Dan Bramfitt – “My unconventional career path has enriched the work I create today”

My Mam likes to fondly recount my dreams of becoming a “bin man” (refuse collector) when I grew up, as I was genuinely fascinated watching them make their collections with my Nan at age 4. A vet, a pop star, and something involving speaking Spanish were all considerations at points, though the underpinning narrative was always visual creativity. I was never the greatest practical artist in school, but it was my absolute passion. I loved painting and experimenting with materials. My Grandad was a painter, not professionally, but a big fan of Bob Ross. I would paint with him at their dining table in summer holidays, and he and my Nan bought me my first set of “real artists paints” when I was old enough.

Fine Arts pulled focus for my early academic life, being drawn to expressive works, illustrative and personal in tone or wildly abstractive. It wasn’t until most of the way through my undergraduate first year (during a project panic…) that a tutor suggested I explore visual communication, as I liked to draw. I’d always been obsessed (not an understatement) with tattoos, and large parts of my college and BA studies involved the body and modification in some form. Traditional tattoo aesthetics never felt very me, but the Northeast at that time didn’t have a particularly sizeable contemporary tattoo scene.

I left my undergraduate after three out of four years as the focus felt too commercial for me. I didn’t see where I would fit into the industry with my passions and abilities. I took time to travel and built a hospitality career, ruminating on how I could authentically move as a creative. This was around 2015, when everyone was obsessed with OG Instagram. Through it, I discovered an emerging contemporary tattoo scene in Newcastle, my home city. I started getting tattooed and asking questions, and the artists were happy to advise on how to grow a career. I developed a huge portfolio of illustrations and developed a style that felt like me, gaining a spot in a studio after a couple of years.

In late 2020, I was offered a studio residency in London and relocated. From there, I was lucky enough to travel around the UK guesting in different cities before opening my own studio in 2022. This was an incredibly influential and important time in my creative journey, allowing me to independently grow as an artist and designer, learn my inspirational sources and really identify with who I was and what my work stood for – but something felt missing.

I’d started working a lot more with digital software and connecting with visual identity building processes. Opening my studio had taught me a vast amount of branding and business skills, and opened my eyes to a new avenue of interest.

There was a deep longing to return to education. Carving out time to undertake a full-time course and sustain myself financially, and having left my undergraduate program early, the concept seemed impossible, and I’d never really been sure what I wanted to do. That was until I discovered the Online MA at AUB. By this point, I had a large body of professional work and concept projects, and I was in the middle of a holistic business skills for creatives accelerator bootcamp – the career pivot had definitely begun. Being genuinely honest, I did not think I would be accepted. I submitted the application with a big overshadowing of imposter syndrome. Needless to say, I’m very glad I did so.

I don’t even know where to begin describing the course, other than my life has actively and entirely changed over the last two years. I think I always saw academia as “this is what is possible after completion”, but the structure of the online MA has allowed me to make additions to my portfolio in real time that have gained attention and won new clients. The individual units have opened conversations around substantial subjects that are relevant on personal and global levels, and the materials have allowed us to create on our own terms applicable to the areas of visual culture we want to move into, while being encouraged by tutors to challenge our own perspectives and move away from what we have done towards what we could do.

I can’t lie – at times, it has been tough. And I have been on a personal journey as well as a learning one. One month into the MA, I received an ADHD diagnosis at the age of 33. This was something I had suspected for about 3 years, but the confirmation felt like the string that pulled all my difficulties and strengths together to make sense and illuminated the why of my struggle to navigate structure and systems. The timing felt intense, but I’m thankful they coincided and I was able to actively channel some project research in a self-exploratory direction.

This course has made me feel capable and confident, while enhancing my already hyper-curious mind. It has helped me define my adventure into the future of my creative career; not by telling, but by guiding self-discovery and encouraging bold, free thinking with structured formatting.

Today, I see my entirely – and proudly – unconventional career path as a journey that has enriched the work I create today. My individual perspective comes from a vast cross section of professional expertise, lived experiences, creative inspirations and historical points of reference. What I once saw as a weakness, I now know is my uniqueness. The learning process and tutors of the MA Graphic Design (Online) have been fundamental in building this shift, and I can’t thank them enough. I am incredibly grateful.

My biggest advice? Trust the process, trust your professional journey, and if you feel you need to explore something, do it. The only person that misses out is you.

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