Viewing the World from Different Lenses
Building relationships is something that Maureen Scanlon values, and that’s one of the reasons that her business, Murre Creative of Florence, succeeds. Maureen offers a keen eye for detail, a knack for collaboration and the ability to view a client’s communications challenges through various lenses.
Located in Florence, Murre Creative is a communications and design firm that Maureen has operated for three years. The company is headed by Maureen, who serves as project leader and manages client relations. Her creative team, in addition to herself, includes art director and designer Lilly Pereira. She also, when needed, taps a short list of other colleagues with whom she has built relationships over the years. She calls them her creative “posse.”
Maureen possesses the incredible skill of functioning as well in a partnership or group as she does alone. She says teamwork is an asset because her ego doesn’t get in the way of creating a perfect product.
“I don’t think anyone’s work is strongest when operating in a vacuum,” she says. “And I think that my work is strongest when there is a back-and-forth relationship with other people.”
This is why it is so easy for Janice to work with both Maureen and Ruth Griggs as part of their communications collaboration, The Creative.
Maureen believes the dynamic between the three members is what sets them apart from other firms. “We’re just kind of a mean machine,” she says. “We push each other. We challenge each other, and we support each other.”
Maureen finds that the element of support is what keeps The Creative fun and successful.
Maureen entered the communications field as an illustrator, and while producing illustrations at an educational testing company—doing X number of drawings per hour—she saw something going on that was far more interesting to her: graphic design.
Maureen’s creative work is backed up by her studies. She majored in illustration at the Rhode Island School of Design and finished her bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts as an Ada Comstock scholar at Smith College. She attributes her Smith studies to her value placed on writing—words have power. She sees that through in her work in communications design.
Out of the office, Maureen enjoys travelling, hiking and painting. She works in pleine-air style, bringing her sketch book and watercolor kit with her wherever she goes. Even when naming her company, her outdoorsy side shone through; a Murre, for instance, is an off-shore seabird.
Maureen appreciates learning about other cultures and history when she travels. She says her first stops in new regions are restaurants and museums. “I’m a museum junkie,” she says.
Learn more about Maureen and Murre Creative, and also learn more about The Creative.
