Chicago Lowrider Festival 2024 Exhibition Identity

Span
2025

The festival posters totalize the enviorment bringing maximum vibe
The identity systems spans across all of Navy Pier, ensuring all lowrider club members feel a sense of belonging when they enter Navy Pier
The poster series showcases the community from past Slow & Low festivals while letting the typography and chains offer a champagne-like pop
The identity sets a tone for the festival, l the attendees vibe with it through their fits
At the festival's close, attendees participate in removing the signage, these posters are taken home as meaningful artifacts

Slow & Low is Chicago’s largest independent arts festival, drawing a diverse, multigenerational audience to celebrate a uniquely American art movement born of the Chicano community. As the Midwest’s premier lowrider festival, Slow & Low is deeply rooted in art, tradition, and community, blending culture and family into a singular arts experience. Far more than a car showcase, it unites metalworkers, painters, upholsterers, textile artists, mariachis, DJs, and folkloric performers in a vibrant display of creative expression.

Founded in 2011 in Pilsen by curators Lauren M. Pacheco, Peter Kepha, and Edward Magico Calderon, 2024 marks Slow & Low’s third collaboration with Nick Adam’s team at Span, resulting in the festival’s most significant turnout yet, with over 15,000 visitors in a single day. Over the past three years, Navy Pier has been the iconic backdrop for Slow & Low, with car club members likening the experience to the “Grammys” of the lowrider community.

For the 2024 festival, Span collaborated closely with the curators to craft a gala-like visual identity. This process began with co-founder and curator Peter Kepha’s sketches of chain motifs in archway form, symbolizing growth and achievement—ideals central to Kepha’s life in the Chicano community.

The 2024 Slow & Low identity that Span designed amplifies a story of exquisite craftsmanship and celebration, drawing inspiration from the intricate artistry of lowrider culture. The typographic palette features a customized version of Lucas Sharp and Wei Huang’s blackletter typeface, Respira. Adding a layer of joyful elegance this scribe-like blackletter is complemented by Alejandro Paul’s Burgues Script, based on master calligrapher Louis Madarasz’s work. Rounding out the collection is Lucas Sharp’s limited edition Sharp Freehand, a calligraphic typeface inspired by the master letterer, Oscar Ogg and Sharp’s Greenstone that is connected to the tradition of tombstone carving. Together, from chains to script, the festival identity offers a striking, refined edge that mirrors the masterpieces showcased at Slow & Low.

Design Direction, Design
Nick Adam
Design
Kevin Moreland
Design
Alec Hudson
Curator, Founder
Lauren M. Pacheco
Curator, Founder
Peter Kepha
Curator, Photographer
Edward Magico Calderon
Photographer
Max Herman
Photographer
Nick Lipton
Photographer
Katrina Nelken
Photographer
Mike Pocious

Honorable Mention