Union University’s Sip and Speak Conference, sponsored by the American Institute of Graphic Arts, took place on Friday, Nov. 3 in Harvey Hall. This conference featured guest alumni speakers from across the country and provided valuable insights into graduates entering the design, advertising, photography and marketing fields from the perspective of recent Union alumni.
Katie Williams Howerton, design editor at Our Jackson Home, was the conference’s first morning speaker. Howerton, who graduated from Union in 2015 with a BFA in graphic design and drawing, works at theCO, a creative co-working space based in Jackson. Howerton is the creator of Our Jackson Home, a project that was begun in 2014 by several guys who wanted to create a better community for Jackson. When a friend introduced Howerton to the project, the guys were doing a podcast and a blog, and she was planning her senior show.
“At the time, I really wanted to create a travel magazine,” Howerton said. “The whole reason was that not only did I love to do publication design, but on top of that I also loved to travel, and I loved the idea of not just doing the kind of corny travel stuff but more like digging into what community had to offer artistically.”
She soon began thinking that Our Jackson Home could be a travel magazine for Jackson and pitched her idea to the founders. Her idea ended up being successful, and since then, she has been able to lead a group of volunteers at the magazine. Our Jackson Home is owned by theCO, which employs Howerton to run the magazine.
Howerton presented “The Everything Notebook”, a personal sketchbook that contains everything from pictures to receipts to invitations to drawings to reflections to dream journaling. Her sketchbook looks different every year, and she finishes each one on New Year’s Eve. From the beginning, Howerton decided that this would be a public notebook.
“I tried diaries in the past, and yeah, there’s a space for you to put your very personal thoughts,” Howerton said. “But as artists, we are asked to put our most personal thoughts out in public, and this is the way I was doing that.”
Howerton says that creating the sketchbook can’t be forced. She sometimes takes a “spiritual fast” from her notebook so that she can experience life but is always ready whenever the opportunity arises for her to add to her notebook. She writes down ideas, wise quotes or names that she doesn’t want to forget.
Her sketchbook has several “rules that are not rules”: she can write whatever she wants, as messy as she wants, in any medium that she wants and in any size that she wants. Having no rules is important, she says, because artists need creative freedom.
“Freedom is something that I feel like all artists need,” Howerton said. “Artists are cliché, categorized as ‘rebellious, can’t tell them what to do’ types, but a lot of us aren’t.”
Howerton encourages everyone to create an “Everything Notebook” because everyone needs a free space to put anything they want and a sketchbook keeps everything in the same place.
“I think it’s really cool to see side by side how your emotional state, the things you’re learning and the places you’re eating all have to do with one another,” Howerton said.
Howerton says the reason that she keeps creating her sketchbooks is to document how humans evolve as their age, experiences, and tastes change. She also likes that sketchbooks don’t require a certain style and are accessible. While she is thankful that she can use Our Jackson Home as her job and creative outlet, the Everything Notebook is her “most accurate self-portrait” at the end of the day.
Andrew Graham, graphic designer at the Flower Shop Network, was one of the afternoon speakers at the event. He graduated from Union with a degree in graphic design and drawing. He opened his session by noting the omnipresence of design.
“Design is everywhere,” Graham said. “Everything that we touch has been either designed or thought out by someone.”
As a kid, he was drawn to old video game guides and would spend his time drawing different characters. As he started learning more about design, he became drawn to Neopets, a virtual pet website that prompted him to get involved with web design, which later led him to become involved with graphic design.
After graduating, he was quickly hired by FlowerShopNetwork.com, a company that connects people with local florists. As an employee, he works with homepage banners and seasonal designs, designs print-outs for florists to use and works with clients, specifically if a florist needs a logo.
Since he works at Flower Shop Network, Graham works “in-house” and doesn’t take on outside freelance work. He says that in-house life is much more business-minded. He works in an office from 8 to 5 every weekday, and his work is very scheduled. He says that freelance designers have much more freedom over their schedules, while in-house designers have much more structure.
Graham says that introverts are better suited for freelance work, while extroverts are better suited for in-house work. Working in an office allows him to work with and see other people, which is one of the joys for him. He also notes that in-house designers have to work within a specific brand under specific guidelines.
Graham says that in-house work comes with both benefits and difficulties. Benefits include office potlucks, health insurance and 401K’s. His company also provides him with a gym membership and pays for his Creative Cloud accounts.
“Working for a larger company, they have a lot more resources that you don’t have alone,” Graham said.
He also says that working in-house provides a consistent source of income, a consistent workflow and a schedule, a benefit that he values because he loves organization.
According to Graham, some of the difficulties that come with in-house work are office politics, bureaucracy and a lack of creative freedom. At his company, company emails must be approved by six different departments before being sent out. If one department disapproves of a single word, they have to alter the email.
Graham says that working in an office prevents him from doing as much creatively as he wants to do because he is catering to a specific demographic. His services are generally geared to women over the age of 35, so most of his designs have to have a classic feel rather than a modern design.
“Florists love familiarity,” Graham said.
He advises in-house designers to learn how to pick their battles and work as a team and to learn shortcuts because the pace of work can sometimes be frustrating. He also advises that in-house work involves waking up early, adhering to a dress code and signing various paperwork.
“For the most part, I think in-house is a very good option if you want a job that’s very structured, very consistent,” Graham said. “There’s less stress but a little bit less creativity unless you sort of force it.”
Graham says that deciding between freelance firms or in-house companies is ultimately the decision of the designer.
“You just have to think about the balance,” Graham said. “Would you rather have more security for less creative freedom? That’s sort of a scary ultimatum. That’s not necessarily true, but that it is sort of the trade-off.”
Other speakers included Courtney Searcy, marketing specialist at TLM & Associates; Hilary Borden Griffith, designer at Belmont University; Kathryn Buncik Nash, designer at Apartment Therapy; Tommy Woods, marketing specialist at AO Smith; Katie Cooper, owner and designer of Real Tenacious; Hannah Russell, owner of Hannah Meredith Photography; Ben Hamilton, designer at Foundations Recovery Network; and Brad Moore, owner of B. Moore Visuals.
These alumni have worked with various clients, such as FedEx, Bonaroo, Walmart, Dude Perfect, Sports Illustrated, Memphis Grizzlies, Greatest, Apartment Therapy, Wanderlust, 30A, Stevie B’s, Modern Icon, Borden Technology, Baypointe Medical, Pinewood Social, Atwill Media, Red Bull, Believe Memphis Academy, Disney and Krispy Kreme.
The conference concluded with a Q&A panel for students.
