Faculty Spotlight with Pamela Napier
Teaching students how to communicate and inspire the world through the use of design, get to know the faculty of Visual Communication Design at Herron School of Art + Design.
This week’s faculty spotlight is on Pamela Napier, an Associate Professor of Visual Communication Design, answering 10 questions for design students.
- Who are you and what kind of work do you do now?
I am an Associate Professor of Visual Communication Design, and co-founding partner of Collabo Creative, a service design firm here in Indianapolis. https://collabocreative.com/
2. How did you get into design?
I was in an advanced art class in my small-town high school, as well as on the yearbook staff. My teacher and yearbook advisor, Bob Mowery, (who was awesome and let us create anything we wanted), suggested that I look into design programs in college. When I did, it felt like a perfect fit.
3. Before you chose design, did you consider doing anything else?
I have always wanted to be a writer/author.
4. What kind of student were you?
I was a procrastinator, but late nights working down to the wire seemed to motivate me to do my best work.
5. What is your most favorite project that you’ve ever worked on?
In undergrad it was a typography poster that I did about the letter S. I made it with hand-cut paper, nothing digital at all.
6. How do you get out of a creative block?
I walk away and spend time in nature. I do more research. And I meditate.
7. How do you manage your time when you work on multiple projects at once?
I use my calendar and notes on my phone a lot. In practice, I use different kinds of collaboration platforms (TeamWork, Slack, Dropbox, MURAL).
8. What design trend do you wish would die?
Haha…I really don’t know
9. Who is your non-design role model?
Ken Wilber, an American philosopher
10. What advice do you wish someone had given you when you were a student?
As a student in general, it would be “you can be anything you want to be.” As a design student in particular, it would have been “experiment more.”
