Brandon Sugiyama: A Visual Journey into Journalism

“Steve Jobs said your life is about connecting the dots and as you’re going through life you won’t understand it but when you look back you’ll see how one thing led to another. I grew up loving art and photography and drawing and painting and then I went to school and my passion was helping communities and minorities.”

Brandon Sugiyama is a motion graphic designer and art director who creates motion graphics resources for news organisations and documentary filmmakers. His aim is to tell more engaging visual stories that need to be told.

Born and raised in southern California, Brandon was an active member of ethnic student unions working with ethnic minorities and students of colour. After graduating, he spent eight years working for a non-profit journalism organisation then pivoted in his career to become motion graphics designer.

What motivates you?

I was motivated while working with students who were passionate about the journalism industry and had a clear idea of what they want to do. Also, working with journalists who are volunteering their time to train students to come together and find ways to make a change in the industry — that’s inspiring. Personally, I felt good about working in a non-profit but I started thinking about: What was my passion when I was young? I used to draw comic book character, I loved to draw and paint, I’d dabble in water colours and pen and ink. So, art, design and photography are my passion which is why I started visiting campuses and when I saw motion graphics, there was a light, this is it! It’s cinematography, it’s music videos it’s animation but it’s also connected with design. That really spoke to me and I knew this is what I want to do. I was 31 years old at that point and that was a big big turning point in my life. I finally felt that if I study this, it will give me a future. I now have control of my career. I can now see how my personal passions and my interests can be that guide, that compass of where I want to go in my life.

What happened next?

After graduating, I worked with a small studio in San Francisco, then went freelance and moved to New York. Most of the work is for commercial, advertising, selling a product, branding and the work is really creative and really challenging but I always think back to when I was working in a non-profit and I felt like there was guiding principle or I knew at the end of the day it wasn’t just about making money, I had some sort of impact. I was making the world better in some sort of way. I was helping a student get their first internship I was helping mid career journalists get leadership training. I missed that.

Where are things headed for you now?

Over the last 2 years I’ve been seeking out projects where I feel like their mission or the story they are trying to tell is less about selling and more about education. So I’ve done a lot more graphics for documentary films which I’ve found interesting and personally satisfying. I worked on a film in Newtown about the shooting where many children died. That film premiered at the Tribeca film festival, a gigantic film festival. Seeing my work up on screen and seeing people react to it, and knowing it was part of this really beautiful positive message, I knew I wanted to continue this work.

Why are you on the Tow-Knight 2017 Entrepreneurial Journalism Fellowship at CUNY?

I don’t want to sell iPhones or get people pumped up to watch the next series of whatever television show that I don’t even watch. I don’t even own a TV but I’m making commercials for these television shows and that’s what led me to this program. How can I use this motion graphics to help people tell stories that need to be told. That will help people understand the world around them. Help the general public make more informed decisions. Steve Jobs said your life is about connecting the dots and as you’re going through life you won’t understand it but when you look back you’ll see how one thing led to another. I grew up loving art and photography and drawing and painting and then I went to school and my passion was helping communities and minorities. And then I was working in a non-profit but that exposed me to this world of journalism which I had no interest in, but look how passionate these people are! What am I passionate about? Art, so I went back to school and I went down that path and got to certain level of success, but then felt, what’s the meaning behind my work? And that connected me to this. So yeah it does feel things are going full circle and things are making sense to me.