with a sense of rhythm that hints at a sound wave.
Warmth, humor, movement, music, and introspection are all pillars of the festival spirit. To communicate this sense of warmth, hand-carved wooden sculptures and blocky wood type felt like natural references. The result is a custom drawn wordmark for the festival identity. To add motion and movement to it, I added a variable height axis to the wordmark that allows it to animate with a sense of rhythm that hints at a sound wave.
visual language
visual language
Given that the guiding metaphor for the festival is to find light within darkness, the counter form of the letters found within the wordmark provided an interesting spring board for crafting a visual language. The counter form shape represents this persistent ”light” and offers a flexible component to be scale and manipulated to generate further forms and motifs that appear throughout the system.
Given that the guiding metaphor for the festival is to find light within darkness, the counter form of the letters found within the wordmark provided an interesting spring board for crafting a visual language. The counter form shape represents this persistent ”light” and offers a flexible component to be scale and manipulated to generate further forms and motifs that appear throughout the system.
illustrations
illustrations
An exciting challenge of this project was continuing to consider how to weave the themes of light and dark into the brand system. Once the “pill” had been established as the metaphor for light, I wanted to create something that represented the darkness as well. Darkness takes all shapes and forms in our lives; personal struggles, challenging situations, grief etc. It is polymorphic and thus the working question became how can I represent something that is polymorphic in a formal way? That is when I landed on the idea of leaning into that formal ambiguity and creating an illustration system that leans on ambiguity.
An exciting challenge of this project was continuing to consider how to weave the themes of light and dark into the brand system. Once the “pill” had been established as the metaphor for light, I wanted to create something that represented the darkness as well. Darkness takes all shapes and forms in our lives; personal struggles, challenging situations, grief etc. It is polymorphic and thus the working question became how can I represent something that is polymorphic in a formal way? That is when I landed on the idea of leaning into that formal ambiguity and creating an illustration system that leans on ambiguity.
Festival app
Festival app
To further facilitate introspection amongst festival goers and extend the brand application, I developed a digital product concept where attendees have the opportunity to document their experience (either through uploading voice recordings, writing personal notes, or uploading images) in a digital environment that encourages perception and reflection. These various “recordings” are saved over time and become points of reference that attendees get to reflect back on even after the festival has concluded. Extending the opportunity to reflect and remember for users.
To further facilitate introspection amongst festival goers and extend the brand application, I developed a digital product concept where attendees have the opportunity to document their experience (either through uploading voice recordings, writing personal notes, or uploading images) in a digital environment that encourages perception and reflection. These various “recordings” are saved over time and become points of reference that attendees get to reflect back on even after the festival has concluded. Extending the opportunity to reflect and remember for users.
The product and it’s components are directly inspired by how I use a sketchbook—a collection of unedited fragments, recordings, and observations around me.
The product and it’s components are directly inspired by how I use a sketchbook—a collection of unedited fragments, recordings, and observations around me.
marketing site
marketing site
With their own personal recordings, users also have the opportunity to share selected documentation/reflections to a community hosted on the festival's browser based marketing website. The website also works to highlight select artists and features content that speaks to the personal and reflective tenor of the festival spirit.
With their own personal recordings, users also have the opportunity to share selected documentation/reflections to a community hosted on the festival's browser based marketing website. The website also works to highlight select artists and features content that speaks to the personal and reflective tenor of the festival spirit.
