Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Magnus Champlin. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Magnus, thanks for joining us today. Have you ever had an amazing boss, mentor or leader leading you? Can you us a story or anecdote that helps illustrate why this person was such a great leader and the impact they had on you or their team?

I have been fortunate, be it luck or simply the fact that I’m outgoing enough to make friends and connections, I’ve had a lot of really good bosses throughout my life. Not all of them are great, I’m not *that* lucky, but the vast majority of those I have worked for have been a positive force in my life in some way or another. My first job was working on my family farm at an age younger than I can actually remember. Helping out on a cash-crop farm, handling hundreds of thousands of bails of hay/straw/clover year round. Loading and shoveling grains like corn and wheat, and dealing with cattle. It was a physically demanding job, dusty, and dirty, and it had to be done, no matter what. It’s that life that lit a solid fire under me to do something else, and through some fun connections found myself at age 19 in the heart of Rochester working at a wonderful little design studio.

When people talk about good bosses I find that they are usually just referring to a decent person above them. when someone is a mentor, it shows how that person has gone above and beyond to shape a life. This woman, I refer to as my Other Mom. She showed me how to work for myself in style. But she also helped me become the person I am today and to have such a unique idea of work/life balance.

For over a decade I worked with Nancy, focusing on print materials, catalogs, magazines, and tangible design work. It was one of the brightest and most visually wonderful spaces. The entire top floor of a building, all these windows looking out at downtown. The office looked like it’s what you would hope to see in a trendy quirky movie about design life, not what most studies tended to look like I came to realize. Neon lights, a giant punching bag hanging from the ceiling, a library, full kitchen, and a box of nerf guns. It was a fun creative space, and while we always had work, Nancy was the type of person that also had a full and crazy life outside the studio that she wanted to go enjoy as well.
She would schedule jobs so the deadlines would give us weeks of free time. Guilt-free time to go and do what we want knowing that there was a project that was going to be there when we got back. Sometimes we would have to put in triple-time to get work done, and we’d be at the studio overnight. And there were plenty of times when I’d get a phone call from her saying that it was the last nice day of summer and she was going to go enjoy life and would see me next week. She helped me become more well-rounded in understanding the world and what work could be like. She surprised me with random bonuses upon completing big projects. Once there she gave me a tent, tickets to a huge music festival, spending cash, and a note saying she didn’t want to see me for 2 weeks, with a “PS: Have fun, don’t get arrested.”

She taught me that work wasn’t a 9-5 thing, it was something that you craft your own path in. You set the rules and make it work the best for you. My studio is now just as crazy as hers in all the right ways, including the punching bag to take out some stress when the clients get crazy.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

I’m a person that needs a rather tall building for my elevator pitch. But to put it simply, I’m a creative problem solver for people and businesses, with a focus on making the world more visually interesting and just plain better. I have a degree in Visual Communications and really love how the human brain works with the visual input we all encounter. I’m a factoid-driven science nerd, I was the kid that literally would read the 1001 interesting fact books by Asimov. I’m constantly questing for new facts and interesting topics. The more I know the more I can create truly unique things for myself and my client. It wasn’t till I switched to visual communications and found small dynamic studios, that I realized I could be a Creative in a way that was true to my curiosity. Over my career, I fell in love with the world of creating visually appealing work that caught audiences’ attention, but what really was impressive was how doing that would allow me to make connections with so many different people, cultures, and industries. I realized that my ability to connect and network was an amazing strength as well, and it was something that wasn’t as ubiquitous as other skills.

I have been through various design agencies and had the role of a lead graphic designer for different businesses, but the things that have made me most proud are the projects that strike a connection with me and help make the world a better place. Working with teams helping to reforest Madagascar, and other zoological groups working on saving species. The projects working with my local artist community, where I can literally see the difference it has made to other working artists. Working for myself, with my own studio backing me, has allowed me various opportunities to make connections, to takes chances, and pursue ideas that I would 100% never have been able to do in any other setting. My art and design are constantly evolving, and I don’t just do one thing. From painting murals, and creating props for movies, to illustrations across many different types of clients. My studio allows me to follow my passions and with it I never stop learning.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

The ability to control my schedule is one of the best aspects of working for myself. While I still need to get those emails out and projects shipped, I don’t need to be rigid in regard to my work day. The agency life has you trying to pack all it can in that window of your day, and usually upset that you didn’t do enough… But, in my studio, I work at times when it’s conducive for the creative process for that day. Some days I’ll put in 12 hours when I’m on a role, and then the next day I allow myself the wonderful feeling of sleeping in knowing that I’ll be back there to tackle it again. I can take a break in the middle of the day to meet other creatives, I can take time away from the studio to work on other projects and still come back later and pick it up back up.

What controlling my own schedule means to me is that it offers me true opportunities that I wouldn’t be able to in. previous settings. I have a life where if there is a chance to meet with a client, or other creative, I can simply do it without having to jump through hoops and email a manager. There have been days when I hear of something happening, or a person passing through the city, and I’m able to step away and allow myself the opportunity to make connections and learn. It’s those opportunities that have made the biggest difference in my life.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

My goal is to use my artistic skills to make the world a bit better and help it where I can. While I really enjoy the larger-than-life installments I’ve been working on as of late, to see people find my work in the wild and take pics with it, I really have been happy that I’ve been able to work with larger business entities and environmental groups to make a difference. For instance, I work with the local zoological society to help them with the environmental concerns plaguing the planet. From helping create artwork and creative problem-solving to help reforest Madagascar, to my next endeavor helping with some endangered species of animals in the Caribbean. The work I have done has made a difference and will continue to do so.

I realize that life is very very short, and I want to do it all, so working for myself and choosing the clients that matter to me is my goal, and seeing my artwork used just fuels me even more.

Contact Info:

• Website: MagnusApollo.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/magnusapollo/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mindofmagnus
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/magnusapollo/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/magnusapollo/
• Other: https://www.patreon.com/MagnusApollo

Image Credits
Quajay Donnell for Wall Therapy mural photo