Lola Lançon

Lola Lançon began making flyers for Brooklyn punk bands and DJs during college, inspired by DIY zines and handmade posters. From there, she moved into beauty campaigns, bringing stand-out textures and boundary-pushing visuals to the space. From being direct to leaving a strong impression, Lola shares her creative journey and how she landed her current role.

About my work

My creative practice
I’m an art director at McCann in New York, working across L’Oréal’s brands, developing and executing visual ideas for campaigns.

Influences and inspiration
I take inspiration from a lot of different places, but I’m always drawn to work that feels specific and has a strong point of view. I’m not really influenced by advertising figures; I’m more drawn to unconventional designers and visual creatives who push things from unexpected angles.

I like David Carson for how he disrupts traditional layout and uses texture in a really expressive way. It makes me think about how to bring that same sense of texture into beauty campaigns, such as using materials or visual swatches instead of just polished imagery.

I’m also influenced by Nadia Lee Cohen, especially her photography and filmmaking. I like how she pushes characters and aesthetics into bold, exaggerated, almost kitschy extremes. It makes me think about how a campaign can fully commit to a visual world instead of playing it safe.

My training
I’m largely self-taught. I’ve been drawing, doodling and building visual worlds since I was a kid, and I started teaching myself Photoshop and Illustrator in middle and high school by experimenting and making work for fun. That curiosity and willingness to play has been essential to how I work. In college, I developed more technical skills, but most of my creative growth came from outside the classroom.

Favourite recent project
Right now, I'm working on campaigns for CeraVe and Maybelline. I can't say too much yet, but I find it interesting that these brands already have a whole world built around them, a history, a tone and rules. So the challenge isn't starting from scratch, it's finding the angle that feels unexpected without losing what makes them recognizable. That's honestly where I have the most fun creatively.

Art direction concept for OUAI

A day in the life
A typical day starts with an espresso or two, then I check my calendar and priorities for the day. I usually start by aligning with the creative directors to review where projects are at and what needs attention.

From there, I’m mostly focused on design work, developing concepts, refining visuals or building out decks, depending on the stage of the project. I’m also in and out of check-ins and feedback reviews throughout the day.

By late afternoon, I’m usually wrapping up deliverables and getting things ready for the next round of feedback, and I try to finish up around 5.

A starter pack for my job:
Since I started working in advertising, the only constant in my day is a Diet Coke at lunch. Everything else is chaos.

How I got here

Starting my creative journey
My creative path began with being part of a very DIY environment in college. I was involved in a band and spent a lot of time around zines, handmade posters, patches and independent creative work.

That environment shaped how I approached design. I already knew the basics, but it pushed me to think more instinctively and experimentally about how visuals communicate. I started making flyers for punk bands and DJs in Brooklyn during that time, mainly for local shows and friends. It was very informal, and I was usually paid in beer, but it taught me a lot about communicating visually in a fast, raw and expressive way.

I didn’t really “find my feet” quickly in a traditional sense, but that period gave me a strong foundation in making work that feels bold, expressive and branded.

Landing my first few jobs, clients and/or commissions
There wasn’t really a clear formula. It took me about two years after college to land a full-time job, and during that time, I was doing a mix of internships and freelance work. I had an internship at Bobbi Brown for a summer, which was my first real entry into the beauty world. I made an effort to stay in touch with people I worked with and to leave a strong impression, which helped later on.

One thing that did make a difference was being direct. I reached out to agencies I liked on LinkedIn and contacted recruiters directly instead of sending applications to general inboxes. That felt way more effective. Having a strong, easy-to-skim portfolio was also key. People don’t spend a lot of time looking, so the work needs to be clear and immediate.

Finally, A lot of it came down to timing and persistence. I also realized pretty quickly that meeting people matters. Talking to people, going out and being social, even outside your field, can open doors in unexpected ways.

Biggest challenges along the way
My biggest challenge was more mental than technical. I already knew the software and could make the work, but I wasn’t always confident in it. It was mostly about questioning whether I was good enough or if I could actually do this long-term. That slowed me down more than anything else. Over time, that changed through repetition. The more I made work and put myself in situations where I had to trust my instincts, the more that confidence built naturally.

Everyday skills I’ve found helpful for my creative work:
Working fast and staying reactive: things move quickly and timelines shift constantly, so being able to adapt without losing quality matters. Collaboration, knowing how to take feedback and build on other people's ideas. And honestly, just reading the room – knowing when to push and when to pull back

My social media and self-promotion vibe is…
I don’t use Instagram in a very strategic way. I mostly post personal work when it feels relevant or interesting. For more work-related updates, I use LinkedIn, since that feels more straightforward for a professional context.

I keep my music project separate with its own account. That exists as its own creative world and feels closer to a band or visual project than my design work, so I prefer to treat it separately.

Overall, I use social media more as a way to reflect different parts of what I’m doing, rather than trying to constantly promote myself in a structured way.

Three things I've found useful in my career:
I’m mostly inspired by finding other creatives online who don’t fit into just one category: people who are both digital and hands-on. It helps me think beyond a single way of working and stay open in how I approach projects.

I use Pinterest a lot for that same reason. I know there are always new, similar apps, but Pinterest still works for me because it’s all about how you search and build visual references over time.

I don’t really follow specific podcasts or books in a structured way, but I love going to the library. One thing I miss from college is spending hours between classes just pulling random books off the shelves, scanning them and turning that into moodboards.

Art direction test

My greatest learnings when it comes to making money and supporting myself as a creative:

One of my biggest learnings has been valuing your work properly. It’s easy to underestimate yourself and think you should charge less because you’re early in your career, but people usually come to you for a reason and already see value in what you do. That doesn’t mean overpricing, but it does mean being confident and intentional when setting rates and not defaulting to undercharging out of insecurity.

Advice

My most useful career tips
Be kind to yourself. Finding a job in the creative industry right now can feel really tedious and slow, but it does come with time. It’s easy to get in your head about it, but consistency matters more than anything. Just keep going and don’t give up.

Where I go to feel connected as a creative
I don’t really go to one specific place for that. I just try to surround myself with people who inspire me and are ambitious in their own way. Most of my friends are creatives, but not necessarily designers, which I actually think is a plus.

Being around people in different fields is really valuable because it opens up different ways of thinking about work. An architect will look at something differently than someone in animation, and I find both perspectives equally interesting.

What I'd say to someone looking to get into a similar role
The most important thing is the portfolio, no matter what industry you’re trying to get into. Keep it focused and don’t overpack it. It’s better to have a smaller number of really strong projects, around five or six, rather than trying to show everything. Showing range helps, whether that’s design, copy or video, but it needs to feel genuine. It’s easy to tell when something is forced or just there to fill space. Overall, keep it simple, clean, and intentional.