case study
THE AMERICAN
ELSEWHERE PROJECT
BRAND IDENTITY
ART DIRECTION
COPYWRITING
CREATIVE DEVELOPMENT
ENVIRONMENTAL GRAPHICS
PACKAGING DESIGN
VISUAL STORYTELLING
AI ART DIRECTION & VISUALIZATION
The American Elsewhere Project began with a simple ambition: to create places that feel remembered before they're ever visited. This is a ongoing collection of fictional destinations exploring the emotional mythology of the American roadside. Inspired in part by Imaginary Authors, where every fragrance is based on an imaginary novel by an imaginary author, each destination begins with writing, research, and world building before a single logo is designed.
Every property is developed as though it has existed for decades, complete with its own history, architecture, voice, and artifacts. The identities extend beyond logos into signage, guest amenities, packaging, copywriting, and environmental storytelling—creating places that feel just real enough to make you wonder if you've somehow been there before.
AI was used only to visualize environmental backdrops based on real American landscapes. Every identity, logo, package, layout, illustration, design system, and written narrative was conceived, written, art directed, and designed by me using traditional creative tools.
context
What if places could be designed around emotions instead of locations?
Rather than creating brands for existing places, I wanted to imagine destinations that had quietly existed for decades—places with weathered histories, recurring guests, forgotten postcards, local folklore, and stories still lingering in the walls.
Each destination explores a different emotional landscape while drawing from a shared mythology of the American road trip. They're fictional, but they borrow from something real: the feeling of pulling off a lonely highway and wondering who stayed in the room before you.
APPROACH
Every destination begins with writing.
Before opening Illustrator or Photoshop, I build the emotional architecture of a place through names, regional history, folklore, architecture, weather, playlists, room numbers, and the kinds of people who might stay there.
Only after the world feels complete does the design begin. Every logo, sign, package, postcard, room key, and guest artifact works together to preserve the illusion that these places have always existed.
AI was used only to visualize atmospheric backdrops based on real American landscapes. The identities, writing, and design systems themselves were conceived, written, art directed, and designed by hand.
SOLUTIONS
Each destination functions as a complete hospitality brand. Environmental graphics, packaging, guest amenities, printed ephemera, signage, editorial systems, and wayfinding all reinforce the same fictional history until every object supports the illusion.
Brand systems extend across environmental graphics, packaging, guest amenities, printed ephemera, signage, and wayfinding, allowing every object to reinforce the story of the place it belongs to. The result is a collection of destinations that feel internally consistent, emotionally grounded, and surprisingly believable.
As the collection continues to grow, each new destination contributes another chapter to an imagined America—one built from memory, mythology, loneliness, optimism, and the quiet hope that somewhere beyond the next exit is a place worth stopping for.
THE LAST LANTERN MOTEL
At the western edge of Idaho's Magruder Corridor, The Last Lantern Motel marks the final certainty before the pavement disappears.
Beyond its porch lights, the road continues into wilderness, and the darkness begins to feel intentional.
THE RUSTED SILENCE INN
Hidden along the Gulf Coast in Bayou La Batre, The Rusted Silence Inn carries the weight of stories no one tells twice.
Every room feels carefully preserved, as though the building has spent decades protecting someone else's secrets.
THE BROKEN FURNACE LODGE
High in the mountains of northern New Mexico, The Broken Furnace Lodge is built around the strange comfort of fires that refuse to burn.
It is a place where cold, memory, and silence settle in long before the first snowfall.
reflection
The American Elsewhere Project ultimately became more than a branding exercise. It became a framework for combining writing, identity design, environmental graphics, editorial systems, hospitality, architecture, and storytelling into a single creative practice.
It reflects the kind of work I want to keep making: worlds that are experienced as brands and brands that are remembered like places.