Work Samples
My work moves between design, illustration, and interactive media.
In each medium, I look for ways to make complex ideas clear and invite people to pay closer attention to stories and experiences they might otherwise overlook.
WBUR’s Cooked Newsletter
Making climate journalism feel closer to home
Client: WBUR
Role: Designer
Scope: Visual Identity, Logo Design, Social Media Design
Cooked: The search for sustainable eats is a newsletter series from WBUR’s Environmental Team that helps New England readers understand the environmental and social impact of what they eat, with practical advice and tips for making more sustainable choices.
The series focuses on actionable steps readers can take in their everyday lives, making a complex issue like climate change feel more tangible and less overwhelming.
I developed a playful, approachable visual identity and flexible social media toolkit that could support a wide range of stories about food, sustainability, and climate across the newsletter and promotional materials.
Amplify ELA: M.C. Higgins, the Great
Capturing the spirit of a changing landscape
Client: Amplify ELA
Role: Illustrator & Visual Storyteller
Scope: Concept Development, Illustration, Supplemental Graphics
Amplify creates ELA curriculum that inspires students to read more deeply, write more vividly, and think more critically. For this unit based on Virginia Hamilton's M.C. Higgins, the Great, I developed a series of illustrations that captures a way of life deeply connected to the changing Appalachian landscape.
I explored different approaches to the characters, landscape, and atmosphere of the story, ultimately developing a painterly watercolor style that became the visual language for the unit.
The project included 16 hero illustrations (one for each sub-unit), as well as supplemental graphics (maps and diagrams) used within individual lessons.
Amplify ELA: Summer of the Mariposas
Bringing a magical journey to life
Client: Amplify ELA
Role: Illustrator & Visual Storyteller
Scope: Concept Development, Illustration, Supplemental Graphics
For this Amplify ELA unit based on Guadalupe García McCall's magical-realist novel, Summer of the Mariposas, I created a visual world for the coming-of-age adventures of five sisters, where the ordinary and the supernatural intertwine.
I developed a layered, graphic approach inspired by contemporary folk art, Mexican folklore, and textile patterns to create a visual world that moves fluidly between the real and the supernatural.
The project included 26 hero illustrations (one for each sub-unit), as well as various supplemental graphics used within specific lessons.
Amplify Desmos Math
Making math feel right for every age
Client: Amplify Desmos Math
Role: Designer & Illustrator
Scope: Visual Identity, Concept Development, Illustration, Wayfinding Design
Amplify Desmos Math is an interactive K–12 curriculum centered on math as a social, collaborative experience.
I developed a visual language within Amplify’s existing brand system for the program’s printed materials.
The goal was to bring the idea of “social math” to life through illustration, while allowing the imagery to grow in complexity across grade levels.
My role included developing the concept and illustrations for the workbook covers, as well as designing a scalable wayfinding system to help teachers and students navigate grades, editions, and volumes across the printed curriculum.
Amplify Science: Matter & Energy in Ecosystems
Making the invisible visible
Client: Amplify Science
Role: Product Designer & Illustrator
Scope: UX Design, UI Design, Concept Art, Illustration
Amplify Science creates interactive digital curriculum to bring scientific concepts to life. For this Matter & Energy in Ecosystems unit, I worked with curriculum developers to create a simulation that helps students visualize how molecules and energy move through an ecosystem.
The simulation makes these invisible processes visible: students can track molecules as they move between the atmosphere, plants, animals, decomposers, and dead matter. By changing conditions within the ecosystem, they can observe how those changes affect the system as a whole.
My role spanned early wireframes and UX design through visual development and illustration for the final simulation.
The Last Woman on Earth
A love story at the end of the world
Project: Self-initiated
Role: Author & Illustrator
Scope: Writing, Illustration, Risograph Printing & Self-Publishing
The Last Woman on Earth is a self-published graphic narrative imagining life at the end of civilization.
The story began as a response to an interview with environmental activist Joanna Macy, where she spoke about loving and caring for the Earth without making that love dependent on whether we believe it can be saved.
The project was originally written, illustrated, printed, and self-published as a risograph zine. In 2020, the complete graphic narrative was published online by Electric Literature.
“This moving graphic narrative is, ostensibly, a tale of dystopian survival. But in her rich images and simple, lyric statements, Caroline Hadilaksono creates an exquisite ode to love, the thing which truly allows us to survive and to bloom where we are planted.”
— The (Dis)content
