When a handful of adventurous Austinites combined forces to dream up the South by Southwest Music & Media Conference in the mid-to-late 1980s, there was no guarantee it would survive past the first couple of years, much less blossom into the premier event of its kind in the world.

Launched in March of 1987, SXSW quickly caught on as a sort of “spring break for the music industry” where deals were done amid waves of warm weather, Texas cuisine, and an endless parade of musicians from across the globe.

SXSW managing director Roland Swenson invited us to design this momentous book. We tried to capture the energy and abundance that SXSW is through a robust color palette and a typographic smorgasbord.

Dynamic information graphics presented as SXSW Stats open each year, presenting five year periods at a time. A running list of the 14,712 musical acts that have performed at SXSW since 1987 runs throughout the book. The United Sans typeface family did some heavy lifting.

Those who were there share stories about how it all got started; memorable performances by major artists including Johnny Cash, the Black Eyed Peas, Iggy Pop, the Dixie Chicks, and the Flaming Lips; countless up-and-coming acts that got a leg up in their careers by playing SXSW; Sunday softball tournaments with Doug Sahm as championship-game announcer; goodie-bags decorated by renowned illustrators from Mike Judge to Daniel Johnston; and the convention’s eventual expansion beyond music to include a film festival and an interactive media component.

The book includes numerous photos, plus essays from SXSW staffers and participants including Dave Marsh, David Fricke, Jim DeRogatis, John Morthland, Ed Ward, Michael Corcoran, Jaan Uhelszki, and Thom Duffy.