Nigel Jones

You graduated not too long ago. What have you been doing this last year?

I work for a company called HonorBridge. We’re an organ and tissue procurement organization. We were formerly known as Carolina Donor Services so I joined at a great time because we’re in the middle of a re-brand. I’m the social media and graphic design coordinator. What does being a social media and design coordinator mean? What does your day look like?

I oversee the organization’s social media platforms— Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube — to ensure we’re spreading our mission about donating and healing lives. We tell stories about individuals who donated organs or organ recipients. It’s great to be in this type of position because I get to help tell different people’s stories.

Your bachelor’s degree was in Visual Communication and then you went right into the master’s program. Why’d you do that?

I wasn’t ready to jump into the “real world” just yet. I wanted to experience a different culture because I was at an HBCU for undergrad so NC State was very different. In my undergrad it was like they give you a project, a deadline, and then you move on. But in the master’s program you have to do research that supports the project and explain why you did that project and really go in depth about why you are doing it in this way.

How does that MGXD experience with research and process translate into the work you’re doing now?

To jump from academia to work, I thought it was going be two totally different experiences, but it is really one in the same. So I was very glad I went to grad school and I feel like I’m just continuing my education. I’m still learning and feel like I’m back in school. How did going to an HBCU influence your work as a designer?

I was very shy in school but I always wanted to talk about things that nobody ever wants to discuss. For example, my thesis was about improving interactions between African American teenagers and police officers through augmented reality. This is right when the incident with George Floyd happened. So I wanted to do something with my thesis where people were walking on eggshells. Even before that, I always did projects about things people really don’t want to talk about and stay away from because it’s too touchy to talk about. But I’m going to do something to get you to talk about it or just find ways to bring up the conversation because it needs to be discussed. So I thought, let me bring this to NC State. Let me talk about this stuff.

You’re now a couple months into this job, a couple months out of school? What other types of design do you want to try? What other stories do you want to tell?

I always find something that interests me! There are so many things I want to do. I want try directing, going into more film making or video effects. I want to try to do every single thing that I can. I don’t want to go back to telling my kids or my grandkids, “Oh, I wish I would have done this when I was younger.” No. I don’t want to live life like that. I want to make sure I go for every single thing I can.