Sarah Pollock
Art Director / Graphic Designer / Illustrator / Brand Strategist
New York, NY
Q What do you do?
“I got my start as a graphic designer and illustrator but right now I’m mainly a freelance art director and creative consultant. This means that I work with clients and brands on their identity, development, unique voice and positioning, and long-term strategies tailored to their goals and audience and then create visuals and creative strategies- be it designing or revamping their visual branding or helping with social content, IRL events, campaigns, partnerships, etc.- to help bring that vision to life.”
Sometimes I do the graphics and key assets myself and sometimes I manage a team or bring in other artists, photographers, etc. to help us if that's what suits the project best. I majored in business before any of this, so I love being able to combine both worlds together and help brands with backend strategy as much as their front-facing visuals. I'm also highly collaborative, so being able to work in partnership with clients and with teams of photographers, designers, etc. gives me a lot of energy and keeps me inspired, much more so than when I'm by myself just making things on my computer.
Separately, illustration has always been one of my favorite past times and something that comes really naturally to me. I have no formal training it it, but just developed my own style through play. I do use Procreate a lot, but my foundational practice is just pen to paper drawing and I find it so therapeutic.
Q What steps did you take to get to where you are now?
My path has been pretty unconventional. Again, I majored in business and thought all throughout college that I'd end up somewhere deep in the corporate world. Ultimately, that wasn't meant for me, but I'm so grateful for what I learned from it. I realized as I was about to graduate from college that I really didn't like the prospects that my major was offering me, and decided to pivot as soon as I finished. I graduated a semester early so I spent what would've been my senior spring doing a 3 month graphic design course. I went from never touching any adobe program to knowing InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop, Figma, and having a PDF and web portfolio VERY quickly. It was a crazy experience.
I found my self in a weird place, though, because it was Spring/Summer 2021 and job prospects were still bad and everything was remote. I also knew in my gut that I had this deep, lifelong urge to travel and live abroad in my 20s and nothing would satisfy that urge except doing it. So, I worked freelance for about 9 months. I had a client from a previous internship I had during college and ended up molding my consulting role with them from being mostly business development-oriented to holistic brand development and creative direction. That gave me a ton of experience really quickly, because it's a super tiny business and I was wearing a lot of hats at once, but it was so much fun. And I sort of had the luxury to craft my role with them based on the things I was naturally enjoying and taking well to. I worked with a few other clients long-term for several months and tried to do a many one-off projects as I could get my hands on just for experience sake.
And then I took off to Europe in the Spring of 2022 once the world had opened up and I had some decent savings. For most of the past 3 years since then I've been abroad. I spent 3 months in Europe in 2022, followed by Israel for a year teaching English, followed by Spain for a year teaching English, followed by 1 month back in Europe and 5 months in Asia which I just came back from. I've been working freelance this whole time as well, but am now looking to move back into a traditional full-time structure at an agency or with an in-house creative team. I feel like I've gotten as much as I can out of all of my previous experiences which have all been largely solo-based, and now I'm really excited to work within a setting that feels a lot bigger than I am.
Q How do you stand out in your field?
I think my perspective is really unique, and I try to utilize that as much as possible. Again, I come from a business background before I entered the design and creative world, and I think that those 2 entities are more intertwined than most people realize. The best business founders are inherently really creative people, and the best creative directors are people who have just as much of a pulse on good marketing and consumer taste as they do crafting artistic visuals.
I would also say that I'm really proud of the breadth of inspiration I pull from. I think that again it makes my perspective really unique and also keeps my work really fresh. I have a lot of fun following trends where it makes sense to, especially for things like social media content, but in general I pride myself on not consuming too much social media and pulling from references that feel more real and tangible and that support the long-term vision of what I want my work to look like rather than just what looks good at this exact moment in time. Nothing beats the inspiration that comes from your own life experience, conservations with people, good anecdotes, just like.. observing the actual world around you.
Travel is also a HUGE part of my life. I'm really fortunate to say that I've been to 35 countries and (as I just mentioned earlier) I've spent the past 3 years backpacking and teaching abroad, so the things I've seen and the perspective I've gained is definitely what informs my own perspective the most at this point in time. A lot of the narratives I've encountered and people I've met have helped shape my approach to creative work, which is always as narrative-based and human-centered as possible. Where I can, I like to make people just a little bit uncomfortable but also show them something that they can relate to, which very much mirrors my experience abroad at large. There's so much meaning and empathy that comes from that experience, and I think that's where visual communication and good storytelling can really make a difference long term.
Now I'm based in one place, but I try to keep that energy going as much as I can. I always looking to try something new, read a new story, learn a new perspective, meet a new person, etc. As much as I love staring at good design and art direction work, I also try to get a lot of my inspiration from other creative mediums. I've always had a deep personal love for architecture and interior design. I listen to a lot of interviews with writers and authors, filmmakers, painters, fashion designers, and actors. I'm really inspired by nature, spirituality, literature, and history. I love the texture and shapes that come through things like fashion and sculpture. I love staring at all the really delicate details in classical paintings. I get a lot of inspiration from cinematography and film in general, especially for things like color palettes and how color really can set the tone of something so quickly. I'm also fascinated by music production- I love watching interviews where producers show you their computer and break down a song into layers- I imagine it like an audio version of Photoshop. I think all of this makes me a lot better at what I do, to listen to all the different ways to be create and to approach the creative process. It helps me better understand the other creatives I work with, too.
Q What are you working on right now?
I'm working on a local freelance project for a live music startup in my hometown, which is fun to be a part of. And I'm actively looking for full-time employment in New York City so that's taking a lot of my time, as well as some personal projects and zine ideas I'm trying to finish up while I still have the extra time right now. I'm also playing around with After Effects and starting to (finally) explore the world of video editing and animation which is awesome.
Q What’s your style?
My design practice is rooted in collage art, too, which I do a lot in my free time and have for years. Thinking about how I'd arrange pieces in a collage is still how I get a lot of my ideas for layout and composition.
My style has evolved quite a bit in the last few years, but I would say that overall it's a good mix of retro, bold, but also refined. I try to strike a good balance between work that feels sophisticated but also has distinct personality and that doesn't take itself too seriously. I'm really inspired by Madeline Montoya's work for Byline for this. I also love things that feel a little bit cheesy or tacky, but that add a lot of personality and humor for that reason. I think Kel Lauren does this really well as a designer. I love towing the line between playful and sophisticated.
I think less is more in a lot of cases, too. I love good typography. I love a strong color palette (but I also love black and white). I love print design, typesetting, risograph, and different cool things you can do with experimental print pieces. I love playing with type when I can and using it as a graphic element in its own right. I also love incorporating analog elements like handwritten type.
My illustrative work tends to take a bit of a different tone, maybe one that's more representative of my own personal taste in some ways. It's dreamy and sometimes ethereal but also sophisticated. There's a really fine contrast between boldness and delicacy, which I relate to a lot personally. And a timeless, slightly undone, refined, classy element as well, which are qualities I always aspire to. Carly Kuhn's illustrations are a huge inspiration for me.
Q Out of all your slashies, which one do you wish you could do more often?
I really want to work on more campaigns and photo shoots! Especially ones on location, but on traditional sets as well. There's something so magical about watching all of these moving parts come together, and as someone who thinks so conceptually and exists in such a digital space for so much of my job, there is nothing more gratifying than when you have the opportunity to see your vision come to life in front of you.
Q What is frustrating you right now?
Honestly, the constantly-changing technology is the most stressful part of my job. It takes me a while to really feel like I've mastered anything on a technical level, and I get nervous when I feel like other people are able to take to new software and make things better and faster than i can. I'm currently trying to embrace AI and figure out how to make it work for me, mostly from a workflow/ insight standpoint. I'm trying to treat it like my assistant. It's a work in progress.
Q If you could hire someone for $20/hour, what would you have them do to make your day easier?
I'd keep a tech person around for all my Adobe troubleshooting needs!
Q What do you wish you could have told yourself, when, and why?
When I was first getting started in this industry, after I pivoted away from my business degree, I was so insecure about my skill level at that time which was very much that of a beginner. I never wanted to show my portfolio to anyone and I had a really hard time taking myself seriously because the gap between what I was making and what I wanted to make was SO wide. I wish I could've told myself then that when you're a creative, your work will never feel finished. You will always, should always I guess, feel some kind of gap between where you are in that current moment and the next thing you're inspired by. Even once you've reached expert level in your field, there's a certain healthy tension that should never go away. If you're afraid of that feeling or are aiming for it to go away, you're sabotaging yourself before you even get started.
Q If you could talk to an expert to gain more insight on something, what would it be about?
I would love to know how the experts who have the best pulse on the world of social media and internet culture are able to stay so on top of it without they themselves being submerged in it all day long because I don't want that either. I follow some great insight accounts and newsletters but would love to strengthen my own pulse, macro analysis, and forecasting skills without spending more time on the apps, if possible.
Q What kind of opportunities/projects are you looking for?
I'm currently looking for full time employment in the NYC area, but I'm always open freelance work and collaborations! Also, as an Art Director, networking with other creatives and building a roster to tap into is always helpful for when I need to bring people in for specific projects.
Q Describe your ideal job/client/collaboration.
My dream client collaboration is when we're able to build the project together and when it's actually a collaborative process. When we really hear each other and have a mutual respect for our respective roles. I love working with clients who are in creative spaces themselves (fashion, beauty, music, etc.) because they're usually not afraid to push the boundaries visually. That's when I have the most fun. And again, I LOVE jobs that allow me on IRL components beyond the moodboards.
Q: What is your rate?
It really does depend what exactly I'm charging for because my offerings are pretty broad, and I do often adjust based on the client and their specific budget and needs. With design and illustration, those pieces are more quantifiable and depending on the clients and how much they're asking for I charge a la carte or in packages. A simple logo by itself could start at $500, but then to add animations, build it out to brand guidelines, or roll it out onto merch or social, etc. would turn into a package. For illustration work, it depends on the size and complexity of the piece, how many colors are involved, etc. but those designs typically range from $500-$1500 per piece. And then Art Direction and Creative Consulting services do depend heavily on the client and their needs, as well as if it's a one-off or ongoing partnership, but those service tend to start at $2500 base.
Q How should someone approach you about working together?
Email me! -> sarahpollockwork@gmail.com
Q Who is a creative you admire?
There's a designer I just discovered who's based in NYC named Channing Smith. I love her stuff! It's so fun yet polished. Korina Wray is another freelance art director whose work I really look up to.
Q Oh! and… how do you stay creative?
Get outside/touch grass, have a conservation with someone, watch or read something fiction, make a meal/garden/do something with your hands
This member profile was originally published in July 2025.