︎

XOXO Fest 2024

Completed:
2024


Roles:
︎ Brand Strategy
︎ Identity Design
︎ Collateral & Signage
︎ Environmental Graphics


Collaborators:
︎︎︎ Premier Press, printing
︎︎︎ ColorHaus, printing
︎︎︎ Scoutbooks, guidebooks
︎︎︎ Field Notes, notebooks
︎︎︎ SideQuest Fabrication, CNC
︎︎︎ Conte Construction, painting
︎︎︎ Patrick Murphy, animation
︎︎︎ Craig Winslow, projection mapping
︎︎︎ Human Shapes, art direction, design support, photography


Capturing the light. XOXO is an experimental festival for independent artists who live and work online. A robust and enthusiastic community has formed around the festival since it was first held in 2012, connecting regularly throughout the years, even during off times and in between events. 

After a few years off, founders Andy Baio and Andy McMillan decided to hold one last XOXO. We created a visual identity to send them off, centered around the impressions it leaves behind, and the beauty of the community that has grown from it.



Press:
︎ XOXO Looks back on years of connection for online community


XOXO fest badges. They have a dappled light pattern on the front, and the inside opens up to show the weekend's schedule.


Concept

What makes XOXO particularly special is the community. We started thinking of these lovely individuals as many leaves on a big tree. Then we imagined ways those leaves influence the world beyond the tree. Shadows came to mind—the peaceful pattern of dappled light through the leaves, positive and negative space dancing together, dynamic and always changing.



An animated version of the pattern. Pixelated purple and yellow shadows from trees, dappled light dancing.


Brand Identity

We created a pattern using this dappled shadow—a dithered version, hinting at the internetty underpinning of the fest as well as the disbanding of XOXO into little bits that will go on to form new things. The color story consists of calming shades of blue, punched up with energetic yellow and purple, for both quiet and lively moments.



The Conference side of the Scoutbook. The Festival side of the Scoutbook.


A strong type system was important for the brand, as many of the pieces are copy-heavy. Avara by Velvetyne echos the angular fluidity of the pattern for headlines, while VCTR Mono by Vectro Type lends a soft typewriter feel to all the body copy.


Close up of a sign for a Tabletop game at XOXO Fest. A big board with the pattern in the background, and the name of the game and maker in the center.

A collage of some of the many XOXO signs we designed.

The patterns on screen at the XOXO main stage The patterns in motion on the XOXO main stage

Patrick Murphy brought these patterns to life via the magic of animation.

Badges ready to be handed out at registration. Incredible nails on attendee Courtney P.K. Nails by Moon Dust Nails!


Another theme we kept coming back to is the way folks take what resonates with them from XOXO and use it to grow new projects / ideas / things. Cody from Human Shapes collaborated with us on a flower motif, where futuristic blooms burst open. We applied that motif to the entrance, a lively welcome to the last XOXO.



An overview of the entrance graphics. Radial flower cutouts are arranged in an arch over the entrance. They're in shades of blue, purple, and yellow.

A detail view of some flower cutouts. Bright geometric flower shapes in radial patterns. A medium-close view of some of the flower cutouts on one side of the entrance. Bright geometric flower shapes in radial patterns.



Continuing our shadow motif, we wanted to capture a snapshot of this intangible thing that XOXO is/was. We made a cyanotype from the shadows of the trees at Washington High School (where the festival is held) as a literal impression of XOXO, so everyone gets to take a little piece of Portland and XO home with them. Field Notes printed the cyanotype across the whole press sheet, so there are 18 unique covers that all fit together to form one big piece.



The Field Notes front cover. The background is a dark and cyan blue print of abstracted shadowy leaves. The notebook rests on the original fabric cyanotype. The Field Notes back cover. The background is a dark and cyan blue print of abstracted shadowy leaves. The notebook rests on the original fabric cyanotype. The cyanotype in the making. A pale blue sheet set underneath some leaves in the bright sun, so the shadow falls on the sheet. Rinsing out the cyanotype. Now the fabric is bright blue and being swished by my hand in some water in a pink tub. Large cyanotypes drying on a table on my deck back at home. The Field Notes press sheet, showing 18 covers in a grid with the cyanotype distributed across them all.

Personal note: I (Ellen) have attended every XOXO. The first time I visited Portland was in 2012 for this odd little festival my partner, Cody, had seen on Kickstarter. We loved the city so much, we ended up moving here less than a year later from Omaha, Nebraska and have been here ever since. XOXO has been quite influential in my life and I’m so grateful to be a part of this community, and honored to have played a tiny part of the very last one. In the words of my friend Darius Kazemi, “The XOXO dream is dead. Long live the XOXO dream.”

The view of the entrance graphics from behind. You can see the neighborhood in the distance.