Brendan Murphy

Brendan Murphy Symposium

"When you’re trying to get established in your career, the craft that you learn is essential," said Brendan Murphy, Pittsburg State University alumni. Every day students at Pittsburg State University are given challenges to develop skills that are essential to learning the craft of their professions. While in Pittsburg receiving the Outstanding Alumni for all of his accomplishments Brendan took time to speak to students, his words were inspiring to all that attended.

Like Brendan I am using the skills I am learning from my graphics minor as a safety net for a future career. I think it’s great that he went to school on a track scholarship and ended up in the graphic communications field and that someone going to school in a small town in Kansas ended up in New York. I also never realized how much writing really went into graphic communication jobs; Brendan said he spends seventy-five percent of his time writing and only five to ten percent of his time drawing. After learning this I will definitely have a better appreciation for writing to learn courses in this field. Another good point that he brought up is to, ""Never fall in love with technology, because technology will change."—Work on your design skills and ideas, not just technological skills, because the technology will change. Hearing from a professional in this industry and learning from their mistakes and experiences was very awarding.

After learning what Brendan has accomplished it really inspired me to push myself farther and not to settle for ordinary. To often I find myself thinking that moving to New York and being successful is not in my reach, but seeing someone who was once in my shoes being that successful makes me hopeful. I learned that I need to take my writing skills more seriously and focus more on my design skills, since technology is constantly changing. 

Image cited: http://www.pittstate.edu/press-media/detail.dot?id=248849