The continuous search for happiness, freedom, and the joy of life. By traveling the world and attending festivals from Bali to Burning Man, Chip Conley has dedicated his life to searching for a collective effervescence. He is taking the stand to be a walking model of "joie de vivre" - the joy of living. After spending 25 years focusing his life in the hotel industry as the founder of Joie de Vivre World-Class Boutique Hotels, Chip left for a search of something greater. Through his cultural curiosity and his love of travel, Chip found freedom, growth, and joy when he found himself at a festival or cultural event. As he lives his personal "joie de vivre," experiencing music, culture, tradition, and human connection, he wanted a way to share what he is seeing, feeling, doing. Chip wants to inspire others while showcasing the beautiful joy he sees around the world. When his journey began and he was searching the web for festival information, he couldn't find a one-stop site for information on festivals around the world.
"When I looked for a place that documented the most diverse, iconic gatherings and spectacles of our time, there wasn't one. I wanted to see a beautifully curated site that offered a window into the living human museum of festival life. Hence, Fest300 was born," Chip writes.
With the need for a beautifully curated site and the idea to showcase 300 of the world's best festivals, Chip came to WSD. With the hard work and creative minds of many talented people, www.fest300.com came alive in just 8 short weeks. This site is the perfect configuration of stunning photographs, rich information, and brilliant navigational means. The site was made to showcase the beauty and the color found in every corner of the world while providing insider information, local secrets, festival preparation advice, and much more. Festivals are searchable by type, location, and time of year. Over 50 festivals and events that Chip has already visited are also clearly laid out in a list of festivals, which are organizable in a list view, or grid view, giving the user the option to organize the festivals by category. Categories range from "cultural event" to "wild parties" - along with the "best of fest" category - showcasing Chip's must go to festivals around the world. Chip shares the latest festival news in the 'Magazine' portion of the site and shares more personally his intelligence and experiences in 'Chip's Blog.' He showcases his time around the world through gorgeous photographs, capturing the distinctive excitement, community, and culture of each festival. When designing the site, WSD decided to make the photos the center focus of each page, providing multiple areas for photos and videos of each festival to be showcased. Each festival's basic information can be quickly scanned at the top of the page - a snippet of the overview, the location, a comment from Chip, and festival stats. More details, essentials, practicalities, and suggestions on each festival can be found by scrolling below the photo gallery. In his effort to make the world more culturally conscious and internationally aware, Chip invites his readers to 'Take the Pledge' - a pledge to attend at least one festival a year. Our eyes were most definitely opened to new sights and situations around the world just from building the site, we highly suggest taking some time out of your day to learn about the incredible and often strange traditions around the world.
The New York Times and USA Today have even caught on to Chip's commitment to traveling and festivals and took some time to sit down with him to pick his mind more thoroughly. Through a collective effort and a positive outlook, Chip is changing the world one festival at a time.
