On routine trips to the grocery store, with her elder sister and younger brother in tow, a young Megan “Meg” Martinez, owner of her emerging Austin-based design label, would plead with her mother to purchase the most expensive cereal on the breakfast aisle.
At the time, Meg wasn’t at all interested in high-dollar, sugar-filled breakfast treats. Nor was she necessarily opposed to the “budget” alternatives her mother would often pull from grocery shelves to feed her family. Unbeknownst to her at the moment, Meg was inherently giving into her youthful yet distinctly keen design eye. Seeking out the most expensive cereal boxes had nothing to do with the product itself. It was the design of the product packaging that compelled the young designer in training.
“I’ve always been the biggest sucker for package design and typography,” Meg recalls. “I would beg my mom to get the products with the nice packaging, and she would always say, “Meg, it’s the exact same thing!” But every once in a while I would win that argument, and we’d buy the non-generic brands. I would be so excited that I would save the packaging.” Almost as if she knew she wasn’t merely feeding her daughter’s stomach, but also appeasing her emerging talent, Meg’s mother would relent, and indulge her youngest daughter.
Those keepsake package designs would help Meg hone her beckoning skillset, which she would develop throughout high school before pursuing and subsequently attaining a BFA in graphic design at the Art Institute of Jacksonville. College, though, albeit indirectly, sometimes has a way of steering passion towards profession. For Meg, that meant working jobs that were more about producing client assets than creating the kind of art that brought her pride.
