(2019)
This summer, two sets of alphabetically arranged electronic, alternative, and hip/hop related talents will be descending upon the Neckar River to bring you two days of music and fun based at Wertwissenpark and the Freibad Neckarhalden.
This is my thesis and the only premise I had at the beginning was a design aesthetic that was flowing and moving, unique, and held in the park that is quite literally down a long set of stairs from my grandparents place in Germany.
That park is home to a lot of great memories from when I was growing up and is attached to a massive multiple pool complex on one of the ends. I remembered how the park already holds concerts and the pool complex holds water based events and wanted to find a way to bring them together here.
What I did with this festival was try to create something new based off an interesting idea that hasn’t been executed yet (an a to z lineup) within’ the festival market, add a personal spin to it (locations), have the design be something that resonates with how the water around the area can be related to how multiple groups of fans are flowing around each other in a confined place like how water moves around a basin of sorts.
Lush Bath Bombs are how i got the swirly moving designs that create the curvy art featured throughout the festival. My first idea was to photograph the chemicals that swirl when you blow a bubble. It wasn’t fully successful and figured the bath bombs were a quicker and easier solution to the look I was shooting for. After a lot(!) of edits later, I created a certain combination of overlays/edits that created the basis of the yellow and black rugid look of the curvy soap in water and ran with it home.
I have some prior knowledge about what a modern festival is and what I needed to do upon tackling the idea of designing one. With every festival there’s always a guide and mine featured the map of the grounds and the proper way to put on a wristband. It is the most important part of what a fest-goer needs in their days at any fest. Not to mention the importance of the code on the back.
On the back of the guide I put the set times for both days to give goers less of a time on their phones wasting battery life to figure out their timings.
If you couldn’t tell already, A2Z is two days and those days are split into two colors to signify which. Day 1’s color is yellow.
Every bandana offered is different based on ticket package.
This is what the guide, wristband, and bandana for Day 1 ticket holders would be in and what Day 1 holders will be delivered.
Day 2’s color is this bright blue.
I liked the bright blue a lot because it reminds me of water, the bright blue specifically more for pools but water nonetheless. The park is neighboring the Neckar River which runs through a huge chunk of Germany.
If I had a little more time I probably would’ve made a wristband for all parties involved in a fest to expand onto the idea of A2Z being a real thing. (AAA/Press/Artist/etc)
There’s a reason every package gets a bandana, it has many possible uses especially during a festival. Sweat holder, ice pack, something to wave around, fest fashionable, the list goes on.
I wanted to go beyond a traditional box as the container for the GA and give a custom A2Z fanny pack to keep that mf thang on you at all times during the fest. All contents of ticket package will be inside. I’ve personally been a victim of getting your stuff stolen right out your pockets at a fest and it’s not fun. Fanny packs are essential so those fully sending both days get one!
One of the reasons many people go to festivals is the escape their everyday lives for a unique experience that is so unlike their day to day that it creates an amazing array of memories from while in the grounds. Why not catch it on film and get a surprise back? You don’t need batteries, you have 27 shots for however long you want, you never know what it’s gonna look like in the end, and it captures the energy you were once in. Think of it like a pokeball.
VIP was like a fun experiment for me considering it had to be different and extravagant.
This is the last bandana, i swear.
The fanny pack had to change it up a bit from GA. The colors are inverted showing more of the yellow and blue that make up both days since VIP gets more of a full experience of what there is. Olympic pool sized DJ sets, inflatable on water obstacle courses, water gun fights, just a few of the benefits for VIP.
One super stellar thing you get when ordering VIP are commemorative artist cards for each day. In theory, you’d gain more to collect with each year you go to A2Z.
I’m a sucker for the little things like this and was inspired to do this after ordering a book on the history of clubbing. A club in NYC would commemorate the artists that would perform by creating a baseball card for their set.
These little things separate fests from one another by making them unique in different ways even in the smaller ways.
As a big fan of music and festivals in general, I’d love to be given something like this to commemorate the artists that make up an amazing weekend.
The last parts of the fest include all the merch created for it. Flags are pretty significant because they can be the checkpoints to groups that split or someone gets lost.
Since this festival represents water, is held near water, and the VIP is in a pool complex, swimtrunks were necessary.
To counteract the swim-trunks, I created a bodysuit for the ladies that’s based off the one-off design made for the afterparty flyer.
The idea came from the Dogfish Head headbands i’d see everytime i’d go to Firefly because they’re an official sponsor and they give these things out like candy.
Gotta stay dry, in the heat, out of the pool or water.
(I wanna use this block to bring up how you’ve seen 3 logo iterations this far. The main is the diagonal (lineup poster) but there are 3 others. An elongated horizontally based logo (headband), a condensed horizontally based logo (towel), and one with added ZZZ’s to the diagonal logo for the afterparty announcements. These are meant to symbolize A2Z’s dynamic movement, how it’s changing like the water and the people moving around in a sea of heads. As long as the A and Z are connected in some way shape or form, it represents the connections and fluidity of A2Z fest.)
Purely for the fun of it, I present to you, the A2Z frisbee.
(Also in part of the festivals within’ the instagram hype are 2 Soundcloud playlists compiled of 50 songs each from the artists of said day to give goers a sneak peek into what’s ahead.)
The hat is a staple in merch. This one is probably the simplest of the merch but features a gradient stroke embrodiery on the cap, a yellow bubble on the top of the hat, and under the brim would be the bright blue.
Last but not least are the tye-dye t-shirts. These feature the intertwined alphabet design that was also on the bandanas but the tye-dye is as fluid, dynamic, and everchanging like A2Z is.
Two colorways to symbolize both days, some people might like the yellow more than the blue and vice versa.
If you’ve gotten this far and haven’t yet, check out the website, the Instagram, and the Soundcloud playlists during that for the full experience.
See you next year!
(chuckles sadly in 2020 vision)