Hugo Christian-Slane’s identity for Nest Fest combines bespoke lettering with images made by AI

Embracing the idea of ‘collection,’ New Zealand music festival Nest Fest brings together an eclectic group of musicians, creatives, fans and communities; collectively forming a free-spirited, bohemian nest worthy of the festival’s name. Reflecting as much through their contextually-driven, electric identity, Kiwi New York-based designer and artist Hugo Christian-Slane channelled the event’s founding principles and sense of locality through a confident combination of bespoke lettering, colour and composition. The lettering in question is unique to Christian-Slane, as the modular typeface has continued to evolve, shape and reshape over its use on multiple projects. “It is a bespoke typeface I have been working on,” he tells us, “altering, and integrating across a few projects over the last couple of years,” making appearances in both album artwork and festival identities alike. Powerful yet pragmatic typographic support is provided in the form of Grilli Type’s GT America, offering the brand a sincere workhorse sans serif that carries with it enough character to embody the vibe of Nest Fest. “GT America Expanded was used to balance the rigid custom monospace in the logotype,” he details, providing a distinctive secondary tone and voice, “balanced and restrained by the uniform grid structure used throughout brand communications.” Christian-Slane turned to AI for a striking catalogue of duo-tone imagery, created using the festival’s existing record of photography from 2019 onwards. The colours come from the hues of native New Zealand birdlife, further signifying the dedication to context, locality and community. “I trained the custom AI using Runway,” he explains, “the idea of the ‘Nest’ to me was about the many parts that come together in an organised chaos,” collectively creating the welcoming, nurturing environment of a bird’s nest.