Illustration continues to be the sanity outlet

Doodling was always the way I took notes, even when teachers thought it meant I was checked out. I got called out for it more than once, notebooks flipped open like evidence.

Little shapes and half baked sketches kept my hands busy so my brain could stay put. They were my way of paying attention, even if it did not look like it from the front of the room.

Digital illustration of a smartphone with a cartoon character being created on a drawing app, and another phone displaying the Slack app logo, on a gray surface.

How I apply doodling habits today?

Now that I am well seasoned into the corporate world, and “designing for the sake of enjoyment” opportunities are few and far between, I have found that it is still the best way to get myself engaged and in the right mindset to create each day.

Daily Slack Avatars

What started out simply as an exercise, has turned into a mini-showcase of work that my co-workers have started to take notice of. Each day I update the avatar to reflect what I have going on around me at the time, and it has slowly become a catalog of emotion. humor, and conversation starters.

The “Gift”

I had a co-worker slack me on the side one day and describe the daily updates as a “little present” they get to see each day, guessing what new look I will be sporting. This outcome was complete happenstance, but lead to a parlay of ideas stemming from the original use-case.

The Idea

  • Lean into the doodles being a “gift”

  • Gifts come wrapped

  • Wrapping paper

  • I hate the guessing with gift giving on “who is this from?”

  • Create wrapping paper that is undeniably “from” me.

The Putting it all into Practice

After creating enough variations of my face, I created a seamless pattern and applied it to a roll of wrapping paper that can be utilized for any occasion and always have the question of “who is this from” answered.

Person drawing a cartoon character of a man with a beard and mustache on a white tablet using a stylus.
Digital illustrations of cartoon characters with Viking, scuba diver, and king crowns on tablets.

Goofiness needs to be a part of every designer’s process. The world is way too serious, and if you can’t pull yourself out of that mindset and remember that we are literally creative people for a living...you need to revisit why you are here.

I fall victim to this all too often. Getting so caught up in the day to day, business mindset and never taking the time to just create for the sake of creating, we forget that it is supposed to be fun.

Slack workspace interface with channels, direct messages, and conversation threads with names like 'customer-value,' 'engineering-product,' and 'random.' Chat messages involve users discussing various topics.

Creating something that is so uniquely “me” has allowed me to avoid burnout, and keeps my mind fresh each and every day.

Getting to turn the “fun” side of things into an actual project has also allowed me to realize that sometimes an idea just needs to marinate a bit before it truly comes to life.

Close-up of an iPad screen with app icons, including Procreate, two folders, and other apps, with a stylus being used to interact with the screen.
Sheet of cartoon emoji like faces with various costumes including a chef, firefighter, superhero, Viking, pilot, explorer, and others, some wearing holiday accessories such as Santa hats.
A gift box decorated with cartoon avatars of people in pirate, sailor, explorer, and adventurer costumes, wrapped with a dark blue ribbon and bow, sitting on a gray surface.