Meet Lizzy Bigelow, Maycreate’s new Graphic Designer. Her creative passion was inspired by two very creative parents, her father, a successful architect, and her mother, a talented graphic designer and creative director. She homeschooled Lizzy and her younger sister.
“It’s one thing to be good at art,” remarked Lizzy, “but there’s a whole ‘nother side to design and that’s problem solving.” She says she’s sort of left brain, right brain. When it came time to choose a career, her left, or logical side, guided her towards graphic design. And her right side was all about beauty and creativity or as Lizzy puts it, “The combination of order, logic, and beauty. I couldn’t think of another place I’d rather be. So here I am.” We’re very happy she joined the creative team at Maycreate.
Lizzy was born in Jackson, Mississippi, also known as the “City With Soul” because of its vibrant music scene and blues artists like Bobby Rush and LeAnn Rimes. No doubt it was the perfect place to launch a career in the world of advertising. When asked who influenced her decision, she replied,” I know all of the great graphic designers like Annie Atkins and Mary Blair, but one of my big idols is Jim Henson.”
Her other very interesting influence? The Greek Orthodox Church. “It’s a very ancient faith,” she says, “but the churches are filled with magnificent pictures of saints and beautiful music.” There are no instruments. The human voice delivers this enchanting music, which is performed by choir chanters. It was first introduced in 33 A.D. The church was a huge artistic influence she treasured as a kid growing up in the South.
When it came time to go to college, with her non-traditional school background, she had to find a non-traditional setting. As luck would have it, the University of Alabama didn’t have a graphic design program, but they offered all the classes and subjects. So, you had to build your own program, which was no problem for Lizzy. “Being in a program, which was in an interdisciplinary setting with lots of free thinkers, was super cool,” she says.
“I’m on the computer eight hours a day,” Lizzy responds. “When I go home, I want something tactile in my hands.” All of her hobbies are creative and so is her profession, but she doesn’t get burned out because her hobbies require a different type of skillset.
She loves to sew, crochet, build hobby electronics, make puppets, and more. She’s also gotten into Pysanky or hand-painted and intricately decorated Ukrainian Easter Eggs. And on some weekends, she’ll invite her friends over to play Mahjong, a game that originated in China in the mid-to-late 1800s.
“There are a number of places for artists to find a career path,” Lizzy explains. “Ones where they can monetize their creativity.” That said, Lizzy wanted to pinpoint an industry where she knew she would have a foreseeable future. Advertising fit the bill.
It would provide the opportunity for her to create beautiful things, work with great clients that offer a product or service that solves a problem or makes life better for people, and figure out how you can reach that audience in a creative and unexpected way. “That’s a fascinating place to be,” she says. “And that’s the beauty of advertising.”
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