Victor Havens began his professional graphic design career in 1988 working for SWFTE International in Greenville, Delaware. After working for a few months on the technical support staff, he was asked to join the advertising agency that handled the SWFTE account. At Fox Advertising, he learned a great deal about the graphic design industry, and although computers were beginning to make in roads into the graphic design world, most of the work was done using manual paste-up and press type.

Over the next decade, Victor worked as a freelance graphic designer and began to teach himself the programs that would allow him to take his design to a new level. With little work available in Delaware, he moved to Philadelphia in 1991. In 1994, he began working for Masco Communications, a design firm in Center City. Within the first year, Victor won 9 design awards, and over the next 8 years he won another 32 awards for design excellence.

While working at Masco, Victor decided to attend The Art Institute of Philadelphia, where he majored in Multi-Media & Web Design to increase his skill set even more. Working full-time and attending classes at night seemed sometimes daunting, but he promised that he would graduate with a 4.0 GPA—which he did in the fall of 2005. During his time at The Art Institute of Philadelphia, he earned 15 Best of Quarter awards, was a Presidential Scholar and won the Outstanding Achievement and Best Portfolio awards at graduation.

Victor is now the Senior Multi-Media Designer at MEE Productions Inc., a social marketing firm with offices in Philadelphia, Washington D.C., and Los Angeles. He has worked on many projects that have a direct impact on urban communities throughout the country. In addition to his work at MEE, Victor also serves on the Advisory Board for Graphic Design at The Art Institute.

His advice to all students: "Create every project as if you were your own client. You should be harder to please than anyone you will ever work for."