Behind the Texas Creative Rebrand
At the beginning of the Fall 2024 term, Texas Creative announced an official rebrand. We interviewed two alumni from LookThinkMake who helped work on the new branding, Sean Thompson, Director of Strategic Initiatives and Founder, and Connor Gleim, Art Director.
1. When were you in Texas Creative and when did you graduate from UT?
ST: I was a graduate student in the mid-90s and completed my degree (and Texas Creative) in 1998.
CG: I was an undergrad in Texas Creative from 2015 to 2017. I graduated in Spring of 2017. Not *too* long ago, but it’s starting to feel like it.
2. How would you describe your approach when assisting any organization with a rebrand?
ST: Rebrands are especially interesting projects, as the process usually begins with a brand that has already some history and meaning behind it. So rebranding has to take the past, present, and future into account: where have we been, and where are we going? We’ll usually start with a look at the organization’s story and past milestones, what sets it apart, and what its greatest strengths are going forward. And with that research in mind, we’ll begin to craft a visual language that honors the organization’s mission and makes plenty of room for its future. Rebranding is a team effort, and Connor, as well as incredible designers Gwen Donovan and Claire Porter, all played a huge role in the brand’s development.
CG: I see branding projects as a chance to look back and look forward, too. I think that much like Sean said, most branding projects start with the organization’s past and present. We like to dig into who they are, where their existing brand identity came from, what sets them apart and what doesn’t, where is their branding holding them back and where could it help move them forward, etc. I think those questions can really break open the creative process and can make a huge difference in the final work. I think humility and collaboration are critical ingredients, as well. I think that humility is required in a truly collaborative process and collaboration is required if you want to make the best work.
3. How did your own personal connections to Texas Creative influence the process of handling its rebranding effort?
ST: I’ve had the opportunity to see Texas Creative change and grow over three decades, both as a student and later as faculty. There have been several brand iterations, massive leaps in technology and media, exciting new classes—and so, so many amazing people that have gone through the program. So it’s been fantastic to see the through lines that have been in place for so long: collaboration, friendship, big idea-making, conceptual foundations, and making the world a better place. And in thinking about those things, we wanted to help create a visual platform that supported and underscored what was truly important: great people and their great work.
CG: I think one of my main takeaways from my time as a student in the program was to look all around you and absorb what you see like a sponge. I think that notion partly inspired the wide-open eye symbolism in the new brand mark.
4. For each of you, what are your fondest memories of Texas Creative and what did the experience give you that still guides your work?
ST: I liked it so much I decided to come back for another fifteen years! But seriously, Texas Creative was an instant home for me when I moved to Austin as a student, and that feeling remained during my time teaching in the program. Finding classmates and mentors, who became lifelong friends and collaborators, is something pretty amazing. We bounced back and forth between the two Texas Creative rooms on the 6th floor of the CMA - the classroom on one end, and the lab on the other. P-lab was our 24-hour home, and the stories are countless. The lessons? Of course, concept matters, and craft matters, but community, and working with great people, matters too. Doing good work, with good people, that makes a lasting positive impact, is so very important.
CG: I had the good fortune to work with some of the same partners – one in particular, Lauren Fish – each semester we were in the sequence. Lauren and I worked on at least one project together each semester and got hired together by The Richards Group to start after graduation. I have many fond memories of late nights at the PCL or Comm buildings, laptops hissing trying to run the entire Adobe suite at once, spray-mounting boards on West Campus sidewalks at 5AM, coffee errands, Jenn’s copies errands, and even Lauren banging on my apartment door to wake me from an all-nighter crash. I think that the concept of collaboration means a lot more to me after all of that. Advertising and design can be tough, both in school and in the “real world.” But collaboration in this more meaningful sense makes it possible to do good work. If you have a chance to partner with a TXC partner after graduation, I couldn’t recommend it more.
5. What do you hope the new Texas Creative identity "says" about the program?
ST: I hope it serves as a strong, recognizable brand that’s part monogram, part assemblage of the marks we all make when we circle and star our favorite roughs and collaborate in class in pursuit of great work. At the same time, much like in a studio or gallery, it should serve as a simple supporting foundation, allowing our students and their work to take center stage.
CG: I hope it says a few things about TXC. First, like I said earlier, I hope it symbolizes and inspires wide-eyed looking – looking at this, at that, at movies, at trees, at the cracks in the sidewalk, at faces, at Pinterest, at album art, at everything around you. You can’t make anything new or interesting if you haven’t looked at what’s already out there. And there’s so much to see. Second, I hope it shows that the program itself is looking back and forward in time. The brand mark was heavily inspired by 60s and 70s brand iconography and the strength and simplicity of many marks from that era are still durable today. Third, like Sean said, I hope its simplicity places the work of the students at the forefront. The whole point of the program is to give students the tools to make great work.
6. You're both familiar with portfolio schools around the world. What do you think has sustained Texas Creative as a leader for 45 years? What makes it special?
ST: I think there’s a perfect set of circumstances that have made our program so successful. We’re not learning and creating in a silo. Being a sequence that lives inside an innovative school, within a dynamic college, within an incredible university, the program allows us all to take classes and find ideas outside the bubble of creative advertising. The resources are amazing. And to learn in the heart of Austin, with its constant hum of creativity and activity, is something pretty special. Concepts and connections can happen at any time, so why not put yourself in the middle of possibility? And our alumni network is filled with amazing people who are always ready to help, meet students, talk to classes, host agency visits, you name it. Our graduates have been working in the creative industry for decades, so that’s an incredible community—and wealth of perspectives—that we can all share together.
CG: I think one of the main things that sets it apart is the fact that it’s one of only a couple portfolio programs for undergraduates. Glenn had said at the new semester kickoff night that he loves how TXC students come to portfolio class time after their Philosophy class, or Stats class, or Oceanography class (true story). I think that having a lot of other topics and subjects and ideas to soak up on top of building a portfolio can make things more challenging, but I think it makes the work more interesting and I think it makes the creative muscles stronger. I think the college setting is also perfect for forging collaborative relationships. It’s no wonder, to me, that the program has put out such an endless array of brilliant and interesting work and has graduated such an impressive community of alumni.
7. How did your ADPR education here at UT help you prepare for your career?
ST: Where do I begin? I can truly say that I have used every bit of my MA degree experience in my career at one time or another. From teaching, to working at a global agency like Leo Burnett, to starting my own agency with lookthinkmake, and more recently merging into a larger entity with Post House Creative, I’ve had a chance to be on the education, creative, business, and entrepreneurship sides of the business. And I’m using a combination of these skills every day.
CG: I think that Texas Creative taught me to look in a new, more intentional way. The work has to be interesting and it can’t be interesting if it’s not coming from a place of curiosity or open-mindedness. This has had a huge impact on the way I approach creative work. I also think it prepared me for a career in what is often a challenging industry. I think that learning things in a sequence helps students learn to trust the process. Pinning new ideas up on the wall and getting tough feedback or working hard to avoid cuts helps students learn humility and how to stay the course under pressure. Presenting work to a class of strangers in P1, and later to a class of close friends in P4 helps students learn to put things into words, to stick the landing.
