Sean Sperte

I am currently on the New Initiatives team at Remitly, helping build and market a new banking app for immigrants called Passbook.

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Passbook is the first physical Remitly product. I designed the debit card, and in the process learned about plastic card manufacturing, technology, and personalization.

Another slide from the Passbook style guide

A second screen from the Passbook app UI kit

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Naming is hard. When I joined, my first responsibility was to lead an identity project and create the visual design system.

A sample of an ad for Passbook showing a fee table with nothing but zeros

Another sample of an ad for Passbook showing the Messages app with a notication badge and the Passbook app with a notification badge with a dollar sign in it

Another sample of an ad for Passbook showing the Passbook card and a title of 'No fees*'

Another sample of an ad for Passbook showing three falling Passbook cards

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I lead design, applying design thinking it to creative direction and product experience.

In 2011, I co-founded Tagboard, a social media software company. As Chief Product Officer I recruited and led a team of designers and developers to build, deliver, and manage all of Tagboard’s products.

A Tagboard screen hangs over beautiful Audi cars at an automobile expo in LA

A Tagboard screen shows social media at a sporting event with tens of thousands in attendance

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Tagboard became an essential part of the social media ecosystem, providing a safe and easy way for organizations to display user-generated content in branded experiences, both digitally and in real-world venues.

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Tagboard’s visual identity needed to strike a balance between trendy and timeless. I created a mark that integrated the hash symbol (#) and a lowercase T. I also created an accompanying brand guide, which included tone of voice.

Early sketches and iterations of the Tagboard design

Screenshot of the original Tagboard prototype interface

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Humble beginnings. I built the Tagboard prototype in a weekend using a CMS and some extensions. We used it to pitch to investors and potential new hires, as well as to our first customers.

I co-founded and was the principal designer at a small app development studio. We made single-use utility apps for iOS.

The Capture app icon and interface on an old iPhone 4

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Capture solved the problem of missing a special moment because the video camera took too long to launch. I designed the icon to mimic a physical record button, and the UI to do its job and stay out of the way.

Screenshots of the Canned interface, circa 2009

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Canned was a way to create reusable templates for text messages. We used mostly system UI, but I designed a custom control and UX for adding a specific recipient.

An iPhone showing the Starbird app interface

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Quality social media was being drowned out by noise, so Starbird was a way to follow people’s favorites instead of their tweets. I designed a fullscreen card interface and horizontal swipe interaction experience.

For almost 12 years I led digital media production at The City Church, a large non-denominational church with multiple campuses.

Screenshots of a half a dozen different websites from the church ministries

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I designed, built, and managed dozens websites for the church’s ministries and campaigns.

A grid of sermon series and event designs

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I was responsible for creative and art direction for book and CD covers, as well as for events and sermon series.

Billboards from the Seattle area showing the JESUS IS ___ design

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I helped design a campaign to invite an open conversation about Jesus, the most controversial figure in history. I built a webapp which allowed visitors to anonymously fill in the blank, share their answer, view others’ answers (after they had been curated), and agree or disagree with them.

As a design generalist, my skills are valuable for any company and indispensable for early-stage projects.

→ Get in touch

Site designed and built by hand using Figma & good old-fashioned HTML+CSS.

Hello. I’m Sean.

I design brand stories and
product experiences.

→ Get in touch

I am currently on the New Initiatives team at Remitly, helping build and market a new banking app for immigrants called Passbook.

In 2011, I co-founded Tagboard, a social media software company. As Chief Product Officer I recruited and led a team of designers and developers to build, deliver, and manage all of Tagboard’s products.

I co-founded and was the principal designer at a small app development studio. We made single-use utility apps for iOS.

For almost 12 years I led digital media production at The City Church, a large non-denominational church with multiple campuses.

As a design generalist, my skills are valuable for any company and indispensable for early-stage projects.

→ Get in touch