Burning Man Tickets

Burning Man: Ticket Design

Burning Man is a yearly artistic social experiment where a temporary city is erected in the Black Rock desert in Nevada. Each year 80,000 participants from around the world come to build and live in a city based on the 10 principals of Radical Inclusion, Gifting, Decommodification, Radical Self-reliance, Radical Self-expression, Communal Effort, Civic Responsibility, Leaving No Trace, Participation, and Immediacy. The tickets for the event are physical only, not digital, and are created as the first piece of art you receive to set the yearly theme of the event and inspire others to work hard to create something beautiful for the city.

2019 Metamorphoses

The 2019 theme centered on change and metamorphoses. I found inspiration in old alchemy artwork from the middle ages. Alchemy was the precursor to modern chemistry, where the alchemists attempted to transform materials into gold and access the supernatural through experimentation. I felt like this would make for interesting visual representation of change and transformation.

2020 The Multiverse

The 2020 theme was chosen to explore the cosmos and dimensions of space and time. By exploring the possibilities of other universes beyond our own, and beyond our own imaginations we can find out who we are and how we interface with our lives. I wanted to create something that felt like many things happening all at once - like someone caught in the middle of a bunch of dimensions. I liked the idea of it feeling like a movie poster from the past.

Due to the pandemic, the physical event was cancelled, but a multiverse of online communities and small gatherings celebrated the spirit of the event. During this time the organization asked for donations to keep the event alive, and special gift tickets were sent to donors as a thank you for their efforts.

2022 Waking Dreams

The 2022 theme for the event centered around the idea that dreams help craft reality, and our collective dreams move us all forward. Exploring what dreams are, and how they play a part in the creative process both from an inspirational side, and from a visionary perspective. For the design I liked the idea of looking inside of someones brain to see the dream of Burning Man as it feels inside of your consciousness. I was inspired by the old anatomical drawings and diagrams of textbooks and encyclopedias.

2023 Animalia

The 2023 theme was chosen to explore the animal world and our place within it. Animals are a diverse and fascinating part of life on earth and we can sometimes forget how we are human beings are just another animal experiencing life and reality like so many others. I wanted to create an image that represented the whole of the animal kingdom, yet was hard to pinpoint exactly where it was existing. Working with land, air, and sea, and using a variety of different types of animal life arranged together in a surrealistic and dreamy way, I was able to create something which felt alive in its own right.