Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Brandon Scott. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Hi Brandon, really happy you were able to join us today and we’re looking forward to sharing your story and insights with our readers. Let’s start with the heart of it all – purpose. How did you find your purpose?
I come from a long line of engineers. So naturally, I started out pursuing engineering and architecture in high school. I recall sitting in architecture class and learning about building codes, such as where doors can and cannot go. However, I have always been a tried and true rule breaker. So naturally, I wanted to put the door where it wasn’t supposed to go. that same semester, I had taken a digital design class to fill and elective and I was introduced to the world of design. This design class really helped me discover my love for design. My teacher encouraged me to embrace being the square peg in the round hole. I finally felt like I was truly in my element where I had the freedom to create with out limitation.
As I walked into my first day of design school in college, I struggled to find my niche. When sophomore year reviews came, I sat in the room waiting anxiously to find out weather I would be making it into the next year of design school. unfortunately I did not make it. I found myself on a city bus, in complete shock as my life crumbled around me. I knew that my calling was to be a designer. So doing what I do best, I once again broke the rules. The next semester, I only took in two courses, which was the bare minimum to stay enrolled. I then focused all newly freed time into finding as many freelance opportunities as I could for myself. I reached out to a KCMO based fine artist that I had met a while back and offered up my services. He respond right away that he had actually been looking for a designer to create a brand identity for him. I believe timing is everything and that confirmed that I was walking on the right path. That lead to freelance job after freelance job. I wanted to prove to myself that design was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.
A week before the new school year kicked off, the dean of design called me into her office and told me that they were going to give me a second chance at design school. as I entered design school, I decided to take a motion design class. I have always illustrated with the mindset of wanting to make it come to life, I just never knew how. That class changed everything for me. Once I started animating, I couldn’t stop. I took every chance I had to animate something. since there wasn’t a full animation degree offered, I took to teaching myself how to make my still designs come to life through animation and I am always trying to learn new skills and techniques every day.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
I am a Graphic designer, illustrator, & motion designer. I have worked with a wide variety of clients such as H&R block, Omaha steaks, My chemical romance, Run the Jewels, Paramore, Korn, QuickTrip, & KOA. Just to name a few. My work ranges from creating explainer videos, commercials, band merch, brand identities, and social media content. I feel like each day I am doing something different which always keep me on my toes.
My favorite part about what I do, is being able to bring a companies story to life through motion design. My work is very illustration heavy. I am a very detailed person, and I reflect that in my work. Stylistically, I enjoy incorporating gradients and half tones into my designs. I work with a lot of animated texture and grain. Satire fuels most of my design concepts. I enjoy exaggerating my illustrations and animation work so that it personifies something that is polished and clean but maintains a level of lightheartedness.
I also, run an online Vinyl record shop called Half/Full Records. Music is my life and Album covers have always been my biggest point of artistic inspiration for my work. I have been collecting records for over 12 years. I decided that if I start selling record, I could help fellow vinyl lovers to get the records they are looking for at an affordable price. I sell all genres of music; 33’s, 45;s, & 78’s, we don’t discriminate. One of my favorite things about selling records I that I am always discovering new music and obscure records that I have never seen before.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
I am so thankful that I choose to wear multiple hats and not focus on one thing when going through college. I enjoy being able to work in a variety of different facets that allow me to always be needed. While also allowing me to have my hand in a variety of roles in different projects. Fully understanding animation and design fundamentals are the most important building blocks to every thing that I create.
If I had to give a piece of advice to those folks who are early on in their journey it would be that skills are not the most important part of being qualified for a job. You may be really good at knowing how to do something, but if you aren’t able to communicate and listen, your skills don’t have any value. Skills can be taught, being able to listen and communicate effectively with others can’t. I encourage anyone who is early in their journey to go against the grain and stay true to yourself. As creatives, we are surrounded with inspiration and other peoples work on a daily basis. It can be easy to compare our work to others. When you choose to create work that comes from you, you will soar and create new paths that will lead to new creative solutions that will set you apart from everyone else in the industry.
Looking back over the past 12 months or so, what do you think has been your biggest area of improvement or growth?
My biggest area of growth has definitely improving my workflow and overall efficiency. This has given me more time to explore new styles and try new things while under tight project deadlines. Part of this increase in efficiency for me has been spending less time trying to force a concept to work and instead moving on to a different idea. I have found a nice balance of knowing when to move onto the next concept so keep the creative solutions pumping out without getting to invested into a single one. I also feel that my ability to work in a multitude of illustration styles has become substantially more refined in the past year.
Contact Info:
- Website: brandonscottdesign.us
- Instagram: @brandonscottdesign
- Other: Record shop instagram: @half_fullrecords
