Shawn Petersen

Designer, creative leader, founder, and educator.

I’ve spent my career helping ambitious ideas become real—building companies, brands, products, experiences, and teams at the intersection of design, technology, culture, and impact.

Today, I’m focused on creating new products, helping early-stage companies find clarity, and exploring how design can shape emerging technologies in more human ways.

I’m the founder of Wonder Lab, an independent product and design practice based in Portland, Oregon.

Now

My work has changed quite a bit over the years, but the thread running through it has stayed remarkably consistent: I like figuring out things that don’t quite exist yet.

Sometimes that means helping a founder translate an early idea into a product and company. Sometimes it means creating the brand around a new technology. Sometimes it means building a team, designing a system, or finding a much simpler way to explain something complicated.

Today, I’m building and advising early-stage products through Wonder Lab, with a particular interest in AI, climate, human behavior, creativity, and technology that strengthens rather than distracts from our lives.

Get in touch for bookings
& collaborations.

Selected Accolades

Dittoo App - Co-Founder
Not Boring Software Co - Advisor
VSCO - Advisor
The Wild - Advisor
Semi-Permanent, Speaker
DesignThinkers / Toronto, Speaker
Google Design Workshop, Mentor

Selected Clients

Gogoro, Carbon, VSCO, The Tech Interactive, Alphabet, Google, Indeed, Mercari, FICO, Nike, FiftyThree, Asana, Lean In, Autodesk, Netflix, All Raise, YouTube, Anki: Cozmo and Overdrive, Microsoft, Nixon, Day Dream, Quora, Adidas, and Trunk Club.

Selected Interviews

FWA, Judge 2015
FWA Interview, 2015
AWWWARDS, Judge 2014
Design Week Portland, Interview
Design Week Portland, Workshop
Webvisionary, Award
FWA Meet the Judges, 2016
FWA Interview with Rob Ford, 2015
One Of Many, 2014
Design Week Portland, 2014
Lost At E Minor, 2013