U.S. Fusion Outreach

Fusion sits behind a wall of technical language. For most people the science is abstract and the institutions are unfamiliar, so there is no obvious place to start. People inside the field had the opposite problem: plenty of places to go, spread across national labs, universities, and private companies, but none they shared. U.S. Fusion Outreach needed a single public face that could explain fusion to a newcomer and still be a home for the community pushing it forward. At Sandbox, we developed their brand and website, and helped them launch Fusion Energy Week, an annual celebration that brings the community and the public together. I shaped the website’s information architecture and interface, and created the event’s identity and materials.

The challenge

The site had to do two jobs at once: welcome newcomers and serve the community, without losing one or talking down to the other. Many non-technical contributors would run it, so the CMS had to be flexible, easy to use, and clear about who could edit what.

But a website only reaches people who seek it out. To build awareness, we had to spread the word.

The result

Between 2023 and 2025 the site’s audience more than doubled, from 13,000 visitors to 31,000. More of them came back, and more came straight to the site. Fusion Energy Week spread the word further: partner labs, universities, and companies hosted 149 events across 2024–2026.

Making fusion easy to picture

We gave fusion a look that reads as serious science, without the technical distance that usually comes with it. An animated logo and a consistent identity system make U.S. Fusion Outreach easy to recognize and remember. Custom illustration and information visualization open up complex ideas to a general reader.

Illustration: Ana Kova

An introduction and an ongoing resource

I shaped the information architecture to give each audience what it was missing. Newcomers get a place to start, with an introduction to fusion science. Fusioneers, the field’s own community, get a shared home: news, a jobs board, and an events listing they can add to themselves. And a newsletter keeps newcomers and fusioneers alike in the loop. Behind the scenes, each contributor has the access they need, so the team keeps the site current without routing every change through a developer.

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Fusion Energy Week

To spread the word, we helped U.S. Fusion Outreach launch Fusion Energy Week, held each year in the second week of May. Labs, universities, and companies across the U.S. and beyond host events, in person and online, that connect the public with the people working to put fusion energy on the grid.

The week needed its own identity that still belonged to the parent brand. I designed that identity and carried it across posters, print, web banners, and social media. Partners got it as a ready-made kit, so an event held in so many places still felt like one thing. They carried the campaign on their own channels, and from 2024–2026 they ran 149 events.

Poster illustration: Thumỹ Phan

Recognition

Apple featured U.S. Fusion Outreach on its college students education page in 2024. Fusion companies, national labs, and federal offices marked the week on their own channels.