New Careers

Brockett Horne

N Silas Munro
Visiting Assistant Professor, Designer-in-Residence, North Carolina State University

Brockett Horne
Co-Chair of Undergraduate Graphic Design, Maryland Institute College of Art

If the 1990s marked the advent of the designer as an author, then the new century empowers designers to consider their abilities to self-initiate projects. The designer has taken on the role of producer with aplomb. Designers possess the skills to identify and tackle projects directly, without the commissioned point of view of a client. The graphic designer’s role has shifted from creating artifacts to creating systems, from translating messages to crafting them, and from visual problem solving to defining complex solutions for savvy audiences.

Jen Bennett Gubicza

For a long time, I worked as a graphic designer at Big Blue Dot, the design studio that branded Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network. 11 years later, my business card no longer reads “Creative Director” but “Stuffed Animal Designer.” I’m currently working with a group of people in Brooklyn to develop independent businesses that make a living making things. There are so many materials that are discarded that can be upcycled into something amazing. I have made animals out of vintage kimono remnants and fromdiscarded fabric sample books. One of my other studio mates makes bags and pillows out of old sails. Together, 15 of us are looking to build on the following ideas: Upcycling, Shop Local and Co-Production.