In this week’s episode we mix things up and get personal, it’s time to meet your hosts.. Now that the Honest Designers show is 6 months old, we wanted to share a little more about ourselves, for everyone listening at home. We kick off by asking each other some design related questions and then do a round of quick fire personal related questions which reveal some surprising answers and one very bizarre hidden talent. We hope you enjoy it and let’s get into the show!

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Show Notes for This Episode:

[1:00] This week we have a bit of a different episode for our listeners
[2:00] Dustin’s first question is to Tom and he’s asking if Tom were to start a new design business (different to DC) what will he do in the first 30 days to make money to pay the rent
[2:45] Tom says the first thing he will do is create a minimal viable product
[3:30] Then he will use all his connections and ask them to raise awareness of the new product
[4:15] He will also test a lot of new things and see which ones work, then put more effort into those
[4:50] Dustin asks Ian what is his ratio of rubbish to awesome work
[5:20] Ian says, that for example he’s been drawing the letter Q for about 2 months but the script lettering usually comes out on first try
[6:00] Ian reveals that the ratio is 80 rubbish/20 awesome
[6:30] Tom finds it reassuring as he’s mostly seen Ian’s polished feed
[7:00] Dustin asks Lisa what is her exact process from creating one of her cute characters
[7:20] Lisa says she initially draws a sketch on a piece of paper and then she vectorises it
[8:15] She prefers it this way, as she admits she struggles to draw with brushes on the computer
[8:45] She will then go on to connect her Ipad through Astropad and takes a screenshot of the design on the Ipad which she then opens in Procreate
[9:40] Lisa also creates most of her textures on paper too
[10:00] The last thing she will do is playing around with layers and colours
[10:45] Tom asks what is the average time for designing one of the graphics for the Honest Designers show
[11:30] Lisa asks Dustin if he plans his business yearly, quarterly, monthly or is It more random
[12:00] Dustin admits that he writes a yearly plan but then he doesn’t follow it
[12:30] Lately Dustin found it effective to put a list together with his monthly goal including the different activities he can do and tracks how many times he’s done one of the activities and how many customers he’s gained
[13:15] Lisa asks Ian is he has another skill he would like to pursue or is there a new skill that he would like to learn
[13:40] Ian says he would like to be good at illustrations so he can add illustrations to his calligraphy graphics
[14:00] Lisa confirms that illustrations can be taught
[14:40] Lisa and Ian agree that it would be interesting to see some of Lisa’s old illustrations
[15:00] Lisa ask Tom, when he first started DC, if he was nervous about hiring employees and if he still feels this now
[15:30] Tom admits he was nervous as this is an important thing for any company and there are many aspects involved in this decision as well as legal issues
[16:15] It’s important to genuinely care, treat people well and want the best for everyone
[16:30] Dustin jumps in and ask Tom how much money he needs to make in revenue for each person he needs to hire, so that he can afford that person
[17:00] Tom says it depends on the profit margins and on the type of role he needs to hire for
[17:50] In certain roles where the employee brings revenue, a target is set which needs to be achieved every month so that the business can afford to pay for them
[18:40] Tom asks Ian which are the biggest things people get right and wrong on social media
[19:10] Ian suggests the most important thing to avoid is putting out too much of your personal life on your professional feed
[20:00] The most important thing is being consistent and putting your best work out
[20:45] It’s important to be at the forefront of your target audience
[21:30] Tom reiterates it’s import to add some personal notes to your feed but tie it in with your work
[22:30] The feed should keep people interested and intrigued
[23:15] Tom asks Lisa how she manages to give so much character to her illustrations
[23:45] Lisa says one of the most important things she takes into consideration is the line of action
[24:50] She also tries to think of what the character is thinking at the time
[25:20] She mentions other tricks, for example the eyes, the direction of the face, what the hands are doing
[25:50] Lisa suggest adding some movement to the illustrations
[26:30] Tom asks Dustin what attracts him about retro design and why does he love it so much
[27:00] Dustin mentions he’s been very nostalgic about his childhood toys and friends
[27:45] His grandma’s house which is a mix of 50s, 60s and 70s and he finds this very comforting
[28:20] Ian asks Tom who is the person that inspires him the most
[28:48] Tom has been following Gary Vaynerchuk @garyvee for years now
[29:20] Tom thinks Gary is great for business inspiration and he is a bit like marmite, people either love him or hate him
[30:00] Gary is very black and white in his approach and Tom found that following his strategy works and brings results, but this only works for a short time, as Tom ended up in hospital after working himself to the limit
[31:00] Ian compares this to putting aside all the riches for a while and building a profitable business
[31:50] Tom thinks it’s important to find a balance and enjoying what you do and still have a life
[32:30] Tom recommends, from his experience, not to go all in on any of the extremes
[32:45] Ian asks Dustin, if he were stranded on a desert island and he could only have one design software what will he choose: Photoshop or Illustrator?
[32:50] Dustin chooses Illustrator and Lisa agrees with this choice
[33:30] He always found Illustrator more fun and easy to use then Photoshop
[34:00] Ian asks Lisa what is the one tool, apart from her computer, that could hinder her from doing her work
[34:20] Lisa says she couldn’t do her work without her IPad and Apple Pencil
[34:50] These devices made a huge difference to her work, as now do she can textures digitally
[36:00] The hosts are doing a round of quick fire personal questions
[36:30] Dustin asks Ian which household chore he hates mostly and why
[36:50] Ian admits he hates all cleaning as he is the messiest person in the household
[37:30] Dustin says he also has a sort of ‘messy blindness’ and Lisa agrees that this is true for most men
[38:20] Dustin asks Lisa if she could write a song about her life, what type of music would it be and why?
[38:35] Lisa thinks it would be a combination of Neil Young, Bee Gees and Abba
[40:10] Dustin asks Tom which is his biggest fear
[40:30] Tom reveals he is scared of snakes and also fears, that due to being really ambitious, he might not be fully contempt
[42:00] Lisa asks Dustin if he ever plays with his daughter’s toys and he confirms that he actually does
[43:10] Ian says that part to being a parent is buying toys for your children that you can also play with
[44:00] Lisa asks Tom if he could be a pro sportsman what sport would he choose
[44:30] The first thing that came into Tom’s mind is the lumberjack games
[44:45] The actual sport he would choose is soccer
[46:00] Lisa asks Ian if he drinks all the coffees we see on his Instagram feed
[46:30] Ian admits he had to reduce the amount of coffee he drinks, and he now drinks between 3 and 4
[47:40] For his graphics, Ian sometimes borrows images of coffees and other time uses his own
[48:00] Tom asks Ian if he had a choice between only whispering and shouting for the rest of his life which one would he choose
[48:30] Ian chooses whispering as his wife is a speech therapist and he knows how much damage shouting can cause to your voice
[49:00] Tom asks Lisa to teach the hosts a South African word
[50:00] Lisa teaches the hosts the phrase ‘Jou ma se hare’ which in English translates to ’Your mother’s hair’
[51:40] Tom asks Dustin what is one of the most embarrassing things that has ever happened to him
[52:15] Dustin reveals he almost broke the toilet door in an airplane as he feared he will get stuck in the toilet during take off
[55:00] Ian asks Lisa what’s the weirdest scar she has and the story behind it
[55:30] Lisa remembers a skateboard accident which gave her a massive scar on her wrist
[56:20] Ian asks Dustin what it’s his most useless talent
[56:50] Before Dustin gets to reply, Ian reveals he can fit his whole fist into his mouth
[57:00] The hosts are truly amazed by this skill
[57:40] Lisa’s useless talent is being able to burp her country’s entire national anthem
[58:30] Dustin reveals that his is being able to hold his breath for almost 3 minutes
[59:00] Tom can also do this but only while being underwater
[59:40] Tom reveals that due to being restless at school he got into the habit of spinning books and other items on his fingers
[1:00:30] Ian asks Tom what would be harder to give up: coffee or alcohol
[1:01:00] Tom would find it easier to give up coffee as he is not a massive coffee drinker
[1:02:30] Thank you all for listening to this week’s episode


“A must for every creative freelancer (or those aspiring to freelance). Thank you for being so… honest! Such a wealth of information from people I admire who have ‘been there and done that’. Listening to the podcast every week feels like I’m among friends. Can’t wait for more episodes!”AG_GD