About
In 2021, I helped transform a beloved “playground” for rapid prototyping into a confident platform for full-stack projects— distilling speed and collaboration into a unified, unmistakable brand.
When I joined CodeSandbox, we were removing friction from coding, but our identity hadn’t kept pace with our ambitions. As we shifted focus from throw-away sandboxes to production-ready projects, three pain-points became impossible to ignore: inconsistent visuals, scattered messaging, and the absence of a clear voice. My brief was bold yet simple: refresh the brand without sacrificing the agility developers loved.
I started by unpacking the name itself. Code is a system of rules; Sandbox a safe space to create. Sand— the primary building block of glass, concrete, and rock— inspired a metaphor of modular simplicity. Fluorescent minerals (quartz, topaz, aragonite) informed a vibrant palette that could sing on both dark UIs and bright marketing surfaces. Above all, the idea of collaboration guided every decision: great ideas get stronger with each contribution.
Symbol – I retired the closed cube in favor of an open square, removing barriers and literally “opening” the brand.
Typography – I chose TWK Everett for its subtle corners that echo the new icon while retaining authority.
Color – Arctic Lime, Mindaro, and slate-blues contrast a deep black (#10101C), channeling the glow of mineral samples under UV light.
Imagery – Macro photographs of rocks and dunes reinforce the granular, building-block narrative.
Product Touchpoints – A cleaner UI, a new website, an iPad app, and re-worked docs brought the visual language directly into the product.
The open-square logo quickly became shorthand for “no walls to code.” Brand consistency cut content-creation time and boosted recall in user research. Most importantly, our identity now scales effortlessly with our technology, empowering anyone to build anything— at record speed.
Looking back, this project proved that stripping away complexity— in both product and brand— is the surest way to invite more people in. I’m proud that every new feature we launch still begins with the same radical simplicity we carved in 2021.
Credits
Founders:
Bas Buursma, Ives van Hoorne
Head of Product & Design:
Danny Ruchtie
Product Design Director:
Zeh Fernandes
Director of Product Brand:
Marco Vincit
Design Lead:
Lena Sotto Mayor
Motion Designer:
Matheus Pinheiro
Developer Relations:
Adewale Abati, Obinna Ekwuno
Engineering:
AJ Foster, Alex Moldovan, Artem Zakharchenko, Bogdan Luca, Carlos Vidal, Christian Alfoni, Danilo Woznica, David Hollins, Ioana Chiorean, Jasper De Moor, JK Namburu, Joji Augustine, Julien Leclercq, Maria Clara, Mihai Popa, Niclas van Eyk, Roman Kuba, Sanne Kalkman, Tristan
Product:
Necoline Hubner
Data:
Tamas Szuromi
Operations:
Farrell Tatam, Joana Telker, Oskar van Eeden
Marketing:
Filipe Lima
Support:
James