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- Designed by Sarah: August 2025 Studio Recap
Designed by Sarah: August 2025 Studio Recap
This email has 3 studio updates, 1 neat aminal fact, 6 cool websites I think you should see, 1 question about workshops, and 4 funding opportunities
Running your own business is funny because people are always like “Do you do midday yoga? Do you work from wherever? Do you just do whatever you want all day?” The answer to these questions is no, because my day looks a lot like anyone else’s: staring at my computer screen without stretching or drinking water from 9-5. I feel like I am wasting something by doing this since I work for myself, so I’ve been trying to do Short Jaunts where I work from the road… that is, I don’t set up an OOO when traveling and try to keep my normal schedule (I know, groundbreaking) and to an extent don’t even tell anyone that I’m leaving. So far I have given myself a B+ on this tactic, but there’s only one way to get better at it.
In August my buddy, my pal, my friend Sonam and I went to visit our friend Stephannie in Seattle since she moved there earlier in the summer. Neither Sonam nor I had been to the Pacific Northwest, and I “get it” now. It’s really nice there. I saw a TON of seals and even an orca while we were sea kayaking.
I tried to set this up as a Work Jaunt, which ended up being a little more unstable than I was expecting – turns out, you have to really reorient your day around 1. Getting things done on time and also 2. Hiking to a crystal blue glacier lake. A lot of clients got emails at 3 in the morning… sorry about that.
Paid subscribers: I’m working a new zine (hint: BEER) and poster series to start sending out to people who have upgraded their subscription. So far I’ve sent prints, zines, materials from art exhibits I went to, and other little treats. It’s mostly been once a month. And it’s hopefully all very nice. I think you’ll like it.
The point of paid subscribers is knowing exactly how many people actually want to get things in the mail…. and now that I have a few dozen (incredible, I am baffled and happy) paid subscribers I’m starting to get to a place where I can start placing orders of sillier stuff to mail out. Thinking… stuff that usually comes with minimums of 50. Like hair clips (Stephannie told me to make a hair clip of 7-layer dip, my favorite snack, and I have no idea how that would work but I accept the challenge).
Warmly,
Sarah
Ps: Make sure I have your mailing address when you sign up! Pro Tip! Check at the bottom of this email!
👉 Seeking Shelter
This is one of those projects I have been so looking forward to sharing, one of my favorite things I worked on this year: a game meant to simulate the experience of finding emergency housing in Atlanta. You might think in a city with 1,900 emergency shelter beds it would be easy to find somewhere to stay in a pinch, but a disorganized system makes it nearly impossible. I worked with Stephannie (who I mentioned earlier!), who was a housing reporter for 10 years in the Atlanta and knows the issue and the people it affects deeply.
I’ll have more to say on this in a longer case study whenever I update my website again, but in the meantime, the game is absolutely worth a play:
👉 Shops Open During Construction
This is a silly one because it was ultimately a very quick and not very consequential project in the long-term… but I designed this 40’ long banner that’s going to be up in Little 5 Points for a few months during the Findley Plaza construction. Besides Thomas on the Corey Tower, this is probably my largest physical piece of design yet. I have already received selfies from friends passing by the banner, and I personally think that is hilarious and awesome.
Learn more about the construction ➔
👉 Sandwich Blitz
I finished a side project I’ve been working on in fits and starts since last year: Have you ever played Dutch Blitz? It’s one of my favorite card games but I’ve always had some beef with the way the original cards are designed. I took it upon myself to design new faces for the cards based on sandwiches and sandwich toppings, and instead of saying “Blitz!” when you win, I have decided you need to yell “HOT N’ READY” when you have blitz. It hasn’t caught on yet.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
While sea kayaking in Seattle last week, I learned a super neat orca fact: there are actually three main types of orcas that exist in the North Pacific: Residents, Transients, and Offshores (but the first two are seen more often). They are functionally different species, don’t interbreed, and can’t understand each other or communicate when passing by – Resident Orcas mostly hunt salmon and make a lot of noise to coordinate their hunts, while Transients hunt seals and porpoises and are a lot quieter to be able to sneak up on them. Neat little infographic here with more info.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
I’m interrupting this month’s workshop section to tell you I am once again considering a Skillz Summit: Designed to teach you crucial and also interesting skills: things like How to Drive Stickshift, How To Tie Knots, How to Do Visible Mending, and more. I promise you don’t know how to do all of them.
Can you take approximately 30 seconds and tell me which of the 20ish options are most interesting to you to learn? Promise it’ll be worth it.
👉 PageBreak
This is less of a silly web tool and more of an event I discovered in NYC while researching Skills-based workshops: basically, it’s a retreat-style gathering where everyone reads the same book at the same time, sometimes out loud. It seems weirdly expensive to me: $250 for the next retreat, but it does come with a tasting menu, wine pairing for the day’s reading, and guided activities like yoga. I like what they’re doing though, and wonder if something similar could happen in Atlanta?
Honorable mentions:
My AIGA Mentee Izzy Wootonn sent me some hilarious links: How to say no to new projects, and how to figure out what your design title is. I went through a phase where I called myself a ~creative technologist~ because that’s more accurately what I am, but I realized quickly no one knows what the hell that means.
While I was out of town, my friend Brett started a new Pasta & Vinyl Night series at his house, and he’d designed a set of postcards we printed on my riso. It got me thinking about how vintage restaurant postcards are very much still a thing, and even discovered this big album of so many to look through.
My favorite thing about yapping in the intro of this newsletter is how people reply - last month I wrote about being afraid to make decisions that aren’t backed up by reviews, and then my friend Gina sent me this Adam Conover video about how 5 Star Reviews are Ruining Your Life.
We are underway reviewing WONDER Grant applications! In the meantime, here are some additional funding opportunities:
Building 5, Portland Oregon
We are now accepting submissions for our highly anticipated 2026 Program—an opportunity for bold, site-specific artistic exploration within one of the Northwest’s most dynamic creative spaces.
Deadline: Sept 29, 2025
Millay Arts Core Residency, New York
From April through November, Millay Arts invites 6-7 multidisciplinary artists for stays at Steepletop, the historic estate of poet/activist Edna St. Vincent Millay. In December (March application deadline only), we offer group/collective week-long residencies.
Fall Deadline: October 1st
Center for Craft
Grants up to $15,000 are awarded to support new and interdisciplinary research about craft in the United States.
Deadline: October 17, 2025
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When will it happen? When there is something cool to send. Here’s what I’ve sent to newsletter subscribers in the past:
 Ridiculous interactive board game postcards that use AR |  Silly bumper stickers (and other stickers from other artists) |  Issues of Unfolded, my quarterly-ish newspaper about creativity |