We're All Human Mullets

This week on Overtime, Meg weighs in on the latest obsession with Animal Crossing and how it’s helping designers cope, Nissan’s new logo redesign, and she responds to a listener voicemail! Plus, designer Mick Champayne joins the conversation to talk about injecting humor and personality into your work.

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Links mentioned in this episode

• CNBC: The Psychology Behind Our Obsession with Animal Crossing
• Creative Bloq: New Nissan Logo Redesign

Transcript

Meg: Well hello! It’s your host, Meg “Deep Breath” Lewis, and welcome back to Overtime, where I’ll deliver the design news from the past week and give you the tips you need to create your best work. How are you doing? Are you doing okay? You know, I’m going to start doing a thing like Blue’s Clues maybe where I ask a question and then do a long pause so that you, listening there can answer me out loud so that you feel a little less alone. Okay, here we go: how you doing, buddy? [Pause] Oh, okay. Well, you look great. So that’s good. Okay, let’s get into the episode today.

In this week’s episode, a look into how designers are coping through the loneliness and isolation and finding little hints of silver linings. I’ll also peek at the Nissan logo redesign and how it makes me realize how much I miss touching random hunks of metal, and a chat with Mick Champayne about injecting humor into design work.

The system for creative people is broken. It puts algorithms over ideas, quantity over quality, what’s easy to sell over what’s good, you know, money brands and just about everything else over the people who actually make the things. And people just say that’s the way it is. Well, Patreon says screw that. And here’s a wild idea. Let’s put creativity over everything because they’re your ideas. It’s your work that captivates audiences, inspires conversation, and builds community. So, it’s time to ditch the old ways and let your fans give you the freedom and stability you need to do your best creative work. It’s not rocket science, it’s just way better. Visit CreativityOverEverything.com and see how Patreon can help you do your best creative work with the direct support of your fans.

I’m sure you’ve noticed this week and last week that just about everybody – designers, your aunt Linda, cousin Barb, Big Daddy Dave, everybody in your whole family and beyond is playing Animal Crossing, myself included. And, you know, I think we’re playing it for a lot of reasons. I’m playing it because I’m really stressed out. I’m very anxious and I need to turn my brain into some mashed potatoes at the end of the day, or throughout the day, first thing when I wake up, anything, because it’s rough out there, and Animal Crossing seems to be really good for that. And I actually, you know, if you know anything about me, I do not love solving problems. It’s just not my natural state. Whenever I have to solve a problem, I get frustrated. And so obviously, video games are not for me because that’s all you’re doing is solving problems.

And I like Animal Crossing, you know, very much like the Sims or like my old favorite, Roller Coaster Tycoon, because it’s not hard. Like the problems you’re solving are quite easy. It doesn’t take much frustration, which I think big problem solver lovers probably don’t like that about these games. But hey, it lets me just chill out. And I looked into it a little bit and read an article on it and found out why everybody’s so obsessed with it right now. Even more so with you know, we’re getting a lot of people playing it for the first time when this game has been out for a long time. Not this version but you know, Animal Crossing has been around for a long time. And so, we’re getting a lot of new players. Basically, everybody’s just playing it, myself included, because the world wants to chill out right now. And when I read up on it, I learned a lot about why it’s so perfect right now. And you know, I think a lot of the chaos that’s happening in the world and people hoarding things and stocking up and just losing their minds, a lot of the reason why I don’t feel great is because we’re out of control. We have no control over our futures right now, we have no control over so many aspects of our life and having a game like this helps us feel in control of our little Animal Crossing lives for just a little bit.

My Islander’s name, my character’s name, is Bing Bong, and Bing Bong lives on an island called Flavortown. I’m not even sure if I’m allowed to say Flavortown because it might be trademarked. But the game didn’t tell me I couldn’t so I’m going with it. And so, it’s just a way for you to be in control of what you’re digging up, what you’re throwing an axe at, what kind of tree you’re shaking, and what you’re buying to fill your home with. Because a lot of us can’t go out IRL and buy things to fill our IRL homes with now, so it helps us feel in control. It’s also obviously just an escape. It’s a way for you to escape the hellscape that is the real world right now and allows you to go to a happy island where everything is nice and perfect. And a capitalist environment, unlike what’s happening right now, where we can’t really spend any money because we’re not making any money. On your island, you can make lots of money very easily. Yes!

And the last thing is, you know, it gives us a sense of togetherness, and allows us to play with friends. And because we can’t play with our friends and touch them anymore, it’s nice to be able to do that. So, there are a lot of reasons why everybody’s playing this. And if you’re one of the people that aren’t playing it, and you’re confused or annoyed with the world, have a little bit of empathy, because we’re all just losing it a little bit right now. And we need a sense of control, we need to escape, and we need to hang out with friends.

Alright, so the Nissan logo redesign. Were you with me a few weeks ago when I had to review the BMW logo redesign and I was like, “It’s weird – oh, wait, I like it now. Oh, yeah.” Yes, I was like that kombucha woman meme with a logo redesign review. And it’s interesting for me to have to review logos because, you know, this is hard because I design logos, so I don’t want to say anything that won’t get me hired forever. But I just think a brand is more than a logo. And a lot of times I like to zoom out and think about the big picture. And so, focusing on one little logo, it’s like, not very interesting to me. But, you know, this is my job now. I’m here to review things and tell you about design news, and there’s not really much going on in the design world right now because we’re all freaking out about bigger things. But hey, Nissan did a little logo redesign, and much like BMW, she’s flat. It’s a flat logo.

They also went with a flat design and, you know, I looked at the old logo and compared you know, the side by side comparison of the new one to the old one, and it made me look at the old school which was very skeuomorphic. It was like a 3d looking metal shiny looking, you know like a three-dimensional hood cap. Hood Cap. That’s what they’re called right? Yes, no, it’s hood cap. Tell me if I’m wrong. There’s no one here I’m looking around for someone to correct me and there’s no one here. So, it looks like an actual hood cap. I don’t know, hood necklace? Hood jewel? Everything feels wrong. It looks like one of those things – the old one. And the new one just looks like I went into Illustrator and like, took the old one and just traced it with the pen tool, and then called it a day, only made it one color. You know, this is actually how I normally design. I’m a flat sort of person. Flat personality. Flat body (laughs). No.

And so, looking at the old logo made me realize that I want to see more skeuomorphic things because I just miss touching real life objects. I miss being able to rub my hands all over a random piece of metal outside and not worry about getting sick. Although I suppose that’s always a concern when touching random pieces of metal outside. But hey, I miss it and I want to do it. I want to lick up random hunks of metal somewhere. I want to rub it all over my body, but I can’t. And now if we make everything flat, we’re just going to be living inside of a computer for the rest of our lives. And that makes me sad.

It’s so hard to not make everything about viruses and sadness. But the show must go on. We have a voicemail this week. Let’s go!

Last week on the show, I asked y’all to call into our hotline and leave a voicemail just telling us what’s on your mind and how you’re doing right now. And we got a really good one. Let’s take a listen.

Caller: Zoom and Slack, and things like that are giving me some semblance of control and contact with the outside world and I feel really grateful as a designer to be using them frequently and also have powerful tools like the internet and Instagram and the creative mind and, like, an iPad Pro that I can just create little doodles that I throw up and, like, it makes people laugh or it makes people think. And yeah, I don’t know. There’s something also very strangely, like, comforting about the whole world going through this and like, I don’t know about you, but I’ve talked to my parents more than I have in a long time in the last week. And I got on a FaceTime with my Mom and brother and Dad, who, my parents have been divorced for 32 years and we all got on a FaceTime together. So, there is some weird gratitude weirdness going on. Like your life is also slowed a little bit.

Meg: There is a lot to unpack here that I couldn’t agree more with. This caller makes a really good point that we, as designers, have a lot of tools at our disposal to make the best of this time. We can create things that help lift other people up and help support them, but we could also, you know, we’re set up for success for utilizing the internet and utilizing digital tools to help keep us connected and keep others around us connected. And I think the same is for me, where I’m finding that I’m staying much more connected to the people that I never got in contact with before. There are a lot of relationships that I wasn’t doing so hot with, or that had kind of fallen off over the past few years that I’ve really started to pick up. And I missed those people and it feels really good to have them back in my life. So, I wonder if the same thing is happening for a lot of you.

So, I think it’s really helpful for y’all to keep calling into the hotline because this is important and I think it’s important for us to hear from other people to know how you’re feeling, whether it’s from a design perspective or just a life perspective. It doesn’t matter. I think just sharing your story, so we can play it on the podcast, so you just feel a little less alone for a bit. It’s anonymous if you want it to be, but it doesn’t have to be either.

So, call 1-833-DEZIGNZ. That’s 1-833-DEZIGNZ spelled weird and funny and leave us a voicemail sharing your thoughts whether it’s optimistic or if you’re worried or if you’re just feeling weird. You call that number 1-833-DEZIGNZ to leave an audio message and your recording might be featured on this podcast.

You know, I was planning on having an entire fun April Fool’s episode the last couple months. It was going to be silly and goofy and super fun. But it just seems pointless and insensitive now in this current chaotic, silly, scary climate. But you know what? There are still a lot of pockets of fun to be had. And you know, today and in the coming weeks, I think we can just embrace joy when it happens and have a little fun here and there. And that’s exactly what I’m trying to do with this podcast. Be a little serious, deliver the news and have some fun. So, whenever I think of someone who has pockets full of fun, it’s designer Mick Champayne. Hi Mick, how are ya?

Mick: I’m good, how are you?

Meg: I’m good too. You know, I think we were kind of talking a little bit about this before we started recording but I think it’s like it even feels weird to say how are you and respond with good. But that’s what I keep doing every time everyone asks me because that’s what I normally do. And that weird tie between normalcy and how chaotic everything is, is so confusing right now.

Mick: Yeah, I mean, like physically, I’m good. Outside, the world is falling apart, but that’s fine. Like we’re fine. I’m a living embodiment of that “this is fine meme. The one with the man inside with the fire around him.

Meg: Yes, I know exactly what you’re talking about. So, we are going to talk today a little bit about something that I think we both have in common. And that is mixing humor with our design work. So, if you could just explain to the listeners, like what do you do? What is your job?

Mick: Oh, that’s a great question. No, you know, it’s kind of funny, I use both sides of my brain. In my day job, I’m a visual design lead at this agency called Huge where I help design a lot more digital experiences and products. But you know, to scratch that other side of my brain, the right side of my brain, I like to illustrate on the side. I don’t really know how to describe my style unless you consider butts a style. But I don’t know, I just really like having fun and it’s a nice outlet and excuse to just have some play around and some humor.

Meg: Yes, yes. And you mentioned butts and you definitely have some common themes throughout your work. But I think that the biggest through-line is just that it’s always funny. Your illustration work is hilarious. It’s very light-hearted. And I really like, I think we have this in common as well, but I love that you have so much personality in the work that you do for yourself, but it shines through in everything that you do. From your website, to everything you do on social media, even emailing with you, it just like, your emails ooze with personality. And I think it’s fun because I also do the same thing where I break a lot of email etiquette rules. I guess I’m just like, pretty informal. I get things to people on time.

Mick: Ooh, you’re a rule breaker.

Meg: No, I do what I’m supposed to and get them when I need to get them on time. But I kind of just make sure that I email everyone the same and I email everybody with my voice.

Mick: We’re human mullets. We’re like, business in the front and we’re party in the back like, that’s how I like to live my life.

Meg: I love that. So, why do you think that you utilize humor in your work so much?

Mick: Oh man. I don’t know if it’s because I’m Midwestern and like, there’s just the self-deprecating nature to us or if it’s because like, my star sign is a Cancer and I just want to make everybody feel good and happy. But yeah, I don’t know, I think I like both a dark and a light sense of humor. And I think it’s like a) dark stuff is a good coping mechanism, and especially like the rough times, like right now. And then just humor is just so universal. Like, I think that’s why memes take off and they’re so viral, because they really connect on a human level. And it’s like, they get people sharing and talking with one another, which I’m all about. So, yeah, I think that’s why. It’s just like a natural reflex, I think.

Meg: Yeah, I think that’s a really good point. And I love the fact that you mentioned darkness and lightness because I’m kind of the same way. I’m very light myself, but I also totally believe that the world is such a tragic place. And there’s so much darkness and seriousness in the world. So why not add a little bit of weirdness and humor, if you can afford to.

Mick: Oh, 100%. I was like, I feel like I love to kind of defuse situations too. And I think humor is a natural tool to do that.

Meg: Yes, I completely agree. So, do you think that there’s – can you pinpoint any differences between your personality in the work that you make? Or do you feel like your personality is a totally injected into that?

Mick: I think illustration-wise, yes. Like, totally living embodiment of my illustrations. I actually like to illustrate myself a lot, just like, I don’t know, clenched butt cheeks and stuff like that, always nervous or whatever.

But I think when it comes to my day job, that’s where you do have to put like, the serious hat on a little bit and it’s, I keep thinking, you know, I don’t know if it’s because of his recent passing, but Kenny Rogers, late, great gambler, said, you know, “You got to know when to hold them and know when to fold them” kind of thing. And I feel like that’s so true. Like with humor like, yeah, I don’t know, it’s just my day job. You have to know, it’s kind of more of a gut thing. And it’s a muscle that you learn and exercise as you develop your career. But knowing when to kind of lean into that humor. And I think that helps when it comes to digital products, like really good for kind of humanizing things. Digital can be so cold and so flat. And so, any place you can inject a little personality, I think will go very far in terms of connecting with people.

Meg: That’s very true. And I think especially with product experiences, there’s such a low bar for fun, you know, like, products need to be taken seriously to a certain extent. So, I think that authoritative design is very important. So, you know, if you inject just a little bit of humor, whether it’s illustration or copy or design decisions, whatever, it goes such a long way.

Mick: Yeah, no, I agree 100%. I mean, obviously, if it’s a bank, and it needs to be like stuffy and like, buttoned up, like for sure. But if I can squeeze an emoji in there somewhere, I’m gonna.

Meg: So yeah, I think that there’s an interesting conversation here because I talk a lot about this, but I’ve come to the realization throughout my career that designers can fall anywhere on a spectrum between a problem-solving designer and a designer more as an artist. And I know a lot of people feel very strongly about one direction or the other, and they kind of are like, “design isn’t art, design to solve problems.” And other people are like, “No, I just want to make things look pretty.” And throughout my career, I’ve kind of slid on that spectrum a lot where I started out as more of a problem-solving designer, which is probably what you do for your full-time jobby-job all the time is, you’re solving problems.

And eventually, I realized at a certain point that I just don’t like solving problems, I don’t enjoy it. That part of my brain, if I get frustrated about trying to solve a problem, I just want to stop doing it and move on to something else that’s more fun. And so, I’ve realized throughout my career that I really enjoy being more on the artist side of that spectrum, which just means that, you know, somebody else has solved the problem for the brand. And my style happens to be the best solution for, you know, to fit what they’ve come up with. So, I think that your work is kind of oscillating between both, which I’m sure is like, I think you found a really secret wonderful thing there because you’re able to get out both sides of your brain.

Mick: Yeah, thanks. Yeah, no, we were actually just talking about it at work. And, you know, what are the roles between UX and visual design. And from a UX like, my partners at work are so good at solving complex systems and, like, I don’t know all these rules and interactions and flows and stuff like that. And I can understand it at a high-level kind of like you, but when it gets down to the weeds and all sorts of things, like JIRA tickets and stuff, I’m just like, oh my God, like, freaking out. But I think, you know, we’ve kind of leaned into visual design as being more trying to help push the craft in terms of storytelling and trying to like, infuse the brand into products and things like that.

Meg: Yeah, that makes so much sense. So, when it comes to product design, whether it’s product designers, UI or UX designers, do you think that they have to – I guess this isn’t a black or white question, but do you feel like they have to be serious about their work in order to be taken seriously? Because I definitely feel like that’s a thing when we’re in school and when we’re growing up as designers, we feel like we need to be really dry and academic and very serious about these problems we’re solving for.

Mick: I remember getting advice to go buy a suit for your first interview, and I was like, “What?” Luckily, I went agency world so I didn’t, they’re like, “No, no, you should wear cool jeans.” And I was like, “Cool.” But to be taken seriously, I mean, well, I’m a living testament because my boss hired me, so I’d say no, but, and he kind of knew, I mean, my portfolio is totally a reflection of me and I threw in so many gifs and emojis and stuff like that. So, he knew full well what he was getting himself into. So, I think no, but kind of going back to the Kenny Rogers reference, I think it’s definitely a delicate balance of knowing when to be serious and when not. Like, obviously, in a client review, I think you can have a small, fun conversation upfront with them and you know, kind of connect with your client on a human level, but when it comes down to showing the work, that’s where you need to be a little bit more buttoned up and just, you know, be a little bit I guess, technically serious, but you know, at the end of the day, you just got to remember, like, they’re humans too. And it’s just a conversation.

Meg: Yeah, and I like your point about the fact that somebody hired you, even though you know, you have all these things about yourself in your portfolio, and you’re being yourself in the copywriting, and you’re doing all these weird illustrations on the side. And I think that, you know, similar to the “buy a suit for your interview” recommendation, I remember a lot of the advice in school I got was, “Don’t put yourself on the internet too much or else somebody might see it.” Remember that? Like, an employer might see if you show yourself too much. And yeah, I think that you’ve done a really nice job of doing that anyway, and showing that of course, people will hire you despite that, because you’re going to ultimately get hired by somebody who wants to be around you for you, and they’re going to choose you because they like your personality rather than hiring this very professional, buttoned up, curated version of you, which I think is really cool that you found a way to make both of those things work.

Mick: Yeah, I think, you know, just like society or whatever has also embraced being a lot more vulnerable and open and transparent, like, from when I graduated to now, and with the invention of the internet and how much it’s taken off, like the whole blending of your personality into the internet is a weird thing too. It’s kind of like your brand now, not to get gross or whatever, but like it’s, it’s about kind of, who you are on the internet is a reflection of you now, which is kind of strange to think about but –

Meg: No, that’s totally true. I get your hesitation was saying brand because we are, and we aren’t brands. I think it’s gross to think of yourself as a brand or a business. But I think if you think of it in the terms of what you’re saying of the fact that no, it’s you. Like, you’re just being yourself and hoping that somebody will pay you for that.

So, I think that most people are probably very curious to see your work at this point. So, where can people find you on the internet?

Mick: You can find me on Instagram @mickchampay or my website mickchampayne.com, Champayne with a “y.” It’s the off brand of champagne. No, it’s a great, it’s a great name.

Meg: We’ll link to everything in the show notes so people will not have to try and spell your last name. They’ll just click a link. Alright, thank you so much for being here today, Mick.

Mick: Thank you for having me!

Meg: Weeeyoooo! Welp, we did another one. That’s it for this week’s episode of Overtime. Stay healthy out there. Stay indoors, keep away from other people unless it’s your quarantine buddy. Make sure you keep them healthy and safe too. Wash your hands and take care of your mind and body. And you know what? As a design community, let’s band together and lift each other up. We need each other now more than ever. Okay, bye-bye now, hear me next week!