Niani Patterson (Art Direction, 2025)
After graduating with a media studies degree, I landed my first big role in advertising sales at Gannett, the parent company of USA TODAY. Naturally, I stayed in this industry for six years, optimizing keywords and making media plans among other tasks.
Pivot tables became my best friend and account executives were trying to become mine by calling at all hours. I knew I would not be in the field for much longer.
The thing that did bring me joy, however, was designing the campaign wrap decks. It was the one area where I could use creativity.
I was meticulous in design choice from the color palette to the typography. I cared about the formatting and layout of the charts and data. On one hand it was data-dumping, but to me it was storytelling.
I figured there has to be a job that focuses on visual storytelling. And thus, there was the title: Art Director.
At first, I didn’t know where to begin to pivot into this industry as I did not go to school for graphic design. I eventually stumbled across the One School, where I was introduced to conceptual thinking for brand problem solving.
After graduating from that program, I enrolled in the One Club Bootcamp. During the one-week sprint, my team (three other members) and I were challenged with getting Gen Z’ers interested in the Lexus brand. My team won first place out of ten teams, earning me a trip to Playa Vista and a summer internship with Team One.
Of course, that wasn’t enough. I enrolled in The Book Shop of Ads to get even more experience with concepting ads. I also took an evening Graphic Design class at William Paterson University to commence my friendship with the Illustrator pen tool.
I did all of these programs while working full-time at HOT 97, a NYC radio station.
As I was still missing a solid portfolio that I could be proud of, enrolling in a portfolio school was the most logical next step.
I applied to Miami Ad School and got accepted – hooray. But I eventually withdrew my application. After driving down to Richmond to visit the Brandcenter, I knew this school would be the better option for me.
The move down to Richmond came with a few misgivings – leaving my apartment with the world’s sweetest landlord, leaving a full-time job, and simply entering new territory. However, fast forward to today, the risk reward ratio has proven to be favorable.
I have completed my first year as an Art Direction student with a summer internship at Havas, made possible by the Brandcenter. Thanks to the faculty, I have an expanded skill set that felt intimidating only a year ago.