Hey! My name is Spencer Martin and I’m a content creator from Indianapolis, Indiana. I graduated with honors from Ball State University and received a BFA in Visual Communication, which was their fancy term for graphic design.
Currently, I’m the Director of Content for Pacers Gaming and owner of Pixel & Bracket LLC, an educational resource for creators.
I love helping and teaching others what I know, and that’s why I created Pixel & Bracket. This site and YouTube channel is my way to connect with up-and-coming creators and designers.
What is Pixel & Bracket?
When I started out as a graphic designer, I would do freelance work on the side of my full-time job. I would freelance under my own name, but I always wanted to create some type of online presence.
I was interested in all types of multimedia, not just design work. So, coming up with a name that stuck was difficult for many years until I finally considered all my interests more abstractly.
Pixel & Bracket stands for the left and right side of the brain… let me explain. I found myself in a creative field, but I was also very drawn to other aspects like coding websites, creating complex animations, and developing digital signage systems.
Graphic design and video production are very creative and right-brain oriented, but I was always using the more analytical left-brain processes in my work to create a mesh of those two worlds.
The word “pixel” represented the creativity of the right side of my brain, and the word “bracket” represented the left side. I felt like this name created a large enough umbrella for me to work under, whether it was creating educational tutorials, video and motion graphics, or graphic design work.
What is my background?
It was early 2008, and I was just finishing up my senior year of high school. I had been cadet teaching a 4th grade class at an elementary school across the street, and I felt like I was destined to be a teacher at the point in time.
I had already selected an Elementary Education Major and most of the people in my life thought that’s the direction I was headed. But then, I signed up for one final high school class…
In that class, I was introduced to Photoshop Elements, Final Cut Pro, and Flash animation. I was hooked! I had no idea at the time that people get paid to work in these programs, but immediately I thought, “I want to be the teacher of classes like these.”
I switched my major to Technology Education and thought I was definitely headed down the right path. That’s when things got a little iffy…
Next thing I know, I’m creating birdhouses and cutting boards in my first semester of college. That’s when I realized that wanting to be the high school teacher who taught a multimedia class was way too narrow of a focus. I wasn’t going to be a multimedia teacher… I was going to be a shop teacher who taught a multimedia class on the side.
I was at a crossroads. How can I teach and do multimedia?
Ultimately, I felt more drawn to the creative side and had to let teaching go. I found Visual Communications (Graphic Design) as a major and switched to it after my first semester. I had to play a bit of catchup join the art program… I had zero art portfolio, and no idea how to design.
I took a few art classes in summer school and was accepted into the program. From there I became more and more interested in everything I could do with graphic design. I took Flash animation classes, digital photography, web design, and more! I couldn’t learn enough and I was so interested in more than just traditional print design.
I got a paid internship at a company called Beck’s Hybrids, eventually earning a full-time position as Digital Multimedia Specialist from 2011 to 2018.
I learned so much more during my internship and as a full-time designer than I did in my college classes. As I became more proficient, I started to think about starting my own brand. That’s when I realized that I could start teaching what I know online, and Pixel & Bracket was born in early 2016.
I fell in love with creating tutorials on YouTube. Over time, it has grown bigger than I ever imagined and has become my side business.
In 2018, I was feeling a bit undervalued at work and looked at what else was out there. I found a Director of Content posting for Pacers Gaming, the Indiana Pacers NBA 2K League team.
What I did on the side with Pixel & Bracket was even more interesting to them than my full-time job, which was strange to me at the time. But it made sense, I was creating content, live streaming, and building a brand, exactly what they wanted the Director of Content to do for Pacers Gaming.
I was offered the role and accepted. Since 2018, I’ve built the Pacers Gaming brand to over 100,000 total followers, most of that on YouTube.
Long story short (can I even say that at this point), I now work full-time with Pacers Gaming, and run Pixel & Bracket LLC on the side.
I love what I do with this brand, and one day hope to make it my full-time job to make helpful content for other creators like you!