Meet a Hodger: Jada Carpenter

With a keen eye for design and an innate understanding of what looks good, Jada Carpenter has a knack for designing beautiful graphics that help clients reach their goals.

Born and raised in Alexandria, Jada came to Richmond in 2013 to attend VCU and has been here ever since. She earned a B.S. in Mass Communications with a concentration in Creative Advertising in 2017.

Jada was drawn to design when she began learning basic principles in her classes at VCU. The notion of design choices, or lack thereof, having such a large impact on consumer choices fascinated her.

Following graduation, Jada channeled that fascination into her work as a contractor and free-lance designer for a variety of Richmond companies. However, once her freelance work landed her at Hodges, we just couldn’t let her go.

Keep reading to learn about the newest member of our team.

What’s your favorite Richmond restaurant?

That’s a very hard question…I would say that Chicken Fiesta is at least the one I go to the most. My partner and I actually have Chicken Fiesta Fridays, so we go there every week!

What is your go-to news source?

NPR. I listen to Morning Edition and All Things Considered on the radio. My mom used to listen to it every morning when she would drive me to school, and now that I’m an adult I listen too! It’s especially great for when you work at a place like Hodges where keeping up with the news is part of your job. Listening to NPR on my way to work in the morning is a good way to get caught up.

What advice do you have for young people looking to get into design?

Start looking at the designs that you interact with every day and think about how they could be improved. A good idea is to try to recreate those designs to make your improvements and add them to your portfolio when you’re just starting out. Imposter syndrome is also something to look out for. It’s important to remember that you don’t need to be extremely talented in art and illustration to be good at graphic design; it’s more about math and making things visually pleasing.

Which Breakfast Club character were you most like in high school?

Well, according to the Buzzfeed quiz I took, I’m most like Claire, but I think I was most like Andrew because I played lots of sports – soccer, cross country, swimming, basketball, and even a little bit of hockey.

What do you think the biggest misconception about the design world is?

Well, I talked about it a little bit earlier, but I think a lot of people think that design is all about art and drawing when that’s really not the case. Design is actually more about science and solving visual puzzles. I use math more often than I use classic illustration skills.

Is there a PR or design campaign that you particularly admire?

I really like Google’s Year in Review. They’re fun to watch, and I think Google is the only company that could manage to make you feel nostalgic over a year like 2020.