Create Don’t Copy | Emily Lam | Full Battery Media

I sat down with Emily Lam, a graphic designer and visual storyteller with over 20 years of experience, and we went deep into what actually makes design work in today’s world. 

We talked about why originality is becoming more valuable than ever, how studying masters like Michelangelo can shape your creative thinking, and why so many creators get stuck copying instead of building something truly their own. What really stood out to me was her perspective on authenticity in the age of AI, how tools can speed things up but can never replace lived experience, story, and intention. We also unpacked how to develop real visual taste, why there’s no shortcut to getting better, and how consistency and curiosity are the foundation of great creative work. This conversation isn’t just about design, it’s about how you think, how you create, and how you show up in a world that’s constantly trying to make everything faster and more disposable.

At the end of the day, the question is simple… are you creating something people will actually remember, or just something that looks like everything else?

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

I've seen people do too much. Like it's just like there's so much going on. I mean, sometimes that might be the thing they're going for, but like, how do you talk to people about, you know, or or work on and with restraint, you know, when you're creating something and not and recognizing maybe this is too much, you know, maybe it's a little step too far. And how do you keep it, you know, more inside of what's going to be impactful?

SPEAKER_03 0:26

Yeah. So I think I will always remind myself with like whatever I'm creating, is it the right element with the the right graphics or the right platform to deal with the right visual message, right? So like I always have this like foundation of elements in my design system. So I will actually have like this phone style, this color palette, this um HTML hierarchy in my design toolbox, in my design system. So I will just keep it consistent every time I use them to deliver my graphics, my visual message.

SPEAKER_00 1:19

I have an awesome guest with me today. Would you like to tell people who you are and a little bit about what you do?

SPEAKER_03 1:24

Yeah, thanks for having me here. I'm Emily Lem. I'm a graphic designer, creative thinker, and a curious visual storyteller. I have 20 years of experience in creating branding system, print, web UIUX, social media graphics, infographics, etc. So as a designer who has been exposed to international upbringing, I find it fascinating to explore the intersection between different cultures, like Asian, Hispanic, African, European, East meeting the West. So I have often bringed this gesto position into my creations, um, which reflect in the art and design I create during my leisure time. I always want to bring my design to engage our audiences to think from a global citizen perspective and on top of the American perspective. So I always think out of the box, experiment, and create something new. And also, I'm a working mom with a five-year-old, and I wish they were 48 hours a day.

SPEAKER_00 2:33

Right, right. I totally understand that. Well, I wanted to ask you a question. How did you get started in this career? How did you start down this path?

SPEAKER_03 2:43

Yeah, so I loved drawing since I was a child. I think I started drawing from when I was like five or six years old. I says I started drawing on my school notebook, like just scribbling. And then I started drawing this comic series when I was like nine or ten years old. And then at like grade six or seven, I started having this comic series with seven six pages of comic was composed with my my friend. So it's kind of like the journey of creating this like creative process and developing to my design industry, like the design career.

SPEAKER_00 3:27

That's awesome. Did you feel like this is something that you always wanted to do? Like it was just something that you knew from a young age.

SPEAKER_03 3:36

Yes, I just love design. I love drawing. I love everything art. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:42

That's awesome. That's really awesome. Well, I wanted to ask you like when someone sees your work, um, what what do you think that they're seeing? What principle is the big thing that you think is the core part of your artwork?

SPEAKER_03 3:54

Um, my core part of the artwork is always I always think outside of the box. So it has a very deep concept inside my artwork. So I always create a layer of depth of the meaning using a lot of symbols and backapers that uh associate with personal experience or cultural context. Like I often bring a lot of um references from the art history to support my design rationale. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:29

That's awesome. Well, you know, you in our message, I I put together a bunch of questions, but then you also wanted to talk about some different types of some different pieces of art. Can you tell me uh what some of those pieces of art were? What was the first one that you messaged me about?

SPEAKER_03 4:45

Yes, I wanted to talk about like Michelangelo's creation of Adam. And it's because like I think when you were asking me about like how to develop taste, right? Um, I think to develop taste is be curious about your surroundings, be be observation, like good observation about your everyday life. And also studying art history gives you a foundation, gives you a very good background of how to support your design rationale for your artwork. So I was talking about Michael Angelelo's creation of Adam, um, because it has been used in many ways, even currently in the tech industry. I just saw one um in like um one of the highways billboards that I passed by the other day, and it was using, you know, creation of Adam is having gods, like fingers touching Adam's finger, right? So this advertisement is talking about like Adam's finger touching a lot of white mouse, like finger mouse cursor together. So it is um the way that we see this piece in you know, in a representation of connection, connectivity, uh, but it is uh repeatedly you being used in many industries to represent connection and communication.

SPEAKER_00 6:15

I love that. You know, and this is so true, is like the the the image of the two, you know, God reaching out and the finger, you know, reaching is so iconic. I mean, it's the definition of iconic, it's an image that you send that show that to anyone, and they will probably know that image because it is something that is is universally known across so many cultures because it's just such a powerful piece. But you know, this is something that um it makes me wonder like about visual rules, you know, like if you're doing something on, you know, because I I I meet people that are doing thumbnails, but I meet people that are doing music video design, people that are doing posters. Are there rules that apply no matter what the platform, brand, or medium, and that you think that things that people need to focus on all the time?

SPEAKER_03 7:10

I think, to in my opinion, I think they have no definite rules. The only rule is whether your target audience is getting your visual message or not. Like as a designer, our goal is to train our eyes for balance, for visual direction, and for a consistent look, right? So when you talk about contrast, like color theory, negative, positive space, margins, minimum size of logos, those are guidelines for readability, but not rules. So getting consistent with your visuals is the key. Apply to your design system because rules can cannot teach you tapes. So you throw away all the rules, right? Don't let them ruin or restrain your creativity. Think out of the box, find new ways to your design and let your creativity go wild.

SPEAKER_00 8:10

I love that because it's like, why do we need to be sitting inside a box? You know, and I was sitting there thinking about that recently when someone was talking about designing a thumbnail. And I said, and they're like, How should it look? And I was like, I don't know. I mean, there are ways that people are doing it, but be original, do you, you know, and and find something that is because I think right now I see so many people, especially in this age in social media and content creation, everyone's copying everyone, and everyone's trying to look just like everyone else, you know. Like, so a guy gets a million views on a video, people will go and try to reproduce the exact same video in their own way or style. And I mean, certainly great artists throughout history have kind of seen examples and copied it, but it's like, I still feel like there's so much room for originality, you know?

SPEAKER_03 9:01

Yes, exactly. Like you have to jump out of the box to see what you're creating, right? If you are like diving into the same design every day, you just feel like your brain is like really, really in a brain fog that you can't really know what kind of visual message you're going to deliver to your audience. Yeah. And also I think authenticity is the key. Like nowadays, with a lot of over like overwhelming generative AI image, right? People are actually seeking for authenticity in the in what matter the tone of voice or original graphics or real photos, right? Because those will engage our audience and gain their trust.

SPEAKER_00 9:52

Yeah. You know, one of the things in this podcast, uh, you told me beforehand, and I you're doing great. So you told me that you were nervous before getting on here, and I get it. Like, you know, getting on a new platform is always so stressful. It is stressful. Like, there's no getting around that, you know, and putting yourself out there, but you're doing awesome. But you know, one of the things that I've found with my podcast, people are like, oh, you're gonna edit out all the mistakes. I'm like, I love the mistakes. I love it when someone's cat jumps up in the middle of the episode or their kid runs in or the dog starts barking. Because that's the reality of life, you know, it's like those little uh things that make it like not clean is what I think is the the best thing that we can have in going into our creations. It doesn't have to be perfect, it doesn't have to be absolutely a hundred percent polished, it just has to be able to connect to people, you know?

SPEAKER_03 10:51

Yes, especially when I'm working on graphics, right? And many times I have this perfectionist head inside me and saying, like, hey, you gotta do a good job. You gotta move white like one more pixel over, right? But it's it's come down to the theory of done is better than perfect. There's no hundred percent perfect, right? So it's yeah, it better to just do it and feel good about it and launch it.

SPEAKER_00 11:21

I love that. I I love that because it's especially like I I work with people on creating content, and sometimes they're like, Can I change this one thing? I'm like, no one besides you is gonna notice that. Like the best thing that you can do is to to finish that up, like, and then get out there and do it again, do it again, do it again. You know, and you know, this is something too because people have such short attention spans. Um, how do you think people, especially creators, think about like hierarchy and the importance of different things when attention spans are so short and everything, everything feels important, you know?

SPEAKER_03 12:00

Yes. Um, I think have like effective visuals tailored to your target audience is very important. So with such a short attention span, like especially on social media graphics, right? Like creating something beautiful or a boat title is not enough. We got to have like strategic thinking to focus on one main subject, a story you want to talk about. Like also think about which platform is the right platform to support your visual storytelling. You know, sometimes people do videos, sometimes people just choose choose to have aesthetic graphic, right? Whichever is more effective to communicate to your audience, right? So some strategic thinking I've like I always use this the four WH. Of course you know what that is, but I'm just going to say why you're doing it, right? What is the subject, who you're doing it for, when it be will it be launched, how you're going to execute so you get the right visual message to your audience, right? And also, I also consider this the diversity constraints, like because of different values and perspectives, right? Like different social practice, um, personal experience, and like probably symbolism behind it, right? Um, I want to take as an example that I have done before. I use this like okay, like a hand gesture for one demographic campaign. But later on, I I was told to take it down because that okay gestures actually represent like something related to white supremacy.

SPEAKER_04 13:43

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_03 13:44

It could be very dangerous, yeah. So is this a new like this is a new trend, but we would never thought of that way, right? So always like research on the symbols and representation that you would apply to your design before you actually do the work.

SPEAKER_00 14:03

Something something not know something, something like that. Everything, but you if you do the research, you'll be able to look at it and go something, something, something, wow, something. Uh I didn't know that, but now I do. Let's change that. Let's let's adapt and put something else into place.

SPEAKER_02 14:20

But you know, it's interesting too because what can be the most impactful thing? Something something. You know, one thing that I know everyone talks about grabbing attention. Something, something like that. Are you grabbing attention in the right way? And grabbing the right people's attention. You know, and so I know everyone just wants attention. Something, something, something.

SPEAKER_03 14:38

If you're grabbing the wrong attention, something, something, something you're not going to be getting the right people. Something, you know. Something, yeah. Delivering the wrong message to the wrong people and not having an effective campaign, right? Something something, something like that.

SPEAKER_02 14:54

Some people are creating like something, something like that. I've seen people something do too much. Like it's just like there's so much going on.

SPEAKER_00 15:02

I mean, sometimes that might be the thing they're going for. But like, how do you something talk to people about something constrainting? You know, when you're creating something and not recognizing maybe this is too much.

SPEAKER_02 15:16

Maybe it's a little step too far and something keep it you know more inside of what's going to be impactful.

SPEAKER_03 15:23

Something, something. So I think I will always remind myself with like whatever I'm creating, is it the right element? So I think the the right graphics for the right platform to deal with with the right visual message, right? So like I always have this like foundation of elements in my design system. So I will actually have like this phone style, this color palette, this um HTML hierarchy in my design toolbox, in my design system. So I will just keep it consistent every time I use them to deliver my graphics, my visual message. Some of that good something, something.

SPEAKER_02 16:08

If you have the stuff that you know works and you can go to that, you can pull that out and say, all right, where are we at now? This is where we're at. This is what we're doing. Something, something, and you know it works. One of the things I think about is like these really, really good restaurants. Something I have uh something, something here in Asia. In Vietnam, we have some restaurants that are just something absolute holes in the wall. There's one little alley right over here. Something like my house is here, right over there.

SPEAKER_00 16:35

I'm pointing exactly where the restaurant's at. But it's not a restaurant, it's like a street food stall. Something, something, something. It's like this old lady something. Boomvet. Now what is boonvet?

SPEAKER_02 16:44

Boomvet is like something like duck vermacelli. Something, something, something it is something, something so ridiculous. Something good. Something is something beyond good. You know what? She's got her recipe down. She doesn't change up the recipe, she knows what works, and she goes to it again and again and again. Every day she pulls that stuff out, and people will always line up for it because something, something style.

SPEAKER_00 17:09

And then you can have variations of that.

SPEAKER_02 17:11

But you have that thing that pulls you away. Something one of the people that I've I'm so reminded of is like Han Zimmer. Something. Like we all know what Han Zimmer sounds like. Something's like, you know, there's that certain vibe that he has, and but we still all are excited about what it brings to each movie. You know, you're oh Han Zimmer's doing the music. I remember I got to work on a movie once that Han Zimmer was doing the music for. All these celebrities were on set, but like for me, I was so so I was geeking out the moment Han Zimmer walked on and I was just like, oh my god, that's Han Zimmer.

SPEAKER_00 17:45

You know, because it's just something he takes these sounds that are so iconically, uniquely his and then he finds a way to make it amazing.

SPEAKER_03 17:55

You know, something something, something I completely agree. That's their branding. That's their own personal branding, right? So because it has created this consistent tone of voice, image, right, that represents them, right? So it's like the promise of the brand, right? You keep the consistency of the style, the the way the dress, or even when I talk back, talk to you about design, it's like the color palette, the font style, um, because your audience will get a cohesive experience.

SPEAKER_00 18:28

I love that. And I think that cohesive experience is so powerful. But it also leads me to my next question.

SPEAKER_02 18:35

Something you know, something, something.

SPEAKER_00 18:37

How do you decide what to remove when something feels like it's too much? How do you know something you know you want to focus on?

SPEAKER_02 18:44

I think something, something. Like with my team, they're always like something. Deshaun, why are we adding more than I'm like, something, something like that? Sometimes I really it's not about putting more in. Sometimes you have to take things away, you know, to make it more clean, to make it more impactful.

SPEAKER_00 19:01

How do you know what to remove something with the design?

SPEAKER_03 19:04

Something, something um same to me. Like I often feel like, am I too putting too much? Is it less? It's more. Like I would just like step away and come back and see if those elements are still delivering the right visual message, right? And then reset my mind and my eyes, right? Because when we are staring at the same graphics for hours, like we were going blind. And then we just need to step out because clear our mind. Basically, what your mind is thinking is the flow of creation that we apply to your design. So you have to declutter your mind in order to have a clear mindset of how to apply the design elements to your canvas.

SPEAKER_00 19:51

I love that because something if you can clearly figure out how to apply them something and something, something.

SPEAKER_02 19:57

Sometimes, you know, and one of the things that I see I think is important is to try to keep things clean. Something like something clean. You know, and I'm not saying physic physically clean, just something clean. With a focus on what are you trying to accomplish? What are you trying to share? What are you trying to what story? Because it comes back to this.

SPEAKER_00 20:14

And I mean one of the things that I feel and there are some people out there doing AI well. But I feel one of the challenges I feel with AI content so far is that something people have forgotten the fact that the most powerful thing that connects us is story.

SPEAKER_02 20:28

And are you anchoring something in story because people don't care about the perfect visuals? I mean, you go back, people used to tell stories with film cameras and with you know and paintbrushes and such. You know, it's powerful stories were told with the the medium of like Michelangelo's the 15th apple, you know? Something this something, something, something powerful story told with just a brush and a man laying on his back. Something like that. But he designed his masterpiece that communicates across time, something, something, and it comes down to a great story.

SPEAKER_03 21:02

Yeah, yeah, I totally see that. And nowadays, right? AI is being used over like everywhere. Um, as a designer myself, I always use also use AI in my production. I have this love-hate relationship to AI though. Um, I love AI in a way that is speeding up my process, it's speeding up my my design overall the design look. But when when I'm tailored to a certain concept, like I want that way, right? I think AI is just doing 50% of the work that I want to do. And I will have to go into the design and do the rest of the work by like touching up, by you know, doing photoshopping or something like that. Um I will actually have to spend another 50% to finish the final product. So the The hate part, I always I don't really want to say hate, but it's not not the not as nice part is um AI always have this something question of authenticity integrity, right? Of the AI generated images, right? Because AI is actually generating images from millions of references, and many of them are copyrighted from other designers. So it is kind of like is it authentic? Like, is it original? Like I have this case from a design community. So there was a client asking a designer to do like a logo. So the designer provided six options for for that client. And the next day the client came back saying, like, oh, um, I have this AI generated logo, can you actually trace it for me, please? Of course, the great designer was really frustrated because he's asking about the the authenticity, integrity, right? But I want to say is to all those clients is something when we when you are asking a designer to do some kind of design work or logo, it is about the design process. Like we, the designer, bring you the professionalism to bring your vision of your brand coming to true. So if you're taking the fast track, there's like losing this this value, right? You're building your brand, you are building your own visual, your own visual brand. This is the most important thing in the design process.

SPEAKER_00 23:37

Something that as well.

SPEAKER_03 23:40

Something, something like that.

SPEAKER_02 23:41

My daughter studies piano. She studies something. She loves painting. She loves art. All of the art around the room is my daughter's. Something, something there in the background. Something, something, something, something. It was her. Something, something, something, something. I cleaned.

SPEAKER_03 24:01

Clint. Climbs. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 24:04

Like a similar like painting in the background, you know?

SPEAKER_04 24:07

Yes, that's painting. Yes, that's not painting.

SPEAKER_00 24:10

The crazy part is, is like you guys both were looking at this powerful, famous painting. Something. And then you said, How can I make that my own? Something.

SPEAKER_02 24:21

Something, something, something. Sits down. And something. You know, she's like, well, there's all these things, these apps that can make music for you now, and I can actually are developing your voice. Something, something.

SPEAKER_00 24:34

And figuring things out. Something. Something. I have this weird whack podcast. All of my podcasts, I go all over the place. Like I talk about nonsense sometimes or weird references. Something. But at the end of the day, it's uniquely mine. And if you're like something that's like someone eventually, I know they're already doing it. They're already doing AI-generated podcasts. But I mean, come on. Do you want to listen to something to AI chatbots talk about random things for two and a half hours? Give me. No, never. I would never want to listen to that.

SPEAKER_02 25:05

I want to hear people and their lived experience telling me stories. I want to see people and their lived experience expressed through artwork. I want to hear a song of a person who has love and loss and put something into their music, that soul and that passion. And I mean something, something. I'm not hitting on AI workflows. If you want to get something tool to give you an idea about how that could be presented differently, then find your own way with that. We can learn to respect the beauty of a new technology, but also figure out how you can go about and make it your own. I wanted to ask you another question. What changes about visual decision making when you're producing content something consistently about visual decision making when you're producing content consistently instead of just something?

SPEAKER_00 26:01

So like if you're doing something again and again and again for an R a project or a production person that you're making something for versus a one-off project, what's different in those two things?

SPEAKER_03 26:12

Something, something, something. And then apply to the design when, especially when it is under stress. Because a lot of times graphic designers are the last gatekeeper to launch the product. And we would have to compete with time. And I would just apply that to uh from a toolbox and to to the design. And if there's like a like a one-off thing, I would just like explore different options, experiment with it. As I said, like I often get ideas from different art history references, or sometimes I will just jump on the bus to subway to gather ideas to see if there is something very inspirational. Then I would take a picture, take it down to my Pinterest or some other mood board, and try to experiment and apply to that.

SPEAKER_01 27:31

Try to try to try to try to try to kind of try to try to try to try to try to try to when a painter is going about to create a painting. The first thing they start with is finding your inspiration. But after that, you have to look at what paints you have. What are you going to be creating? I think that one of the things that I think is the most important for people is to look at. Again, the story you're trying to tell, and then what medium you have to tell it in.

SPEAKER_00 28:03

What tools do you have to tell it with? And I think once you do that, you sit there and try to it. Because if you have to paint the same painting again and again and again every day, you're gonna have to figure out how to do that in a way that allows you to stay creative.

SPEAKER_01 28:19

For people that are scaling things, try to try to do it.

SPEAKER_00 28:22

How do you build these visual systems that scale without killing your originality?

SPEAKER_03 28:27

You know, without killing off the passion to create um, I would say every single brand has their unique visual identity. So I like to keep the core elements, as I said, in the branding system, branding library, so I can apply to it. Because, you know, when the project evolves, I need to have some flexibility with the system. And especially when it comes to company strategy or values that has changed, then I will have to find new ways to scale it. Like, for example, for PowerPoint, there's like not enough graphics. You have to expand it into a new corporate like brand identity that I can scale it to compensate to the new identity, right? And with that expansion, it allows me to expand or take away something that is not updated, um out of place to gain that like cohesive branding experience.

SPEAKER_00 29:37

I I love that. And to me, it's interesting too because when I go about twice, try to take career.

SPEAKER_01 29:44

I have to try to sit there and slow down. And I mean, I know I have to go fast because I have a lot of stuff to do, but I still have to slow down and I get back to my basics. You know, and I sit there and go, what are the steps I need to go through?

SPEAKER_00 29:58

And like I operate off of checklists. I've got checklists everywhere. Because for me, I want to make sure that I'm not skipping steps, try to talk about it. You know, and I'm not skipping things that I know are gonna bring quality to your project or to my production. When you rush, try to put that.

SPEAKER_01 30:15

And I know that sounds weird, but it's originality. I keep my originality by being structured. That structure allows me to have the originality because I'm not forgetting the steps that I go through to make something fun and pop.

SPEAKER_00 30:29

So I don't know if it makes sense, but I had a teacher who would super OCD art teacher. And he would like and he would go through this process and he would truly overdate it. Like not just like kind of overdate, like really overdate. And he was like, everything was in its place, the paints were in their place, and then he would put things out the same way. And I said, Why do you do it the same every time? And he's like, Because I have to. That's really brainwork.

SPEAKER_01 30:55

But then what he said is that construction. He didn't have to think about that every time.

SPEAKER_00 31:00

He didn't have to sit there and think about how he was gonna lay out you know the artwork, where he was gonna put his stuff that he was gonna paint, how he was gonna put it together. That was all interesting. And so what he was able to do was to save his energy for the creativity. Because he's like, I've got all of this stuff structured, I've got all of my steps done.

SPEAKER_01 31:21

When I show up, try talk, try to show up to create. And I I loved that because it was like get rid of all of the stuff that you have to put. I'm not saying everyone has to do this, but you know, I am reminded of like Steve Jobs, who wore the same turbo mech every day. Because he wanted to be able to not have to put that his decisions into it, try to do it.

SPEAKER_00 31:41

And then he wanted to put his decisions into other creative ideas. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 31:46

Yeah, it is interesting. I think I'm the opposite. I always have like everything over the place because I feel there's like a catalyst to something that whenever I grab something wrong in the wrong place, I was like, oh, this is the spark that I can create something like this way, right? So I think everybody would treat their design inspirations in a different way. I like to keep things in a certain place, like for example, my pet, my mouse, everywhere. But when it comes to like design, like elements or design, like try to like references, I might just go wild with everything because I want to try everything if that's working or not. That's the way to create new style, Nima says, to create new catalyst, new chemistry.

SPEAKER_00 32:39

I love that.

SPEAKER_03 32:40

You know, it's like try to try to do that.

SPEAKER_00 32:42

One of the things that I think is beautiful right there is there's no right way. Like each person has to find their own way. You know, and it's not like you want to do this to be successful, follow my way. Anytime I see one of those online courses where someone's like, and I was like, is it? Or is it one way? I'm sure that it is a great way. Try taught, try taught, try to talk to you. This person's way might not work for this person. I think that you have to find the vibe in that space.

SPEAKER_01 33:13

You know, try to try to the relationship between consistency and trust in your creative decisions. You know, it's like you have to find that balance point for yourself. You know, what is that relationship for you between creating a consistent level and then also finding that creative spark at the same time?

SPEAKER_03 33:35

Try to try to try to, as I said, I always create this branding guidelines or branding system within the toolbox, within my toolbox. But when I need to create something that is not like it is new, totally new, then I have to just explore different ways of like designs, inspirations. As I said, I always go out and you know, go to take a like take a walk or go to a coffee shop or talk to people or take a bus ride to see what is interesting around you. Like it is um accumulated through experience and through time, and through through that, you can develop that taste of how to build up this new ways of thinking. Meanwhile, you have this consistency in your toolbox already, but you want to actually expand out there and explore new things because you are the designer and you need to create something new. And you can't just always stuck in the box and like, oh, I have to do it this way, I have to do it that way. Like, as I said, like you you really need to have the spark, a new spark in your mind to create something new.

SPEAKER_00 34:55

And I love that coming back full circle uh to what we talked about in the beginning. That starts off by studying the masters, studying the greats. And I mean, if you are if you're making YouTube videos, watch people that make great YouTube videos, but also watch great movies. Go back and watch, you know, classic vintage films that that can tell you a great story arc, you know? Uh, because at the end of the day, uh, I was talking to a creator last night that was doing really cool stuff. And one of the things that he was saying was, you know, we were talking about this, and I said, I wish that there were more YouTubers that recreated like classic ideas from movies, you know. One of my favorite movies was this movie called The Great Escape. And it was these guys, the these American soldiers that escaped from a uh a German prison in World War II. And I was like, what if uh a YouTube producer because like uh said, hey, can we build this so that we can see if regular average people could figure out how to tunnel out from a place and do this exact thing and get across all of this land to this other side of this field? I mean, that's interesting to me, but you have to go back and watch a classic story to figure out can you tell that story in a new medium, you know, in a new way?

SPEAKER_03 36:10

Yeah, that's quite powerful.

SPEAKER_00 36:12

Right? Study the masters.

SPEAKER_03 36:14

Yeah, studying the masters is quite powerful. Um, because as I said, like for example, a lot of logos actually are actually created from like design rationales behind a lot of great masters, a lot of great, um maybe using like religion, even religion, Greek mythology, right? For example, Venus, right, is representing the God of love. And then when you see Venus and on a Valentine's Day, you know what that means, right?

SPEAKER_04 36:44

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 36:45

So it's kind of that representation of how the symbol and representation associates with the culture context of your personal experience that is powerful.

SPEAKER_00 36:57

I love that. I love that a lot. And one of the things too is that I wanted to ask you this because um as some people are starting to grow and they're looking at these classics, what's the fastest way for people to improve their visual taste, to learn what good is, you know? And maybe I I shouldn't say fastest because maybe we shouldn't do fast, but how can someone improve their visual taste and just make sure that they're making things that are better and landing better, you know?

SPEAKER_03 37:29

I totally say there's no fast track, there's no fast way. I accumulated my taste and experience through continuous observations and curiosity throughout my years. And I would accumulate those experiences into my, I say toolbox, which is my brain, and always draft it into my Pinterest or mood board or something. I actually spend like time in like browsing emails and like social media accounts that has like great graphic content, and then you know, pin it and then drop it into my mood board because one day when I search for a certain topic, I will find those useful, right? And um, so I also would tell those people, usually those are collaborators who don't have a visual background, just you know, keep observing your everyday environment. See if like there's anything interesting to you, like maybe your neighbor got a new dog with a new dog attack or something that will put you like, oh, that's a great new thing that I want to learn about. Like just be curious, right? So I often tell people and educate people with this like design inspirations like put into your toolbox.

SPEAKER_00 38:51

I I love the idea of a toolbox because we are building out the tools that we have to tell great stories. And you know, you don't realize what tools might come in handy. But if you are going out and learning and watching and seeing, you're gonna get to a place where you have more tools to use. And I think that's the real powerful thing is what can you what tools can you be adding to that toolkit? And step by step, slowly, day by day, you're building out your toolkit to look more beautiful and to give a better, uh, a better product to your clients, a better product to yourself, you know. And I think that's beautiful. And again, there is no fast way, you know. Um, and I think that, you know, and that's one of the challenges with with with integrating into AI right now is I think everyone wants fast. Everyone wants fast. And I think slow art has a place. You know, I know that for my team, we used to take, you know, two weeks to edit a long-form video. Now everyone wants it in a day. They want it in, you know, shorter, shorter times. You know, people want visually appealing reels that can be edited in an hour. That's just not gonna always be great content. And I think people need to learn that you don't need uh a video that you edited in an hour, you need a video that hits, you need something that really makes an impact. And stop trying to be quick. Instead, try to be, you know, create something with impact. Don't just spam people. We have an epidemic of spammed content right now. And I think that that's if I were to climb on my on my like tower to wave the flag of don't do this, I would tell people stop spamming people, make better content and make content that you think actually people want to hear and listen and and and reference, you know.

SPEAKER_03 40:43

Yeah, completely. So authenticity, I get it will will bring people to your content because we are just human. We want to you know see real things. We we want to associate with that through personal experience, through like us like talking in in the same in the same direction, same language, same visual language, right? So it's important that what we create right now is original. Like I know there are a lot of AI generated content here, but what brings it to your your design powerful is your originality of idea.

SPEAKER_00 41:27

That's it. It's the originality of the idea, and you have to sit there and go outside the box, you know. And I think that you can find and it's inspiration from stuff, you know. But that's one of the things too, is like I've noticed with AI content, I'm not hating on it, but it goes off the rails. Like, here's you know, uh, people, I want to see a bear in the painting. Like the yeah, AI. I want to have like the bear starts dancing and doing some weird viral trend, like TikTok dance, and I'm like, whoa, whoa, what's happening there? You know, and it's like I think that you have to again, people are gonna get really tired of weird and really tired of like feelings that like it's doing too much. I think that getting back and again talking to people uh about storytelling. Storytelling, storytelling, storytelling. And that's what it's all about, whether you are creating a simple visual image or you're doing something more, you know, like uh like writing a book or something like that. What is the story you're telling? And and I wanted to ask you this like, what habits are really important for you to create great content?

SPEAKER_03 42:41

My habit is like just be consistent with my tone of voice and style. So having a unified message to your audience, and also keeping all the internal and external materials for your brand, for your company consistent, like same color palette, font family, and graphic elements. Yeah, because this one is very important to bring your audience's attention to your consistency of storytelling.

SPEAKER_00 43:14

I love that. And I I think that that that's so important. And I wanted to know if you um if a creator came to you and said, Hey, I I need one piece of advice to make sure that I'm doing things really well, what what would you tell him to do?

SPEAKER_03 43:31

Um I will just tell um probably just tell him, you know what, um understand your audience first, why you are doing it, right? And then explore ideas or ways, like or inspirations of how to execute that design, how to how to put that at work, and then you know, just keep extra experiment and try it. Um when it comes to a certain Point that you have solid designs around you, you know which one will work by laying out right there. And then you will just, you know, tell your client, saying, like, hey, I have this kind of design. What would resonate with you, your point of view? You know, go into that direction so you both your your client and you will have this consensus of getting the right message across.

SPEAKER_00 44:26

I love that. And I think that one of the things too is that, you know, find your angle. You also talked about Michael Angelo's creation of Adam, but one of the other pieces that you wanted to talk about was MC Escher's Infinite Staircase, which is one of my favorite, favorite pieces. I love it. And one of the reasons I love it is because it's so different. And it's so like, and this is the thing I I love is like, don't try to be like everyone else. MC Esher did not try to be like everyone else. MC Esher was like so different. It was this pure originality. Talk to me about why you love MC Esher so much.

SPEAKER_03 45:07

Um, I think I have been inspired by his work a long time ago. I think this infinite staircase, they were talking about illusion, right? But I think there's more than that. I actually use it for one of my design campaigns here. It is about connecting ideas, intercessions, um, like a collaboration of ideas through this intercession staircase, reaching to a new platform, something like that. So I really like this connecting um ability of creating something new, especially in a community seven.

SPEAKER_00 45:45

I I like it as well because I think that, you know, when people are trying to recreate someone else's video, you know, you go to another person's brand and look at what they're doing and go, oh, I want to be like them. Okay. Like, but how can you be like you? What's your your angle? What's your your, you know, you don't be the guy who is creating something just like someone else. Be the MC Esher of YouTube, you know, be the, you know, like what does that look like? Well, I don't know. I think it looks like something that we haven't seen yet because it's something that people are still waiting for, and they might not know they're waiting for it, but when it comes, you know, it hits. Like you see stuff like um Squid Games. Squid Games, the I remember reading about the director of Squid Games had pitched that, the right creator of that had pitched the concept way before, and people thought he was crazy. And then he held on to it and kept going, and then suddenly it came out at the right time and the right elements came into place. And suddenly it's like, wow, how was this not a hit all along? And like, and yet there were people who didn't believe in that vision. There were people who heard what was being presented and said, you know what, this is a little bit weird. I don't think people are gonna like this. But he's like, No, I'm pretty sure they will, and you have to stick to that choice. And and I'm not saying, you know, go down on the ship with it, but I am saying, you know, we need more people who are willing to stick to those choices, you know?

SPEAKER_03 47:19

Yeah, because it's a unique. It stands out as its own brand. You will remember it, right? As I said, um, there's another example I want to bring is um Sonos speakers, one speaker. So it is like um an advertisement in 2017 to 19. So what resonates with me is it is a very simple advertisement. So it has this solo one speaker, and there is a mouth, big mouth, big lips, opening mouth above the speaker. That's it for the advertisement. It is very bold, very clear. It is like a very pop culture icon. Um, it is it it just like very catchy. But I still remember it like today because it's just very straightforward, simple. It's it's talking about voice activation for Sono's speaker. So I think it's just something very unique and it would stand out for years, right?

SPEAKER_00 48:19

I completely agree. It doesn't have to be fancy, but it has to be something that I remember when I was a kid, the RCA ad, I believe it was RCA, it was like a speaker ad, and it had this guy, it was a simple picture, and he was sitting in front of a speaker system and it was blasting the clothes behind him, and like it was just like it was like it was like sitting inside of a wind tunnel. And that simple visual was enough to just sit there, you go. I knew that it meant that what was coming out of that speaker had this powerful impact on the person. And you didn't have to explain it, but you saw it, and that still that that image still resonates, you know, because it was so creative and such a bold choice. I want to ask one last question. If you could go back in time and give yourself some advice, what advice would you give yourself?

SPEAKER_03 49:10

Um, I would actually tell myself, explore some other areas that is not graphic design or some adjacent design industry, like for example, fashion, architecture, interior design, because I think um their design execution is slightly different from graphic design, or like when you're telling about like a like UI design or UX design, that's different. But it will inspire you in a way that it will bring you new insights to how you create your design and to apply new techniques to your canvas. So also transforming philosophy into visual communication would be my another advice to my previous self. Um, because um I wish I could study a lot more philosophy and understand the concept behind it. And you know, as I said, art history has a very strong support for um design rationale thing, for philosophy, even religion can actually have a lot of uh metaphors, uh symbolism that can be applied to your design. And another thing is I want you curious at this, like a child, right? Have an open mind, even more open, even more open-minded than than right now, and just trying to see why people are doing it this way. And I wish I could have that mentality when I was in my earlier years, right? And one final thing I want to say is never lose your passion for design. Like in my years of experience, I've seen many of like great designers, my friend, he voted to another finance industry because he he's like burned out, he he's in up with the design. But I just keep telling myself that I need to keep it up. I need I never lose my design passion, right? Because that's where I started my passion in the first place. When I was six, I kept skills drawing, and then I kept my comic books, and then I it leads me to this this current moment today that I'm a designer. So I'm just like telling myself that walk towards your your passion is the most important thing.

SPEAKER_00 51:40

Walk towards your passion. I think that's gotta be the title of this video. Walk towards your passion is where it's at, you know. And one of the things too that I would love to say is like, and then to ask you, where can people find out more about your work and and learn about you?

SPEAKER_03 51:56

Yeah, so um you can find me on LinkedIn. So my LinkedIn handle is Emily Lam S S. And I also have a website, pixelcorm.com, P-I-X-E-L, P-E-R-E-M. And I'm also on Instagram at PixelParam too. Yeah.