Meet Winston Jackson, Creative Manager at Patton Boggs
Winston Jackson is the creative manager for Patton Boggs, where he has spent six years creating and directing the look of all their marketing materials. Winston has been a graphic designer for 15 years, running his own graphic design business for three years prior to joining Patton Boggs in 2002.
To provide marketing support for Patton Boggs’ more than 600 attorneys and professionals, the firm has 12 members on the marketing team in their DC office (including 2 full-time marketing writers), and five more in their other offices.
During Winston’s first four years at Patton Boggs, he worked as a designer on the firm’s rebranding, website design and content. Under the direction of the CMO, he managed the redesign of the firm’s marketing materials. It can be challenging as a designer, he says, to work for one client and stay creative. Winston says, “I’m always asking myself how I can continue this brand without diluting it. You really have to take stock every few years and think about the direction you’re going in. It’s a whole new ball game now. So many firms are being more creative and innovative, which helps enable me to be more creative in turn.”
Because of his performance and the growth of the firm and its marketing needs, Winston was promoted to Creative Manager. He is still designing, but spends more time planning and organizing. With a graphic and web designer reporting to him, he oversees the development of all marketing projects from a creative perspective to help the firm’s brand remain consistent, both internally and externally. “Now I have more time to look at the big picture. I am able to get involved early on in firm marketing initiatives, which allows me to provide input regarding creative direction and technical feasibility,” he says.
Winston was involved in helping the firm’s public policy practice group launch its first podcasts in June, as well as an RSS feed.
“I’ve learned so much about the industry,” he says. “I’m able to talk with attorneys about their practices and the types of clients they are trying to attract.” He participates in the firm’s diversity committee and is a member of the social responsibility committee, which addresses environmental and community issues.
Winston is trying to keep the more creative and message-oriented design work in-house whenever possible. The creative team holds its own creative brainstorming sessions to come up with ideas for projects, just as any independent agency would. In planning a project, the team uses the criteria from the LMA Your Honor Awards as a guide. “We know that if we can keep those criteria in mind from the beginning, we’ll have a successful project,” Winston says.
After attending high school in Washington, DC, Winston enlisted in the Air Force at the age of 17, and was initially trained as a Morse code operator but acknowledges that he hated the work. He asked for a new job assignment and was retrained as a visual design specialist and worked on the Homestead Air Force Base newspaper. After leaving the military, he attended the Art Institute of Washington where he earned his BA in graphic design.
“You have to have passion for what you do,” says Winston. “If you always give 110%, your best effort, you will get more than results, you will earn respect.”
Profile written by Elaine Clem, principal of Noble Pursuits, a graphic design and branding firm in Alexandria, Va.