Meet Grace Davila, a 2022 Design BFA graduate from The University of Texas at Austin. We spoke to her to learn more about her unique editorial design experience in Austin.
Where do you currently work?
I am currently a Digital Product Designer at Texas Monthly.
Can you share a little about your current role? What do you love about it? What’s the most challenging part of it?
My team helps support a lot of various projects across Texas Monthly. This includes editorial, studio, and marketing. Some of the work I’ve designed for includes feature stories on the web, newsletter creation, and launching client sites.
Texas Monthly is a smaller company, so there’s often times where I’m wearing a lot of different hats and helping projects outside of the standard ‘product design’ role. It can be a lot, but I do love it and it is extremely rewarding to work on projects I am proud of.
What do you think helped you the most in securing your current position? A strong portfolio? Networking?...Passion?
I think the organizations I joined while being a student at UT played a huge role! I was involved in Spark Magazine, and throughout the hiring process (even with other companies) that experience stuck out to employers. Being able to understand the creative process at different levels and work with various team members is always great to highlight.
Having internship experience at a variety of companies also helped. UT was great about setting up information sessions for upcoming internships and those helped me secure a few throughout my time as a student.
What is the most helpful or realistic career advice you’ve received from a mentor or peer that stuck with you?
When it comes to portfolios, make sure you have a sense of personality in there! Including passion projects in your portfolio is a great way to stand out. Employers love when they can tell who you are and always make note of how and what you create in your free time.
I also asked for a TON of feedback from friends, past employers, and professors when it came to resume and portfolio reviews. I recommend that to anyone before really diving into applying to jobs and sending your work out.
Any next plans or projects we should be aware of/you’d like to share?
Outside of any creative endeavors, In true mid-20s-crisis fashion I’ve picked up running and just ran the Austin Marathon! I’m really just focusing on enjoying Austin while I’m here and the Texas weather before it gets too incredibly hot.