Today we’d like to introduce you to Michael Benson
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I’ve always been a creative kid. I remember making a karate movie with my siblings and getting side-kicked out of frame by my older brother. Good times! But I didn’t really pick up an interest in graphic design until I was in college. I attended Wartburg College in the middle of Iowa for four years, graduating with my BA in design. I quickly found out, that the basics I learned in school were not enough to be competitive, so I took it upon myself to learn as much as I could about design by exploring the world around me. I moved to Shanghai for a year, teaching English while helping promote black artists with my graphic art. When I came back to the states I networked with other black marketing professionals at the Marcus Graham Project in Phoenix Arizona, my hometown. That experience eventually led to me being an LA Rams Partnerships designer for a year, and Thursday Night Football’s social designer the year after. And now, I’m currently working on some cool stuff with Medium Rare in the festival space.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
I spent a good 4 years after graduating looking for opportunities and promoting myself as a designer. Four years until I got my first big job working in the NFL. Previously I dealt with people who doubted me and a lot of scam artists that wanted to devalue my work. But even when I started landing bigger jobs, there were still things I had to navigate. Mainly smiling faces and empty souls in the entertainment space. I feel like it’s hard to remain authentic when a lot of people wear masks in these positions. Regardless, I try to stay true to myself and build up others around me. For the real people I have met, I think they’d say that my authenticity gets me far. That, and hard work. This is not a field for the weak-hearted.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I’m a graphic artist who just stepped into big branding the past couple years. But it’s not the corporate stuff that defines my work. I’d say my passion is to build myself into a successful black artist, so that I can pave the way for someone else. I started my own clothing brand BLKWSH as a symbol for black creativity and excellence, to inspire someone that may look like me. Outside of that, one of my proudest moments at the Rams was designing the aesthetic for the movie Kingfish: the Story of Kenny Washington. Kenny was one of the first black players in the NFL, and a legend off the field. It’s serendipitous moments like those that remind me that someone of color deserves to be in marketing to authentically tell these stories.
Where do you see things going in the next 5-10 years?
People are scared of AI, that’s for sure, but it’s a tool that won’t replace graphic artists. On the day-to-day job we’re problem solvers, and our minds will always be put to good use in that regard. 3D design is becoming ever more popular, and I can definitely see our increasingly virtual world needing artists to fill three dimensional spaces. Apple’s Vision Pro could be the next product to really push that into the market. Because that virtual space is growing, print design is slowly dying, but in our lifetime it won’t entirely fade. After all, we need graphics for our t-shirts so BLKWSH has that covered.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.blkwshapparel.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rg_beam?igsh=YTQwZjQ0NmI0OA%3D%3D&utm_source=qr
Image Credits
Yvonne Hunt, Ashley Pettus
