Scenic Route: A Passion Project for the Long Way Home
This was a passion project I started with the intention of creating a logo for a roadside attraction from every state in the U.S. It’s still in its early days—I’ve only scratched the surface—but it was sparked by one very specific (and very weird) place: The Thing, a roadside attraction just over an hour outside of Tucson, Arizona.
The Thing recently got a major facelift, but it still proudly embraces its roots: a mix of aliens, dinosaurs, conspiracy theories, and a Dairy Queen-meets-gift-shop combo that is truly a thing of beauty. It’s the kind of place that makes you go “…what did I just walk into?” and then happily hork over ten bucks to find out.
What captured my imagination wasn’t just the kitschiness—it was the earnestness of it all. Somewhere along the dusty stretches of Route 66, regular people started building these strange, surreal pit stops to catch the eye of travelers. They weren’t polished. They weren’t curated. But they were memorable. And they still are.
At this point, most roadside attractions are hokey, run-down, or forgotten. And I think that’s where my love comes in. These places aren’t just relics—they’re little monuments to ambition, eccentricity, and a kind of offbeat joy that’s rare to find in today’s carefully curated, algorithm-approved world. They’re weird on purpose. Or sometimes, weird despite their purpose.
Honoring the Weird, the Wonderful, and the Forgotten
As a designer, I’m not afraid of looking under every rock for inspiration. And a lot of the time, that includes hours long deep dives into forgotten histories, honoring what came before. There’s value in remembering the creative energy of people who said, “You know what this place needs? A 30-foot fiberglass jackalope.”
Design often leans into what’s modern, clean, and scalable. And that’s important. I work as a UX designer who loves systems design. But there’s something beautiful about creating visuals that embrace the offbeat—something that feels like it was scribbled on a napkin in a diner at 2am and somehow stuck. That’s the energy I want to channel with my project, Scenic Route.
This series is a way for me to celebrate that spirit—state by state. These aren’t rebrands. They’re more like imagined tributes. Each place feels like I’m being commissioned by a client who time traveled to me. What could these places be if they were given some love, without losing what makes them unique in the first place?
Starting with Arizona: The Thing
The first in the series is, of course, The Thing. I wanted the logo to feel playful and slightly cryptic—like a sign you’d glimpse out of the corner of your eye while driving 75 miles an hour through the desert. Something that says you won’t believe what’s inside, and also ice cream is available.
Visually, I leaned into goopy, hand-done typography—letters that look like they’ve melted in the sun. To balance that chaos, I brought in FBI redaction-style elements: thick black bars, typewriter-text overlays, and motifs that hint at dusty government files stamped “TOP SECRET.” The result feels like you’ve uncovered a file from the Roswell archives... if it had been doodled on by someone eating a Blizzard.
To complete the vibe, I imagined the brand as if it were printed on aged paper or found footage stills—grainy, cryptid-like, and just a little unsettling. I wanted it to feel like something strange is going on… but no one’s really panicking about it. It's a mystery with a wink…or I don’t know, suspense with a dilly bar.
The Road Ahead
I have 49 more states to go—and I can’t wait. Some will be famous (like the Corn Palace or the Mystery Spot), and others will be the kind of blink-and-you-miss-it oddities that only locals know about. But that’s the fun of it for me. I created a project where I get to learn about all of these unusual places. *Atlas Obscura is bookmarked*
This is a design challenge, sure. But it’s also a love letter—to forgotten towns, to weird dreams, to the road itself. I hope it makes you want to pull off at the next exit and see what strange wonder is waiting on the side of the highway.
