We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Jonathan Lo. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Jonathan below.
Jonathan, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?
I think the most meaningful project I’ve worked on so far has actually been a personal passion side project called “The Octopian”. (@theoctopian) It’s a self published “zine” that visually explores design/architecture/lifestyle/fashion but with a subtle sci-fi filter. It also features current artists from different genres. It’s been something that has given me great joy, allowed me to meet so many amazing people, and been an important project to keep me motivated and creatively inspired, and more importantly, not associated with any client work. We’ve made 5 issues so far and currently working on the No. 6.
Jonathan, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
I suppose I’ve always been a “creative” person, starting as a kid who loved to draw while watching cartoons, At some point in high school, I was introduced to the concept of “design” and fell in love in particular with graphic design and fashion. I ended up going to an art college and by the time I graduated, knew I wanted to focus my career somewhere related to the fashion industry. My first job out of school was as a graphic designer for a clothing company based here in SoCal, and soon after was promoted to art director. From there I eventually started my own design agency (j3productions.com), creating everything from apparel graphics, packaging, art direction, and branding, as well as doing photography and styling. Having my own agency has allowed me to dabble in a little bit of everything I love. Somewhere along the way I stumbled into starting a blog (happymundane.com), which has evolved into having a “social media” presence (@happymundane) and that has opened me up to a whole set of other different opportunities and experiences, however, my focus has always stayed in “design”.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
I’m not sure if “resilience” is the best word for me, but recently my company celebrated a major milestone anniversary, and it got me thinking about how we’ve been able to stay afloat for so long. It’s not uncommon for many small businesses to not survive after a few years, and I think there has been 2 things we’ve focused on can attribute my longevity to. The first is always being professional and focus more on building relationships with your business contacts than on a single project or even the cost of a project. Often you can do several jobs for a company/client, but sometimes things will occur, like layoffs or people leaving and you can quickly lose that opportunity with that company. However, if you maintain good relationships with the people you’re working with, that connection usually leads to more opportunities and referrals. Almost all the work/clients we’ve had have been from referrals. We’ve never really had to “advertise” or do much “marketing”. The second, and this is probably the best advice I could give to people working in the creative industry, always stay curious and make sure you keep “looking”. Travel as much as you can to get yourself out of your comfort zone and see the world from different perspectives. It’s important to see new things, whether it’s a new museum exhibit, a walk around a your local shopping center to see new products, or visiting a different country or city to see what’s happening in the world outside your own bubble. Also don’t be afraid of new technologies, or platorms. At the same time, it’s also important to not get too consumed with technology, take a break, do something analog, and also see what you can learn from the past. All these things lead to nurturing your creativity, which I think ultimately helps you stay relevant and aware in this constantly changing world.
In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?
I think this is a tough question because with all the automation and technology available and being built right now to “make things easier”, much of society thinks “I can do that” and that it’s all so easy. I think a lot of people lose respect for what creatives and the creative process brings. I don’t really know what the answer is but I think it has to be multifaceted. I think one big thing would be to push for more support and funding for creative arts programming and initiatives in schools, starting at an early age, but especially in high school. I think that the more society values and appreciates the importance of art in general, the more they will see the value in supporting artists and creatives in the world at large.
Contact Info:
- Website: happymundane.com, j3productions.com
- Instagram: @happymundane
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanloj3/
Image Credits
photo: @happymundane