For the Blue Open Air music festival under the K Bridge in Brooklyn, NY, event promoter Gray Area asked me to make a map for attendees. The map needed to clearly indicate essential areas, including the entrance, stage, restrooms, bars, food trucks, VIP zones, and chillout lounges, all within a compact size suitable for social media and mobile viewing.
Facing the challenge of maintaining legibility at small sizes, I adopted a 3D approach for flexibility in perspective. I started by outlining key areas using a screenshot of the event's basic layout map , complemented by Google Maps’ 3D view to better understand the venue's layout. However, due to the bridge's overhead structure, additional photos and videos provided by Gray Area were crucial for refining the details, especially the varying heights of event zones.
After preparing vector outlines in Illustrator, I transitioned the elements into Cinema 4D, experimenting with various camera angles until the optimal view was selected. The scene was then rendered and recolored to match the event's branding, with adjustments made to emphasize the green spaces and the water, maintaining visual consistency while highlighting the venue’s natural elements.
The final design successfully met Gray Area's requirements, impressing both the client and their partners, by effectively showcasing the festival layout in a visually appealing and practical way.
Vectors drawn over the main venue areas on a screenshot of the basic event planning map provided by the promoters
An early draft, which included semi-transparent indications of the bridge. These proved to be too distracting and were ultimately removed.
Another early draft before the final coloring was reached, bridge indications removed, and final text/labels added.
Raw render, minor touchups and recoloring in Photoshop, and text/labels added.