Visual design and development of music festival

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Content VISUAL DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT OF MUSIC FESTIVAL
by
Xi Yang
A Thesis Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE USC ROSKI SCHOOL OF ART AND DESIGN
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial
Fulfillment of the
Requirements for
the Degree
MASTER OF FINE ARTS
(DESIGN)
May 2021

ii
Table of Contents
LIST OF FIGURES ............................................................................................................................................. iv
ABSTRACT .............................................................................................................................................................. v
INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................................. 1
PART 1: WHAT IS THE MUSIC FESTIVAL? ....................................................................................... 2
DEFINING THE MUSIC FESTIVAL .................................................................................................. 2
INVESTIGATING OF MUSIC FESTIVAL ........................................................................................... 3
The Origins ............................................................................................................................. 3
The Biggest ............................................................................................................................. 4
The Disastrous ........................................................................................................................ 5
THE STAGE DESIGN ..................................................................................................................... 7
THE COSTUME DESIGN (MUSIC FESTIVAL FASHION) ................................................................. 10
THE PROMOTIONAL MATERIAL DESIGN (ADVERTISEMENT & PROPAGATION)........................... 12
RAISING THE MUSIC FESTIVAL (RETHINKING THE MUSIC FESTIVAL IN A PANDEMIC ERA)........ 15
FINDINGS AND CONCLUSION FOR PART 1 ................................................................................... 20
PART 2: DESIGN EXPLORATIONS OF UNDERTAKEN IN RESPONSE TO VISUAL
DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT OF MUSIC FESTIVAL AND CULTURAL
ADAPTATION TO COVID-19 ......................................................................................................................22
PROJECT 1 .................................................................................................................................. 24
PROJECT 2 .................................................................................................................................. 25
PROJECT 3 .................................................................................................................................. 26
PROJECT 4: VIRTUAL FESTIVAL GAME DESIGN.......................................................................... 27
PROJECT 5: PHOTOGRAPHY ........................................................................................................ 29
PROJECT 6: VIDEO...................................................................................................................... 31
FINDINGS AND CONCLUSION FOR PART 2 ................................................................................... 32

iii
REFERENCES .....................................................................................................................................................33

iv
List of Figures
Figure 1: Woodstock, 1969…………………………………………………………………….… 4
Figure 2: Summerfest, 1968…………………………………………………………………........ 5
Figure 3: Altamont Free Concert, 1969………………………………………………………….. 6
Figure 4: EDM, 2016………………………………………………………………………….…. 8
Figure 5: Electric Daisy Carnival Mainstage Design, 2018………………………...……… 9 – 10
Figure 6: Festive Faces………………………………………………………………….……… 11
Figure 7: Vanessa Anne Hudgen………………………………………………………….……. 13
Figure 8: Pony Park……………………………………………………………………….……. 13
Figure 9: Wristband…………………………………………………………………….………. 14
Figure 10: Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival Wristband Box Design………….……... 15
Figure 11: W&W & ALDA’s World-First XR Livestream, 2020………………………...…..... 17
Figure 12: EDC Las Vegas Virtual Rave, 2020…………………………………………..…….. 17
Figure 13: Insomniac Park and Rave, 2020……………………………………………..……… 18
Figure 14: Tupac, 2012……………………………………………………………………..…... 20
Figure 15: Marketing and Lineup Posters Designs, 2020…………………………………..…... 24
Figure 16: Name Badges and Wristband Designs, 2020……………………………….………. 25
Figure 17: Sculpture Design, 2020…………………………………………………….……….. 26
Figure 18: Virtual Festival Game Designs, 2020……………………………………….…. 27 – 28
Figure 19: Untitled Photography, 2020…………………………………………………… 29 – 30
Figure 20: Untitled Video Screenshots, 2020…………………………………….…………….. 31

v
Abstract
Music festivals have witnessed renewed popularity in the past decade but are now faced
with rethinking themselves in light of the global COVID-19 pandemic. Until 2020, music
festivals were a highly competitive and significant income-generating industry. The frenzy that
the music causes made thousands of people camp in tents for several days to catch a glimpse of
Coachella that hosts world-renowned artists and bands. Each year, music festivals attract more
music fanatics. Consequently, the festivals are transforming the American lifestyle by adding
more color and an in-depth understanding of diversity and art. The music festival industry now
finds itself trying to balance what it had become with what will be possible in a world made
aware of inherent and in future manageable risks associated with mass gatherings.
This research paper will examine the music festival's definition and extensively explore
the history of music festivals with reference to the first and largest festivals. The paper will
demonstrate the stage design and discuss the changing festival dress fashion, advertising, and
propagation over the years. Notably, the festival's promotional platform has also evolved, which
indirectly affects promotional materials' visual design. The paper will also analyze how the
music festival's visual design has changed over the years and the expected future development
trends.

1
Introduction
As Music festivals increased in popularity, people’s experiences became a vital feature of
the music festival lifestyle in the United States. People have been camping in tents for days, all
dressed up and gathered in a park for musicians’ performances. Each year, music festivals
attract more music fans. It is transforming people's lifestyles by providing for the release of
stress and adding more color to people's daily life.
This paper examines my design practice’s changing relationship to music festival culture
and design over the course of my studies which coincided with the emergence of the COVID-19
pandemic. My research investigates the music festival's definition and extensively explores the
history of music festivals with reference to the first and largest festivals. The paper demonstrates
stage design and discusses changing festival dress fashion, advertising, and propagation over the
years. Notably, the festival's promotional platform has also evolved, which indirectly affects
promotional materials' visual design.
Based on this research, I prototype potential pre-pandemic developments for the music
festival event and promotional environment. While these developments may well be integrated
into post-pandemic music festival design, the psychological and physical effects of a year spent
in various levels of isolation cannot and will not be easily overcome. The three projects
presented at the end of this thesis (both from 2020) deal explicitly with this issue: the first is an
attempt to reproduce the festival through video gaming and the second is a series of photographs
that evoke the alienation of 2020/21 that will have to be worked through in order to revive the
music festival culture in a substantive way. The third project, a video, imagines a future for the
music festival through the lens of the crisis from which we now hope to emerge.

2
PART 1: What is the Music Festival?

Music festivals began in ancient Greece, where participants were involved in various
competitions, including sports, music, and arts (Gajanan, 2019). In the United States,
contemporary music festivals were influenced by the legendary Woodstock festival, held in
Bethel, New York, in 1969 (Baker, 2019). Although Woodstock was not the first festival of its
kind with Milwaukee and Newport Festival before it, the Bethel event helped shape the history
of American pop culture. Today, Coachella remains the most renowned festival in the US that
earned more than $100 million in 2017 (Gajanan, 2019). The primary reason that the music
festival industry has grown is due to people's value for rare experiences.

Defining the Music Festival
A music festival is a community-based fair or event that includes live performances of art
demonstration, singing, and instrumentation, often presented with a theme (Baker, 2019).
Common themes revolve around holidays, musical genres, or the promotion of local musicians
and arts. Music festivals are typically held outdoors, with roofed temporary stages for the
performance. More so, various attractions accompany music festivals, such as food and
merchandise vendors, dance, performance art, and other social activities. Most of the festivals
are held annually. There are several types of music festivals, including for-profit concerts,
charitable causes, or the benefit of amateur musicians of all ages and all grades of achievement.
Other types are festivals that are organized annually and locally, regionally, or even nationally.
In my opinion, the music festival is a combination of multiple arts and technologies. It
includes the collaboration of designers, artists, and musicians in many aspects, including

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multiple visual design elements such as music, dance, stage, lighting, special effects, props, and
costumes. Therefore, because of these characteristics, the music festival has become more and
more fascinating, sought after by a large number of participants, and the first sight has become a
modern culture.

Investigating of Music Festival
The Origins
Gajanan stated that the origins of Music festivals can be traced back to the 6
th
Century
BC in ancient Greek. However, the interception of the music festival and culture in Western
countries was founded in Rhode Island during the Newport Jazz Festival in 1952 (Marzarotto,
2018). Artists such as Ella Fitzgerald attracted more than 10,000 participants that attended the
Newport Festival to experiences live performances of Jazz, blues, and gospel music (Marzarotto,
2018). Seven years later, a similar festival known as the Newport Folk Festival was launched,
inviting thousands of youths to camp in tents to experience Bob Dylan playing electric. This saw
a change in pop culture when Dylan introduced rock 'n' roll to folk audiences. Almost ten years
later, in 1968, the Summerfest festival, located in Milwaukee, was held in North America,
attracting close to a million people over a week and a half (Baker, 2019). The Milwaukee festival
gained recognition having the most attendees in North American festivals.

4

Figure 1: Woodstock, 1969

The Biggest
"The World's Largest Music Festival," certified by Guinness World Records in 1999, is
Summerfest held in downtown Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Summerfest was first held in 1968,
attracting approximately 1 million audiences (Baker, 2019). The Summerfest has maintained its
legacy for attracting the most audiences from across the country. Summerfest lasts for eleven
days, from late June until early July, with 12 stages with over 1000 performances (Marzarotto,
2018). Performers are from local and national well-known music talents, and they perform
throughout the grounds from noon to midnight. As the largest Music Festival, nearly $150
million has been invested into the place since 2004 (Gajanan, 2019). The investment has
included bars, production space, permanent stages, VIP amenities, and infrastructures. The
festival showcases various food from Milwaukee-area restaurants and other vendors, which
creates abound for small businesses.

5

Figure 2: Summerfest, 1968

The Disastrous
While the Woodstock Festival of August 1969 symbolized peace and idealism in music,
the Altamont free concert four months later tainted the festival's reputation. The Altamont is
infamous for the violent incidents that have occurred, leading to a severe strain in the music
festival's history. The Altamont Music Festival held in Northern California on December 07,
1969, will forever be remembered for four live births and four deaths, where three were ruled as
accidental (Baker, 2019).
The Altamont Speedway Free Festival attracted nearly 300,000 participants. However,
the event remains the most violent, including the stabbing death of Meredith Hunter and three
accidental deaths. Two of the accidental deaths were caused by a hit-and-run car accident, while
one resulted from LSD-induced drowning in an irrigation canal. Although the murder of 18-year-
old Hunter was tried, he was acquainted on self-defense grounds (Baker, 2019). By the end of
the event, scores were injured, numerous cars were stolen, then abandoned, and extensive
property damage.

6

Figure 3: Altamont Free Concert, 1969

The music festival incidences lead to divergent opinions on what caused the violence.
Some people believed that this was because the Hells Angels were hired as security to manage
the Rolling Stones. Others said it was the Rolling Stones' lyrics and the flood of drugs that
affected people (Gajanan, 2019). Regardless of the different opinions on the cause of violence,
the Altamont festival remains the most disastrous performance in music festival history. For
record-keeping purposes, the Altamont festival was featured in the Maysles Brothers and
Charlotte Zwerin’s classic documentary film “Gimme Shelter". This film was directed by the
famous documentary director Albert and David Maysles, and Haskell Wexler shot this film with
greater intuition and control. As a result, this movie is considered one of the greatest rock
documentaries of all time. Moreover, the San Francisco veteran music writer Joel Selvin's book
"Altamont: The Rolling Stones, Hell Angels and Inside the Darkest Days of Rock" in 2016
presented the event as a toxic cocktail of greed and innocence (Chiu, 2019).

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The Stage Design
With the introduction of electronic dance music from Europe, special effects such as
stage design and lighting have become more and more important. Unlike rock, hip-hop, and
other music forms, electronic music does not have performances to watch on stage, so the stage
special effects greatly affect the whole environment. With the popularity of electronic music
festivals and the development of technology, the special effects of the stage are more integrated
with multiple elements. Not only the lighting is an important part of the stage design, but also the
fireworks, water, smoke, and lasers also provide the audience a unique and extraordinary
experience.
The performing lineup is the most crucial element of the music festival. Although music
is essential, the other factor of festival culture that upgrades the experience is the stage design.
Stage design at a music festival becomes an attraction because, without the design, performers
and artists would perform on blank, boring stages. Undoubtedly, an intricate stage design leaves
the audience with an unforgettable experience. With the high-quality design production, the
musical artists' performance is better illuminated to the audience.
Based on the research, the two most famous electronic music festival companies in the
United States today are Ultra Enterprises and the Insomniac. The music festivals organized by
these two companies have spread all over the world, including America, Asia, and Africa. At the
same time, SJ Lighting, Inc., owned and operated by Stephen Lieberman, is currently the largest
and most popular stage lighting design company. This company has been working in the lighting
and design industry for over 25 years. SJ Lighting is a significant element in stage design since
this is the official lighting and production company for Ultra Music Festival and the Insomniac
events. SJ Lighting took over the Ultra account in 2000, freedoms and budget afforded to

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production grew along with electronic dance music's moves toward mainstream appeal
(Haugenn, 2016). The SJ Lighting spent approximately $300,000 on lights and stage design to
see the music festival's success in the early 2000s (Bein, 2016). Today, the company’s lighting
budget has escalated to millions of dollars, bolstered by high ticket prices, increasingly lucrative
sponsorship deals, and sales. The SJ Lighting company is responsible for Ultra events and
Insomniac around the world. The company also put together the Yuma stage at Coachella and
design for well-known nightclubs, from LIV and Story in Miami and Las Vegas (Haugenn,
2016). Their professionalism offers music enthusiasts an incomparable experience every year.

Figure 4: EDM, 2016 Photo: Electric Zoo

With the heavy investment into stage and other designs, famous music festivals come at a
steep price. In 2018, a Coachella ticket went for $429. More shocking, producers of Iceland’s
Secret Solstice Music Festival made headlines by offering travel experiences at $1 million.

9
Despite the expenses included, most music enthusiasts perceive attending a music festival as a
life-changing experience (Bein, 2016).
As an example, an outstanding stage design is the mainstage design of Insomnia’s
flagship event Electric Daisy Carnival. Leisure Expert Group is the design partner company for
this event that specializes in the design and production of spaces and identities in the leisure,
festival, and event industry. Each time EDC's mainstage design tells a unique story, the theme of
2018 is "Kinetic Love". At the center of the stage, the designer team created the modeling with
two giant 30 meters (90ft) high statues sharing one heart. The purpose is to encourage event
participants to celebrate life while creating a safe and sacred space. On the other hand, with the
continuous development of stage design technology, designers use 3D fully rendering before
producing every single panel. They used new technology to understand the sheer size of the
stage, in order to save a lot of production hours and costs. At the same time, the combination of
animation, lighting, video, and even the fireworks also added indispensable brilliance to the
stage. This is called the time code program, including the spectacular opening ceremony, more
than five different intermezzo shows, and the final performance. These designed programs are
accurate to milliseconds through pre-set programming and effects with the usage of light, fire,
smoke, water, and lasers elements.

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Figure 5: Electric Daisy Carnival Mainstage Design, Leisure Expert Group, 2018

The Costume Design (Music Festival Fashion)
With the growing enthusiasm and value for musical events, festivals have become a rite
of passage for young adults. Over the years, festival-goers dress in prevailing music and culture
trends, veering from glam to sensibly dour and even some outrageous.
In the 1960s, people who went to Jazz and fold music festivals were open to archetypal
due to their summer-of-love hippy look in vintage clothes, tent dresses, sweeping diaphanous
blouses, bell-bottoms, velvet waistcoats, headscarves, and bead necklaces (Lee, 2018). They also
wore boots, sandals, or even go barefoot, with dramatic eyeliner.
The 1970s became rowdier, tribal, and louder. There were battles between different
fractions, making the festival-going fashion step on a grittier, duller look. Performers chose to
wear leather jackets and parkas, printed T-shirts, army boots, and jeans.
The fashion of music festivals in the 1980s was influenced by rock music. People used
punk elements to embellish their styles, such as femme faux hawk hairstyle, dog collar, safety
pins galore, duct type shorts, and shredded tights. Another feature is the popularity of tattoos.
Many festival-goers create full sleeves of tattoos to express their beliefs and hobbies.

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In the early 1990s, the festival dress was addicted by generation X: plaid shirts, long and
messy hair, scuffed trainers, and baggy jeans. Lollapalooza festival helped cement this aesthetic
standard with now-mind-blowing lineups (Lee, 2018). Even though bands such as L7 and Babes
in Toyland encouraged fans to wear corsets, red and black stripy tights, and dye hair, there were
still people who followed Red Hot Chili Peppers wearing nothing but a sock on them.
In the 2000s, festival fashion made a big turn towards glamor. Models and movie stars
infiltrated music festivals; for example, the influence of Kate Moss's outfits, boots, and welly
with micro dresses lives today. High heels will not let you stand in a muddy field for a couple of
days, but they introduced an element of surreal pizzazz to proceedings (Lee, 2018). Today, the
dress code has changed, and people are free to wear as they wish without following a specific
costume design. For instance, in the current mega-rave festivals, Ultra, Coachella, people wear
outlandish costumes, morph suits, near-nakedness, body glitters, and outstanding face makeup.
Today's makeup is even crazier, such as mermaid face stickers, glitters all around the body,
diamond pasties, etc.

Figure 6: Festive Faces Photo: Getty Image/Emma McIntyre

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As a designer who expects to develop in the culture and entertainment industry, I am
fascinated by the brightness, color, and fun that the crowd has. Based on the research on the
historical development of music festival fashion, I understand that with the continuous
development of culture, people's aesthetics determine the direction of design. Design is different
from advanced fine arts. Design needs to cater to the public's aesthetics in order to be understood
and accepted by most audience groups. At the same time, the design should not be static. Even if
it is a series of events, each design production still needs to have a different theme to keep being
attractive.

The Promotional Material Design (Advertisement & Propagation)
Similar to stage design, advertising and propagation are essential in music festivals. For
an event to fulfill its full potential in terms of attendees and profit, marketing must be top-notch.
The first thing that any marketer does is know the target audience, its needs, wants, and
expectations, then perform marketing that makes people want to purchase the first VIP ticket.
Fyre Festival is considered an excellent brand marketing example. Fyre Festival offered
information through promotional videos of famous people, gourmet food, luxury lifestyle, and a
festival on an island, making every music fan eager to experience (Pantaleo, 2019). Similarly,
Billy McFarland promised festival-goers an experience of a lifetime that he communicated
through marketing. Such marketers use promotional pictures and videos of the glorious island
and parties to entice the audience not to miss out.
Music festivals build partnerships to reach a broader audience since customers take
recommendations from influencers and artists over the advertisement. Coachella used to partner
with a bunch of influencers and brands. For instance, Vanessa Anne Hudgens is an American

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actress, singer, and producer. She had a post on Instagram advertising Amazon lockers at
Coachella, this post taking advantage of her followers and people who trust in her opinion
(Pantaleo, 2019). Moreover, another influencer Park Hye-min, known professionally as Pony or
Pony Park, is a South Korean make-up artist, blogger, and Beauty YouTuber. She was listed in
Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia in 2017 for her make-up career. She has more than 5.83 million
YouTube fans, and her videos have about 342 million views. Obviously, her social influence is
very powerful. In 2018, she filmed and released several vlog videos related to participating in the
Coachella Music Festival, including makeup tutorials and event experiences sharing. Coachella
Music Festival and NYX Professional Makeup Company also sponsored her trip and achieved a
win-win goal while promoting each other.

Figure 7: Vanessa Anne Hudgen Figure 8: Pony Park

Recently, music festivals advertise way before events take place, announcing the lineup
and selling tickets on official websites. The official websites and social media platforms make
tickets available three months prior to the festival. More so, the ticket designs are transformed
into wristbands, associating with the theme color and pattern. Wristbands are more synonymous
with festivals and quickly get adopted by all types of festivals all over the world.

14
The design of the wristband chooses the material of the textile and wraps the QR code
that can be scanned inside. This design not only has stronger functionality, makes wearing more
comfortable, and reduces possible damage, but also caters to the culture of people wearing
colorful accessories at music festivals. At the same time, the organizer has set its one-time wear
form, and participants do not need to take it off for a few days during the festival. This design
helps reduce unnecessary troubles such as lost tickets, reissues, and unauthorized secondary
sales.

Figure 9: Wristband Photo: ©Alliance

Besides the tickets, people tend to make their own bracelets and give them away at the
festival. It is made with plastic jewelry, which is either in a cube, heart shape, any other shape, or
in letters. Music fans arrange the letters in the order of their favorite artists' names, the music
festival's names, good wishes, and everything necessary to them. The bracelets are popular
because they create a physical and emotional connection with people.

15
Within a few months before each festival, participants will receive a wristband box from
the organizer. This is also an excellent design worthy of analysis and investigation in this article.
Similar to Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, each year’s box design is unique. It not
only includes tickets, maps, introductions, and other materials needed to participate in the
interaction, but also many gift peripheral products, such as puzzles, stickers, hanging ropes,
water cups, etc. The design of these products is unique every year, which also triggered the
collection culture of wristband boxes by music festival lovers.

Figure 10: Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival Wristband Box Design

Raising the Music Festival (Rethinking the Music Festival in a
Pandemic Era)
Since the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020 and the lockdown requirements, the live
performance industry has suffered a heavy blow. Within a few months, thousands of people were
unemployed, putting the careers of artists, performers, venues, and other service providers on
hold. In addition, many entertainment firms risked bankruptcy. Since China was the origin of

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COVID-19, the entertainment industry has undoubtedly had an enormous impact. Zhang Ran of
Modern Sky Overseas Division, one of China's largest independent music record companies, said
that Modern Sky has canceled 12 music festivals and lost 200 million box office (UN News,
2020). The situation is no different in the United States, where social distancing has seen the
cancellation and postponement of many anticipated festivals. For example, recently, the
Coachella music festival set to take place in April 2021 was canceled by health officials for the
third time, citing an increased rate of the coronavirus pandemic.
The crisis is likely to increase the music industry's underlying trends, based on the
importance of streaming, which has grown from 9% to 47% of total industry revenues in just six
years (Hall, 2020). With the gradual extension of the quarantine life, many large music festival
companies, such as Insomniac and Goldenvoice, have all launched different music experience
activities. They launched online music festival activities and used unique and more gorgeous
animation visual effects to enrich the audience's experience. This also reflects how visual design
adds color to the music industry in people's lives. Designers create various virtual stages,
lighting, and crowd visual effects, accompanied by performers from different regions performing
online, which has made a new chapter in the music festival industry.
In May 2020, the World-famous DJ & producer duo W&W made the history that they
delivered a spectacular extended reality live stream. The exclusive livestream brought together
fans from over 50 countries. The designer team used video animation to create an atmosphere of
a crowd audience, and combined with musicians’ performances on stage, changed the style of
music festival culture in a novel way.

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Figure 11: W&W & ALDA’s World-First XR Livestream, 2020

Almost at the same time, the Insomniac Company held the live Electric Daisy Carnival
event on the YouTube platform, which is called EDC Las Vegas Virtual Rave. The difference is
that they invited many outstanding musicians to participate at the same time and take turns to
perform, which also meets the jet lag needs of performers and audiences from all over the world.
This is the first time that EDC has established an online event.

Figure 12: EDC Las Vegas Virtual Rave, 2020

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Another new music festival experience that has just been born during the pandemic is the
car rave. Due to social distance guidelines, people are experiencing live music events in the
comfort of their car instead of being in the traditional dense crowd. In the future, people might
permanently become more adaptable to social distance, so the car rave format may become the
new norm for the music festival experience.

Figure 13: Insomniac Park and Rave, 2020

The impact of COVID-19 on the music festival design industry is more of turning it into
a digital era. Augmented reality (AR) and Virtual reality (VR) will gradually be integrated into
the technology development of the music festival. Nowadays, people can experience the charm
of music festivals with social distancing everywhere. In the future, as pandemic improves, people
may still be eager to get together and be part of the social group. This is also the reason why
music festivals exist and are popular. But at the same time, people will also have a new
understanding of public events. That is to incorporate the power of more technology, such as
projecting things on the wall and ceiling, using AR and VR devices to enhance the live

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experience while experiencing with the social group. At that time, people could easily experience
the energy and atmosphere brought by the music festival anywhere, not only at home, at the live
show, but also on the road. In the future, electric vehicles and driverless driving will gradually
become popular, people can use the windshield of the car as a screen on the road, project
performance experience, and enjoy the joy of entertainment in life.
Another example worthy of reference is the performance of the famous hip-hop musician
Tupac on Coachella in 2012. Tupac Amaru Shakur was considered to be one of the most
influential American rappers and actors. His work has been noted for addressing contemporary
social issues that plagued inner cities, and he is considered a symbol of activism against
inequality. In 1996, Tupac was assassinated in Las Vegas. But after that, his performance did not
stop.
In 2012, on the stage of Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, designers and
engineers used holographic projection to perfectly reproduce his performance. At the scene,
Tupac walked freely on the stage, swaying hip-hop dance movements, and interacted with other
singers and audiences. "There is an overhead projector that sort of reflects down onto basically a
tilted piece of glass that is sort of on the stage floor," Montgomery says. "That then reflects the
well reflection onto a mylar sort of screen, and it projects in this sort of 3-D kind of thing where
it allows the other performers to sort of walking in front of Tupac and basically interact with
him." (Ganz, 2012)

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Figure 14: Tupac, Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, 2012

The same case here is Michael Jackson ONE at Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas. The
progressively developed technology not only brings classic performances to the audience, but
also continues the excellent artistic style.

Findings and Conclusion for Part 1
To sum up, music festivals have become a lifestyle. The musical experience is the main
reason people attend these events. The music festival designers and advertisers add spirits and
personalities by offering a unique stage and exciting experience, delicate wristband tickets, and
an exciting lineup to encourage music fans to attend in large numbers. People get to enjoy the
music and atmosphere, dressed in sophisticated outfits and makeup, regardless of one’s
nationality or political affiliation. What matters to the audience is the musical experience they
take with them after the days ‘old festival. No wonder music fanatics are willingly spending
thousands of dollars on festivals ticket to experience their favorite artists' live performances.

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Although COVID-19 has dramatically affected the entertainment industry due to social
distancing rules, companies and artists are coming with new stages (online) to deliver music to
their fans. Offline, music fans have enjoyed live festival performances outside their car (car rave)
without getting into a crowd. This ensures that artists can still earn a decent living, and people
can still experience live performances both offline and online.
In my opinion, as people's pursuit of entertainment gradually increases, as well as the
development of technology. Augmented reality (AR), Virtual reality (VR), holographic
projection, and other talent technologies will gradually be integrated into the development of the
music festival.

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PART 2: Design explorations of undertaken in response to Visual
Design and Development of Music Festival and cultural adaptation
to COVID-19

In the course of my research into the already changing design and life-style cultures of
music festivals, I produced a number of speculative design pieces that reflected the state of what
was the festival environment at the time. These are seen in my projects from 2019 through early
2020 (Projects 1-3). The emergence of the COVID-19 Pandemic changed the world as we had
known it. As mentioned above the physical, social, and cultural life of music festivals and the
people who enjoy, produce, and depend on them has been greatly affected. My work was
similarly affected.
At first, I turned to create my own virtual music festival through game platforms (Project
4). While these experiments in virtual festival-going were an exciting prospect for extending a
lifestyle into the isolation of the pandemic-era, it quickly proved inadequate. After reflecting on
our collective experience of isolation the festival as an idea became increasingly untenable. I
turned to photography (Project 5) as a means of expressing the mixture of helplessness,
ridiculousness, and sadness, I felt while enduring weeks and then months of isolation. These
photographs reflect the alienation of 2020/21 that will have to be worked through in order to
revive the music festival culture in a substantive way. The third project, a video (Project 6),
imagines a future for the music festival through the lens of the crisis from which we now hope to
emerge. It examines the sense of distancing and alienation I felt while living through the
pandemic with only the internet to connect me to the now empty street of my country. I mixed

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images of urban areas emptied by pandemic precautions with videos of throngs of people
attending music festivals not that much earlier. While this video comes from a place of despair
and nostalgia it also hints at the possibility of a reimagined future in which we will once again be
able to enjoy the festival environment in a new way.

24
Project 1
The phrase, High on Life, comes from a song by Dutch DJ Martin Garrix. Its lyrics
express people's desire for life, the expression of love, and the unswerving pursuit of happiness. I
hope to use High on Life as the name and theme of this music festival and invite Martin Garrix
as the main guest.

Figure 15: Marketing and Lineup Posters Designs, 2020

25
Project 2

Figure 16: Name Badges and Wristband Designs, 2020

26
Project 3
In this project, my goal is to design this phrase with a sculpture format, like a slogan
landmark at a music festival. As we can see, there always are many inspiring slogans in different
theme parks and they can enrich the event theme, drive the event atmosphere and enrich the
event attraction with visual patterns, colors, and typography for the audiences.
I choose to use sculpture format, with the shapes of each letter to express the phrase. The
material I would like to use is shiny plastic since it is light and dazzling. At the festival, people
usually like to use glittering decorations, and the audience is mostly young people. At the same
time, the festival has a lot of foot traffic, and lightweight materials can help to increase safety.
The slogan landmark in the theme park will be extremely attractive for the raver to take photos
and leave memories here.

Figure 17: Sculpture Design, 2020

27
Pandemic Era Work
Project 4: Virtual Festival Game Design
To slow the spread of the novel coronavirus and reinforce the physical distancing
guidance that health experts say is one of our best lines of defense, almost all U.S. states are
under a stay-at-home order. As the coronavirus disease continues to spread, live event organizers
have been canceling or postponing large gatherings from technology conferences to major
concerts. Billboard has compiled an ongoing list of major concerts and events that have been
postponed or canceled due to the outbreak.
At the same time, the Nintendo Switch, and video games in general, have seen a huge
increase in sales after the coronavirus pandemic forced millions of people into lockdown and
quarantine. In this design piece, my expectation is to let the audience participate in a music
festival and enjoy the experience at home through playing an online music game design on
Switch.

28

Figure 18: Virtual Festival Game Designs, 2020

29
Project 5: Photography
In this project, I would like to demonstrate the uniqueness of 2020 that people encounter
in a difficult situation. I would like to shoot images that show the difficulty of being forced to
have a new way of thinking and living when we face a sudden pandemic. In an era of such fast-
paced life, now things move slowly. The closure of all public restaurants, gyms, museums, etc.,
and the increase in large-scale unemployment, and when people are experiencing these
unpredictable pains, they still have to protect themselves and continue to live. I want to show
people's feelings of loneliness and isolation from the world during the pandemic period through
photography works. People have to challenge and find new outlets for this world through
constant dialogue with themselves and the world.

30

Figure 19: Untitled Photography, 2020

31
Project 6: Video
This video is 30 seconds long and uses Martin Garrix's song High on Life as the
background music. Different camera stitching methods are used in the video, flashing with the
climaxes of the music. During the COVID-19 period, China was the first area to become severe.
The empty street scene was combined with the scenes of people enjoying life in the music
festival. This work wants to express the current situation and people's yearning for a better life.

Figure 20: Untitled Video Screenshots, 2020

32
Findings and Conclusion for Part 2
In my opinion, the design should be highly functional, therefore the concept of design
needs to keep pace with the times. This is the reason I discuss the history, evolution, and
development of music festivals in this “Visual Design and Development of Music Festival”
thesis paper. During the research and process, I explore the history by the origins, the biggest, the
disastrous events, analyze stage design, costume design, promotional material design, investigate
the changes during the pandemic era, innovate and predict the future in this industry.
As my design works and thinking change, I also become more aware of the importance of
learning advanced technology. In the past internship and work experience, I am proficient in
manufacturing physical design, but in the past two years of graduate study, I have developed my
own practical skills in the use of video editing, animation production, website programming, and
other software. In the future, I want to get involved in more engineering skills in order to better
integrate into the design work of the entertainment industry such as music festivals. Although
this is a very difficult test for me at present, I believe in my design career, learning and
innovation will be endless.

33
References
Baker, CJ. “The History and a List of Important Music Festivals - Spinditty - Music.” Spinditty.
Spinditty - Music, October 10, 2019. https://spinditty.com/concerts/The-History-of-Music-
Festivals.
Bein, Kat. “All of the Lights: Meet the Man Who Designs EDM's Million-Dollar Stages.” VICE,
March 17, 2016. https://www.vice.com/en/article/kb57ze/steve-lieberman-ultra-music-
festival-lighting-interview.
Chiu, David. “Altamont At 50: The Disastrous Concert That Brought The '60s To A Crashing
Halt.” Forbes. Forbes Magazine, December 3, 2019.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidchiu/2019/12/03/altamont-at-50-the-disastrous-concert-
that-brought-the-60s-to-a-crashing-halt/?sh=633b14571941.
“EDC 2018: Kinetic Love / Stage Design.” Leisure Expert Group, September 28, 2020.
https://leisureexpertgroup.com/project/edc-2018-stage-design/.
Gajanan, Mahita. “How Music Festivals Became Such a Big Business.” Time. Time, August 14,
2019. https://time.com/5651255/business-of-music-festivals/.
Ganz, Jacob. “How That TUPAC Hologram AT Coachella Worked,” April 17, 2012.
https://www.npr.org/sections/therecord/2012/04/17/150820261/how-that-tupac-hologram-
at-coachella-worked.

34
Hall, Stefan. “This Is How COVID-19 Is Affecting the Music Industry.” World Economic
Forum, May 27, 2020. https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/05/this-is-how-covid-19-is-
affecting-the-music-industry/.
Haugen, Lexie. “Why Stage Design at Music Festivals May Trump the Artists on Stage.”
Backwoods at Mulberry Mountain - Ozark, Arkansas - Music Festival, January 5, 2016.
https://backwoodsmusicfestival.com/why-stage-design-at-music-festivals-may-trump-the-
artists-on-stage/.
Kennedy, Kristine. “Record Numbers Tune into W&W & ALDA's World-First XR Livestream.”
Raver Magazine, May 26, 2020. https://ravermag.com/record-numbers-tune-into-ww-
aldas-world-first-xr-livestream/.
Lee, Sammy. “Here's Your Guide to How Festival Fashion Has Changed through the Ages, from
Hippies to Mankinis.” Red Bull. Red Bull, March 1, 2018. https://www.redbull.com/us-
en/a-guide-to-music-festival-fashion-through-the-ages.
Marzarotto, Malu. “The Evolution of Music Festivals and the Power of an Experience.” Medium.
Medium, November 20, 2018. https://medium.com/@malu_14611/the-evolution-of-music-
festivals-and-the-power-of-an-experience-f98be2b9a5c1.
Pantaleo, Justine. “5 Music Festival Marketing Trends of 2020.” DirectLync, August 22, 2019.
https://directlync.com/blog/music-festival-marketing-trends.
Sragow, Michael. “‘Gimme Shelter’: The True Story.” Salon. Salon.com, August 10, 2000.
https://www.salon.com/2000/08/10/gimme_shelter_2/.

35
W, Audrey. 7 Historic American Music Festivals. Accessed March 15, 2021.
https://www.arcadiapublishing.com/Navigation/Community/Arcadia-and-THP-
Blog/August-2019/7-Historic-American-Music-Festivals.
“Winter of Brands - How Chinese Independent Music ‘Breaks the Ice’ under the New Crown
Epidemic.” United Nations. United Nations, August 17, 2020.
https://news.un.org/zh/story/2020/08/1064632.

Asset Metadata

Creator Yang, Xi (author)

Core Title Visual design and development of music festival

Contributor Electronically uploaded by the author (provenance)

School Roski School of Art and Design

Degree Master of Fine Arts

Degree Program Design

Publication Date 04/16/2021

Defense Date 04/16/2021

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag COVID-19,design,Development,History,music festival,OAI-PMH Harvest,Technology,visual design

Language English

Advisor Adams, China (committee chair), Trujillo, Osvaldo (committee member), Zoto, Alexis (committee member)

Creator Email sherayce1107@gmail.com,xyang809@usc.edu

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-c89-446688

Unique identifier UC11668590

Identifier etd-YangXi-9484.pdf (filename),usctheses-c89-446688 (legacy record id)

Legacy Identifier etd-YangXi-9484.pdf

Dmrecord 446688

Document Type Thesis

Rights Yang, Xi

Type texts

Source University of Southern California (contributing entity), University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses (collection)

Access Conditions The author retains rights to his/her dissertation, thesis or other graduate work according to U.S. copyright law. Electronic access is being provided by the USC Libraries in agreement with the a...

Repository Name University of Southern California Digital Library

Repository Location USC Digital Library, University of Southern California, University Park Campus MC 2810, 3434 South Grand Avenue, 2nd Floor, Los Angeles, California 90089-2810, USA

Abstract (if available)

Abstract Music festivals have witnessed renewed popularity in the past decade but are now faced with rethinking themselves in light of the global COVID-19 pandemic. Until 2020, music festivals were a highly competitive and significant income-generating industry. The frenzy that the music causes made thousands of people camp in tents for several days to catch a glimpse of Coachella that hosts world-renowned artists and bands. Each year, music festivals attract more music fanatics. Consequently, the festivals are transforming the American lifestyle by adding more color and an in-depth understanding of diversity and art. The music festival industry now finds itself trying to balance what it had become with what will be possible in a world made aware of inherent and in future manageable risks associated with mass gatherings. ❧ This research paper will examine the music festival's definition and extensively explore the history of music festivals with reference to the first and largest festivals. The paper will demonstrate the stage design and discuss the changing festival dress fashion, advertising, and propagation over the years. Notably, the festival's promotional platform has also evolved, which indirectly affects promotional materials' visual design. The paper will also analyze how the music festival's visual design has changed over the years and the expected future development trends.