This Week in Malware:
Weekly Security, Unified Design
Role: Lead Designer
Team: Marketing, Design, Developer Relations
Tools: Figma, Canva, Illustrator, InDesign, Photoshop
Focus Areas: Branding, Visual Systems, Visual Design, Asset Creation, Brand Exploration, Ongoing Content Design
When the Sonatype Developer Relations team launched This Week in Malware, the goal was to create a recurring podcast and blog series that made complex security topics approachable, timely, and engaging. I partnered with the team to establish a strong visual identity that could scale week after week while remaining instantly recognizable to the developer community.
Challenge/Overview
This Week in Malware needed a clear, consistent visual presence across multiple formats — podcast episodes, blog posts, and social media — without feeling repetitive or visually stale. Because the content refreshed frequently, the branding had to be flexible, fast to deploy, and cohesive across platforms.
The challenge was to design a system that could support ongoing content while maintaining a polished, professional look that aligned with Sonatype’s brand and resonated with a technically savvy audience.
Process
I worked closely with the Developer Relations team to define a visual style that felt approachable and memorable, while still respecting the seriousness of security topics. Together, we explored ways to humanize malware discussions without overwhelming or intimidating the audience.
This collaboration led to the concept of character illustrations with computer monitor heads — a playful metaphor for developers reacting to real-world security threats. We paired these characters with fun, colorful backgrounds, contrasted by panicked or expressive body language, creating a visual tension that mirrored the urgency of malware incidents in an approachable, humorous way.
Once the direction was established, I translated the concept into a repeatable visual system, designing templates that allowed each episode to feel fresh while maintaining a consistent identity. The characters, poses, and backgrounds could be mixed and matched to reflect different topics, ensuring flexibility across podcast thumbnails, blog headers, and social graphics.
By building the system collaboratively, we landed on a style that resonated with the DevRel team and their audience — striking the right balance between clarity, credibility, and personality.
Solution/Results
The final visual system gave This Week in Malware a distinct, recognizable presence within Sonatype’s DevRel ecosystem. The branding helped unify podcast episodes, blog posts, and social content into a single cohesive experience — making it easier for audiences to identify and engage with the series week after week.
The scalable design approach streamlined production for the DevRel team, enabling consistent releases without sacrificing visual quality. Over time, the series developed a strong visual rhythm that reinforced trust, familiarity, and credibility with its audience.
This project highlighted the power of thoughtful systems design — proving that consistency and flexibility can coexist when branding is built with longevity in mind.
