About
About Andee Mazzocco
SAYGRID is my graphic design practice, where since 2010 I've worked with pioneers in urban planning, policy, philanthropy, and advocacy to communicate the issues and ideas they care about the most—tenets they hold sacred, like environmental conservation, equitable access to parks and open space, resilient neighborhoods, and arts education.
SAYGRID is a play on the word sacred, for the missions that drive my work. It is also a compound of say and grid:
- Say because I help my clients tell their stories, translating complex ideas into memorable images.
- Grid because it is the foundation of both good graphic design and good communities. In graphic design, the grid is the invisible backbone for the elements of a layout, giving structure and rhythm. Grid also references the street arrangements that are so important to my work in urban planning, the energy networks that are critical to the natural systems I advocate for, and the circuitry that connects and defines the communities I serve.
-Shawn McCaney, Executive Director, William Penn Foundation
"I look to Andee to tell a story, to make boring, staid facts compelling, to take grand, complex ideas and make them obvious with a quick look at a page, and to make ideas beautiful. I look to Andee because she is amazing at presenting a textbook chapter's worth of information in a single image."
—Karen Black, Principal, May 8 Consulting
"Andee has a remarkable ability to fluidly cross disciplinary boundaries. She has an exemplary dedication to craft and an unflappable ability to communicate complex ideas."
-Harris Steinberg, Executive Director, Drexel University Lindy Institute for Urban Innovation
"To me, nothing is more important than trusting someone's judgment. Andee's work product is some of the most well-received we've ever had, and the process behind the scenes is so collaborative and enjoyable!"
-Elizabeth Sweeney, former Communications & Publications Manager, Americans for the Arts
"Andee can take our knotty, complex issues and turn them into striking visualizations."
-Rachel Blake, Associate Director, Regional Housing Legal Services
I studied industrial design at The University of the Arts in Philadelphia. I was drawn to this field for its aspirations to create beautifully useful things and its focus on how a good design process leads to a better solution. At Margie Ruddick Landscape, a boutique landscape design office, I learned about reading landscapes, thinking spatially, and designing for the ecologies of a place. There I worked on projects like eco-resorts in India, vast urban waterfronts in New York City, and urban sustainability guidelines. I learned to be a better designer by studying an environment’s peculiarities—its ecology, economy, culture, and ambition.
Wallace, Roberts and Todd, LLC (WRT) is where I began to integrate visual communication with planning and landscape strategies. On projects ranging from national parks to green stormwater infrastructure design, my capabilities grew to include environmental and ethnographic research, program development, mapping and visualizations, site design, communications design, and management. I became the first art director within the planning and urban design practice, which I expanded to include place-branding strategies and innovative planning methods. Later, as an associate, I built the visual communications practice to include fulltime graphic design staff.
I enjoyed an ongoing role within the industrial design program at the University of the Arts as a guest critic and lecturer, as well as an adjunct professor of two-dimensional design techniques.