Meet Marc Igbinadolor, Shillington Graduate and Content Creator at Diane von Furstenburg

Photographer and Art Director, Marc Igbinadolor dove deep into design throughout the pandemic and immersed himself in Shillington New York’s full-time course—emerging as a 360-degree artist. Marc is truly multidisciplinary, his work ranges from editorial to essential acts of self-expression—there’s much to appreciate from his mindful and playful work philosophy.

Read on to find out about his practice and experience with our course.

Prior to Shillington, you had experience working in photography, art direction and production. What motivated you to study design?

I found myself naturally gravitating to design while working in other disciplines. While studying at Shillington, I found that the design process we were learning mimicked processes I had already created/experienced in my other work.

After overcoming my imposter syndrome about being a designer and seeing how uncertain and nebulous life is in this pandemic, I felt there was no better time to commit to studying design.

How did you learn about Shillington? How did the design course stand out from the rest?

I learned about Shillington from a colleague who took the course a year or two ago and was amazed at the pivot in a career she was able to make based on her portfolio.

Shillington stood out to me because of the quality of student portfolios! Beyond learning the software and design thinking, I was keen on finding a program that would help me land a position afterward. 

While studying at Shillington, did you have a favorite brief? Tell us more about it and your process!

Hmm, I don’t have a favorite brief in particular but I did enjoy the final portfolio building period where we select several projects from the course and transform them with the knowledge we’ve gained. It was nice to have essentially free rein in how we wanted to apply all that we’ve learned throughout the course onto the projects. It was affirming to see how much I grew as a designer in such a short period of time.

What was the full-time course like? Did you make any lasting connections with your classmates?

Truthfully, it was intense. I didn’t really understand the amount of focus and dedication it would require until I was a couple of weeks into the course. That said, I’m glad I did the full-time course. I wanted to quickly learn the information and pivot my career. The pace of the course trained me to work at a speed and capacity that has been useful after the course. And yes! I am still in touch with several of my classmates, we Facetime, Slack and hang out in NYC!

Since studying at Shillington, you started working as a Digital Creator and Social Media Manager at Diane von Furstenburg. Tell us about your work there. What is a typical day like? Can you share details about your recent projects?

There are no typical days, which was what drew me to the position. I photograph, make video content, design and so much more. I manage our social channels across all platforms, learning about the different communities and creating engaging content that resonates.

As an interdisciplinary creative, it felt like a great fit. We recently launched a partnership with the Association of Young Astrologers (AYA) to bring our audiences monthly horoscopes and I was able to design the social media assets for this collaboration.

What would you say to someone who is feeling a bit skeptical about the Shillington course?

To sit down and write out what their intentions are:

What do they want to gain?
What do they have to lose?
How could design benefit their career or practices?

I went back and forth about doing this course until I sat down and weighed the pros and cons versus my wants and desires.

If you could give one piece of advice to someone starting the full-time course at Shillington, what would it be?

Make sure to be mentally ready for the demands of the course. It is only a few months, but it will ask a lot of you and your time.

Have a support network, tell your loved ones you’re doing the course, prioritize rest and breaks when you can!

Outside of design, you mentioned you enjoy working interdisciplinary across photo, design and illustration. Do you think it’s important for designers to get involved in projects outside of their profession?

Lately I’ve just been focusing on poetry. I think it’s important to ‘play’ outside of the work you do, especially given the state of our world/society. Poetry is how I’m ‘playing’ now, play allows other parts of myself, other muscles, to be expressed and exercised. It’s how I keep up with my disciplines. Beyond that, my photography clients still reach out to me for portrait sessions, and I do some consulting work as well.

What inspires your design work? We’d love to hear about any particular experiences or influences on your practice?

Everything really. I do try to start off with a concept. I’m conceptually driven and have always been. I would say nature inspires my color palettes. Image-based mood boards inspire my aesthetic/art direction choices in my design work. Sounds, memories, nostalgia color the way I approach my work.

Anything else you would like to share? Surprise us!

Make time to play. To be still. To practice mindfulness.

Big thanks to Marc for detailing his experience with us! We can’t wait to see where his creative career takes him. Check out more work on Marc’s website.

Inspired by Marc’s story and thinking of taking the leap into graphic design? Learn more about Shillington’s 3 month full-time and 9 month part-time courses Online or On Campus in New York, London, Manchester, Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane.