Scott Mahr knew from an early age what he wanted to do for a living. “When I was a little boy,” he says, “all I’d do is draw. When I was in church, I would bring sheets of paper and design new Nike shoes.” It’s no wonder, then, that after he graduated from Christian Brothers University, he decided to start his own design company. “But I was like a book lover who didn’t know how to write great literature,” he confesses. “I loved great designs, but didn’t really have the knowledge I needed to create them.” So he went back to school, this time to the University of Memphis, for postgraduate studies in graphic design.
In 2005, WMC-TV hired Scott to create on-air graphics and animations. Over the next six years, he would be nominated for fourteen regional Emmy awards. “I learned to focus not on what I couldn’t do, but on what I COULD do,” he says. That “can-do” attitude earned him a position at Running Pony in 2011, and the title of Art Director in 2014.
In 2015 and 2016, Scott received “Best of Animation” Addy awards from the Memphis chapter of the American Advertising Federation. He knows that it takes more than just a “great eye” to produce great graphic designs; it also takes a “great ear”. He says, “The first step to great design is listening to what the client needs, and learning how best to partner with them to create or enhance their brand.” That approach has been instrumental in tackling some of the major graphics and animations projects he’s supervised recently. One example is a series of videos for national pest control company Terminix that involved making a 3D models of various pests and a 3D model of an actual house in Florida that would blend seamlessly with video footage of the home.
Scott lives in Germantown with his wife, Krissie, and their two young sons—Brandon, 7, and Jackson, 5. His hobbies include film, photography and running; he’s competed in an Iron Man competition in Louisville and the St. Jude Marathon here in Memphis. As a graduate of Leadership Germantown, Scott is committed to continue growth and learning both in his personal life and his professional life. As he puts it, “Graphic design styles are always changing, so you have to constantly be learning and adapting, to evolve with the times.”
