storytelling through product at dreamville festival in raleigh north carolina
I led vision and design direction for Dreamville Festival merchandise from 2019 through the fifth and final 2025 edition. The festival’s on-stage world and key graphics were created each year by the founder and the in-house team of graphic and 3D designers. My remit was twofold. First, translate those locked assets into a retail-ready merch line that returned core icons like clouds and sunflowers in fresh reads each season, with lineup capsules and VIP pieces treated as a collector system with limited drops and dated marks. Second, build a parallel capsule of original festival graphics rooted in North Carolina and the culture around the brand and founders’ journey. For that capsule I authored the briefs, set themes and palettes, mentored graphic designers, and in 2023 launched and advised an artist program.
Across both tracks I led garment and placement strategy, silhouette mapping, and prepress, managed stakeholder approvals, and directed vendors on materials, sampling, quality and timelines to hit on-sale and load-in dates. The merchandise platform and off-site pop-ups helped drive pre-festival and on-site spend that contributed to Raleigh’s $145.9 million economic impact in 2023.
Festival Grounds Iconography System
I anchored the festival merch platform in the spirit of Dorothea Dix Park, where the festival took place each year, using the park’s sunflower fields as a core motif that returned in new reads each season. We translated the festival’s signature installations, including the water tower, ferris wheel and bodega, into graphics, patches, trims and labels, evolving them each year so fans anticipated the next iteration. I set the creative guardrails, wrote the briefs and mentored designers so the iconography stayed consistent across lineup tees, VIP pieces and limited drops. The result was merchandise rooted story that turned memories into collectibles and kept the festival about the music, the fans and the moments they make together.
local iconography and merch story
I wove familiar North Carolina cues into the Dreamville Festival merch to deepen emotional connection and drive demand. We featured the North Carolina state bird the Northern Cardinal as a design motif and used tasteful nods to Krispy Kreme, a favorite of the founders that fans recognize, to anchor place and culture without losing Dreamville’s voice. I set the creative guardrails and wrote the briefs, translating those cues into color, type, graphics and trims across lineup pieces, VIP items and limited drops. I partnered with designers and production to execute original, respectful interpretations, then aligned visual merchandising so the story read the same in store and online. The result was merch that felt personal and local, sparked interest and sell through, and reinforced that Dreamville’s retail is as much about community and story as it is about product.
artist collaborations platform
I expanded the festival merch program with artist-led capsules, starting in 2023 with a watercolor series positioned as wearable art. We introduced painted North Carolina state birds, Carolina highway signs, and tasteful nods to Krispy Kreme all tied to the founders’ story. I authored the creative narrative, defined the art style, wrote briefs, mentored artists through comps and color studies, and directed placement and garment mapping so each piece read true to Dreamville.
For 2025, stakeholders made the “5th and final” message a top priority to clearly signal the last Dreamville Festival at Dorothea Dix Park, ahead of future plans under a new festival name. I partnered with Jacob Rochester to bring that directive to life, extending his signature language into the Dreamville universe and weaving “5th and final” messaging into graphics creatively. I led stakeholder approvals, guided production and retail presentation, and kept the work positioned as wearable art that fans sought out and collected.
