I AM TRAJAN - Interactive website

UX/UI Design . Front-end Development . Hobby

Overview : An interactive, hardcoded website exploring the horror-genre connection of the Trajan typeface, earning a Gold Student Award at the 2022 Charlotte American Advertising Awards.

Role : Designer and Developer

Toolkit : Figma, Adobe Creative Cloud, HTML, CSS, and Javascript

Project Summart

Background

I designed and developed this interactive website during my junior year of college as a creative exploration of the font, Trajan, and its connection to the horror movie genre. While not perfect, it stands as a unique reflection of both my design abilities and coding background. I submitted the project to the 2022 Charlotte American Advertising Awards (AAF) and was honored to receive the Gold Student Award.

Main focus

I AM TRAJAN is an interactive, type-driven website that guides players through three horror-inspired levels, each influenced by iconic film elements as they uncover the identity of Trajan.

The project was prompted by the challenge to select a font and create a website that conveys its emotional impact. I chose Trajan, widely used in the horror movie industry, and designed the site around three popular films featuring the font, using their themes and interactive elements to showcase the power and emotion of type.

Level 1

Movie: The Conjuring

The first level, inspired by The Conjuring, opens on a pitch-black page where the player uses their cursor like a match to see through the darkness. They’re prompted to play Hide and Clap—a game from the film—where the blindfolded seeker has three chances to ask the hider to clap, with audio cues echoing at varying distances throughout the site. The player can only escape once they’ve successfully found and lit a candle.

Level 2

Movie: Sinister

The second level, inspired by Sinister, centers around VCR tapes and eerie technology glitches. Unlike the atmosphere-driven Conjuring level, this stage captures the film’s chaotic energy—elements on the screen flicker, distort, and move erratically as the demon’s influence grows. TRAJAN becomes more vocal here, taunting and unsettling the player throughout the experience. To escape, the player must complete a game of hangman; losing triggers the cursed tape from the film, trapping them in the level with no way out.

Level 3

Movie: Nightmare on Elm Street

The final level, inspired by A Nightmare on Elm Street, focuses on the film’s theme of falling asleep. Freddy Krueger can only attack his victims in their dreams, often striking on the third night. To reflect this, the page feels disorienting—foggy text and shifting letters mimic the sensation of drifting off. Players have three chances to find the anti-sleep pill card; each failed attempt causes the screen to blur further as they sink deeper into sleep. If they fail all three, the screen fades completely to black, and the level is lost.

Revealing TRAJAN

At the conclusion of the site, players discover the identity of TRAJAN and learn how it was used in each horror movie, highlighting that it is the sole font featured throughout the experience.