Transforming Festivals with Design: Aaquib Wani Talks Sunburn, Lollapalooza, and Beyond

by  EVENTFAQS Bureau Entertainment | November 28, 2024 | Interview

Aaquib Wani Design

Aaquib Wani is a self-taught experiential designer and art director based in New Delhi, with over twelve years of experience in the design industry. He is the Founder & Director of Aaquib Wani Design, a design studio known for its unique approach. Aaquib combines traditional graphic design elements with contemporary visuals, creating aesthetics for various projects. His work spans across branding, art direction, space design, and one-of-a-kind installations for weddings, music festivals, fashion brands, and hospitality outlets. Aaquib's vision is driven by a passion for merging art with function, providing end-to-end solutions that include strategy, design, production, and execution.

In an exclusive interview with EVENTFAQS Media, Aaquib Wani shared insights into the creative process behind this year’s Sunburn theme. He discussed how he translated the festival’s energy into visuals, blending underwater fantasy with the electronic music vibe. He also shared his excitement about upcoming projects.

Take us through the design process of creating this year’s theme for Sunburn. How did the collaboration happen?

We had been working on a bunch of music festivals when Sunburn reached out to us. Music festivals have always been a space for me to connect with music, as I’m a musician myself, and the chance to work on them as a designer is always exciting. Sunburn was one festival we hadn’t worked on before, so I felt it would be great to tick that off the list.

We started by looking at what they had been doing over the years and identified their problems. Sunburn lacked consistency in its design, branding, and identity, both on social media and on the ground. Different agencies were working on various elements—some in-house, others from New Zealand—without any cohesive connection. 

We emphasized that rebranding wasn’t just about the visuals, but about ensuring that everything from social media promotion to on-ground communication would align. This was key to ensuring a strong connection and an integrated experience for the audience. We also proposed a five-year plan to show the future direction for Sunburn, saying, 'Year one is this, and in the next five years, we can actually do this.' Our focus was on making Sunburn not only a premium festival in India but also a globally recognized one, with a stronger identity and a consistent experience both on and off the ground.

For us, it was more than just working on this year’s event. We wanted to take a long-term approach and transform Sunburn into something people would talk about worldwide—not just for the festival itself, but for how it presents itself and the overall experience. That’s why we began by conceptualizing something that had both longevity and impact, keeping in mind that the festival had an established audience with a strong emotional connection to the event.

We also discussed creating a new theme every year, which would work perfectly with EDM festivals, allowing us to bring fresh and exciting visuals year after year. This time, we decided on an underwater theme for this year’s festival. The underwater world is vibrant, abstract, and full of surreal elements that we felt would translate well into the design. This allowed us to experiment with surreal elements and really push our creative boundaries.

The experience of the Sunburn festival is as much about the vibe as it is about the music. How did you translate this experience into visuals and branding?

We wanted the visuals and branding to embody the festival’s vibrant atmosphere while feeling fresh and modern. Our goal was to evoke movement and rhythm through dynamic design. We paired this with colors that radiated warmth and energy, ensuring that it connected with the festival’s overall vibe. Everything we do is carefully designed to have an impact and to connect with people on a deeper level. We also wanted to ensure that the visuals felt connected to Goa’s natural beauty, where the festival is held by the sea. We envisioned designs that were inspired by the coastal environment and integrated that essence into the branding.

This year’s theme was built around the surreal underwater world. The underwater world is incredibly vibrant and full of abstract forms, so we saw it as an endless source of inspiration. We felt we could explore this theme for years because there’s so much depth and beauty in the underwater world. For instance, we imagined elements like a jellyfish with a brain as its head or a flower with an eye in the center instead of a bud. These unique and surreal details were intended to make people stop and take notice, creating a sense of wonder and engagement with the designs.

The underwater theme allowed us to blend everyday elements with the extraordinary, bringing in a sense of the unreal, which is exactly how music festivals make people feel—transported to another world. The gradients of colors we used also celebrated the festival's vibrancy, with warm tones that matched the energy and rhythm of the event.

Our design narrative was created with immersive visuals in mind, thinking of interactive installations that festival-goers could experience firsthand. By using bold branding elements and surreal imagery, we ensured the design would resonate with the audience and enhance their overall experience. We focused on creating a space where people would feel drawn to engage with the visuals, which is key for festivals like Sunburn, where the visual experience is just as important as the music.

Ultimately, our aim was to craft a brand identity that would not only speak to Sunburn’s established community but also draw in new audiences by making them feel connected to both the music and the surreal, immersive world we created.

You’ve been working on some lovely customizations over the years, and that has led to the collaborative partnership with Lollapalooza, meticulously designing Team India’s jerseys and kits for the Asian Games, T20 Cricket World Cup, Paris Olympics, and more. How did you ensure that the designs aligned with both the brand's identity and the spirit of the events?

When we design, we always ensure that there’s a narrative behind everything we do. We don’t want to create designs without heart, soul, or a story. It’s as simple as this: the moment you introduce a story and build a narrative, people start connecting with it. The more storytelling there is, the more invested people become in what you're doing. Eventually, that becomes a great way to sell an idea or a design, because there’s a concept behind it—something you can talk about. Once meaning is introduced, everything makes sense, and as designers, it becomes part of us.

This approach shows that there is always a theme and a thought behind everything we do. When there’s a story, everything becomes meaningful. In the past, jerseys often used only the tri-color in geometric patterns with no deeper meaning. Now, we want to create designs that carry more significance, with a deeper connection to the people and the story they tell.

Name one thing that you’ve been especially excited about creating for Sunburn!

One thing I’ve been especially excited about creating for Sunburn is the stage. It’s an underwater world you don’t really know what happens underwater, right? When you think about it, it’s as simple as this: you're somewhat transporting people. You may be in Goa, but our idea as experiential designers is always to transport people into another world. We always look at fantasy art, concept art, and comics made about underwater worlds. The concept is about what buildings or lost cities underwater would look like, and that’s where we drew inspiration from to create something out of it.

Obviously, you’ll have corals and underwater creatures, but how do we pair that with LED screens? Because remember, this is an electronic dance festival at the end of the day, and visuals play a heavy role in what we do. We wanted to create something that blends everything—technology, visuals, and the festival brand identity. It’s like putting everything together in a mixer, and on December 28th, you’ll get to see all of that!

When we design, we always make sure there’s a narrative behind everything we do. We don’t want to create designs without heart, soul, or a story. It’s as simple as this: the moment you introduce a story, the moment you build a narrative, people start connecting with it. The more storytelling there is, the more invested people become in what you're doing. Eventually, that becomes a great way to sell an idea or a design because there’s a concept behind it, something you can talk about. Once meaning is introduced, everything makes sense, and as designers, it becomes part of us.

What is the next project you are most excited about?

I wish I could tell you everything, but most of it is under NDA until it’s officially announced. However, there’s one thing I’m definitely excited about: getting the Coldplay tickets. I’ve managed to get tickets, and this will be the first time in a long while that I’ll actually be able to enjoy a festival or concert, rather than running around with walkie-talkies and clocking in 40,000 steps a day. The Coldplay tickets are definitely something we’re all looking forward to as a team. 

To add, as a design studio, we’re always thinking about creating spaces that reflect the stories we tell. For us, every new project is a chance to push boundaries and make people feel something. Whether it’s for music festivals, stores, launches, weddings, or corporate events, we want to craft experiences that leave lasting impressions.