She Can Be... A Graphic Designer

STARKVILLE – The sports world has seen hundreds of thousands of coveted collectibles over the years. There are the familiar autographed jerseys, game-used equipment and rare trading cards, but some of the most unique items that would catch a Mississippi State fan's eye, rest on Ali Meeler's desk.

It's hard to pass by without stopping to admire her hand-painted maroon basketball commemorating State's women's SEC Championship and Final Four runs or the Bulldog branded pint glasses she made for a series of mid-week game promotions.

Her name is not as recognizable as the ones she's created for on the field and court: McCowan, Simmons, Davidson, Peters, Leilua. The list goes on. But her work is as memorable as the moments it's helped celebrate.

As the Bulldogs' assistant director of graphic design, she is responsible for many of the graphics fans share and engage with on social media. The in-venue signage and those messages on the video board? She had a hand in those too. Throughout the athletic department, however, it's her skills crafting one-of-a-kind props for the annual photoshoots that garners the most recognition.

In 2019, she coated 14 basketballs in maroon spray paint before carefully hand-painting personalized variations of each women's basketball student-athlete's name on the leather. Each ball included small details to highlight the women's personalities and interests. It's that level of painstaking care beyond the computer screen that takes her work to the next level.

When I saw the basketballs initially, I was in shock because they were so unique and creative. To know that it's someone took time to design something just for me made me feel good inside. It definitely made me smile and is something I will keep and cherish forever. - Jordan Danberry

When I saw the basketballs initially, I was in shock because they were so unique and creative. To know that it's someone took time to design something just for me made me feel good inside. It definitely made me smile and is something I will keep and cherish forever. - Jordan Danberry

Meeler has always been creative, but she hasn't always been an artist. In high school, she could play sports or she could take art classes. Sports won. They had always won.

From a young age, Meeler's mother had her in sports to form healthy habits. It started when she and her sister went to dance classes, but Meeler's eyes would wander to the soccer fields outside the window.

"I was like 'Mom, I want to do that,'" she said. "'I want to play soccer.' So we quit dance."

At the same time, her creativity was finding ways to get her into trouble. There was the day she colored on the walls with crayons or the time she "painted" the inside of the tree house with mud. From the start, she was very hands-on, crafting things from sticks and leaves she'd find outside.

"I would paint and do stuff like that too, but as a kid you know you're not good at it," Meeler said. "You know it should be better. It was always frustrating for me because I could never make something that I liked."

By the time she reached high school, Meeler was on the soccer, basketball and track teams. Basketball was her favorite. Track landed in last place.

"The 300m hurdles absolutely killed me," she said. "The 100m was better, but also not good at it. I false-started multiple times. It was more we needed someone in this, so I'm going to do it."

With so much time dedicated to sports, her creativity was left on the sidelines. Athletics was always the final class period of the day. Art was always offered in the same block of time. At practice, she would look upstairs to the classroom overlooking the gym and wonder what she was missing out on.

She played for a small team at a small school and while the league was competitive, she said it was a given that her athletic ability wasn't going to take her very far. She almost gave up basketball, but her mom gently prodded her that if she quit, she might come to regret it.

It wasn't that her mother didn't believe in her artistry. In fact, she had more faith than maybe Meeler herself at the time.

"I would have to say without my mom, I probably wouldn't be doing what I do today," Meeler said. "She made sure that I was involved in sports while encouraging me to pursue a career that would use my creativity."

When she enrolled at Mississippi State as an interior design major, Meeler had never taken a single art class.

I didn't think I was good enough or had the skills to go to the art department and apply and get into the graphic design program. I just didn't think I could do it, and that's why I didn't start out with it. She always wanted me to do it and can now say "I told you so."

I didn't think I was good enough or had the skills to go to the art department and apply and get into the graphic design program. I just didn't think I could do it, and that's why I didn't start out with it. She always wanted me to do it and can now say "I told you so."

She was required to take a few pre-requisite classes in the art department, and quickly found that they were her favorite, but she still wasn't quite sure she could do it. Remember, even as a child, she pushed herself so much that she was often unhappy with her drawing because it wasn't quite perfect.

"It was a little bit of a scary decision because it was just so different from anything I had ever done," she said. "It just felt like something that was risky, even though it really wasn't."

She was accepted into the graphic design program and quickly landed an internship in the Bulldogs' athletic department working in football recruiting. It was just the job she needed at just the right time to assure her she was on the right path.

For the first time Meeler was able to combine her love for sports and creativity and do both. She finally felt like she wasn't being forced to choose between the two.

That's where the two, sports and design, came together for me. I hadn't considered combining the two, but it just clicked for me!

That's where the two, sports and design, came together for me. I hadn't considered combining the two, but it just clicked for me!

It still wasn't the easiest journey. There were times she felt like she floated between two worlds that wouldn't align.

"I'd go to work and make all my super sporty not necessarily pretty things and then I'd go to art class," Meeler said. "Everyone I was around was on two opposite ends of the spectrum, and I was somewhere in the middle. I didn't necessarily feel like I fit in with the super athletic crowd, and I didn't super fit in with the artsy crowd because I wasn't as artsy as everyone else."

But overcoming that feeling and becoming comfortable with the crossover is central to her message to other little girls who may want to take the same path. When asked to complete the sentence "She can be…", Meeler felt like her answer – anything – was a little cliché. But the message behind that word to her is important and powerful.

"It was fine for me to be super into sports when I was younger," she said. "And it's fine for me not to be so invested in it and do more of the art stuff now. You can love sports and you can do something on the opposite end of the spectrum like paint and weave, artsy things. You can do all of it if you want. We don't have to be pushed into a box."

So Meeler continues to break out of the limits others may see for her. She's more than a graphic designer with a mastery of Photoshop. Her creativity extends to painting, stitching, drawing and expands outside of sports into pet portraits and artistic interpretations of the alphabet.

This spring she once again brought props to one of her teams' photo shoots. Softball's Mia Davidson and Fa Leilua have been dubbed the "New Thunder and Lightning" by former Diamond Dawg great Rafael Palmeiro, the original Thunder of the baseball team's dynamic duo.

When the pair stepped into the studio in January, they were met with two personalized maroon and white wooden bats adorned with Meeler's Thunder and Lightning designs. As the two women picked up their bats and began to laugh their way through the shoot together, Meeler was reminded why she puts in so much effort.

"She [Leilua] didn't have a crazy reaction, but it made her happy and it made her smile," Meeler said. "She enjoyed using it, and that just makes it worth it for me to spend time on stuff when I know someone's going to enjoy it."

You can love sports, and you do something on the opposite end of the spectrum like paint and weave. You don't have to be one or the other. You can do it all if you want.

You can love sports, and you do something on the opposite end of the spectrum like paint and weave. You don't have to be one or the other. You can do it all if you want.

Mississippi State University Athletics

She Can Be... A Graphic Designer

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