Full Sail University

Media Design Grad Gets Creative While Marketing TV Shows

As Marketing Design Manager for ION Television, Gregg Farrington oversees conceptualizing and creating digital content for a wide range of original programming.

Gregg is wearing a black shirt and rectangular glasses. He is standing in front of a pink background with his arms crossed.

Gregg Farrington didn’t plan on coming back to Full Sail University after graduating more than ten years earlier – especially in the middle of a global pandemic.

“While working remotely, I was bored as ever. So yes, I did have work to do, but just like everyone else during the pandemic, we just didn't know what was going on. I just took it upon myself to go back to school,” explains Gregg.

When Gregg first started his Full Sail journey back in 2008, he was trying to choose between getting his bachelor’s and joining the United States Air Force. Eventually, he decided to dedicate all of his time to his education and graduated with a Digital Arts & Design bachelor's in 2010.

Shortly after, Gregg moved to New York City to work as a graphic design intern for ad agency DiMassimo Goldstein before returning to Florida to work in an ad agency focused on luxury real estate as a senior graphic designer. This was Gregg's first of many senior positions, and he received it just months after graduating.

“I was art directing a couple of different projects for a luxury beauty hair company as well and dealt with different launches of products. In addition to that, I also attended hair shows. And let me tell you, hair/beauty shows, it's a thing,” laughs Gregg. “It's kind of like if you go to a convention for MegaCon or Comic-Con or anything like that. It's basically the same thing, except for beauty and cosmetics."

After working for a senior living company for a couple of years and leading its rebrand and launch with an external branding agency, Gregg found a role at ION Television.

“I just decided to evolve into something that was a little bit out of my comfort zone, and it was television,” he says. 

Gregg started as a Multimedia Designer and was promoted to Marketing Design Manager around the same time that he received his Media Design MFA degree. He says Full Sail prepared him for how fast-paced working in television can be. “Full Sail is a great school. It allows you to think on your toes really fast."

His current position is multi-faceted, and he works on projects using a wide range of tools. “I mainly work with Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, and Microsoft PowerPoint. And yes, we do PowerPoints,” he laughs.

He also designs graphics for paid media, leads teams to design static graphics for upcoming original network shows, and works closely with the art director and associate art director to ensure the show’s aesthetic is consistent and tells the same story in all the media he produces.

“The art directors don't tell me how to design. It's more like I have the vision, I have the layout, but there are certain things that I may not catch.”

Gregg has designed media for multiple television shows, including Someone They Knew with Tamron Hall for Court TV, and Act Your Age and Johnson on Bounce TV.

“As a manager, I’m not just designing something and making it look pretty, but also creating different versions of that. You have to create a Premiere dated version, a Sunday version, a Tonight version, and so forth.”

He also encourages aspiring designers to take chances when looking for the perfect job or dream job – as long as they keep evolving throughout the process.

“Changing companies has to be done in a way that you know will benefit you as a creative for any type of growth, whether it's growth in the way you talk to clients, growth in how you work with other designers, or even to the point where you need more experience to get to that managerial position.”