2 Years Since Shillington: Pascal DuBois
Date
Jul 11, 2025
From sketches to creative gatherings: Pascal’s journey to creative clarity.
But like many, Pascal spent years surrounded by design before finally stepping into it. From being inspired as a teenager to shaping stories in the nonprofit sector as a digital content lead and photographer, the thread of creative obsession was always there. It took one sharp setback and a whispered promise to himself (“I can do this") to crack it.
What followed was a transformative dive into Shillington’s part-time course and a portfolio pulsing with purpose. In this interview, Pascal reflects on the obsessions that shaped him, the critiques that sharpened him and the jazz poster that made him cry. You'll love the way that Pascal answers these questions!
This isn’t just a story of becoming a designer. It’s a story of remembering he always was.
Welcome back to Shillington, Pascal. It's been 2 years since you graduated from our part-time course.
But to get things started, looking back to your childhood.. what was your first big dream for the future?
I drew because I needed to express myself. The pencil was my tuning fork to the world. I’d sketch faces I’d never met, football players frozen mid-play, and masks full of mystery. It wasn’t just paper and pencil—it was channeling. I didn’t need a reason. Creation was the reason. When I wasn’t drawing, I was building Erector Set machines, sorting sports cards, or tracing the arcs of Wolverine’s claws. Obsession wasn’t a distraction—it was a compass. Even then, I was architecting wonder.
What else were you interested in when you were younger?
Five obsessions: football, girls, games, music videos and movies. The first two gave me adrenaline; the last three gave me awe. I’d lose hours to NBA Live or a Hype Williams music video. I was devouring culture like a monk taking in koans, each fragment revealing some unseen layer of myself. Curiosity was my native language and novelty was my North Star.
Pascal's Shillington Packaging project. 'An Ancient Brew'.
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At what point did you decide to pursue a career in the creative industry?
I always knew but I lied to myself. I wore a mask that said “maybe,” when the truth was “absolutely.” Creativity followed me like a shadow, but I convinced myself it was just a trick of the light. I only recently turned around, embraced it, and said, “Okay, let’s dance.” Looking back, every job I ever took assumed I was creative. The real change? I finally agreed with them.
What were you up to before starting Shillington?
I was a Senior Digital Content Officer for a global non-profit. Making, guiding, and designing. Adobe was my tool of choice. And yes, I was also a professional photographer. Oddly, I always thought photographers could be artists, but designers? I thought that title belonged to someone else, until I realized it was already mine.
Pascal's Editorial Shillington project, 'Mujestic'.
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Can you share what inspired your decision to choose Shillington, and whether there was a defining moment behind it?
“We don’t think you have what it takes.” That phrase rang out like a temple bell. I was fired in June 2022 from my first official design job as a Junior Graphic Designer. Deservedly. The obstacle is the path. That moment cracked me open. Two nights later, I whispered to myself, “No. I can do this.” Shillington wasn’t a fallback. It was a soul call. Years before, I’d bookmarked their blog post on design education. It found me again like a letter from my future self. I was committed.
After this realisation, how did you decide between the 3 month full-time and the 9 month part-time course?
Simple: money. But also balance. Part-time allowed me to honor my commitments while devoting my nights and weekends to the work that was beginning to rewire my brain.
Can you tell me about how you found the experience? I want the gory details…
No gore. Only glory. I’d tell Shillington, “Charge me more and I’d still say yes.” The rigor, the structure, the revelation. I didn’t tiptoe in, I stormed in like a Knight of Design, full of zeal. I bowed to the challenge and gave it everything.
What else were you juggling in life at the time?
I had one job: my nonprofit role. But everything outside of that belonged to Shillington. I live in New York City, the land of shenanigans. And yet, I let them go. No museums. No concerts. No nightlife. For nine months, I became a monk of the grid system, living and breathing vector and type.
Pascal's Branding Shillington project, Kos Air.
What was the best bit of the day during your classes?
Critiques. Especially of my classmates by the teachers. Twenty windows into what to do and what not to do. It was like looking into someone’s annotated sketchbook while the master narrated. Critiques aren’t just a tool. It’s a mirror. And I saw myself more clearly every time.
Do you have any particular fond memories from the course?
Week six. The jazz poster. It was the first time I wasn’t mimicking, I was composing. I saw the bones of a design and sculpted my own. When I realized that, I cried, not from sadness, but from arrival. That was the moment I became a designer.
We know it can be an intense experience, would you do it anything differently if you could do it all over again?
Not a thing. Every mistake, every deadline, every breakthrough was precisely as it needed to be.
Did you consider any other routes to learning design when you were considering Shillington?
Yes. The School of Visual Arts, Parsons, Pratt. But they asked for four years. I only needed nine months and a volcanic desire inside. Shillington met me where I was. And after? I saw how everything I’d learned meant more now that I had a spine of design within me.
Had you done any other studies before Shillington? Like college, university, online courses, self taught?
Endless online tutorials. Books on Bauhaus (now my favorite design period) and color theory. Self-made briefs (view one of them: A Creative Dialogue Between Heritage and Design). I became good at mimicry. But I didn’t know why something worked. Shillington gave me the why. The rhythm. The rules. And the license to break them.
Pascal's Editorial Shillington project, Earth Edge.
Do you still have a favourite piece from your Shillington portfolio?
Kaldi Coffee. Designing that brand felt like channeling something ancient and yet entirely new. It honored Ethiopia’s coffee heritage and introduced a beanless innovation that shook everything I thought I knew about design. I embraced and held the visual direction with reverence, crafting an identity that danced between tradition and the future.
What are you doing for inspiration at the moment?
Everything. Buses, billboards, subway ads, museums. I live inside a never-ending creative date with New York City. I’m a member of nearly every cultural institution. Art is breath. Culture is nutrition. And I’ve recently read Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way. It turns out that I’ve been going to Artist’s Dates my whole life. Now I have a name and a formal why and a creative purpose.
Do you have any goals for the next year?
Become a Senior Art Director or Associate Creative Director in Travel and Leisure. To create personal Art, Design, Photography, (ADP) projects. To return to drawing and painting through online art schools. To teach. To start a studio: DuBois Creative. To treat life like an experiment, in Sister Corita Kent’s words. To keep going deeper, louder, freer.
Thanks so much Pascal.
Check out Pascal's website and connect with him on Linkedin.
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