The layout and style really does sell the theme and tone despite because of its simplicity. It isn't particularly elaborate, just the silhouette of the dunes, an illustration of a sandbike engine, the logo, and an incoming sandstorm, and it works really, really, well.
I do like how the map changes as all but a scant few landmarks are lost as the game progresses, keeping things fresh and also stopping the player from running out of space. The rules are straight forward and easy to understand. However I will say it isn't completely trading with settlements work (I would assume you would need to be adjacent or in the same hex and you would have needed to have found at least 1 new landmark). I also agree with thulhupunk, there should be an end goal rather than just survive. Still Drifts is an enjoyable and simple hexcrawl cartography game that, like many good one page RPGs, proves that less is more.