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/

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Hello, and welcome to the middle woman podcast part

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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 esports industry, which in my offline

life, I am super passionate about just protecting the

environment implementing earthbending practices, policies

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

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

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

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

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

yourself and say a couple sentences about who you are to

the audience.

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

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

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

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

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

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

designing assets for partnership ducks, thumbnails, overlays for

content, social graphics for marketing, and handling the

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

everything from T shirts, designs to packaging to you

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

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

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

who have non traditional kind of educational backgrounds. Yeah,

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

learning all kinds of different things makes you just a really

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

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

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

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

creative brains out there, I definitely want to encourage

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

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

design and what inspires you about it? So

pretty much I would say that graphic design like

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

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

learning about myself and finding my true potential. And I

felt like graphic design allows me to challenge myself in that

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

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

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

I feel like working with FlyQuest. And just seeing how

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

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

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

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

and also just working with the different possible canvases that

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

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

the future. And just like learning more and more things

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

Let's talk about that kind of marriage now

between graphic design and esports. And what what brought

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

through how you were able to combine both of those things

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

looks like. Yeah.

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

knew that I always wanted to work in the gaming industry

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

because I just wanted to gain more knowledge about video games

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

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

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

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

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

quest, yeah, I worked with different companies from wide

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

experience as possible. Like I just pretty much just applied

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

learning how to watercolor hand letter design booths, package,

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

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

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

working for a part time agency called bento, and they

specialize in creative design, broadcasting and live stream in

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

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

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

was the fact that my first client was actually FlyQuest.

And around this time, this was when FlyQuest just announced

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

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

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

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

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

get through like my friend through like the industry. And

then also like having that connection really helped. And

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

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

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

designer, like helped bring that connection together. And then

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

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

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

would say my first like full time experience in the gaming

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

the years and I hope to can continue growing contribute to

the industry like one step at a time.

Yeah, absolutely. Do you have any advice about I

know several people and especially with being at PAX

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

game industry from other industries? Yeah. Do you have

any advice about what other industry jobs to kind of look

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

experiences that you had, because you are a graphic

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

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

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

kind of pieces of those previous experiences in non gaming

industries that helped you be successful in the gaming

industry then, like thinking about what other jobs people can

look for who are having success kind of breaking into the

industry in the way they want?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

industry, but just like finding job opportunities that will let

you experiment and like learn different skill sets that you

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

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

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

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

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

luckily with my experience of like working at the marketing

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

And people I

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

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

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

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

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

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

that creative freedom to do so.

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

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

managing 13, merch collections, releasing dyeing jerseys, some

of which actually included some of those hand painted designs

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

some cool watercolors if I remember correctly from Yeah,

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

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

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

previous guests, which you would think kind of career oriented

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

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

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

say like

my day to day is pretty much just overall supporting all

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

overlays and thumbnails for content, social graphics, for

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

especially since I was the only designer for for the longest

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

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

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

supported all departments, it feels like needed, depending on

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

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

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

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

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

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

it's hard to exactly describe just how hard

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

inspiration where that came from? What the process was,

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

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

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

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

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

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

So this whole idea pretty much started with Trisha

or CEO who wanted to add more merch that was specifically

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

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

know, it was time to provide provide the option especially

since like what was provided during that time, were just

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

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

both decided that we wanted to launch the very first like

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

challenge since the esports space is very like male dominant

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

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

vendor on finding different garments that were available to

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

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

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

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

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

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

thoughts on comparability, the quality of the garment and

making sure that it was flattering and inclusive for all

like body types. And

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

that something you'd mentioned in a previous conversation set

you like designing things that may not be expected on the

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

new trends and even just underserved audiences, not

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

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

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

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

inclusivity is more on the upload. Yeah.

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

any, like design trends or styles are technically fading,

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

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

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

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

more variety for different audiences, and realizing that

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

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

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

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

sustainability and like being like recycling your items and

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

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

merge, like adding specific garments, and having that

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

broadening our audience adding potential, like merch, and like

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

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

looking at is just adding different mediums through

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

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

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

things up and like overall change like, like different

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

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

trying to try to aim towards. And sounds

like one ounce creative. God, I want to know

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

watercolor and make something in like, no Adobe Illustrator and

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

cool. Yeah,

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

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

like on watercolor paper and then transfer it onto the

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

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

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

for feeling that way, either. So,

so cool, though, going back to the kind of

purpose and especially like the lifestyle stuff or communicating

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

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

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

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

We joked about color palettes but like having very consistent

branding that is like a dedication across a lot of

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

community? kishin when you're actually making these design

decisions,

so I feel like graphic design and branding just gives a

different perspective on storytelling, since there's so

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

knowing these definitely make you consider a lot of things

with your design, because you adjust those points, consider

the hierarchy and making sure that those points are clear so

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

overall. Yeah, that makes

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

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

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

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

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

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

Because you are talented. But how does creating a cohesive

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

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

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

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

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

graphic designer in and be able to communicate that brand

vision.

I think a graphic designer definitely adds success

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

opportunities in esports like video games or game, there are

players that compete in community at activations

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

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

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

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

feel like you want your activations and everything to be

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

teams can bring their personality. Yeah, front and

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

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

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

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

lot of different societal level issues. Super unique to the

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

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

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

same vision and I just like seeing that in conjunction with

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

smaller, not smaller, but lots of different organizations that

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

environment into your work, how you're thinking about

sustainability as an esports organization, super unique point

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

So the green initiative started in 2020. When Tricia

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

initiative, because with her love and appreciation for

nature, she really wanted to push on that because she

believes that everyone has the ability to affect real change

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

platform to address those important environmental issues

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

Green Initiative and our eco friendly message definitely

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

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

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

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

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

like the leaf and just like nature itself into so so

everything that I designed for FlyQuest will definitely reflect

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

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

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

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

and learning from the Ikebana sensei herself Trisha She has

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

wholesome, light toned design style that like definitely fits

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

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

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

just like wholesome so we felt like watercolor would be best

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

initiative

we thinking about which way flowers bloom and

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

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

yeah, tell me about birthday.

So says yeah, go green initiative is something we care

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

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

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

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

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

and recycled materials. And for the design actually worked with

our design intern Tara, who drew a beautiful illustration that

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

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

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

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

spread awareness and like encourage people to go eco

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

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

more recycled or all sustainable materials. This is just an

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

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

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

very funny wholesome video with our players where they reacted

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

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

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

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

really cute.

Really amazing job.

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

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

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

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

parks. I usually wear active wear made out of recycled

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

that I really really liked this line. So everyone should

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

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

about the metaverse I like to talk about emerging tech and

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

discussion on multimedia design. Talked a lot about more

traditional mediums but As we develop more digital tools and

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

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

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

creating digital experiences? And what is your role as a

graphic designer in designing those experiences,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

stuff. So just having these digital tools definitely help.

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

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

experience as we moved into, like the metaverse world,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

feel like I can definitely see

the future. Like that you thought I was

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

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

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

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

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

about connecting fan experiences? For AR or VR

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

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

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

into people's homes, you know,

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

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

like everyone has like different preferences for that. And so

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

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

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

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

VR experience would be very, like, fun and something

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

probably expect to

so yeah, my little brain is just screaming about AR

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

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

definitely just like her shaping and playing a game

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

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

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

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

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

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

of opportunities for but I feel like having something different

will definitely start like a new trend and something that we

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

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

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

this would be like a great opportunity, especially since,

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

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

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

sense. Yeah,

kind of totally a sad question. But how have those

characters kind of helped you build your community because I

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

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

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

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

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

the character?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

like videos, like they actually have like little personalities

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

we've been really focusing on. So

you should start a cartoon.

I know. Just have them just flying around

the turret. Everyone has green leaves, we're

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

is going to lead to different tools or different mediums for

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

think that creating the metaverse that you will be less

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

think that will develop more technology to kind of help you

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

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

Yeah,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

we would have to learn. Especially going in a different

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

see the collaborative effort on Reddit, where every could change

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

And they actually added more Canvas to it from what it

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

very impressive. Yeah,

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

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

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

experienced to go and work in gaming from non gaming related

industries or even non gaming related education, which I think

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

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

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

skill sets in non gaming settings. For you being a

graphic designer that was definitely more on the artistic

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

great agency and learned marketing which is a completely

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

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

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

looking for jobs and other industries can be really

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

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

motivations behind that the thing that I sort of liked or

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

large donation of the proceeds to Women for Women

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

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

more about esports will still promoting esports and gaming. So

you can add purpose and create lifestyle designs, while still

supporting an advertising for your team. One thing that you

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

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

of the organization by quest specifically wants to be for

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

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

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

released some earthday everything is made from organic

and recycled materials includes a lot of the different mascots

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

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

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

out the Go Green collection because I really liked it.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

metaverse experiences, designers are going to have to adapt to

new platforms to create AR and VR experiences. New York

canvases that are unlimited, definitely going to be some

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

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

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

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

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

guests like just an opportunity to reflect back on their

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

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

your younger self about getting into the gaming industry and

being successful?

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

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

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

hard and continue to work towards our happiness. We love

that. Yeah,

we're interested in happiness. Thank you so much

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

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

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

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

You can just follow my twitter at Fein underscore

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

what you see a lot there FlyQuest as well as my

portfolio. They're

so happy that gaming as an industry is such a

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

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

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

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

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

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

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