Erik Spooner

Erik Spooner is the brand creative director for Quad, a global marketing experience company that began as a commercial printer and today integrates its printing and creative production capabilities with traditional advertising, interactive and digital marketing holdings to create frictionless campaigns for every marketer. As an entrepreneurial creative leader with more than 15 years of experience in the media, entertainment and technology industries, he directs creative strategy and high-performance brand and design teams to make award-winning products, experiences, content and images that grow businesses, support strategic pivots, engage audiences and earn critical acclaim.

Prior to joining Quad, Erik was creative director for Ad Age, where he oversaw the trade media brand’s 2017 redesign and rebranding effort, which helped grow the business more than 20% year-over-year and reinvigorated a nearly-century-old newspaper into a vital, provocative, insightful and influential platform. For more than two decades, he worked in newsrooms and magazines as a designer and art director, including: Rolling Stone, Us Weekly, The New York Observer, Discover, InTouch, Life&Style, Closer, Elmore Magazine and many others.

Formerly a member of the board committee for students with the Society of Publication Designers; currently a trustee or director on the boards of: Art W Global, City Limits News of New York, and CBYX Alumni Association. Other clients have included Teachers College at Columbia University, Time Warner Book Group (now Hachette), RoundGlass, and Hammock Inc. From 2012–2015, he was the creative director for Nomad, a mobile content startup that built mobile-first content and campaigns for brands from Shire Pharmaceuticals to Jaguar, building a seven-figure creative business with the founders from the ground up in little more than a year.

Since 2014, Erik has taught classes in the undergraduate Communications Design department at Pratt including Typographic Design I & II, Graphic Design Intensive, Brand & Messaging, and Integrated Visual Communications: Cross-Platform Design.

BFA, Pratt Institute; MBA, Berlin School for Creative Leadership, Steinbeis University Berlin (in progress, expected graduation 2023).