intro

Burning Man is an annual festival that takes place in the Black Rock Desert in Nevada. The week-long event is all about coming together as a community to celebrate life, creativity, and individuality. “Burning Man” comes from the ceremony of burning a giant wooden man, which symbolizes letting go of the past and embracing the future. A diverse and passionate community of artists, makers, influencers, and even just the “average” person, come together to create eye-catching art installations. Burning Man is a city where you can be whoever you want, express yourself freely without any judgement or shame, and let yourself shine while being inspired by the beauty of the world around you.

Taking all this into consideration, this project was to create a book cover, spread design, and e-book adaptation that displays and promotes the work and importance of the Burning Man Festival.

process + experience
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Much like this event is a huge work of art, I wanted the book to reflect that and be a work of art itself. I was overwhelmed with the number of possibilities and I wanted to do something insanely extra and crazy, but then it hit me; the Burning Man logo was all I needed to have a simple yet striking book cover. He is the center of everything.

The art at Burning Man contains things you would never see anywhere else. Each piece of work has a life of its own and interacts with the crowd in some way. Nothing is static. What better printing technique to show this other than holographic foil, which changes when viewed at different angles. I wanted the books to change and transform just like the art of Burning Man itself.

Since Burning Man isn’t just one thing, I decided to make two versions of the book – one for the day, and one for the night. The day version would be filled with pictures and information about all the things that happen under the sun, while the night version would feature all the things that happen after dark.

The book stand is meant to be an eye-catching art piece, like something that would be seen at the festival. It is inspired by the Playa, which is the central open area in Black Rock City. It's a semi-circle due to the city's radial street layout, and the Burning Man sculpture is at the center.

outcome

When I was set on my ideas for the cover and book stand, I had an extremely vivid image in my head of how I wanted my final project to look. When everything was finally done and executed, it was a spitting image of what I had initially imagined in my head. My imagination runs wild!