Description

The website of Andrew Marcus is an independent media project about travel, positioned at the intersection of journalism, design, and ethnography.

The project is based on personal reports from over 80 countries, including rare destinations such as Iran and Saudi Arabia. Many of the stories are written in a literary style and paired with striking visuals — photographs, diagrams, illustrations, animations, and even 3D models.

The site gained significant attention after the publication of a story about a pilgrimage to Mecca — the author managed to visit the city, which is closed to non-Muslims, sparking widespread media interest. Such stories, rooted in firsthand experience and observation, form the core of the project.

The design emphasizes the uniqueness of the content. Each story features typographic vignettes, manually crafted to reflect the aesthetics of the country — from Middle Eastern calligraphy to Egyptian and African ornamentation. In some cases, the author created custom typefaces, adapting Cyrillic to resemble Arabic, Thai, Indian, and other scripts.

Many photographs are published in 4K resolution and optimized for Retina displays, offering a high level of detail and atmosphere. Stories are often structured as immersive landing pages — with animations, interactive elements, and unconventional layouts. The site also supports a dark mode.

An interactive world map complements the navigation, displaying photos and routes in a format reminiscent of Google Maps.

The project has existed since 2014. In 2024, it received a major update featuring seamless, cinematic transitions between stories. All content is free and ad-free. Every element — from writing to code — is created by a single person.