This is a client-approved but ultimately unused visual identity for Outside Lands 2025.
In late 2024 I had the incredible opportunity to pitch brand concepts for Outside Lands with Direct Message Studio, and this was the concept I developed. It uses a modular set of elements to create lively and easily remixable visual system that captures the controlled chaos and energy of the festival, and incorporates original site photography of Golden Gate Park processed through a custom editing pipeline to weave a sense of place throughout the identity. Of the 3 identity directions we presented, this one won the pitch — though it ultimately did not make it through to production.
Custom Imagery
One of the requirements laid out for us by Another Planet during the discovery phase was incorporating photography into the identity system. Outside Lands has relied solely on graphics for all of its previous identities, and APE wanted to reinvigorate things by including real-life imagery from the festival. However, this presented two major hurdles: their library of festival images came from a range of photographers with their own styles and had no unified look, and the monumental scale of some festival assets would require image resolution far exceeding the available photographs.
I solved both of these challenges by bridging photography and graphics, creating a custom image processing pipeline to quickly convert images into duotone bitmaps that unify the look and allow the resulting assets to be printed tack-sharp at any size. I also took a trip to Golden Gate Park and produced original photography of the festival site, capturing the foliage and architecture unique to the site. I ran these images through the same processing pipeline to create a library of textures used throughout the visual system, weaving the park itself deeply into every element of the identity.
Credits:
Lead Designer — Brady Comerford
Creative Director — Robbie Landsburg
Project Manager — Megan Milliron
Account Supervisor — Stan Okumura