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.
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.
Finding the light
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.
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.
Patrick Murphy brought these patterns to life via the magic of animation.
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.
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 Revolution Hall (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.
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.”
