Just Graduated: Mark Paterson

From Brand Strategy to Bold Design: How Mark rewrote his career at Shillington.

Mark had a thriving marketing career, a young family, and a new life on the coast of Nova Scotia. So why drop everything to start again as a designer? As it turns out, that long-held passion for visual creativity never really went away, it just needed the right moment to rise to the surface.

In our graduate interview, Mark shares how he traded corporate campaigns for creative concepts, swapping brand decks for bold design. From confronting old fears about what a creative career should look like, to discovering the power of collaboration and critique in a fast-paced design environment, his story is full of insight for anyone standing at a similar crossroads.

If you've ever wondered what it really takes to pivot into design later in life, or why design education like Shillington can feel like a personal and professional awakening, Mark’s journey is one you’ll want to read.

Welcome back to Shillington, Mark! It's only been a few weeks since you graduated our 3 month full-time course but let's take it back.

What was your life like before Shillington? What were you doing, dreaming about, or even struggling with creatively?

Before Shillington I worked in Marketing at brands like Cadbury, Innocent Drinks, Uber and Oddbox. Whilst I found the work interesting I realised I was always at my happiest when I was working towards a visual outcome. This wasn’t surprising given that I’d always been passionate about Art, but after a while it became too hard to ignore. So even though I was 15 years deep into my career, I decided to make a change.

Did you always want to be a designer, or did something spark that shift?

Honestly, it’s been a really long process! In hindsight I’ve always been really interested in design, I just didn’t know it by that name. I’ve always known I loved Art, and at GCSE at my school in the UK I was actually forced to choose between Art and Design, which in hindsight was ridiculous! That’s like saying you can’t study Maths and Science! Anyway…I remember at the last minute I switched to Art, because I felt it had more freedom, and I could always come back to design…I guess I was right, it would just take another 20 years!

What made you take the leap into Shillington's 3 month full-time course, and why now?

A few years ago I decided to move to Canada with my wife, who’s Canadian. We live by the ocean in Nova Scotia, and I’ve been travelling back to London, working as a Marketing Consultant. It’s been quite the change and the transition has really given me time to think about how I spend my working hours. It also gave me a chance to rewire my life and lifestyle to make space for a career shift, practically and financially. It’s been intense as we just had a baby at the end of 2024, but in a funny way, that made me even more confident Shillington was the right move.

Were there any fears or doubts you had before starting? How did you push through them?

Definitely! And I think that’s natural when you’re making a big, proactive life decision. Often these fears are stronger when it relates to something you really care about. In my case, my doubting mind was telling me that Design won’t be as interesting to me as Art. Somehow I’d always considered design more sterile, less expressive.

Deciding whether to start Shillington felt like going back to my GCSE dilemma! But the more I looked at this concern, the more I felt such distinctions between Art and Design, and the way I was caricaturing design were just barriers I was putting up to prevent myself from really pursuing a creative career.

I think this hesitation came from my upbringing, I’d always been taught (unwittingly) that Art is great and special, but creative careers in areas like design are tough, risky, and best avoided. To make the leap to study design I had to rewrite some of these old assumptions, and adopt an abundance mindset!

My advice would be to be really honest and curious about what’s holding you back. Often there are practical barriers you have to work around, but often there’s an emotional hesitation that needs unpacking too.

Centered Fun, Shillington Packaging Project

Drinking water between beers is sensible, and drinking ‘mindfully’ is very on trend right now. But when you’re in the midst of a good night they can both feel a little, well, boring. So how can we make staying hydrated and present more fun?

Let’s talk about those first few weeks, what surprised you most about the course?

I was really impressed by how well structured the course material was, and how engaging and talented the teachers were.

What about your teachers? How would you describe them in 3 words? Any standout moments or lessons they gave you?

I describe all four of my teachers as committed, talented and authentic.

In terms of stand out moments, my big turning point was when they really challenged me on my first major concept. Having worked in Marketing I felt I really understood what a good concept looked like. But the emphasis at Shillington was much more on identifying a strong visual concept, something that could solve the brief with a distinct visual language. Once I knew what I was aiming for when developing a concept, my learning and design work really started to flow.

What role did your classmates play in your journey? Any lasting friendships or moments of solidarity?

Your classmates are such a big part of the experience, working on the same briefs together with another ten or more designers is like looking through a kaleidoscope! You see the problem in front of you from lots of different angles, I think this helps accelerate your learning as a designer ten-fold. You’re learning not just by doing, but by sharing in others people’s successes and challenges. It pushes you to do better and better work, but in a collaborative non-competitive way.

What was your proudest moment during the course?

I was a little nervous about learning all of the software so quickly. So personally, I was pretty relieved to just keep up in the first 6 weeks! But as I entered the second half of the course I think my proudest moments were when I got strong feedback from my teachers and peers. It meant a lot as they’d seen the journey I’d been on.

Dark Relief, Shillington Off-Screen project

Right now, the world can sometimes feel like one long doom scroll. People are increasingly withdrawing into the shadows of their own echo chamber. So how would a little comedy festival in Birmingham compete? Maybe we need to acknowledge the darkness a little?

How has your perspective on design changed since graduating?

I think I now have a more expansive view of design as a broader discipline, but also a more specific and focused understanding of graphic design as a practice. I now see design as something incredibly fundamental to being human. Its outcomes are everywhere, its DNA is coded into so much human innovation and expression. It’s a way of approaching a problem in an empathetic, lateral and rigorous manner, something we’ve been doing for millenia.

More specifically, I see graphic design as a process of iterative exploration and decision making towards a specific communication outcome, with an explicit focus on image, text, layout, colour and movement. For me the important thing is to really see graphic design in the context of this more expansive view of design. To me this makes graphic design infinitely exciting.

What areas of design are you hungry to explore more?

Oh yes, there is so much I want to explore! I really want to continue going deeper and deeper into design decision making. I’d love to start by really focusing on the fundamentals: Colour, layout and especially typography. I’d also like to really experiment more with some of the new frontiers in design…motion and AI. But ultimately I want to bring all this exploration back to concept development. The thrill in graphic design for me is bringing everything together to say something that’s greater than the sum of the parts, and that requires having a clear concept at the centre of your work.

Any dream clients or projects you’d love to work on next?

That’s a great question. I’ve got lots of passion projects I’m keen to get my teeth into, but also I’d love to find a way to work with founders and art directors I really respect. It’s day one at the desk after Shillington, so you’ve caught me in the middle of turning my more nebulous ambitions into an actual tangible plan! Check in with me in a month or so!

I’m going to really focus on managing my time, and treat job hunting as a design problem solving process! I’ve worked in a freelance capacity before and really loved it, so I’d be keen to do the same in design, hunting out projects I’m particularly passionate about. I’m also going to start some conversations with ideal clients and studios. I tend to think setting myself up for freelancing will help me clarify what I have to offer, and so make me a stronger proposition for studios.

What does being part of the Shillington community mean to you?

It’s really cool to come away connected to a group of like-minded people, all on a similar journey. Shillington was a great bonding experience.

I feel like Keanu Reeves in the Matrix when they upload all those mad skills into his brain haha. Okay, well that may be an exaggeration, I don’t know kung fu, and it took 3 months not 30 seconds, but I do feel I have a whole new language and skill set with which to work creatively, and to build a career with. It certainly felt like it all happened in the blink of an eye.

Savour Every Sip, Shillington Start-Up Brand Identity project

Roma in Mexico City is famous for its bookstores. But what if you wanted to create one with a different spirit? A place where people can reconnect with themselves and others?

Any advice for someone thinking about taking the course, but feeling unsure?

Firstly, it's great that you’re thinking about investing in your future. My advice at this stage would be to talk to people! Reach out to people at Shillington or recent students and explore the questions on your mind. Before starting at Shillington, I found talking to others a really important and useful step to make the decision real and concrete.

What's one thing you'd tell the design industry about non-traditional routes like Shillington?

Yeah, I’d say that the difference is the learning environment. Learning at Shillington is more like working in a studio, rather than studying a classroom. And because the curriculum is designed by designers, and not constrained by any criteria to ensure it looks and sounds like a degree or masters, it’s free to evolve and adapt at the speed of the industry. Which is fast. They also don’t shy away from teaching you the hard skills, which are fundamental.

Who do you think Shillington is for?

Natural communicators that can’t help but think visually, who want to make things happen for themselves and learn by doing. I’d also say, on a more practical note, it’s ideal for people who can’t afford to do a full time course over 1-2 years. I love that Shillington is designed for people currently working or looking to switch careers quickly.

Thanks so much for your time, Mark!

Check out Mark's graduate website, and connect with him on Linkedin!