The design was created by the light filtering through the trees near the entrance to the venue:

This year's books were created from a cyanotype captured by Ellen Wilde. A cyanotype is created by treating a surface with a UVA-sensitive chemical, exposing it to light, and developing/fixing it in water, resulting in a blue-and-white negative image. It's the same process used in grade-school "Sun Print" kits, or architectural blueprints. In this case, Wilde treated a large swatch of treated fabric to capture the light coming through a pair of oak trees outside Portland, Oregon's Washington High School. The 2024 festival events will be held at various venues within the former school.

The Japanese word for scattered sunlight that is filtered through tree leaves is komorebi.