Graphic Support Group Podcast Graphic Support Group

Alec Stewart wrote us a profound email on addiction and design a couple years ago (we’ve shared it below). Both of us had known of Alec at RISD, where he studied as an undergrad during our time as graduate students. At the time he possessed a great energy and creativity that we found envious. We had little idea he was also struggling with addiction and great inner turmoil all the while. A now sober and radically open Stewart shares his path to recovery and how he maintains his sobriety despite the never ending threat of a relapse. The surprising thing about Alec’s story is how relevant his struggles are to the unhealthy trappings and myths of design practice and the cycle of self loathing and burnout from overworking.
Our obsession and addiction to long hours and “passion” are truly destructive to our health and well being. We’re dangerously committed to a belief that creativity comes from struggle and that greatness only comes by going over the edge. Alec shares his discovery of this falsehood, and also discusses how he inversely applies design thinking to create boundaries for himself and his life.
We’re super thankful for Alec for being so open and direct with us. He brings his humor and wit to a difficult story.
We can’t thank him enough.
Disclaimer: This episode contains accounts of addiction and substance abuse. If you or someone you love is struggling with addiction or substance abuse, please visit usa.gov/substance-abuse for resources and support. Help is out there.
—
ALEC STEWART -
On understanding addiction, radical sobriety & brutalist design
To begin - I will introduce myself in the manner of AA: Hello my name is Alec and I’m an Alcoholic. I suffer from addiction - it’s a fact and I am not afraid to admit that. It’s a part of who I am and the more I begin to understand my own addiction, the easier those words come. Where before I was ashamed to admit my own struggles, now I feel relief to tell people who I really am. A lot of that initial shame came from the incredible amount of negative connotations that surround Addiction. In western culture it is often looked down upon as a moral failing, a deficiency of character. I personally see it as a disease. Something that needs to be continuously treated, healed, and rehabilitated. There’s nothing wrong with having addiction, it merely is. I suffer from the disease of alcoholism, just as someone else may suffer from diabetes. 
When you take Alcoholism, and consider it in the lens of disease, you can analyze its symptoms like any other health condition. To define the symptoms of Alcoholism is tricky. Alcoholism is complicated and multifaceted, both highly personal and universal. I think there’s several overarching principles that every alcoholic shares when in active addiction: uncontrollable compulsion, self-isolation, attachment, ego, and an inability to love oneself. I am happy to expand on any of these symptoms and its relation if needed. 
I also believe, you don’t need to be addicted to Alcohol to be considered an Alcoholic. I think there are base symptoms of the disease in people who’ve never touched a drop of alcohol. Addiction can manifest in many ways. With designers for example, it can appear as an addiction to work. This is a super common reality for designers. Many of us throw ourselves into work at the expense of ourselves. Forgoing our basic needs in order to keep designing. Burning out our burnout. That compulsion to work and keep working is not any different than the compulsion to drink. They are both incredibly unhealthy, and they both need to be treated. I think when we overwork ourselves, we lean into the symptoms of compulsion, attachment, and ego. We work obsessively, we attach to our designs / ideas / inspirations / whatever, we sacrifice ourselves to be the best - craving the respect of our peers over the contentment of where we are. Yuck. You’d be hard pressed to find a designer that hasn’t dwelled in one o

Hey Everybody! We are back for our first episode of 2024! In January we sat down with multi-hyphenate design chameleon Khyati Trehan. She opened up about all things living-while-designing, including how she doesn’t have hobbies, but is slowly realizing that they could help. She also explained how her passion for her work runs through all her activities, and how she juggles (or struggles to juggle) a strong personal output with esteemed positions at Google and IDEO.
Khyati’s wide-ranging career(s) have brought her around the world, from Ahmedabad to San Jose to New Delhi to Berlin to Munich to New York City, where for the past year she has resided. Khyati shares how her genuine love of work and her passion to learn new things keeps her attached at the hip to her laptop, exploring the ongoing question of what a healthy relationship to work is. She describes how she very uniquely blends her experiments in her personal work with professional projects that have more specific briefs. It all melds seamlessly together, informing the other and vice versa.
But she’s also realizing that spending all one’s time working isn’t always the best for the mind and body.
We were happy to have the space to unpack these thoughts with Khyati, to talk about burnout and self doubt, and also to give weight to the challenges she’s faced asserting herself as a woman designer.
We are really happy to share this conversation! Thanks so much for chatting with us, Khyati!
We have several more coming down the pipeline. Always appreciate the support! Stay tuned for new updates and new episodes soon.
With Love,
Drew and James


This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit graphicsupportgroup.substack.com

Last September (we know, we know) we had the immense privilege of speaking with Matthew Miller, an ecstatic new presence and rising design star whose work mixes humor, psychedelia, batshit typography, insane color combos, and incredible uplifting, biting, and transparent messaging about life and the never ending hustle. Matthew is a self proclaimed “self-taught” designer with a compellingly unique trajectory and journey, which he so kindly and openly shared with us during a long talk. Since discovering Matthew’s work, we have been captivated by his sprawling output, which spans work for the environmental consciousness brand Future Earth, diaristic personal anecdotes and uplifting morsels of wisdom and inspiration, music tributes, and pretty much everything in between. Since our recording, the work has only expanded and continues to reach new heights and audiences. We are so happy to finally share this convo. 
It was such a pleasure chatting with Matthew. We are so sorry our pace has slowed. We believe we have finally regrouped and will be releasing more steadily and recording some new episodes! More to come. Thanks for listening! If you’re still with us, thank you! If you’re new, thank you! We love you all. 
James and Drew 
https://www.instagram.com/bymatthewmiller/
https://www.itsnicethat.com/features/matthew-miller-spotlight-graphic-design-071122



This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit graphicsupportgroup.substack.com

After much delay we are here with a new episode of Graphic Support Group. Spring has sprung, and we are back in motion!
We apologize for the inconsistency in our output of late, as even support groups could use support groups, and we’ve both been overwhelmed with life changes, work changes, and all sorts of general anxiety-inducing contexts on our ends. But fear not! We are doing great and we are here! Times are exciting even when lots is going on, and we have wrangled our collected energy and pushed through to bring you a lovely conversation with Rotterdam based Design Duo, Team Thursday. And what better day to bring you this episode than its titular day of the week.
Team Thursday is the collaborative practice of Loes van Esch and Simone Trum. They create whimsical, exuberant formal experiments rooted in rigorous classic Graphic Design practices with many twists. Their particular style is at once familiar and completely their own.
We had a great time dissecting what led them to this method of working, how they find themselves in the particular rhythms that yield these positive outcomes, and how life changes, from motherhood to time away from client work to fellowships all over the world have afforded them lots of shifting perspectives which add to the depth and appreciation for their special practice.
Thank you so much for speaking with us, Loes and Simone! You rule.
As a side note, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us if you like the podcast. Your support makes all the difference to us, and the knowledge that our audience appreciates the work we do makes us very happy to continue bringing you more! We may not respond right away, but we listen and read every message and will incorporate any calls or messages you would like addressed into our next shows.
Thank you so much to each and every one of you! We love you.
graphicsupportgroup.substack.com

We are more than delighted to share our lovely conversation with the one and only Richard Turley, a sentence that feels like a dream to type. Over the course of 90 minutes, we talk with the former Bloomberg Businessweek, MTV, and W+K Creative Director about a career spent poking holes in the mythos of Graphic Design, touching on themes of self-esteem and collaboration, privilege, and extreme self-seriousness within the industry. Turley’s insight and wisdom from a long, winding career making lots of amazing work with lots of incredible people, was a bright spark for us, and we hope you enjoy it as much as we did!
Don’t forget to call the hotline (202) 507-9158 for any needs or questions!
EMERGENCY AID - PLEASE READ:
We are devastated by the recent Earthquakes affecting our friends in Turkey and Syria. Please take a moment and donate to one of the following organizations to support these countries during this horrible catastrophe, as government disorganization and slow response has left thousands in dire conditions: https://syriaturkey.carrd.co/
Additionally, this week, all proceeds from shirt sales will go to Earthquake Relief Funds in Turkey and Syria.



This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit graphicsupportgroup.substack.com

We were so honored to chat with the Hey Sis World founder Kristel Brinshot about navigating burnout, owning your worth in a fraught industry, meditation, empowerment, and her hybrid creative coaching program, Big World NRG, designed for the BIPOC Artist & Creativepreneur.
From the BWNRG site:
Big World NRG™️ is the first program of its kind designed to heal your Burnout & Imposter Syndrome &⚡️jump-start your Big Visions.

Kristel’s generosity, positivity, and compelling personal journey give us a lot to look forward to, shining a light on some of the more hopeful and empathetic voices leading our industry towards a brighter horizon. Thank you Kristel! Don’t lose hope and let us know what you think in our insta comments! Also, take her program, already!
psssst….we still have shirts.


This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit graphicsupportgroup.substack.com