We recently connected with Meg Turner and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Meg, thank you for joining us today and sharing your experiences and acquired wisdom with us. Burnout is a huge topic these days and so we’d love to kick things off by discussing your thoughts on overcoming or avoiding burnout
Burnout is so real! It doesn’t matter what field you’re in or how much you might love your job and what you’re doing – everyone feels burnout at some point. The worst part about it too is that people experience it differently and it can be caused by so many different reasons that it can be difficult to navigate how to overcome it.
Personally, I’ve been burnt out more than a few times and for more than a few reasons. I’m admittedly a workaholic; I have two full-time jobs and as of this year, I started my own small business, so to say that I have a full plate is almost an understatement. Having a stacked workload is enough to cause burnout quickly by itself, but then start tying in short deadlines, multiple revisions, lack of self-care, etc., and you have a recipe for a full-blown meltdown.
The way that I’ve found success in overcoming burnout is to take a step back once I start recognizing the signs that I’ve been neglecting myself. Instead of filling what should be downtime with more work, I force myself to step away from the computer to spend time socializing with my partner and friends, getting out of the house, and doing activities that I enjoy. Being able to distract myself from the negativity helps a lot, but also talking to friends about what might be causing burnout can help too since an outside opinion can bring new perspectives to the situation or even offer alternative solutions that can help overcome it.
Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
I’m currently the lead graphic designer and social media manager at Mega64, the in-house graphic designer for FrameRate Merch, and this year I started my own online clothing brand called Lost Fortune where I’m the owner and artist!
I wear a lot of hats outside of these roles at all the companies I’m involved with, but what I’m most passionate about is art, design, working with my best friends, and making really awesome merch that people can wear. Being with Mega64 for over 10 years now, I’m so privileged to be able to make some of the most insane and outrageous designs that people actually want to buy and wear. I don’t know many other designers who have been encouraged to create a design with a cute vintage bunny on a shirt with text that reads “all gods die at my hand” on it, so I think that’s really awesome.
More recently, I had a lot of artistic inspiration for merchandise designs that simply wouldn’t really fit with the Mega64 or FrameRate Merch brands. After a lot of pushing from friends and my fiance, I started Lost Fortune! It’s been a great creative outlet where I can casually create designs that fit right in with my aesthetic and brand of humor.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Creativity, passion, and technical skills are all important skills and traits for professional graphic designers. Of course, creativity is a given – if you’re creating any type of art, obviously you’re going to want to make something that is creative and visually appealing to your audience.
I think that passion has been very impactful in my own journey as an artist too. If I wasn’t passionate about art and graphic design, there’s no way that I would have made it this far into my career. Graphic design started off as a hobby for me. I was learning how to use Adobe Photoshop via YouTube tutorials as a teenager and the more I learned, the more passionate I became about the art form of it and the more I wanted to know. Keeping up with design trends and new techniques is a passion of mine and without that, I think that I would stagnate and the work would become a chore.
Having a certain level of technical skill is absolutely necessary as a graphic designer. Many employers expect professionals to know how to use industry-standard programs and if you can’t deliver a project in the correct format or in outlined specifications, you’ll get pushed out pretty quickly. As I mentioned earlier, YouTube was a great resource that I used to learn Adobe programs. Even just learning the base level is a good starting point! I was already a professional in my field and working with Mega64 by the time I decided I wanted to go to college to get my Bachelor’s degree, but I also don’t think that formal education is necessary either.
What has been your biggest area of growth or improvement in the past 12 months?
Understanding the importance of self-care has been a huge focus of mine over the last year. I often put myself last and prioritize work or others around me, but I’m really trying to work on taking better care of myself! Sometimes it’s really difficult to see the impact that stress can have on your mental health and even your body, so I’m trying so hard to give myself a little more free time to decompress and enjoy life. So far I think I’m doing a much better job of it than I have been for quite some time!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.megturnercreates.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/furnacewoods/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/furnacewoods
- Other: Lost Fortune: https://lostfortuneco.com/
Image Credits
Matt Stone
