Same Same But Different Festival 2023

Branding | Festival Branding | Illustration | Motion | Posters

Defining and refining the brand

I did the poster design and some social and motion assets for 2022’s Same Same But Different festival in Southern California on Lake Perris (you can see my work from that year here) and the promoters liked the work so much they asked me to return for the 2023 fest, but this time in an expanded role. A common factor with most music festivals is how they often start off with a less disciplined brand system, usually defined and then refined after the fest has had a few years to get up and running. During those first few years there can be a few too many variations in color, type, texture, etc. present and SSBD wanted the 2023 iteration of the event to have a more structured brand system and they wanted me to be part of creating that look.

Redesigning the logo

The mark they had from the beginning through 2022 was nice but to my taste felt a touch too indebted to 00s blog house culture and the aesthetics of the time. I sought to take what was strong about the mark and shake off the early-millenial design nods to give us a sleeker, more streamlined mark that updated the vibe of the event visually.

Use the slider below to compare the pre-2023 logo with the current updated version…

You can see how the new mark plays with the new illustration I made of Lake Perris in the static and motion lineup announcement posters below…

Setting the scene

The best festivals present their location as part of their appeal. Would Coachella feel the same in Ohio? Would Lollapalooza lose its allure if you took it away from the Chicago lakeshore? Location very much contributes to a festival’s vibe and SSBD’s location on Lake Perris is no exception. It’s a beach party, it’s campign, it’s remote enough to be a destination but not so remote that you feel cut off from civilization. It also has enough of a techno-hippie allure to provide the perfect backdrop for the genre-mixing sounds on the lineup. When creting the artworrk (for both 2022 and 2023) I really wanted to present that setting but in its most heightened form. Hyperreal if you will. This should feel warm and inviting but also with a touch of psychedelic vision quest to it. And since the weekend would offer plenty to do day and night, I knew I needed to present the sun, the moon, the stars, and all that. And since so many of the acts were at least somewhat footed in dancefloor culture, I crashed a disco mirrorball into the sand of the lakeshore to signal to the uninitiated that there would be plenty of beats throuhgout the weekend.