Hugh MacLeod Cartoons drawn on the back of business cards
Hugh MacLeod
I’m Hugh MacLeod. I’m a cartoonist. Occasionally I write books. gapingvoid is interested in start-up culture, because changing business for the better is what we’re about; that’s what Social Object Factory is about. We live and breathe it; we help everyone from lone entrepreneurs, to mid-sizers, to Fortune 500’s do the same. Check out our work here.
We create art that helps companies kick ass, end of story.
If you want to talk business, then it’s probably best to please contact my business partner, gapingvoid CEO Jason Korman, here. We look forward to working with you. Thanks!
Like Loic and I discussed many years ago, the best thing about being a blogger is the people you get to meet. It’s also true of being a cartoonist, as well. Cartooning opens doors.
Three weeks ago, the whole cartoonist thing somehow led me to Santa Monica, CA, sitting in the office of Dr. Gian Gonzaga, PhD.
We sat there and talked for about 3 hours. It was one of the most fascinating conversations I’ve had in… like, forever.
Gian’s research, both in academia and for eHarmony, asks very simple questions: What makes for successful couples? What makes for good long-term relationships?
And yeah, as someone who spends a lot of time every year designing fine art Valentines, I find the whole thing absolutely fascinating.
The one big takeaway from the conversation?
It’s called “eHarmony” for a reason. It’s not called “ePassion” or “eSex” or eHookUp or “eRomance” or “eOneNightStand”.
True love, lasting love, cannot exist without some sort of inherent “Harmony” in the relationship. And no amount of sex or passion or romance or money can make up for that. Hence the cartoon above [I actually drew that cartoon well over a year ago, long before I met up with eHarmony. Great minds think alike etc.].
And so eHarmony tries to match single people in a “harmonious” way, to give them a better chance at being in a happy relationship. Visit their site and dig around a little, you’ll see what I mean.
Another big takeaway from Gian?
People are designed for harmony.
We’ve evolved over millions of years to be a certain way. And if we act in such way that is not “in harmony” with this long-term evolved self, we will make ourselves unhappy.
We are made to be good people. We are made to love. We are especially made to love our children. We are made to care about one another (at least in close proximity). We are made to live good lives. We are basically programmed for goodness, and not evil.
The things that make us happy are the same things that made our prehistoric ancestors happy. Our true nature is hard-wired; our true nature has been evolved over millions of years. No amount of “Drugs & Hookers” is going to make you happy, no matter how much money you spend on them. Nature simply didn’t make you that way.
It was REALLY interesting to be in Vegas the day after Dr. Gian. Walking around the bars and casinos, I witnessed a COMPLETELY different worldview from eHarmony’s, to say the least.
I really, really, really enjoyed my meeting with Dr. Gian. I left his office feeling totally energized with my brain on fire. Whatever your take on eHarmony may be, I’m always elevated by people who, in their own way, tried to build their lives and their work around something that isn’t trivial, something that actually matters both to our individual selves and humanity in general. Something not enough of us do. Good luck to him, I say.
[PS: I’m doing a wee Valentine cartoon promo with eHarmony. Watch this space…]
I just drew this wee picture for you. Feel free to pass it around, download the high-rez version, print it out and hang it on your wall etc etc.
Yes, it’s a social object. Designed to continue a conversation that I already started online. [Yes, if you know somebody at Intel, please send this link along to them, thanks].
Whether you manufacture microprocessors, or draw cartoons like me, the question, “What is human potential?” never gets old.
Of course, you’ll never find the definitive answer. But you still have to ask the question.
And keep on asking it. Again and again.
Or else life dries up. And microprocessors and cartoons don’t get made.
There seems to be a conversation happening internally at my client, Rackspace. Spearheaded by people like Robert Scoble and the guy who hired him (and who also hired me), Rob La Gesse.
“Don’t be normal”.
Who wants a “normal” job, anyway?
Who wants a “normal” employer, anyway?
Who wants a “normal” life, anyway?
Exactly.
So why not say it, loud and proud?
So I drew some cartoons on the subject.
I’m thinking they’d make great recruiting posters…
[P.S. At the time of posting this, Rob hasn’t seen these cartoons yet. He lets me post my ideas “live”, without having to go through him first. THAT IS WHY I’m psyched to be working with Rob and Rackspace. Just so you know.]
““South-By” is almost upon us, and so here I am thinking up new SXSW Interactive ideas for my client, Rackspace, who will have a presence there.
We have a basic idea what we’ll be doing– I know Scoble is involved– but that’s all still under wraps.
Nonetheless, I drew the cartoon above.
As with my usual approach, the message is less about, “This is what we do and this is how much it costs”, and more about, “We hold these truths to be self-evident”.
Think about it: Rackspace is a fast-growing company. It needs to hire really good people. Lots of them.
And to do that, it has to convince a lot these really good people to relocate to their main campus in San Antonio, Texas.
Have you ever been to San Antonio? Exactly.
Now, don’t get me wrong, San Antonio is a perfectly lovely Texas town, hugely underrated compared to say, Austin, 80 miles to the North.
But still, it isn’t one of those towns where “Everybody” goes to, like New York, Chicago, Austin or San Francisco. It’s not a capital.
So in order to get some of the best brains in the country to move there, you have to offer them something else. Affordable housing, good schools, high quality of life, high standard of living etc. etc.
But you also have to offer them, as Rackspace Chairman, Graham Weston said in 2010, the chance to be on “on a winning team, on an inspiring mission.”
People don’t go to South-By in order to buy stuff, to buy Rackspace hosting. They go there to see their friends, to commune with their tribe, and yes, to look for opportunities that allow them to play on the aforementioned winning team.
THAT is how Rackspace needs to talk to people at South-By.
Doing something that matters. On a winning team. That’s why I wrote the cartoon the way I did.
[NB: I’ll be leaving this blog post on the top of the homepage for the next wee while, just to make sure people see it . Please scroll down for the new content etc.]
“Everybody needs an EVIL PLAN. Everybody needs that crazy, out-there idea that allows them to ACTUALLY start doing something they love, doing something that matters. Everybody needs an EVIL PLAN that gets them the hell out of the Rat Race, away from lousy bosses, away from boring, dead-end jobs that they hate. Life is short.”
As the EVIL PLANS book-launch machine started to rev up, I was suffering from the same “Second Book Jitters” that every second-time author suffers from.
The “What If They Hate It” jitters. The “What If It Bombs” jitters. You get the idea…
For whatever reason, they prefer being “surprised” by stuff posted live on the web, rather than seeing it first through the usual backchannels.
Seeing how the idea works live on the web informs their initial impression etc.
1. We have the Rackspace cloud [Image 1.]. A nice, fluffy cartoon Rackspace cloud. Red, black and white– their corporate colors. Iconic. Easily recognizable at fifty yards etc etc.
2. Inside the cloud we insert the headline [Image 2.]. “Create The Future You Want To Believe In” [Image 3.] was the headline I wrote, but that doesn’t have to be the only headline.
3. In fact, it doesn’t have to be me who writes the headline, either. Feasibly you could even set up a website where people could create their own headlines. Or something.
4. The headline would express whatever strong beliefs about “The Cloud” are needed to be expressed, inside the Rackspace cartoon cloud device.
5. So Rackspace isn’t just saying, “Here’s why you should buy from us”. Rackspace is saying, “Here’s what actually frickin’ matters”, whatever that might be.
6. Putting one’s balls on the line always resonates far more than ticking off the “Reasons to buy” laundry list.
7. And now they have a fun, wee device that allows Rackspace to do just that.
And that’s the idea. Hope you like. Hope they like, too. Watch this space…
On February 17th– just under a month from now– my second book, Evil Plans launches. It’s pretty much the same format as the first book, Ignore Everybody i.e. 18,000 words or so, plus 100 or so cartoons. Like it says in the intro:
EVERYBODY NEEDS AN EVIL PLAN
Everybody needs an EVIL PLAN. Everybody needs that crazy, out-there idea that allows them to ACTUALLY start doing something they love, doing something that matters. Everybody needs an EVIL PLAN that gets them the hell out of the Rat Race, away from lousy bosses, away from boring, dead-end jobs that they hate. Life is short.
Every person who ever managed to do this, every person who managed to escape the cubical farm and start doing something interesting and meaningful, started off with their own EVIL PLAN. And yeah, pretty much everyone around them– friends, family, colleagues– thought they were nuts.
Thanks to the Internet, it has never been easier to have an EVIL PLAN, to make a great living, doing what you love, doing something that matters. My intention is that by the time you’ve finished reading this book, you will completely concur. More importantly, you’ll actually feel compelled enough to go and do something about it yourself, if you haven’t already.
Writing books doesn’t interest me, frankly. EVIL PLANS interest me. My own and other people’s.
The why and how of EVIL PLANS is a conversation worth having. That’s why I wrote the book. By no means the definitive answer, but a good place to start.
Like I said, it has never been easier to have an EVIL PLAN. Therefore, to not have one is almost criminal. It’s not like any of us are living as 17th Century Russian Serfs.
A silicon chip as blank artist’s canvas, as it were.
i.e. What the processor can do is not that interesting. What THE USER can do with it, well, that’s far more interesting.
It’s not enough to just shout out at the top of your lungs, “More speed! More power! More performance!”
Because that is not fundamentally resonates with us as human beings.
Then again, yakking endlessly on about “Human Potential” also gets old really fast. You start sounding like one of those new-age gurus in no time. Yuck. Dreadful.
The simple fact is, as divine creatures as The Creator might have made us, we still have to live in the real world. We have the inner world to navigate (“Human Potential”, “Spirituality”) and the outer world (“Performance”, “Results”).
This intersection between our inner and outer selves is what it means to be human. Whether we’re talking about spiritual quests– finding God– or something more prosaic, like just trying to execute a marketing plan– Intel, in my case– the interesection remains. It never goes away.
And Thank Christ for that.
[PS: I’m hoping that people at Intel read this. If you know anybody there, please send them to this link, Thanks!]
I’ve been thinking about They Might Be Giants, an indie band I’ve been following off and on for over twenty years.
TMBG have been together for nearly thirty years.
TMBG never really had major mainstream success. They’ve just done their quirky little thing from their happy little corner of Brooklyn.
They were once of the earliest bands to really embrace the whole Intenet thing. They were pioneers. They had to be, if the band was to survive.
To be small, quirky, unique, ferociously independent and still be able to survive. A true “global microbrand”. Their example has always been huge inspiration to me.
I’m glad we live in a world where folk like TMBG can be exist. A much-needed antidote to the tedious, insatiable maw that is mainstream, celebrity-driven culture.
1. The Marfa bag. A small, military surplus bag I bought at the Marfa Book Co. about a year ago. Lots of pockets. Nice and sturdy.
2. Vinyl business card wallet. Where I keep the drawings after I’ve completed them. Ten dollars or so from Staples.
3. Aluminium business card holder. Holds about fifty blank cards. Bought it at Muji in London circa 2006. All the cards are cut from Strathmore Bristol 300 Series.
7. Small X-Acto cutting mat. I don’t use it for cutting; I use it as a portable drawing surface. Not too big so it’s good for drawing on small cafe tables and whatnot.
10. Large plastic box of blank business cards. About 250 of them for backup.
And that’s it. Nothing else goes into the Marfa bag– I like to keep it as pared down as possible. I see the bag as a sort of “portable studio”, which travels with me everywhere I go. Sure, I use other things in my office– a Motion digital tablet etc– but what fits into the Marfa bag is THE cornerstone. This is where the adventure starts; this is how it has always done so for the last decade or so.
[Alan Weinkranz- an old Texas connection of mine– and myself at CES last Saturday etc.]
“Intel Processors are smaller than a postage stamp. Intel has 80,000 employees. How do you fit so many people into an object so tiny? That’s what amazes me.”
I am writing this from home in Miami Beach, a day after returning from the Consumer Electronic Show in Vegas. Here are some notes:
2. Alan Weinkranz also made videos at CES. Here’s one he did of me. Excuse the sound quality etc:
3. My time at CES was spent pretty much exclusively at the Intel stand, signing prints. It was great. Just… great. I turned up in Vegas with over 500 of them. By day three we had run out. We took a lot of pictures– a couple of hundred of them. You can see them on Flickr here.
4. Intel was at CES, of course, to introduce their new 2nd Generation Intel® Core™ processor. It’s smaller than a postage stamp. Intel has 80,000 employees. How do you fit so many people into an object so tiny? That’s what amazes me. That’s what I kept thinking about the whole time I was there. We live in incredible times…
5. Yes, I’m exhausted. Yes, I’m a wreck. Yes, it was worth it. Intel was an fabulous client. A special thanks to Marcia Hansen for getting me involved.
I’m here for CES, on behalf of my client, Intel, who are launching their new the 2nd Generation Intel® Core™ processor.
Like I said on my last post, I’m here to sign prints new Intel limited edition prints (suitable for framing yak, yak, yak). We editioned only 50 of each image for the show, and when they’re gone, they’re gone etc.
To kick things off, we’re going to offer you free CES swag! It’s not just a t-shirt, magnet, or coffee mug. It’s high quality artwork with key themes from Intel and CES. Check out the images we’ve got for you below. (click on any image for the full-size version).
Throughout CES this week, not only will we be showcasing the visibly smart technologies from Intel, we’re going to be working with GapingVoid, otherwise known as Hugh MacLeod. You probably already know Hugh. He’s famous for creating cartoons on the back of business cards. Plus, he authored Ignore Everybody, a book about creativity that was a Wall Street Journal best seller.
Hugh is going to be at the Intel booth several times each day creating live artwork and signing prints for you. If you’re at CES, stop by the Intel booth, look for Hugh, and you can get an autographed cartoon. If you miss him, or you’re just going digital this week, check back every day here at Inside Scoop for digital versions of Gapingvoid cartoons that speak to CES 2011 and Intel technology.
I’m excited about lot of things this week.
I’m excited to be at CES– I’ve never been before.
I’m excited to have Intel as a client. A huge company doing interesting, world-changing stuff from the very heart of Silicon Valley.
I’m excited about the idea I created for Intel- the idea of a processor being akin to a painter’s blank canvas (see the drawings above). I’m also excited about the line I wrote for them, “The processor is an expression of human potential”.
The hard part is being human. The hard part is being mortal.
[For more CES/Intel updates, keep checking back here, or over at Intel’s site at http://scoop.intel.com. I’m hoping to be blogging a lot in the next 72 hours etc. Thanks!]
So this was my idea for my client, Intel. You know, the big microprocessor company. “Silicon Chips” etc.
First I drew a wee doodle of a microprocessor, like the one above.
Then I added a tagline to the image. “The processor is an expression of human potential”.
This was my “blank canvas” to start with, as it were.
And then I started to fill said blank canvas with images. As demonstrated below:
The images themselves don’t matter per se. The fact they were drawn by me doesn’t matter, either. That’s not the point.
The point is, as always, human potential. And what Intel can do to help said human potential reveal itself.
“The processor is an expression of human potential”. Exactly.
Then I added the Intel logo and their tagline, “Visibly Smart”.
We printed these up as fine art prints. I’ll be signing them and handing them out at the Intel stand at CES (Consumer Electronics Show) this week in LAs Vegas.
Please check out scoop.intel.com for more info. I hope to see you there. Thanks.
I drew this cartoon this morning. My first of the year.
The fellow in the cartoon is “Gloop”, a character I’ve been using since college. He pops up in my work now and again. Part Alter-Ego, part Everyman.
Most people who read gapingvoid are creative people; that’s not just an opinion, that’s just how it worked out. This cartoon is for them. For you.
“Bring new light to what life might be.”That’s what Creativity means. That’s why you were born; that’s why you are here. To bring some new angle to the human condition– if not to the broader world in general, then at least to your family and the people around you.
You don’t have to believe this– this drive may not be your drive, may not be the thing that propels you forward. That’s fine.
However, if you DO have that capacity within yourself and you DON’T act upon it, then everything around you turns to desert.
“Bring new light to what life might be” is my wish for you in 2011. Godspeed.
So this is my 
“The processor is an expression of human potential.”
