Austin Li  ·  Brand & creative marketing  ·  Los Angeles

Bringing Life to
Live Experiences.

Brand and creative marketing for live experiences — performing arts campuses, stadiums, restaurants, and convention centers.

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Selected work

Sodexo Live!  ·  The Music Center

A cocktail for every show — and a repeatable program behind it

The client wanted a specialty cocktail tied to every production across a full performing arts season. The incoming food and beverage operator had no process in place to deliver at that cadence.

The process ran end to end: concepting with operations, validating through sourcing, and securing sign-off from the client and resident companies. Graphics, pre-promotion across client channels, and a closing performance review that informed the next menu.

Twenty-two event-tied launches and $135K+ in incremental beverage revenue within a single season.

Program designBrand & graphicsF&B strategyPerformance review
The full account  →
$135K+Incremental beverage revenue in a single season
22Event-tied program launches delivered
10+Client accounts across LA & San Diego
Crown and Glory
Center Theatre Group Crown and Glory Jaja’s African Hair Braiding · Oct 2025
The Rumble
LA Opera The Rumble West Side Story · Oct 2025
Poltergeist Punch
Center Theatre Group Poltergeist Punch Poltergeist · Nov 2025
Manila Disco
Center Theatre Group Manila Disco Jan 2026
Love on Grand
Abernethy’s · Kendall’s Love on Grand Valentine’s · Feb 2026
Love Notes
Gloria Molina Grand Park Love Notes Sat Feb 14, 2026
The 1958
Kaufman Dance The 1958 Feb 2026
Crown and Glory
Center Theatre Group Crown and Glory Jaja’s African Hair Braiding · Oct 2025
The Rumble
LA Opera The Rumble West Side Story · Oct 2025
Poltergeist Punch
Center Theatre Group Poltergeist Punch Poltergeist · Nov 2025
Manila Disco
Center Theatre Group Manila Disco Jan 2026
Love on Grand
Abernethy’s · Kendall’s Love on Grand Valentine’s · Feb 2026
Love Notes
Gloria Molina Grand Park Love Notes Sat Feb 14, 2026
The 1958
Kaufman Dance The 1958 Feb 2026
Center Sparkler
Kaufman Dance Center Sparkler Feb 2026
Forever Jung
Center Theatre Group Forever Jung Kim’s Convenience · Mar 2026
Wally's Special
Center Theatre Group Wally’s Special Apr 2026
Santorini Spritz
Center Theatre Group Santorini Spritz May 2026
The Empire State
Kaufman Dance The Empire State New York City Ballet · Jun 2026
Summer-ita & Downtown Sunset
Dance DTLA Summer-ita & Downtown Sunset Jun 2026
Dance DTLA Bar
Dance DTLA Dance DTLA Bar Aug 2026
Peruvian Pisco Sour
Dance DTLA Peruvian Pisco Sour Sep 2026
Center Sparkler
Kaufman Dance Center Sparkler Feb 2026
Forever Jung
Center Theatre Group Forever Jung Kim’s Convenience · Mar 2026
Wally's Special
Center Theatre Group Wally’s Special Apr 2026
Santorini Spritz
Center Theatre Group Santorini Spritz May 2026
The Empire State
Kaufman Dance The Empire State New York City Ballet · Jun 2026
Summer-ita & Downtown Sunset
Dance DTLA Summer-ita & Downtown Sunset Jun 2026
Dance DTLA Bar
Dance DTLA Dance DTLA Bar Aug 2026
Peruvian Pisco Sour
Dance DTLA Peruvian Pisco Sour Sep 2026
MGM Resorts International  ·  Mainland China

An amenity brand designed, modeled, and built

MGM needed a kids’ club concept that could scale across properties. The work covered identity, logo, and narrative strategy, then CAD models of the environments and the renders that secured approval.

The program was developed for the flagship MGM Reserve line and installed across Mainland China, including MGM Reserve Zhuhai, with on-site support through the build.

IdentityEnvironmental design3D & CADRenders
The full account  →
MGM Resorts The working deck, twelve pages
MGM Reserve Zhuhai As built
Independent

Orange Chicken & Porcelain Plates

A self-authored study of Chinese restaurant design: 122 pages folding out to eighteen and a half feet, documenting dozens of recurring design motifs and the rooms they appear in.

Case studies span California, Massachusetts, Ireland, Australia, and China. Researched, written, designed, and produced independently — and the clearest demonstration of how a space gets read before anything is designed for it.

AuthorDesignerEditorResearch
The full project  →
Orange Chicken & Porcelain Plates — first half of the fold-out
First half  ·  drag to explore
Orange Chicken & Porcelain Plates — second half of the fold-out
Second half  ·  18.6 feet end to end

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Work

Sodexo Live!, MGM Resorts International, and Jaq Jaq Bird — ten-plus accounts across performing arts, stadiums, museums, and conventions.

See the work →

Play

Self-directed and consulting work: the book, WNDR Museum, and the YMCA, plus the drawing and comics archive — where most of the ideas start.

See the projects →

About

Los Angeles
Austin Li Los Angeles, California

Where brand meets operations

Most of this work lives in venues with real constraints — a curtain time, a service window, a crowd arriving whether or not the signage is ready. That shapes the approach: systems a team can execute without the designer in the room.

Ten-plus accounts across Los Angeles and San Diego with Sodexo Live!, most of them onboarded fast — The Music Center went from new client to redesigned collateral and marketing channels in under 78 days. Before that, two years with MGM Resorts International in Shanghai and Macao, moving from campaign work into identity and environment design.

Also a writer and illustrator — a self-published study of Chinese restaurant design, and a webcomic running since 2017.

Based
Los Angeles, California
Focus
Brand strategy, creative marketing, environmental design

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