Conversations with Shane Miles

Today, we’d like to introduce you to Shane Miles.

Hi Shane, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today.
Education has always held a significant meaning in my life.

My mom was an art teacher for over thirty years, and I inevitably spent a lot of my formative years in and around classrooms. As I got older, I found that I also really enjoyed teaching and loved helping others learn what I knew, not to mention learning from and being inspired by the students as well. In college, I set several goals for myself.

1. I wanted to work for one of the top regional design firms, learning how to do it right from some of the best in the industry.
2. I wanted to own and operate my own firm.
3. I wanted to give back and share the knowledge I received from numbers 1 and 2 by teaching at the university level.

While working at the wonderful Toolbox Creative, my friend Jason Gonzales introduced me to an organization that was doing work in the education equity sphere. After working with them for a couple of years, I found I not only loved teaching but had a heart for helping improve education more holistically.

To put it simply, education equity organizations advocate for underrepresented students, helping students of color and families with low-income backgrounds get the education they deserve. Once I started this work, I found I couldn’t get enough, and wanted to build a firm around work that would improve the education system for students throughout the nation.

After much thought and consideration, I opened Bright Matter in 2022 to reflect that goal. Now, in our third year, Bright Matter has grown to support a variety of equity-focused education organizations and universities throughout the United States.

Our talented team creates everything from full brands to websites, animated explainer videos, interactive data tools, reports, print collateral, and social posts. We dedicate our efforts to adding value to these organizations through strategy, collaboration, and elevating the critical work they do every day.

We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
There are always challenges in running a design firm. Early on, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. If, like me, you come from a background of simply loving design (but not having a business degree), you’ll quickly discover that there’s a lot more to running a successful design business. I knew that (to a certain degree) when I started Bright Matter, but I continue to discover new challenges every day.

There are two big changes I made in my business that have kept us on course:

First, I enrolled in Chris Do’s Business Bootcamp (The Futur, ArtCenter College of Design) and took his advice to hire talented individuals as soon as possible in my business. Initially, it was difficult for me to trust other individuals with the success of my company. Now, I couldn’t imagine doing what we do without our team. We are truly better when we work together towards a common goal.

Second, I hired a business advisor, Errol Gerson (The Gerson Group, Corita Art Center, ArtCenter College of Design). Errol has absolutely transformed how I see my business and has added urgency and value to the nitty gritty parts of the business — the payroll, taxes, insurance, etc. Where these subjects used to deflate me, he’s helped leverage our finances and strategy to empower Bright Matter to be the best it can be.

I appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
It is Bright Matter’s goal to elevate the important work education equity organizations do on a daily basis — helping ensure students throughout the nation are getting a phenomenal education.

We started our work in this industry by building websites for our clients, but we have broadened our offerings by providing full-service design and development across almost all print and digital platforms. We continue to invest in offering more to our clients as well, adding data visualization and video services to our portfolio in the last couple of years.

Our services are just one piece of the puzzle, but the real value we offer is expressed through our clients’ direct collaboration with our team. Bright Matter is at its best when our interactions with clients transcend transactions and become true partnerships. Through this lens, we work towards the common goal of transforming education for the better, together with creative and exciting ideas that make an impact.

If you had to, what characteristic of yours would you give the most credit to?
Most importantly, it’s the connection we have with our clients. The better we understand our clients and their goals, the more value we can add to each and every project.

Secondly, I want to emphasize the nuts and bolts: we strive to improve ourselves by continuously finding efficiencies, enhancing technical abilities, learning new skills, reworking processes, and delivering work on time.

Lastly, we’ve worked hard to emphasize the importance of culture at Bright Matter. We want our team to enjoy working for us and for our clients. We’re fully remote, but we meet several times a week to review priorities, connect, and check in.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://brightmatterdesign.com/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/81980385/admin/feed/posts/

Image Credits
Shaye Kaessner