Branding, animation, website and social media design for WaitWhat’s original podcast, Should This Exist.

Show host Caterina Fake (founder of Flickr, Partner at Yes VC) drops listeners into the minds of today’s edgiest entrepreneurs and guides them through the journey of foreseeing what technology might do to us, and for us.

Design Direction: Sarah Sandman
Illustrations: Sarah Sandman, Rozalina Burkova, Tim Cronin, Kelsie Capitano
Animations: Alex Kuzoian

Branding for VanguardSTEM, an online network and empowered community of women of color, girls of color and non-binary people of color living at the intersections and thriving on the STEM frontier.

Hosted by award-winning astrophysicist Dr. Jedidah Isler, the monthly web series VanguardSTEM features a rotating panel of Women of Color in the STEM fields discussing their research interests, wisdom, advice and events. Complementing the brand identity is a flexible visual system for social media posts and event announcements that allows for a changing number of guest speakers featured month-to-month.

Design: Sarah Sandman, Jill Peterson

My work for this beloved organization is confidential. Feel free to check out @plannedparenthood and @ppact on IG for our teams’ public work.

A collaboration with Airbnb and Hewn Bros to create a Brooklyn-themed mini-golf course.

As part of Airbnb's sponsorship of the Brooklyn Half Marathon in the spring of 2015, a three day pre-race event took place on the Brooklyn waterfront. Set up at Brooklyn Bridge Park, the event included food trucks, live music and a 6-hole mini-golf course, each showcasing a different piece of Brooklyn history.

Jill Peterson and I developed the concept of Brooklyn-themed mini-golf and designed 6 unique layouts for some of the city's most iconic locations: Grand Army Plaza, Coney Island, Green-Wood Cemetery, McCarren Park Pool, the Williamsburg Bank Tower and Gomberg Seltzer Works. These concepts were then translated into illustration by Agnes Lee and then brought to life by the fabricators at Hewn Bros.

Concept: Sarah Sandman, Jill Peterson
Design: Sarah Sandman, Jill Peterson
Illustration: Agnes Lee
Fabrication: Hewn Bros
Photography: Jill Peterson

Branding and social media design for the podcast Spark & Fire, a WaitWhat original.

Spark & Fire provides the jolt for living a more creative life — turning the abstract idea of the creative process into a captivating, edge-of-your-seat hero’s journey. The initial spark. The endless iteration. The inevitable setbacks. The magical people who appear to help. And the breakthrough idea.

Design Direction: Sarah Sandman

Graphic Design and Illustration: Kelsie Capitano, Tim Cronin and Sarah Sandman

Branding, animation, website and social media design for the podcast Meditative Story, a WaitWhat original in partnership with Thrive Global.

Meditative Story combines human stories with meditation prompts embedded into the storylines — all surrounded by breathtaking music. Think of it as an alternative way into a mindfulness practice through story.

Design Direction: Sarah Sandman
Graphic Design: Sarah Sandman, Kelsie Capitano and Tim Cronin

Branding and website design for The Establishment, a multimedia company run and funded by women that’s predicated on a simple on a simple, yet radical notion: the world is a better, more interesting place when everyone has a voice.

Empress needed to develop a name, brand, visual identity and digital experience for their groundbreaking publication, The Establishment. Jill Peterson, Catherine Lewis and I engaged the client in the co-creation of a name and aesthetic for a new media brand.

Branding: Sarah Sandman, Jill Peterson, Catherine Lewis
Visual design: Sarah Sandman
UX design: Jill Peterson
Development: Catherine Lewis
Hand lettering: Jen Mussari

Branding, animation, website and social media design or WaitWhat’s original podcast, Masters of Scale.

Masters of Scale is a podcast hosted by Reid Hoffman, co-founder of LinkedIn and investor at Greylock. In each episode, Reid shows how companies grow from zero to a gazillion, testing his theories with legendary leaders.

Design Direction: Sarah Sandman
Illustration: Rozalina Burkova
Animations: Alex Kuzoian
Music: Ryan Holladay

Social media design spreading messages of hope and support for a leader in the fight against cancer

For over 100 years, American Cancer Society has had a bold mission to liberate the world from the threat of cancer. Leveraging Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to build community and garner support means telling a consistent story that offers fresh chapters every day. In partnership with M+R, we helped ACS on their mission to fund research, support patients and caregivers, and educate the public by producing visual design for social media that shares their story.

Concept: M+R, Sarah Sandman, Jill Peterson
Design: Sarah Sandman, Jill Peterson

Graphic design for acclaimed energy research group, Acadia Center, to help them tell the story of our clean energy future.

Acadia Center works to promote effective solutions to tackle the problem of climate change. Jill Peterson and I designed a series of print pieces for Acadia Center with the aim of explaining complex energy system concepts with simple, inspiring visuals. For Acadia Center's EnergyVision2030, UtilityVision and Community Energy Vision initiatives, we designed icons, illustrations and infographics that tell the story of how our energy system must change in a "broster" (brochure+poster) print format.

Design: Sarah Sandman, Jill Peterson

Winning design proposal for the Lexus + TED Fellows challenge to bring a more human experience to the future of autonomous driving.

Human-centered design has traditionally highlighted the needs of an individual user. What if we shifted the focus to designing for the collective? I proposed a future that uses thoughtful design that places community, relationships, quality time, and cooperative ownership at the center. Autonomous cars can pave the way for a more inclusive, meaningful and equitable transportation future, if we stay focused on what matters most — people.

Concept and Design: Sarah Sandman

Branding for a community-building digital product called Venn for the media company, WaitWhat.

Venn is an online network for asking life’s biggest questions — and learning from people with real-life answers. For this brand, I emphasized the visual layers of community and textures that highlight the different experiences users bring to the table.

Concept: Deron Triff, June Cohen, Jai Punjabi, Steph Kent and Sarah Sandman
Design: Sarah Sandman

Postcard and package design highlighting the work of world change-makers from the TED Fellows program.

The TED Fellows program provides transformational support to a global community of over 490+ remarkable individuals who are collaborating across disciplines to spark positive change around the world. I was invited to create a package of postcards for the program’s donors for the TED2018 conference.

Design: Sarah Sandman

Branding for the media invention startup, WaitWhat.

WaitWhat was looking for a way to highlight their brand across their various media properties while maintaining the feeling of “Wait, What?”. This logo offers a subtle moment where it’s visual gravity sparks curiosity.

I’ve designed cover art for various podcasts over the years including:

Your Undivided Attention: From the Center for Humane Technology, hosts Tristan Harris and Aza Raskin will expose the hidden designs that have the power to hijack our attention, manipulate our choices and destabilize our real world communities.

Basic Able: A podcast talking about disability issues and community in an aggressively UNbasic way. Hosted by filmmaker and activist, Reid Davenport

Should This Exist: Show host Caterina Fake (founder of Flickr, Partner at Yes VC) drops listeners into the minds of today’s edgiest entrepreneurs and guides them through the journey of foreseeing what technology might do to us, and for us. Should This Exist? is a WaitWhat original series in partnership with Quartz.

Meditative Story: Meditative Story combines human stories with meditation prompts embedded into the storylines — all surrounded by breathtaking music. Think of it as an alternative way into a mindfulness practice through story. A WaitWhat original in partnership with Thrive Global

Masters of Scale: Masters of Scale is an original podcast hosted by Reid Hoffman, co-founder of LinkedIn and investor at Greylock. In each episode, Reid shows how companies grow from zero to a gazillion, testing his theories with legendary leaders.

Invitation design for RISD’s Board of Trustees.

Playing with the elegance of fine dinnerware paired with pop colors, these invitations highlight the historical and contemporary story of the renowned Rhode Island School of Design. Within the title Creative Connoisseurs, the words “Create noise” are called out as a subtle typographic surprise.