Alumni Spotlight – Dac Austin
Creative Circus Alum - Art Director at Brown-Forman
#AlumniSpotlight The Creative Circus graduates the most sought after creatives in the industry. Take a moment to read about the lives, careers & personal stories of some of our fantastic alumni.
Dac Austin – Art Director at Brown-Forman & Creative Director at NOT A CANNED HAM
Creative Circus Alumnus- Design (2001)
Portfolio
Advice to the Graduating Class:
BE HONEST. BE KIND. BE GRATEFUL.
Honesty garners respect. Kindness welcomes others. Gratefulness shows humility. This industry is small. Talent alone will not carry you. Working environments can be intense and emotional.
1. Be honest to yourself and your fellow cohorts. About the work and about life. Open communication will light the way, especially when things don’t go as planned.
2. Be kind to those around you. Know that we are all survivors. Of tough assignments. Of failed relationships. Of saying the wrong thing. We are all surviving something, even if its doesn’t show. Kindness heals. And is always welcome.
3. Be grateful to those who helped you get to where you are. None of us did this alone. We are all standing on the shoulders of others. Humbly acknowledge those who provided the grace and wisdom for your success.
And finally, know that you join a fraternity of alums who have the confidence you will achieve more than we have. We are all cheering for you.
Advice to the Incoming Class:
LOVE ONE ANOTHER
My first day at the Circus Mike Jones-Kelly stood in front of all of us in the space that is now the Forum and told us to look around. He said we were looking at our wives, our husbands, our bridesmaids, our groomsmen. He said we were looking at our best friends. Most of us had just given up our lives and moved to Georgia to attend this school with a funny name that was sandwiched between the railroad and the interstate. His prediction felt premature. Aspirational. The kind of thing you are supposed to say on the first day to inspire the new class. But it was true. All of it.
The Circus experience is intense and demanding. It will require you to stretch in ways you never thought you could. Be someone you didn’t know you were. And the relationships you form during this time will be unlike any other. But to get the most from this program learn to love one another. Know that you are all in this together. There is more than enough room at the top for all of you. Your classmates aren’t your competition; they are your coaches and your cheerleaders. Be the same for them. If you ever see a classmate who is working on a project and you have an idea that could help them, offer it freely. And listen to ideas that are offered to you. Spend as much time as you can together. Share ideas. Teach techniques. Become one. You are far more powerful as a group than you are alone. I wouldn’t be where I am today if not for the encouragement and support of my classmates. I’m indebted to all of them.
What does the Circus mean to you? :
The most important thing a teacher can do for a student is to believe in him. The Circus gave me that. I arrived at the Circus with a B.A. in English and and M.A. in Literature. I thought copywriting would be my path, but during my first quarter, I found that I was spending more time on what my thumbnails looked like than what they said. I hadn’t had art since elementary school and no real aptitude for drawing, but with the support of type instructor Mark Braught, I moved to the art direction program. After a quarter with Sylvia Gaffney, I hopped to design. There I met instructor Paul Huggett and spent copious amounts of time with Rob Lawton. Mark, Sylvia, Paul, and Rob all believed in me. They along with my classmates pushed me forward at times when I felt my hands held me back. They gave me confidence doing something I was just learning. Rob summed up his trust in me like this. He said he wasn’t worried about me. That my head was good and that my hands would catch up. Believing in yourself may be the most vital trait a creative has. The Circus believed in me before I did.
Describe a monumental, light bulb moment for yourself while you were at Circus:
I was working in the design room one morning with Brian Owens. It was not long after my move from the writing side to the art side. I was focusing on shape, trying to hone my logo skills. How combining shapes could be used to communicate an idea. For some reason I was thinking of the Calgary Stampede. Trying to find an object that could be representative of one of the largest rodeos in the world. I landed on a spur and realized that a maple leaf could be used for the rowel (the spike), while the band could form a C for Calgary. I refined the design in subsequent quarters and ultimately decided it best suited the Calgary Stampeders, a Canadian Football League franchise. But it was the first time I successfully applied shape to a logo.
Favorite Project this Year:
NITAMIN
After a year at Grant Design Collaborative, I joined BrightHouse (and Paul Huggett) in 2003. BrightHouse had just become the agency of record for Delta Airlines and was adding new employees weekly to service the account. My role quickly focused on clients other than Delta, most notably Georgia-Pacific. At the time, GP’s chemical division had developed a new nitrogen-based fertilizer. This fertilizer targeted the golf course industry because of its ability to keep turf healthy and green for months without re-application. I was part of the core team that developed the name, identity, and communications for this new product. It was the first time I worked on the complete development of a brand, and It culminated with the unveiling of a trade show booth of my design at the golf course superintendents convention in San Diego. It yielded one of the best client relationships I have experienced and proved to be one of my best design wins when I successfully sold the client a custom modular white-dominant trade show booth design complete with white carpet.
