In this open discussion episode, host Jen Van Horn leads a conversation about unplugging from screens, summer hobbies, and creative projects that get you off the computer.

This episode covers:

• Boulder Startup Week recap: Highlights from the AI-heavy conference, an unexpected standout workshop using LEGO to surface abstract ideas, and why networking leads from startup events tend to pay off on a longer timeline than you'd expect.
• Explaining motion design to non-designers: Why pitching at conferences and local meetups sharpens how you describe your work in ways your website never will.
• Automation as a way off the screen: How vibe coding and AI tools can actually free up time for hiking and other things—and the trap of getting pulled back in to build "just one more" automation.
• Tactile creative projects for summer: Laser cutters, zoetropes, flip books, stop-motion experiments, and physical design work that keeps the creative muscles moving without a monitor.
• In-camera experimentation over Photoshop: Playing with prisms, plexiglass, LED wands, and actual cameras to make weird abstract imagery and try unfamiliar genres.
• Rituals that reset the brain: A grab bag of what the team actually does to unplug—biking, hammocks, gardening, running programs, and small bookend habits that separate work from life.
• Visiting Colorado pre-camp: Recommendations for anyone arriving early for Camp Mograph, plus a heads-up about altitude.

Upcoming Events/Schedule:

• **Monday Meeting is moving to a monthly format—every second Monday going forward!
• Next podcast: Open Discussion on June 8th
• Game Night: Wednesday, May 27th
• Join the Discord for announcements, office hours, and topic suggestions

Visit MondayMeeting.org for this episode and other conversations from the motion design community!

SHOW NOTES:

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In this open discussion episode, host Jen Van Horn facilitates a conversation about AI systems, workflow automation, and the evolving role of motion designers as creative technologists.

**ATTN! Show Format Update: Monday Meeting is moving to once-a-month scheduled open discussions (second Monday of each month), with additional guest episodes announced as they come together. Off-Mondays will feature open office hours on the Discord, with more focus on game nights, workshops, and community engagement across Discord and social media. A new topics channel is live on the Discord server for episode ideas and guest suggestions.

This episode covers:

• AI as operations supercharger, not generative art: The most valuable AI use cases for small studios and freelancers aren't generative imagery—they're automating the operational tasks that drain mental load and free up creative energy.
• Building agents like employees: Framing each automation as a specific role (producer, biz dev, social media manager) keeps things tactical and prevents the "system after system" trap that plagues early adopters.
• Motion designers are uniquely positioned: Sitting at the intersection of creative and technical, motion designers are well-suited to ride the current automation wave across industries—reminiscent of the pre-standardized motion design era.
• Vibe coding as a legitimate skill: Real examples shared of building MVPs, custom plugins, and proprietary tools (cloud generators via GLSL, render queues) born from specific production needs that became sellable products.
• The democratization opportunity: If artists don't inject their voices and processes into the AI ecosystem, the path of least resistance for the next generation will shape tools and recommendations away from craft.
• Energy, ethics, and legitimate concerns: Discussion of environmental impact, IP/rights issues, and the optimization pressure driving genuine efficiency gains—though guardrails and legislation remain urgent.
• Choosing your lane: Participation isn't mandatory. Artists keeping traditional workflows become the specialists others hire—collaboration across approaches is the path forward, not forced adoption.

Upcoming Schedule:

• Next week: Another open discussion episode (hosts TBD)
• Going forward: Open Discussion episodes scheduled for the second Monday of each month
• Off-Mondays: Open office hours on the Discord

Visit MondayMeeting.org for this episode and other conversations from the motion design community!

SHOW NOTES:

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• 
  
• Mark Cernosia's Systems PDF

In this episode, host Kendall Hotchkiss interviews motion designer and illustrator Reece Parker on intuitive creativity, building a personal brand, and thriving as a human artist in the AI era after a decade of solo freelancing.

This episode covers:

• The eras of a freelance career: Reece breaks down ten years of solo work into distinct growth phases—learning the tools, shaping market perception, figuring out business, and the current era of resilience and "art over commerce." Each era required a different mindset shift.
• Working intuitively as a creative identity: Practical tips for recognizing intuitive moments and protecting time for them.
• Showing up authentically on social media: Why offering vulnerability outward is what brings community back in.
• Positioning a portfolio site to speak past peers: Why he invested a year and serious money into a developer-built site with capability decks and process decks designed to win direct clients—and how it changed his business overnight.
• Mantras for dry spells: "It's not personal, it's business." Manifesting positive energy instead of waking up scared. Why packing your schedule to feel valuable eventually catches up with you.
• Freelance platforms vs. networking: When platforms actually work versus the slow-game alternative of networking.
• The human option in the AI era: Why being clearly the craft-forward, human choice is now an easier and more meaningful position to occupy, and why the clients chasing the cheapest AI option were never the ones you wanted anyway.
  

Upcoming Events:

• Game Night: Wednesday, April 29th
• Next Monday (May 4th): Open discussion hosted by Jen Van Horn
• Looking for community members interested in hosting!

Visit MondayMeeting.org for this episode and other conversations from the motion design community!

SHOW NOTES:

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• 
  
• Reece’s Instagram
• Reece’s Website

In this guest episode, host Kendall Hotchkiss chats with Audrey Havey — graphic designer, art director, motion designer, illustrator, YouTuber, and co-founder of the newly launched creative studio Sword and Shield — covering studio launches, content creation, personal style, and the value of art school.

This episode covers:

• Launching Sword and Shield: How Audrey and her husband planned a studio launch months in advance.
• Commissioning frame-by-frame animation: What their process looked like working with an external animator, from brief to final delivery, and how they tried to be the "dream client."
• YouTube content creation: How Audrey's video workflow evolved over time, and why she stepped away from the channel — temporarily.
• Brand deals with Rive and School of Motion: How those collaborations came about organically, and what she got out of them beyond the paycheck.
• LinkedIn without overthinking it: Audrey's low-pressure approach to social media and why personal work has driven most of her client relationships.
• Developing a personal style: Why it took until after college for Audrey to understand her own visual identity — and how she knows when something is distinctly hers.
• What art school actually teaches you: The case for soft skills over technical training, and what online learning can and can't replicate.
• Sword and Shield's vision: The studio's philosophy on craft, client work, and a longer-term project Audrey hints at but doesn't fully reveal.

Upcoming Events:

• Game night: Wednesday, April 29th (Discord)
• Next week's guest: Reece Parker!

Visit MondayMeeting.org for this episode and other conversations from the motion design community!

SHOW NOTES:

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• 
  
• Audrey's YouTube Channel
• Audrey's Website
• Sword and Shield Studio

In this open discussion episode, host Kendall Hotchkiss leads a hands-on social media workshop, fielding community questions and sharing practical strategies. Topics range from promoting free tools to crafting hooks, storytelling techniques, and platform-specific tactics for motion designers.

This episode covers:

• Promoting free tools and work-in-progress content: Rather than only announcing a tool at launch with a single video, sharing the development journey—snags, workarounds, and behind-the-scenes moments—builds anticipation and a stronger audience connection.
• Platform strategy for niche audiences: Different platforms serve different purposes—Reddit and LinkedIn tend to perform well for technical tool creators, while Instagram favors short-form and quick cuts, YouTube rewards vlog-style depth, and TikTok skews toward meme and humor content.
• Documenting process after the fact: For creators who struggle to post while in the middle of a project, it's entirely valid to open old project files, film a quick walkthrough, and frame it as a case study or retrospective.
• Posting for availability without sounding desperate: Framing availability as "booking for next month" rather than "available now" signals that you're still in demand.
• The chocolate-covered almond hook framework: Effective posts use a compelling hook (the "chocolate") to draw people in, paired with genuinely useful substance (the "almond") to retain them. The three copywriting questions—Can I visualize it? Can I falsify it? Could nobody else write this?—help ensure posts feel specific, authentic, and not interchangeable with AI-generated content.
• Storytelling structure for social posts: Short-form storytelling follows a simple beginning-middle-end arc—even a monthly recap carousel ("here's what I did, here's what I learned, here's what's next") qualifies. The three-panel problem/solution/outcome format and writing as if addressing a specific person (a mentor, a son, a Girl Scout troop) help ground posts in a specific perspective and avoid generic-feeling copy.
• Consistency over frequency: Posting once or twice a week with focused, high-quality content outperforms daily posting of filler. Engaging on other people's posts, reposting with commentary, and showing up in comments all count as social media presence—useful for staying visible without burning out on original content creation.
• LinkedIn profile and banner optimization: The LinkedIn banner is an underused piece of real estate where freelancers can embed their elevator pitch or positioning statement.

Upcoming Events/Schedule:

• Gartic Phone Game Night on Wednesday, April 29th (details in Discord)
• Next Monday: Kendall interviews YouTube content creator Audrey Havey

Visit MondayMeeting.org for this episode and other conversations from the motion design community!

SHOW NOTES:

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• 
  
• Shannon Mckinstrie
• Creator Science Episode about Chocolate Covered Almonds
• Copywriting Questions
• LinkedIn Tips with Jasmin Alic

In this open discussion episode, host Kendall Hotchkiss facilitates a conversation about social media strategy, platform algorithms, client acquisition, and staying authentically human in an AI-saturated landscape.

This episode covers:

• Meaningful engagement over passive liking: Substantive comments beat emoji reactions for both algorithm visibility and real relationship-building. Setting a 20–30 minute timer prevents social media from becoming a time sink.
• The four A's of social media posting: Motion Hatch's framework — Awareness, Attraction, Action, and Advocacy — structures content variety across promoting others, sharing process, availability callouts, and community engagement. Haley's free Social Media Guide is worth grabbing (link in the show notes)
• AI for lead scraping, not content writing: Local AI agents can scan platforms for job posts and collaboration opportunities and surface them in a spreadsheet, saving hours of scrolling while keeping outreach personal.
• Platform algorithms are not one-size-fits-all: LinkedIn penalizes over-posting, Twitter/X rewards volume, and YouTube Shorts audiences are distinct enough from long-form viewers that separate channels are recommended.
• Know who you're actually marketing to: Most motion designers end up marketing to peers rather than clients. The content, tone, and platform should shift depending on which audience you're trying to reach.
• Automate payment chasing: Invoicing platforms send automatic payment reminders and can escalate to legal language after repeated non-response — removing a major mental load for freelancers.
• Show your face, or find a workaround: Imperfect, human content outperforms polished output right now. Camera-shy creators can use voiceover, carousels, B-roll, or animated photos to stay visible without going fully on-camera to boost engagement.
• Beat posting paralysis with constraints: Time limits, daily challenges, and monthly content batching all help override perfectionism and keep the posting muscle active.

Upcoming Events/Schedule:

• Game Night on Wednesday, April 29th

Visit MondayMeeting.org for this episode and other conversations from the motion design community!

SHOW NOTES:

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• 
  
• Hayley’s FREE Social Media Guide
• $1.80 Strategy by GaryVee
• Kendall’s YouTube

In this open discussion episode, host Jen Van Horn facilitates conversations about technical workflows, education platforms, and professional organization practices within the motion design community.

This episode covers:

• Contra platform for freelancing: Commission-free alternative to platforms to Upwork that's gaining traction for motion design work, including interactive sports graphics for NBA broadcasts and March Madness using Rive.
• Rive's growth and applications: The tool has evolved significantly with full scripting capabilities and multiple runtime environments, making it viable for web, mobile apps, Unity games, and interactive broadcast graphics—positioning itself as "the new Flash."
• Overlord workflow integration: Battleaxe's subscription-based tool enables seamless transfer between Illustrator, Photoshop, Figma, and After Effects while maintaining editable text and shape layers, though gradient handling remains imperfect.
• School of Motion's subscription model: The shift to all-access passes provides better value for students taking multiple classes and companies purchasing team slots.
• Project organization best practices: Color-coding systems for layers, markers, and timelines save significant time in collaborative environments; treating every project as if another person will work on it prevents future workflow bottlenecks.
• The importance of keyboard shortcuts: Mastering hotkeys and custom workflows dramatically increases efficiency—editors working entirely from keyboard without mouse contact demonstrate the extreme end of optimization.
• Storytelling over technical skills: As AI tools improve at composition, motion designers' value increasingly lies in editorial sense, timing, tension-building, and emotion—skills that complement rather than compete with automation.

Upcoming Events:

• Gartic Phone Game Night is scheduled for TONIGHT! (Mar 25th) 
• No meeting Monday, March 30th 
• Next month: Kendall will be hosting -stay tuned for the theme!

Visit MondayMeeting.org for this episode and other conversations from the motion design community!

SHOW NOTES:

• ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Monday Meeting Patreon⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
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• 
  
• Color Palette Cinema instagram
• Color Theory Book: "If It's Purple, Someone's Gonna Die: The Power of Color in Visual Storytelling"
• Universal Audio

This episode continues March's focus on branding and marketing strategy, with host Lee Smalt chats with Mary Hawkins about her journey as a NYC-based art director and animator.

This episode covers:

• Career evolution and intentional pivoting: After decades of broadcast and network work for clients including MTV and Food Network, a deliberate shift toward nonprofit and non-fiction documentary animation reflected a desire for more meaningful, durable work over high-volume commercial projects.
• The "art director" title debate: The group explored how titles like art director, creative director, and generalist often fail to capture what motion designers actually do, and how the right title can open or close doors depending on the client.
• Process as strategy: Thorough pre-production — including mood boards, decks, and research — isn't just organization; it enables the right creative conversations with clients and keeps complex projects coherent from brief to delivery.
• Unconventional research methods: For a documentary project tied to Back to the Future, digging through physical record crates for period-accurate visual artifacts produced more authentic reference material than standard Pinterest or stock-image research.
• Personal work as a portfolio strategy: Passion projects like Love Letters for the Subway — a short film about NYC's subway lines — consistently generated inbound client interest, reinforcing that showing the work you want to do attracts the projects you actually want.
• Animation's role in documentary filmmaking: When archival footage doesn't exist, animation provides narrative coverage that's both flexible and stylistically distinctive, as demonstrated across multiple documentary projects.
• Real-world impact of design work: A water safety campaign for Rising Tide Effect — including subway, ferry, and bus ads — contributed to zero drowning deaths at New York City beaches in its first year.
• Personality as a differentiator: At a senior career stage, leading with who you are — not just what you can do — increasingly drives meaningful project inquiries, especially for clients seeking a long-term creative collaborator.

Upcoming Events:

• Next Monday, March 23rd: Open Discussion episode
• Game Night: Gartic Phone on Wednesday, March 25th
• No episode Monday, March 30th

Visit MondayMeeting.org for this episode and other conversations from the motion design community!

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• 
  
• Mary's LinkedIn
• Portfolio
• Company
• Love Letters From The Subway

In this episode, host Lee Smalt welcomes Ashton Hauff, co-founder of Bismarck-based branding studio The Good Kids, for a conversation on brand strategy and its role in the creative process.

This episode covers:

• Strategy as the foundation for creative work: Building a strategy phase into every project — before any visual work begins — gives both the creative team and the client a shared vocabulary and a clear framework for decision-making, reducing subjective disagreements and last-minute surprises.
• The "Slingshot Method": The Good Kids structures their process in three phases — strategy, creative, and activation — with strategy serving as the launch point that makes everything downstream smoother and more intentional.
• Four pillars of brand strategy: A thorough strategy examines the company, its customers, its competition, and the broader cultural context, ultimately distilling those findings into a singular brand idea and an emotionally compelling brand story.
• Distinguishing brand strategy from marketing strategy: Brand strategy defines who you are, what you believe, and how you look and sound; marketing strategy builds on that foundation to determine where and how you show up to reach your audience.
• Clients want to be passengers, not drivers: Most clients want confidence in the process more than control over it. A structured strategy phase helps clients trust the creative team to lead, while still feeling involved and heard throughout.
• Handling pushback on strategy: Rather than selling strategy as a separate service, bundling it into core packages reduces friction. When clients push back, asking about their business goals and long-term investment in things like signage or websites often helps illustrate why upfront strategy saves money down the road.
• Knowing when to walk away: Maintaining an internal red flag list helps identify difficult client relationships early. For borderline situations, adding a percentage to the project bid can offset the extra friction — but some clients simply aren't the right fit.
• Applying your own process to yourself: Using the same strategy frameworks on your own business — even if it takes longer to prioritize — leads to clearer positioning and stronger client alignment over time.

Upcoming Events/Schedule:

• Game night was postponed — a new date will be announced in the Monday Meeting Discord
• Next week's guest: New York-based art director Mary Hawkins, continuing the conversation on strategy and visual branding

Visit MondayMeeting.org for this episode and other conversations from the motion design community!

SHOW NOTES:

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• 
  
• Ashton’s LinkedIn
• The Good Kids

In this episode, host Lee Smalt leads an open conversation on branding and marketing strategy.

This episode covers:

• Starting with strategy before branding: Before investing time in logos, fonts, or website platforms, freelancers benefit from answering foundational questions about who they serve, what problems they solve, and why they do what they do — a step many creatives skip when entering freelance work.
• Defining your "why": Revisiting your core purpose regularly helps clarify which clients and projects to pursue. Completing a brand discovery questionnaire at least twice a year can surface insights that feel redundant but reveal deeper clarity with each pass.
• Niching by client personality, not just industry: Your target market doesn't have to be defined by a vertical like fintech or healthcare — it can be defined by the type of people you want to work with, such as those who are collaborative, appreciative, and reliable.
• Qualifying leads with intention: Rather than broadcasting availability on LinkedIn, focusing on building genuine relationships with people at target studios — starting with peers and working up — tends to yield stronger results than cold applications.
• Authenticity over polish in self-promotion: Showing your face, sharing your process, and being genuinely enthusiastic about your work outperforms highly produced content. Audiences and clients can sense when enthusiasm is real versus performed.
• Networking as a long-term practice: Consistent, low-pressure outreach — commenting on posts, sending connection requests with personal notes, attending speed networking events — builds visibility over time and is more effective than sporadic high-effort pushes.
• Overcoming executive dysfunction and inertia: Breaking strategy tasks into smaller steps and using body-doubling or co-working sessions can help creatives who struggle to start, especially when facing something as broad and open-ended as defining a personal brand.

Upcoming Events/Schedule:

• TONIGHT (march 4th) Community Game Night (Gartic Phone) at 6 PM Pacific / 7 PM Mountain / 9 PM Eastern — details in the Monday Meeting Discord
• "March of Robots" drawing challenge running throughout March — jump in anytime, no daily commitment required
• Next week's guest: Ashton Hauff, CEO of The Good Kids (Bismarck marketing company) — discussing her approach to strategy

Visit MondayMeeting.org for this episode and other conversations from the motion design community!

SHOW NOTES:

• ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Monday Meeting Patreon⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
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• 
  
• Lee’s Brand Discovery Form
• March of Robots Drawing Challenge
• Austin Saylor’s 200K Program