Slow & Low: Chicago Lowrider Festival 2023 identity

For over 80 years, Mexican-American and Chicano artists, mechanical engineers, and craft communities have shaped the vibrant American folk art of Lowrider culture. For the past 15 years, Slow & Low has hosted festivals celebrating the individuals and clubs in the Midwest.

The Slow & Low curators approached Span with a determination to elevate Chicago’s lowrider festival. More than just a car show, Slow & Low is a celebration of identity grounded in self-expression, social change, master craftsmanship, and machinery. The opportunity to take over Chicago’s largest tourist destination came with the responsibility of placemaking.

Collaborating with the event’s curators, Span designed a visual identity and exhibition graphics that foster a sense of belonging by celebrating the curators’ dreams and the individuals of the community. Vivid, dimensional marigolds cascade across images from Slow & Low’s world-renowned and emerging photographers. Marigolds hold significance in Chicano and lowrider culture, symbolizing a celebration of faith, life, and death. The visual identity gains purpose by featuring Slow & Low’s photography, providing the design system with power by moving beyond showcasing stunning lowrider cars and highlighting the individuals in Slow & Low’s community. The juxtaposition of supergraphic flowers in the foreground of each designed item creates a dreamscape aesthetic.

In selecting our typographic palette, we drew inspiration from the cars, customizing Lucas Sharp and Wei Huang’s Respira, a typeface inspired by blackletter found in ancient manuscripts and the plaques within each lowrider. This choice pays homage to the omnipresent role of faith within the community. Complementing this is Miguel Reyes’s graceful Canela, a supportive typeface that, like lowriders, defies traditional classifications.

See also a post about the 2022 edition of this festival.