As Mark Bevington, the managing partner of Ninedot LLC says in his 40 Under Forty application, “It’s not what you sell, it’s what you stand for” that counts.
The 31-year-old owner and managing partner of Ninedot LLC, a design agency that offers clients a full range of services to build brand identity by solving communication and advertising challenges, puts that quote into practice every day.
Yes, the agency has a growing list of clients – Lunesta, the University of Rhode Island, FM Global, Lifespan and EpiVax to name a few – and produces work that is recognized across the design business – at the International Communicator Awards, as well as at the American Institute of Graphic Arts National Conference, among others.
But Bevington sees his role in a broader context than that. When he came to Providence, he saw a void where an AIGA chapter should be, so he took it upon himself, as a 25-year-old neophyte, to organize the chapter in what is now called the “Creative Capital.” As the founder and president of the AIGA’s 48th chapter, he created a board and then set about building the membership. Today, AIGA RI has more than 165 members, and Bevington is still active as president emeritus.
But perhaps his most satisfying project is his latest – Acts of Nineness. It is an idea that he and his team have brought to life in which they donate time and/or services to organizations that just need it. For example, alongside Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island and Stop & Shop, Ninedot staff helped paint and restore the Progresso Excellence Academy, the pre-school program of Progresso Latino, the Central Falls nonprofit dedicated to improving the lives of the Latino community.
Ninedot also created a new website and related materials for the Neutaconkanut Hill Conservancy, a nonprofit whose mission it is to conserve the hill.
It seems the Bevington is well on his way to living by what he stands for. •
