Designer
We built in a lot of flexibility around how readers could choose to engage with this information, including allowing them to turn it off entirely – it doesn’t have to be a one size fits all experience.
I began thinking about the idea of applying this ‘traditional’ vernacular-feeling type, but in a really over-the-top, contemporary way that would speak to the ways in which Usonia works to expand what’s possible for winemaking in their region.
The more we worked on them together, the more we kept stretching, condensing, rotating typography to push it to unexpected places in order to bring that nostalgic type into a more contemporary and even subversive place.
As things have evolved with the labels, I’ve been starting to think about these illustrations as a way of imagining an alternate reality for the Finger Lakes region, creating a more surreal, fantastic version of it.
The article explores Tractor Beam, a Brooklyn-based speculative fiction magazine that merges soilpunk aesthetics with psychedelic web design. Co-founded by Claire Gustavson and Lana Z Porter, the publication’s latest issue, Underground, features interactive storytelling and layered visuals created in collaboration with design studio Out Of Office. The project reimagines digital publishing as an immersive, earth-inspired experience blending fiction, illustration, and environmental commentary.
The Brand Identity features Studio Elana Schlenker’s ongoing collaboration with Usonia Wine, a low-intervention winery from the Finger Lakes. The project explores expressive, maximalist label designs that merge vernacular typography with playful illustration, evolving each year through collaborations with different illustrators. The result is a dynamic, ever-changing visual identity that reflects both the brand’s experimental spirit and its regional roots.