ALUMNI PROFILE
Name: Morgan Yarborough ‘15
Residence: Greenville, South Carolina
Degree: Bachelor of Fine Arts in Visual Communication Design (Concentration in Graphic Design)
Occupation: Art Director at SLANT
Morgan Yarborough '15 is a strong believer in finding things that make you happy.
For Yarborough, a visual communication design graduate, her career is one of those things. She is the art director at SLANT and finds excitement in the fact that each day looks differently.
“As art director, I have a hand in all of the visual projects that come through the door, but most of my time is spent on brand strategy and campaign development,” she said. “I find motivation in discovering ways to help clients achieve their goals in ways that feel unique, simple and human. I'm most inspired when I have the opportunity to work on projects for nonprofits because of how distinctive the energy is when working with others who want to fight for something,” said Yarborough, who followed the graphic design track as an undergraduate student at Winthrop.
She acknowledges that the visual communication program was intensive, and she dedicated a significant amount of time to honing her craft. For Yarborough, finding the right school-life balance was challenging.
“I was able to find the importance of valuing my personal time and mental health. That was a big lesson to learn at an age where you are really becoming your own person,” she said. “It's all about who you surround yourself with. I was able to keep myself afloat and push myself to do the best that I could in my studies thanks to a few close friends.”
Yarborough encourages design students to make sure they have life experiences outside of the classroom that they can utilize beyond graduation. She stressed the importance of graduating with some sort of grasp on the real world.
Yarborough herself still struggles with finding balance and creative inspiration, but she discovered that allowing herself to explore other endeavors outside of graphic design opened her up to a whole new world.
“I learned that my creativity isn't limited to graphic design and its surrounding fields. I've dabbled in things like interior design, ceramics, DIY projects, gardening, home renovations and more, and it feels great to explore those paths!”
Her main goal, she said, is to simply continue to learn new skills and grow within the world of design.