Without all those creatives, designers and illustrators Motiflow wouldn’t exist. But who are those designers? Where do they get inspiration from? What do they put on their bread in the morning and what is their favorite spot to illustrate? In 'Designer of the month' (well, unfortunately the title spoils it a little...) every month a designer will be interviewed.
The designer of this month is Megan Mcnulty. November last year we met her for the first time in the cozy Centraal Ketelhuis in Amersfoort. When she came in we immediately recognized her for her self-willed, happy and fun-loving style. Megan is a enthusiastic designer who’s full of awesome ideas.
A day without laughter..
Megan has a predilection for happy, playful designs. “My designs are illustrative, fun-loving and fresh with a quirky touch. I especially love to add a little funny detail to my designs. I’m not big myself as well. Friends always call me little Megan.” Next to her work as a freelance illustrator Megan is also busy making her own products.
The illustrations she uses in her patterns return in the products she makes. How about the pretzel pattern as a cute pin? Very pretz...pretty! You can tune up the most boring outfit with it. “Yes, indeed! And that’s exactly what it is all about. You shouldn’t take life too seriously. Making fun is important.” Among other things you can find these pins in Megan her shop, but sometimes she also likes to sell her pins personally at market places.
Designing from fascination
“I design things that fascinate me, or things that make me happy. For example the bobby pin design. Bobby pins have an extraordinary and recognizable shape and are fun to illustrate. I always stuff my toilet bag full with them, just to discover halfway through my vacation that they’re all gone! Where do to go? Things like that keep me busy.”
Pink clouds and peaches
After her study Megan first worked as a designer at a design office. Eventually she quitted her job to find out what it was she really wanted to do. “I decided to start my own company, a long cherished dream.” It’s a bit scary to start for yourself, but also very tough. “Yes it is. But it was the best choice I ever made. Even though more things come swinging by than you think, I finally do something that makes me happy!” Rainbows, swans, laughing pink clouds.. that happy feeling; you feel it too just by looking at her designs!
The first steps
“When I started my own business I didn’t immediately had lots of assignments, so I had to come up with something myself! I made illustrations, products and patterns that I tried to sell. But how can I do this the best and who can help me? When I bumped into Motiflow I was immediately enthusiastic so I started uploading my patterns.” Our Motiflow-crew is happy to hear this! Because that’s exactly what Motiflow stands for: offering designers a platform to show (and sell) their illustrations and creations.
Designing a pattern collection
You can find plenty of patterns from Megan at Motiflow and you immediately can see she has her own style. All patterns fit well together, for example if you look at the colors. Megan designs patterns by starting with a theme. “You can think of flowers, drawing gear or fruit. Than I make a color palette and start working out my ideas. By the time I work out my ideas, they are floating around in my head for some time, because I got fascinated by something.” Megan draws all of her ideas precisely on paper or sometimes starts designing digital right away. “Than I start to puzzle.. and voila, a new pattern has born! You can make a pattern pretty fast this way, because you can put your illustration (for example a swan) in repeat via Motiflow
Patterns everywhere!
“Uploading my patterns to Motiflow was a good first step. You never know what may come out of it, but the most important thing is that you do something! Put yourself out there.” At Motiflow we are continuously looking for nice collaborations for our designers. In February we launched a contest together with IMAKIN. Designers could design a pattern and upload it with the hashtag #motiflowximakin. After a few weeks IMAKIN picked three patterns, and those winning patterns were printed on fabric for DIY makeup bag. The DIY kits with the chosen pattern(s) were sold at different selling points and online in the IMAKIN webshop. Megan was one of the winners! Of course they got a nice price and in the kit was a Motiflow-paper with more information about the designers. At this moment the Motiflow-papers are still used for events, so their names and patterns show up everywhere. You can see how important it is to take that first step!
"I love to add a funny detail to my designs,
fun is important!
Megan McNulty
Tip from Megan
“I had a flop several times and things don’t always turn out the way you want to, sometimes I felt lost. But this way I also learned what I don’t want, and that’s important as well. Even though I thought it would make me happy in the first place. This process isn’t always fun, but you will learn the most from it. Remember yourself that eventually everything will be okay in the end, you just have to work a little harder sometimes.” So: Be a crafty bitch and never stop creating!
But.. the most important question.. what do you put on your bread in the morning?
I don’t eat bread, I eat rice cakes with cottage cheese.
Did you spot a nice designer on the Motiflow platform you want to know more about? Just let us know, and we we’ll be pleased to drink some coffee with him or her!