Episode 21

full
Published on:

26th Apr 2022

21. Every Day is Earth Day

This week's episode features Phien Le, Head Graphic Designer at FlyQuest, an esports organization with not only a successful League of Legends team but a dedication to being a voice for environmentally friendly practices in the esports industry. We talk about design as a way of storytelling and how design can bring the vision and values of an organization to life. We also talk about Phien's recently released designs for the #GoGreen initiative at FlyQuest, and how she celebrated Earth Day.

Episode Resources:

https://flyquest.gg/

Transcript
Unknown:

Welcome to the meadow woman podcast. We address the

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issues, opportunities and challenges facing women in the

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development of the metaverse the biggest revolution since the

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internet itself. Every week we bring you conversations with top

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female talent and business executives operating in the

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gaming and crypto industries. Here's your host Lindsey, the

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boss POS, the meta woman podcast starts now.

Lindsay Poss:

Hello, and welcome to the middle woman podcast part

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of the holodeck media Podcast Network. I'm your host Lindsay

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the boss pass from struggle to success for covering it all. For

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any of you that have listened before in my struggle this week

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is that I lost my voice at PAX East. So thank you all so much

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for tuning in this week. Please don't make fun of my voice. I

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know it's not my usual very smooth jazz type of voice, but

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we're gonna go with it. Anyway. To all the new listeners. Thank

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you so much for coming today. Listen to another episode where

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I don't sound sickly. Today's guest is someone with a

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background that we haven't explored yet on the show, which

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means it's gonna be a really fun conversation. fiend les is the

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head graphic designer at FlyQuest, an esports

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organization with not only a successful League of Legends

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team, but a dedication to being a voice for environmentally

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friendly practices in esports industry, which in my offline

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life, I am super passionate about just protecting the

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environment implementing earthbending practices, policies

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to help protect the planet. So I was so excited to meet Fein. And

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not only to learn about graphic design, but to talk be able to

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talk a lot of environmentally friendly stuff, which I don't

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get to talk about a lot. esports on is a huge part of my day to

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day life. Feed I would love for you to more fully introduce

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yourself and say a couple sentences about who you are to

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the audience.

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Hello, everyone. My name is Finley and I'm a

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graduate from Cal Poly Pomona class of 2017. And I graduated

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with a BFA in graphic design and a double minor in marketing and

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art history. I have been a designer for seven years. And

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I'm currently a graphic designer for FlyQuest. And my job here is

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to pretty much create the visual identity for a brand such as

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designing assets for partnership ducks, thumbnails, overlays for

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content, social graphics for marketing, and handling the

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design process for merch. And recently, we just launched a

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design Internship Program, which is which I am managing at this

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moment, I became a designer because I love working on a wide

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range of projects, and just being able to express myself in

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different ways and just being able to let my creativity live.

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So yeah, that's pretty much it about me.

Lindsay Poss:

So cool, though, I'm really excited to jump in

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with some questions about your job as a graphic designer. For

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those of you who haven't seen her work in FlyQuest, I highly

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recommend checking it out. It's, it's really cool. It's a lot of

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creative directions. And I love the thought that you put into

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everything from T shirts, designs to packaging to you

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know, painting that kind of cohesive brand vision. I also

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want to plug real quick that you mentioned previously, you have

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an art history minor, which I like bringing people on the show

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who have non traditional kind of educational backgrounds. Yeah,

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fun stuff. No, I have a Russian literature. So I think it's

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learning all kinds of different things makes you just a really

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well rounded person to work with. And the art history is

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probably very relevant for your day to day job. Now. There's

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just so many education paths that you can take and wind up in

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esports. As I'm now demonstrating, the folks with

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creative brains out there, I definitely want to encourage

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them to express themselves and find a place in esports. With

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that being said, can we talk about what led you into graphic

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design and what inspires you about it? So

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pretty much I would say that graphic design like

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inspires me because it allows me Yeah, again, like allows me to

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express myself in different ways, especially since I'm still

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learning about myself and finding my true potential. And I

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felt like graphic design allows me to challenge myself in that

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aspect of what I can do, how much impact I can make with it

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design. My comfortability since I am working with a wide range

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of styles, groups of people, culture and just much more. And

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I feel like working with FlyQuest. And just seeing how

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much of an impact I can make through design, especially with

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the Go Green Initiative. I feel like with my designs, it's just,

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it makes it very rewarding and very exciting. So it really

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pushes me and motivates me to, to try new things as a designer,

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and also just working with the different possible canvases that

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you can work with. It's like Unlimited, you know, so I'm

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excited for like the potential projects I'll be working on in

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the future. And just like learning more and more things

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about it, and yeah, that's pretty much it.

Lindsay Poss:

Let's talk about that kind of marriage now

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between graphic design and esports. And what what brought

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you to fly quest in the gaming industry. Can you just walk me

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through how you were able to combine both of those things

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into the career that you have now and kind of what that path

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looks like. Yeah.

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So I played video games for a majority of my life. And I

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knew that I always wanted to work in the gaming industry

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since I was little like, even at one point, I worked at GameStop,

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because I just wanted to gain more knowledge about video games

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and just be part of the scene. But it wasn't until college when

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I realized I wanted to become a designer. I think during that

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time, like I was still like debating on what I wanted to do

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in the, in the industry, because there's like so many job

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opportunities that you can go with that route. So prior to fly

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quest, yeah, I worked with different companies from wide

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range of industries. And since I wanted to gain as much

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experience as possible. Like I just pretty much just applied

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everywhere. And yeah, and during this time, this is when I was

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learning how to watercolor hand letter design booths, package,

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design, branding, and also apparel design. So I've had

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experienced prior to that. And then at the beginning of 2018, a

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friend reached out to me and asked if I was interested in

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working for a part time agency called bento, and they

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specialize in creative design, broadcasting and live stream in

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the gaming industry. And I did not want to miss the

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opportunity, especially since I didn't have prior experience. So

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I ended up taking the part time offer. And then what was great

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was the fact that my first client was actually FlyQuest.

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And around this time, this was when FlyQuest just announced

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their first rebrand. And so I was helping them with their

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Social Branding and graphics for that split, then a couple of

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months later, they ended up opening up a full time graphic

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design position. And I ended up applying for that and, and I got

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it. And so I would say working with bento definitely helped me

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get through like my friend through like the industry. And

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then also like having that connection really helped. And

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I'm glad that like I was very expressive about like, my

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passions. And it's just the fact that like my friend knew, you

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know, I was interested in video games, and that was a graphic

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designer, like helped bring that connection together. And then

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ever since then, I've just been with FlyQuest for about more

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than four years. And I couldn't be happier with where I am

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today. And it is like my first experience in the gaming, I

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would say my first like full time experience in the gaming

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industry. And and I feel like I've grown so much throughout

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the years and I hope to can continue growing contribute to

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the industry like one step at a time.

Lindsay Poss:

Yeah, absolutely. Do you have any advice about I

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know several people and especially with being at PAX

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this past weekend, a lot of talk about kind of getting into the

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game industry from other industries? Yeah. Do you have

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any advice about what other industry jobs to kind of look

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for? I know for you, there's kind of a specific set of

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experiences that you had, because you are a graphic

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designer? But for example, did you find that maybe working with

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like, a more tech based client was useful? Or was it like Oh,

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being in a well managed team was more useful? Or is was there

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kind of pieces of those previous experiences in non gaming

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industries that helped you be successful in the gaming

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industry then, like thinking about what other jobs people can

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look for who are having success kind of breaking into the

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industry in the way they want?

Unknown:

I would say there isn't a specific industry. Exactly.

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But it's just more of like a job that offers specific like

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experiences that you can learn about because I wouldn't expect

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to, to do like watercolor and hand lettering and esports you

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know, and so working for a planner and arts arts and crafts

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company as like, giving me the ability to just bring that skill

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set to esports. So honestly, it's not really any specific

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industry, but just like finding job opportunities that will let

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you experiment and like learn different skill sets that you

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can bring to the industry. So I did work at a marketing ad

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agency where I did learn about branding, working on like a

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whole graphic package, as well as like logo design, and

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Environmental Design. And I was able to bring that to FlyQuest

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Like recently I did the LCS finals booth for fly costs. And

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luckily with my experience of like working at the marketing

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agency with like environmental design, like I was able to bring

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that in so I would just say just like tips is just be open to any

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industry and just kind of know, like, like if there's specific

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skill sets that you do want to learn or something different,

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like Be sure to explore that and just keep an open mind. I feel

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like I was I was really happy that I explored different ones

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because now like it just made me realize like oh yeah, gaming,

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like as much as I always knew that gaming was something that I

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really wanted to go to that I did like consider like other

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industries now because I've tried it out so I'll just say

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just be open with it overall. and then just kind of go from

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there because you never know. And I felt like esports is just

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so broad, in general that you can bring any skill sets. And

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now so especially with like the technology that's like, as grown

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within the industry, like you can do so much now. So

Lindsay Poss:

Oh, yeah, that makes a lot of sense. Just

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wanted to make sure. I just want to be able to give good advice.

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And people I

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know, it's honestly, like it's so it's tough, because

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luckily, there's like some people who've got experience

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from the industry straight on, you know, but I was very blessed

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that I had this, all those opportunities in it. And I'm

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given the opportunity now to bring all those skill sets. And

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so I'm very thankful to be working at FlyQuest and having

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that creative freedom to do so.

Lindsay Poss:

Let's talk about some of your accolades. There.

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You've done a lot of really cool stuff at FlyQuest including

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managing 13, merch collections, releasing dyeing jerseys, some

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of which actually included some of those hand painted designs

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and the mix mediums that you're talking about. You know, you had

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some cool watercolors if I remember correctly from Yeah,

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which is really neat. We've also released the first line of

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esports apparel made for women, which is why quests women's

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light wear? This is a question I haven't actually asked of any

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previous guests, which you would think kind of career oriented

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is. So this would be more common. But what is your day to

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day? Like? What do you actually do as a graphic designer, when

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you go into FlyQuest, and you sit down on a regular day, I'd

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say like

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my day to day is pretty much just overall supporting all

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departments, whether it's like for decks for partnerships,

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overlays and thumbnails for content, social graphics, for

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marketing, I feel like it's always constantly different,

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especially since I was the only designer for for the longest

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time. But I did everything when it came to design. And but also,

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that's like, a great thing for me, because I like that wide

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range of projects. And so So yeah, I pretty much like just

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supported all departments, it feels like needed, depending on

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like the timeframe and like the split. And although recently we

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did hire a design intern. So I've been using my time to also

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manage and find ways to level up our designs and provide more for

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the community. So that's pretty much like my day to day at this

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moment. It's kind of kind of everywhere, but in a sense of

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like, it's, it's exciting. And it's always different. So

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it's hard to exactly describe just how hard

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it is to even pick out a color palette for projects. There's a

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lot in there, you don't think, yeah, the social media graphics

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and overlays are not something that I is top of mind for me

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when I'm thinking about graphic design. But yeah, doing all of

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that stuff to make it one. One package that you present to the

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world through fly quest is. Yeah, you have a lot to do, I'm

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sure. Let's talk really quick about the women's flight where

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your collection you worked on? Can you tell me what the

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inspiration where that came from? What the process was,

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like, from idea to production, how it was received. I love that

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you all had a size inclusivity part of this and I know that

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this was designed by women for women, which is and that's

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something that's super common within the gaming industry. So

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do you know how whose idea was that and what was your support?

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Like? And? And yeah, how do people like it?

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So this whole idea pretty much started with Trisha

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or CEO who wanted to add more merch that was specifically

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tailored to women and bring it to esports. She's been in the

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esports industry for such a long time and realized that, you

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know, it was time to provide provide the option especially

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since like what was provided during that time, were just

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mostly like unisex T shirts or just like more form fitting T

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shirts that was like cut differently on top. And so we

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both decided that we wanted to launch the very first like

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women's apparel in esports. And we knew is going to be a

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challenge since the esports space is very like male dominant

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so but we realized there was an audience out there that exists

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that we wish to cater and so we worked with any you our merch

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vendor on finding different garments that were available to

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women in the space. Yeah, and we wanted to just explore different

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styles. And once we got the idea of the garments that we wanted

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to use, we marked up all the designs sent in for samples and

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then once we got the samples me and Tricia like tried them on.

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We even asked like some of our friends to like test them out

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and stuff too. So that we can think about like, you know,

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thoughts on comparability, the quality of the garment and

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making sure that it was flattering and inclusive for all

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like body types. And

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so Yeah, that is so cool. Going building off of

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that something you'd mentioned in a previous conversation set

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you like designing things that may not be expected on the

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sports brand. I definitely think hopefully women's side is

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something that becomes a little bit more expected coming up. But

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yeah, for now, I don't think I think we're we're taking steps,

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you know, the progress isn't as fast as anyone would like. But I

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think that that's becoming more expected. I think that is also

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saying that you, you look for things that are unexpected is a

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good way of saying that you're constantly on the lookout for

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new trends and even just underserved audiences, not

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necessarily even trends, and that you're also starting your

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own trends. So can you tell me what kind of strikes you as as

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an expected item? And then what may be kind of fading out in

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terms of design and esports? And what's coming up? Hopefully,

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inclusivity is more on the upload. Yeah.

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It definitely. I personally don't think there's

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any, like design trends or styles are technically fading,

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especially in esports, since it's so diverse and can work

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with different works, depending on like the revision. But I

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think it's just more of adding to it since we are broadening

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our audience. So yeah, I'm more interested, like adding just

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more variety for different audiences, and realizing that

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there's more to esports and yeah, just gaming. So for us at

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FlyQuest, we're always trying to break that barriers of what

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esports design should look like. So examples would just be like

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having an all eco friendly item to promote, you know,

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sustainability and like being like recycling your items and

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just being eco friendly overall. Yeah, really seeing a woman's

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marshland which we, you know, are still trying to do with our

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merge, like adding specific garments, and having that

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variety. And also Yeah, just adding a different style that

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has like a purpose or designs such as like, yeah, just

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lifestyle, you know, like having the idea that esports esports

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apparel should only be, you know, like worn in gaming

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competitions, or when your team is playing like, we want to

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break that and like have it where you're able to wear it

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anywhere, you know, because yeah, esports I feel like it's

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like the lifestyle so. But yeah, we're definitely looking into

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broadening our audience adding potential, like merch, and like

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different garments that hasn't been in the space yet. And I

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would say like new trends at this moment that I've been

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looking at is just adding different mediums through

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designs. Like this is like, I guess specific to design wise,

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like so in the past, like I've worked with like, watercolor and

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like, hand drawn items, and I wish to like kind of switch

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things up and like overall change like, like different

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design elements to it. So just like expanding like skill sets

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into like our emerge. So yeah, something that I'm currently

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trying to try to aim towards. And sounds

Lindsay Poss:

like one ounce creative. God, I want to know

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how to watercolors sounds good. I want to know how to like

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watercolor and make something in like, no Adobe Illustrator and

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like, put those two together somehow and then I look really

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cool. Yeah,

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it's really tough. It's, it's like two different

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like mediums because I actually had to and like, can paint them

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like on watercolor paper and then transfer it onto the

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computer. And I've actually tried like water coloring on

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like my iPad, I was just completely different. So it's

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just, it's a very difficult process. So I don't blame you

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for feeling that way, either. So,

Lindsay Poss:

so cool, though, going back to the kind of

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purpose and especially like the lifestyle stuff or communicating

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a message, what, how can graphic design and branding? How can

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having a cohesive kind of look and feel help you connect with

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your audience? And what are some of the key points you think

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about within the design process to help you send that message?

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We joked about color palettes but like having very consistent

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branding that is like a dedication across a lot of

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different fronts. And I just How are you thinking about that

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community? kishin when you're actually making these design

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decisions,

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so I feel like graphic design and branding just gives a

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different perspective on storytelling, since there's so

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many ways that we can express it through like visuals. And so

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really, for us, it's all about our messaging. And as much as

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like all of our designs are very like consistent. I feel like our

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messaging is what makes us stand out in some sense. So like, key

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points I think about during my design process are like, what

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our goals are, what our main message and vision is, and like

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what the purpose of the design is for. And so I feel like

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knowing these definitely make you consider a lot of things

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with your design, because you adjust those points, consider

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the hierarchy and making sure that those points are clear so

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that the audience know what the message is. So like, for

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example, like I FlyQuest, we want to make sure that we put

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emphasis on our Go green initiatives that we put out. And

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so for example, for Spring Split, we are focusing on tree

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quests. So we want to make sure all of the designs had that tree

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element. And that it's like obvious that this is like kind

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of what we're aiming for. And like focusing on. And also our

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vision here is to showcase greatness and I and to make sure

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to put that vision out. I try to put that wherever I can, whether

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it's on our graphics, or tags on our jerseys and shirts and just

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started like social posting. So it's just knowing what the

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purpose or goal and just like what the meaning behind or our

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vision is is like, one of the main points that would lead to

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really great design, I would say and just like my design process

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overall. Yeah, that makes

Lindsay Poss:

sense. I like the tree. I like that you just were

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able to put trees and everything I saw cherry blossom design. And

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I currently live in Washington, DC, and I'm a DC native.

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Anything here. So that was so fun. For me. It's like a good

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little shout out to my hometown. Yeah, I also I wanted to ask

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this question, I hope this doesn't come across as rude.

Lindsay Poss:

Because you are talented. But how does creating a cohesive

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brand and like these beautiful materials and all that? How does

Lindsay Poss:

that add to the success of a League of Legends team? I'm sure

Lindsay Poss:

that you've had maybe like I had to fight for graphic design

Lindsay Poss:

esports before but I would just love to Yeah, kind of like hear

Lindsay Poss:

why that's important to a team and why a team should have a

Lindsay Poss:

graphic designer in and be able to communicate that brand

Lindsay Poss:

vision.

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I think a graphic designer definitely adds success

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to an esports team because it brings out the vision and again,

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like story of the organization. And we want to show that we're

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especially at FlyQuest, we want to show that we're more than an

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org that just like competes in video games, as much as that is

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very important to us. Like we want to do more than that. And

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as an org, we're creating a platform for others, whether

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it's for staff, players and community and I feel like those

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individuals make up what an esports team is. So we want to

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be sure to showcase that. And, and also, we have so many

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opportunities in esports like video games or game, there are

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players that compete in community at activations

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workshops, and we just want to make it also like very appealing

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for people to be interested in joining. And so and I feel like

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graphic design definitely helps bring in that fan base. So you'd

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want because because I if you want to grow your fan base, I

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feel like you want your activations and everything to be

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very appealing and very, like exciting, and to also show like,

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the meaning behind like your org. And also I feel like every

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team should have like merch design. And I feel like a

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graphic designer definitely helps on that. So. So yeah,

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those those are just like some of the points I think,

Lindsay Poss:

Trump's Yeah, I like that. I like the idea of

Lindsay Poss:

using it to be kind of more than just esports. And it would be

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kind of neat. I think, for me as someone who is a little bit on

Lindsay Poss:

the outside issue of the esports scene, very vocal kind of the

Lindsay Poss:

world of gaming, but on the outside of esports to see more

Lindsay Poss:

teams can bring their personality. Yeah, front and

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center. And yeah, design is obviously super unique way to do

Lindsay Poss:

that. So that's a really good point. And you brought this up

Lindsay Poss:

before, and I know that do you have said several times that you

Lindsay Poss:

know, fly quest goes beyond gaming and brings attention to a

Lindsay Poss:

lot of different societal level issues. Super unique to the

Lindsay Poss:

esports for at least, I feel as if the way that you are very

Lindsay Poss:

forward facing about it as unique. I've had some a couple

Lindsay Poss:

other folks from teams on here who have shared the same, the

Lindsay Poss:

same vision and I just like seeing that in conjunction with

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kind of the face clients of the world like oh, there's lots of

Lindsay Poss:

smaller, not smaller, but lots of different organizations that

Lindsay Poss:

are taking a very different approach. Yeah, Faze clan and

Lindsay Poss:

there's no it's just I guess, my point is that that variety is

Lindsay Poss:

nice to see. I think yeah, phase 100 thieves get spend a lot of

Lindsay Poss:

the social media energy but then if you actually get into the

Lindsay Poss:

world of gaming and talk to gamers like there's so many orgs

Lindsay Poss:

out there doing so many cool things and yeah, like quest is

Lindsay Poss:

definitely one of them. You've brought this up before and we

Lindsay Poss:

just had Earth Say, but can you tell me a little bit about the

Lindsay Poss:

Go Green mission, how you all work sustainability and in the

Lindsay Poss:

environment into your work, how you're thinking about

Lindsay Poss:

sustainability as an esports organization, super unique point

Lindsay Poss:

of view there. But I would love to hear more about that.

Unknown:

So the green initiative started in 2020. When Tricia

Unknown:

became like the new CEO, she really wanted to introduce that

Unknown:

initiative, because with her love and appreciation for

Unknown:

nature, she really wanted to push on that because she

Unknown:

believes that everyone has the ability to affect real change

Unknown:

for the environment and as an org, and so we created a

Unknown:

platform to address those important environmental issues

Unknown:

together. And so I would say that like our overall like Go

Unknown:

Green Initiative and our eco friendly message definitely

Unknown:

inspires and factors a lot into like my design, and is like one

Unknown:

of instance it is one of the main focus and something that we

Unknown:

wish to bring awareness to like, we just want to make sure that

Unknown:

that picks throughout all of our design. And so when we even did

Unknown:

like a rebrand last year, where our logo pretty much depicts

Unknown:

like the leaf and just like nature itself into so so

Unknown:

everything that I designed for FlyQuest will definitely reflect

Unknown:

off of our Go Green Initiative and some ways whether it's to re

Unknown:

emerge, social graphics and branding. And when it comes to

Unknown:

design process, too, there's a lot of things that I have to

Unknown:

consider. Since I am trying to recreate the beauty of nature

Unknown:

and learning from the Ikebana sensei herself Trisha She has

Unknown:

taught me like some of the tips of like flower arrangements and

Unknown:

some facts about flowers during specific seasons. And so there's

Unknown:

a lot of considerations to take in when like you're drawing all

Unknown:

of this, you know, like the positioning when it blooms and

Unknown:

the proportion of it and and also like another thing is just

Unknown:

like our style to like prior to our rebrand, we actually had a

Unknown:

lot of like, hard sharp edges and like dark tones, which is a

Unknown:

lot of which a lot of people are seeing is like esports design at

Unknown:

this moment, we decided to switch to a soft watercolor,

Unknown:

wholesome, light toned design style that like definitely fits

Unknown:

with not only our vision, and just like our brand itself, but

Unknown:

also depicts like the beauty of like nature in some ways, you

Unknown:

know, because it's very soft, very like light, light toned and

Unknown:

just like wholesome so we felt like watercolor would be best

Unknown:

but um so to talk about Earth Day and just like our Go green

Unknown:

initiative

Lindsay Poss:

we thinking about which way flowers bloom and

Lindsay Poss:

direction to light. It's like not, that's really cool. That's

Lindsay Poss:

very in depth. And I like the design process very Yeah, but

Lindsay Poss:

yeah, tell me about birthday.

Unknown:

So says yeah, go green initiative is something we care

Unknown:

about, like holidays like Earth Day, something very important to

Unknown:

us. So this year for our day, we actually released a merch line

Unknown:

called the go green and go green collection, were released a

Unknown:

cropped T, a t shirt, a tote bag, and a reusable water

Unknown:

bottle. And all items are eco friendly and made from organic

Unknown:

and recycled materials. And for the design actually worked with

Unknown:

our design intern Tara, who drew a beautiful illustration that

Unknown:

showcased all of our mascots that we've had throughout the

Unknown:

years for each quest, and their their name, Midori and friends

Unknown:

and we wanted to illustrate them planting a tree. And this is a

Unknown:

collection. Oh, this collection is like a way for us to like to

Unknown:

spread awareness and like encourage people to go eco

Unknown:

friendly. And and since actually like last year since we made a

Unknown:

commitment to having all of our merch items be made from 25% or

Unknown:

more recycled or all sustainable materials. This is just an

Unknown:

example of just like a way that we decided to be more committed

Unknown:

to our merch line. And also for Earth Day, something that I

Unknown:

didn't really work on but our content team actually released a

Unknown:

very funny wholesome video with our players where they reacted

Unknown:

to planet earth which you can watch on the fly quest YouTube

Unknown:

channel, so it was just a little celebration. Yeah,

Lindsay Poss:

that's so fun. That's really really cool and I

Lindsay Poss:

ever mentioned definitely go and look at that line because it's

Lindsay Poss:

really cute.

Unknown:

Really amazing job.

Lindsay Poss:

Yeah, it's it's really it's it's really well

Lindsay Poss:

done. Yeah, I I am very into that part of being eco friendly.

Lindsay Poss:

I was telling theme before the show that I'm currently wearing

Lindsay Poss:

a parks project t shirt. All the money goes to support national

Lindsay Poss:

parks. I usually wear active wear made out of recycled

Lindsay Poss:

plastic bottles. Definitely my jam. And I can confidently say

Lindsay Poss:

that I really really liked this line. So everyone should

Lindsay Poss:

definitely check it out. I want to shift gears just a little bit

Lindsay Poss:

and I want to this is the middle of a podcast I like to talk

Lindsay Poss:

about the metaverse I like to talk about emerging tech and

Lindsay Poss:

where it's going. I definitely want to wrap up with a

Lindsay Poss:

discussion on multimedia design. Talked a lot about more

Lindsay Poss:

traditional mediums but As we develop more digital tools and

Lindsay Poss:

digital experiences, how are or I guess in using you are just a

Lindsay Poss:

constant learner, which I think is really neat. Yeah, but what

Lindsay Poss:

kinds of things are you thinking about when you're thinking about

Lindsay Poss:

creating digital experiences? And what is your role as a

Lindsay Poss:

graphic designer in designing those experiences,

Unknown:

it's just a way of just trying to connect the community.

Unknown:

And like our audience, like with each other, I feel like with the

Unknown:

technology that we have, right, now, we're able to do that. And

Unknown:

I feel like as a designer, like our role is to definitely bring

Unknown:

in like that, that community together in some ways that we

Unknown:

can especially like during the pandemic right now, like, I feel

Unknown:

like it's so hard not to see each other during events and

Unknown:

stuff. So just having these digital tools definitely help.

Unknown:

Kind of, like replaced that in some sense, too. And, and I

Unknown:

guess, like how I'm looking into making more minutes of like,

Unknown:

experience as we moved into, like the metaverse world,

Unknown:

something that I haven't like, tried yet, but something that

Unknown:

I'm very interested in, is like, especially since virtual reality

Unknown:

is something that is like becoming big as like V tubing,

Unknown:

which is like where you create like a 2d, 3d virtual avatar of

Unknown:

yourself. And like you pretty much like live stream, and it

Unknown:

motion captures, which I think is like super cool. And a lot of

Unknown:

streamers are doing that now. And I feel like, just kind of

Unknown:

like learning those programs. Like, I think it would be like

Unknown:

an exciting project for fly quest, for example, where we can

Unknown:

bring in or like mascots, and kind of make them like, come

Unknown:

alive in some sense. And so and then bringing those characters

Unknown:

into life, and then having them connect with the community, in

Unknown:

some ways would be would be like a really cool thing too. And I

Unknown:

feel like I can definitely see

Lindsay Poss:

the future. Like that you thought I was

Lindsay Poss:

YouTubing? That. video was a little I don't know, I thought

Lindsay Poss:

it was going to catch on a bit more, I suppose. But it didn't

Lindsay Poss:

quite do what I expected it to do. I don't know where we're at

Lindsay Poss:

with digital avatars. Is there anything? Do you have any

Lindsay Poss:

preference, especially as a designer, when you're thinking

Lindsay Poss:

about connecting fan experiences? For AR or VR

Lindsay Poss:

experience? Like do you have one where you're thinking like, Oh,

Lindsay Poss:

I think the fans would kind of prefer to be fully immersed, or

Lindsay Poss:

I would love to design something through AR that I can like, put

Lindsay Poss:

into people's homes, you know,

Unknown:

I think just having having both would be good. Like,

Unknown:

I feel like there's never really one more than the other. I feel

Unknown:

like everyone has like different preferences for that. And so

Unknown:

just having both would be, like ideal, but I feel like with

Unknown:

where we are now and like with like technology and just how,

Unknown:

like what the pandemic are, we're not able to connect with

Unknown:

people as much as we can. I feel like having that like AR like or

Unknown:

VR experience would be very, like, fun and something

Unknown:

different to and I feel like what Yeah, with like Wii tubing,

Unknown:

for example, like it's not, I still think it's still growing.

Unknown:

And it's something that people are still like, trying to learn

Unknown:

and get used to. So I feel like it would be like kind of the

Unknown:

same when it comes to all like the digital assets that if we

Unknown:

were to like, provide for people, you know, it's it's

Unknown:

going to be something different, but something that like, it's

Unknown:

kind of exciting, and something in the future that we can

Unknown:

probably expect to

Lindsay Poss:

so yeah, my little brain is just screaming about AR

Lindsay Poss:

like, I can totally see some of the is it Midori is the fly

Lindsay Poss:

quest symbol, like I can totally see like a PokemonGo typesetting

Unknown:

definitely just like her shaping and playing a game

Unknown:

like saving the environment and just having her like have a face

Unknown:

because we do have like a webtoon of her and like some

Unknown:

videos of her, it'd be kind of nice to bring out like that

Unknown:

personality in some sense, you know, but I know some people

Unknown:

would prefer like a face to face and actual person and like

Unknown:

having that interaction, which I feel like there would be a lot

Unknown:

of opportunities for but I feel like having something different

Unknown:

will definitely start like a new trend and something that we

Unknown:

haven't seen in esports as much too and I feel like not a lot of

Unknown:

sports or ACC has like a like a mascot that represents them too

Unknown:

much. Or, like bring them to life. In some sense. I feel like

Unknown:

this would be like a great opportunity, especially since,

Unknown:

you know, our characters are, you know, are like saving the

Unknown:

world and stuff. So they already have like some story to it. And

Unknown:

it'd be kind of nice to Bring it. Bring it to life in some

Unknown:

sense. Yeah,

Lindsay Poss:

kind of totally a sad question. But how have those

Lindsay Poss:

characters kind of helped you build your community because I

Lindsay Poss:

can imagine like, you're telling them these little stories and

Lindsay Poss:

it's like, it'd be so I would read like a comic about it. You

Lindsay Poss:

know, like, there's that. I feel like that's such a good way of

Lindsay Poss:

connecting with an audience. When, like outside of matches,

Lindsay Poss:

particularly. But yeah, is there a lot of like, fan lore around

Lindsay Poss:

the character?

Unknown:

actually kind of Yeah, people are or, yeah, so we have

Unknown:

a belief by mascot. So we have Midori, we have cardi the B

Unknown:

current the turret, Tron chi, the, the hummingbird, and then

Unknown:

sunny or sun. And so I felt like we've actually released merch in

Unknown:

the past where we, where they're able to customize what character

Unknown:

they want. And so yeah, there is like a little fan base for each

Unknown:

character, because, like, there are webtoons. And through our

Unknown:

like videos, like they actually have like little personalities

Unknown:

and like characters, like they're just like, very, like

Unknown:

unique character. So I feel like there's some people who are like

Unknown:

a fan of like cardio be more than like cricketer, or you

Unknown:

know, so there is some like, fan base to it. And so it kind of

Unknown:

makes it like exciting and adds on to our like our story too.

Unknown:

And hopefully, in the future we possibly might have like more

Unknown:

mascots, but yeah, those are like the five main ones that

Unknown:

we've been really focusing on. So

Unknown:

you should start a cartoon.

Unknown:

I know. Just have them just flying around

Lindsay Poss:

the turret. Everyone has green leaves, we're

Lindsay Poss:

gonna get back to more of a discussion on kind of emerging

Lindsay Poss:

tech and digital design. Is that are there any I know you've

Lindsay Poss:

mentioned a lot of like, like, for example, earlier, when

Lindsay Poss:

you're saying like, it's completely different experience.

Lindsay Poss:

And you're doing stuff on the iPad. But is there any part of

Lindsay Poss:

the, you know, kind of, I don't know exactly how to phrase this

Lindsay Poss:

question. But like, do you think that the digital design process

Lindsay Poss:

is going to lead to different tools or different mediums for

Lindsay Poss:

you than the ones that you've used in the past? Like, do you

Lindsay Poss:

think that creating the metaverse that you will be less

Lindsay Poss:

inclined to go for those like IRL, like watercolors? Or do you

Lindsay Poss:

think that will develop more technology to kind of help you

Lindsay Poss:

do what you do? Or like, how do you think design is going to

Lindsay Poss:

evolve? I think as tech evolves, is the best way I can phrase it.

Lindsay Poss:

Yeah,

Unknown:

I feel like, yeah, there's gonna be definitely a

Unknown:

lot of platforms that would have that a lot of designers would

Unknown:

have to adapt, especially if they're are going into more like

Unknown:

the metaverse in some sense of like the virtual world, or AR

Unknown:

virtual reality, there's a lot of like, programs are just like

Unknown:

released, like, just in general for this. And so. So I feel

Unknown:

like, it's definitely going to change a lot of things. And I

Unknown:

will be I feel like as our brand, I think I'd be able to

Unknown:

mix in those previous platforms I've worked with, like mixed

Unknown:

media, and then incorporate them in some ways to because I feel

Unknown:

like these platforms will allow you to just combine a lot of

Unknown:

things together. But there will definitely be like new ones that

Unknown:

we would have to learn. Especially going in a different

Unknown:

like Canvas, since it's so unlimited, and something that

Unknown:

I'm trying to try to learn still to so.

Unknown:

It's really, really think about an unlimited. Yeah,

Unknown:

it's crazy, like just seeing like how the games are like

Unknown:

nowadays, and just like virtual reality, how much you can do

Unknown:

with it. It's, it's kind of scary in some sense. But it's

Unknown:

also very exciting, you know, like, what you can actually do.

Unknown:

But, but yeah, it's delimited. And so

Lindsay Poss:

that just sort of reminds me of, did you happen to

Lindsay Poss:

see the collaborative effort on Reddit, where every could change

Lindsay Poss:

a single pixel? And yeah, somehow Germany wound up with

Lindsay Poss:

like, 17% of this million. Germany did a really good job

Lindsay Poss:

with collaboration on that. But yeah, unlimited canvas and the

Lindsay Poss:

potential for collaboration and learning new mediums. I yeah, I

Lindsay Poss:

definitely thought for those folks that are listening, it's

Lindsay Poss:

our slash place. And you could change one pixel at a time if

Lindsay Poss:

I'm not mistaken. Yeah. And it was a collaborative effort

Lindsay Poss:

across the entire community of Reddit, which turned out great.

Unknown:

And they actually added more Canvas to it from what it

Unknown:

was like prior to it, so they made it was a huge, so no, it's

Unknown:

very impressive. Yeah,

Lindsay Poss:

that is crazy. Ray. Before we get into the last

Lindsay Poss:

segment, I want to do a little bit of a summary and wrap up of

Lindsay Poss:

what we talked about. We began with a discussion on getting

Lindsay Poss:

experienced to go and work in gaming from non gaming related

Lindsay Poss:

industries or even non gaming related education, which I think

Lindsay Poss:

is really valuable to a lot of folks who are looking to make

Lindsay Poss:

the jump but haven't quite figured out what they're looking

Lindsay Poss:

for yet. You gave great advice to be open to learning specific

Lindsay Poss:

skill sets in non gaming settings. For you being a

Lindsay Poss:

graphic designer that was definitely more on the artistic

Lindsay Poss:

and watercolor side. But you also mentioned that you went to

Lindsay Poss:

great agency and learned marketing which is a completely

Lindsay Poss:

different part of the field, that one that being helpful and

Lindsay Poss:

being open to learning those skill sets. And I think also

Lindsay Poss:

kind of deciding what skill sets you want to learn when you're

Lindsay Poss:

looking for jobs and other industries can be really

Lindsay Poss:

helpful. Um, I, we talked a lot about the women's wear line,

Lindsay Poss:

which there's a lot of really cool design elements and

Lindsay Poss:

motivations behind that the thing that I sort of liked or

Lindsay Poss:

picked up on the most was that a lot, that there's you all made a

Lindsay Poss:

large donation of the proceeds to Women for Women

Lindsay Poss:

International, which I think is really cool and just speaks to

Lindsay Poss:

fly quest as an organization a lot. And esports designs can be

Lindsay Poss:

more about esports will still promoting esports and gaming. So

Lindsay Poss:

you can add purpose and create lifestyle designs, while still

Lindsay Poss:

supporting an advertising for your team. One thing that you

Lindsay Poss:

said that I really liked was that design is a different way

Lindsay Poss:

of storytelling. So you can bring out the vision and mission

Lindsay Poss:

of the organization by quest specifically wants to be for

Lindsay Poss:

more than just gaming esports. And having designs that say that

Lindsay Poss:

is a way to appeal to the community get more people to

Lindsay Poss:

join. We talked a lot about the Go Green collection that you

Lindsay Poss:

released some earthday everything is made from organic

Lindsay Poss:

and recycled materials includes a lot of the different mascots

Lindsay Poss:

that you talked about. And then we had a really fun conversation

Lindsay Poss:

about totally can't wait to see what AR and VR designs evolve

Lindsay Poss:

with them. That's, that's super fun. Everyone should go check

Lindsay Poss:

out the Go Green collection because I really liked it.

Lindsay Poss:

There's a lot of different like I said, there's a lot of

Lindsay Poss:

different characters in class in fly quests, which means fans can

Lindsay Poss:

even create some materials and add to their storylines, which I

Lindsay Poss:

think speaks to the power of the design itself, right that you

Lindsay Poss:

can put something out there and then someone else can look at it

Lindsay Poss:

and kind of create their own story behind it to share a

Lindsay Poss:

really unique way of uniting fans. And we talk about the

Lindsay Poss:

metaverse experiences, designers are going to have to adapt to

Lindsay Poss:

new platforms to create AR and VR experiences. New York

Lindsay Poss:

canvases that are unlimited, definitely going to be some

Lindsay Poss:

changing in the tools that are available. But you seem to be

Lindsay Poss:

equally excited about AR and VR, which I might have like totally

Lindsay Poss:

wore on the AR excitement train, and more on the VR, like

Lindsay Poss:

functionality training. So the last segment that I like to do,

Lindsay Poss:

and I like to do this in every show, this is a chance to give

Lindsay Poss:

guests like just an opportunity to reflect back on their

Lindsay Poss:

careers, what they've learned. And I like to call this the

Lindsay Poss:

moment of reflection. So what is one thing he would like to tell

Lindsay Poss:

your younger self about getting into the gaming industry and

Lindsay Poss:

being successful?

Unknown:

are just celebrating, just be like, Oh, we did it? You

Unknown:

know, it was definitely like a long journey. And I feel like

Unknown:

there's still a lot more to come. So let's continue to work

Unknown:

hard and continue to work towards our happiness. We love

Unknown:

that. Yeah,

Lindsay Poss:

we're interested in happiness. Thank you so much

Lindsay Poss:

for coming on. Where can people find you and follow your work?

Lindsay Poss:

Where can they see all your awesome designs? I know the fly

Lindsay Poss:

quest store is one place but if anyone wants to talk to you,

Lindsay Poss:

where can they find you? If you want to talk to me?

Unknown:

You can just follow my twitter at Fein underscore

Unknown:

machine and yeah, that's where I like usually promote my work

Unknown:

what you see a lot there FlyQuest as well as my

Unknown:

portfolio. They're

Lindsay Poss:

so happy that gaming as an industry is such a

Lindsay Poss:

Twitter based medium because I read Twitter. Yeah, in LinkedIn

Lindsay Poss:

is just not my jam. Yeah, so everyone can follow the feed on

Lindsay Poss:

Twitter. For all the listeners out there, be sure to also leave

Lindsay Poss:

five star ratings and reviews. Check out other holodeck media

Lindsay Poss:

podcasts, including bit meta business for all the metaverse

Lindsay Poss:

finance stories you could ever want. Business of esports for

Lindsay Poss:

interviews with industry leaders. I'm on Twitter,

Lindsay Poss:

Instagram and LinkedIn LLC pause although I strongly prefer

Lindsay Poss:

Twitter, you can catch me Wednesday nights on the business

Lindsay Poss:

of esports live after show. You can catch this podcast and your

Lindsay Poss:

feed every week. We'll see you next week and hopefully I'll

Lindsay Poss:

have a much better voice for you. Bye, everyone.

Unknown:

Thanks for joining us here on meta woman. Make sure to

Unknown:

subscribe to this podcast everywhere you get your

Unknown:

podcasts, leave a five star review and tell your friends

Unknown:

family and colleagues all about us. Also, make sure to follow

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content anywhere. Tune in every week for another episode of

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About the Podcast

META Woman
Weekly metaverse content - for women, by women
Meta Woman will focus on addressing the issues, opportunities, and challenges facing women in the development of the Metaverse. Top female executives and business people operating within the gaming and crypto industries bring a wide range of perspectives through regular guest appearances.