S02/E31 - Kristof Devos on Designing Watches That Tell You to Slow Down & the Art of Doing Nothing

S02/E31 - Kristof Devos on Designing Watches That Tell You to Slow Down & the Art of Doing Nothing

Kristof Devos answered the call from his studio in a small town in rural Belgium, with a cat wandering in and out and his daughter's eighth birthday party happening that same afternoon. It felt like the right way to start a conversation about slowing down. Kristof Devos is an illustrator, a children's book author, a watch designer for the cult London brand Mr Jones Watches, and an art teacher in Bruges. For tax purposes he has two jobs. For himself, it's all one job. This one stays gentle the whole way through and still lands somewhere deep. We talked about a watch that tells you to slow down, a car crash that reshaped his entire idea of a life worth living, and why he'd rather write a long newsletter that takes fifteen minutes to read than chase likes on a platform he's come to distrust. In this episode we talked about: * "A Perfectly Useless Afternoon" and the watch about doing nothing * How a ten-minute window of confidence led to Mr Jones Watches * Leaving art direction for a slower life in rural Belgium * The car crash that changed everything, and the book that came from it * Why he takes two years on twelve spreads * His new book, Big Brother and Little Sister * Quitting Instagram and building through newsletters * Why AI might be a gift to human-made art * What he hopes survives him in a hundred years Find Kristof here: * Website: https://kristofdevos.com/ [https://kristofdevos.com/] * Newsletter (Brief uit het Atelier): https://kristofdevos.com/brief-uit-het-atelier/ [https://kristofdevos.com/brief-uit-het-atelier/] * Podcast (Podlood, in Dutch): https://kristofdevos.com/podlood/ [https://kristofdevos.com/podlood/] * Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kristoftekent/ [https://www.instagram.com/kristoftekent/] Find me here: * https://captnoffscript.com/ [https://captnoffscript.com/] * https://www.instagram.com/captnoffscript/ [https://www.instagram.com/captnoffscript/] If you liked this episode, listen to... Luis Mendo (S02/E29) — Luis appeared on Kristof's podcast, and they share the same instinct: leaving social media behind, building through direct connection, and choosing a slower, more deliberate creative life. If you enjoyed this episode, leaving a 5-star rating on Apple Podcasts or Spotify takes less than a minute and helps more people find the show. I'd be incredibly grateful. 🙏

S02/E30 - Andy J. Pizza on ADHD, Self-Worth & Cultivating Yourself Instead of Fixing Yourself

Episode 30 of Season 2. The 80th episode I've recorded since starting this show. And honestly, I couldn't have picked a better guest to mark a milestone like that. Andy J. Pizza is the host of Creative Pep Talk, an illustrator, a children's book author, and one of the people who has quietly shaped how thousands of designers think about their own creativity. He's also the guy who chose to call himself "Pizza" because his real name made for an ugly URL. We started this conversation talking about goat cheese pizza in the UK. We ended it somewhere very different — talking about the cave you fear to enter inside yourself, about why his ADHD diagnosis at 25 first devastated him before it freed him, and about a line from his second podcast Right Side Out that I haven't been able to stop thinking about since. At the end of the recording, Andy told me this was the most personal interview he had ever done. In this episode we talked about: * Choosing his own name and disobeying Yoda * ADHD as a lens, not a deficit * Cultivating yourself instead of overcoming yourself * Right Side Out and the line that stops you * The cave you fear to enter, Joseph Campbell, and self-acceptance * Taste as the palette of your soul * Why AI is ending the era of perfect — and why that's a gift * Working with his wife Sophie, the Beatles, and why fighting makes the work better * His dad's lesson: hard and bad are not the same thing * The most personal closing of the season Timestamps: * 00:00 Introduction & Three Illustrators in a Row * 03:12 How Andy J. Miller Became Andy J. Pizza * 05:53 Pizza Toppings, Goat Cheese & the Best Fries in the World * 08:36 ADHD, Mental Health & Creative Work * 09:44 Moving Around as a Kid & the Identity Crisis It Caused * 15:30 The Seventh Grade Friend Who Loved Boy Bands * 22:00 On Popularity, Connection & Being Less Cool * 27:45 Taste as the Palette of Your Soul * 32:29 Why Follower Count Doesn't Equal Success * 33:33 Why Instagram Doesn't Taste Good Anymore * 36:36 How Taste Changes Over Time * 39:25 Collaborating with His Wife Sophie & the Beatles * 47:20 Perfectionism, ADHD & the Case for Doing Things Imperfectly * 58:51 AI, Human Creativity & Why Perfect Is Dead * 01:01:49 Cultivating Yourself Instead of Fixing Yourself Find Andy here: * Website: https://www.andyjpizza.com/ [https://www.andyjpizza.com/] * Creative Pep Talk: https://www.creativepeptalk.com/ [https://www.creativepeptalk.com/] * Right Side Out: https://www.andyjpizza.com/rso [https://www.andyjpizza.com/rso] * Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/andyjpizza/ [https://www.instagram.com/andyjpizza/] * Substack: https://andyjpizza.substack.com/ [https://andyjpizza.substack.com/] Find me here: * captnoffscript.com * @captnoffscript If you liked this episode, listen to... Sophia Yeshi (S02/E22) — another deeply honest conversation about self-acceptance, rejection therapy, and unlearning the fear of not being good enough. If you enjoyed this episode, leaving a 5-star rating on Apple Podcasts or Spotify takes less than a minute and helps more people find the show. I'd be incredibly grateful. 🙏

S02/E29 - Luis Mendo on Finding Your Value, Mundo Mendo & Why Social Media Is Dry Disgusting Bread

He grew up in Salamanca. Spent 20 years as an art director in Amsterdam. His father died. He boarded a plane to Japan for a sabbatical — and 14 years later, he's still there. Luis Mendo is a Spanish illustrator and the founder of Mundo Mendo — a personal membership project built on illustrated stories, shipped directly to readers with no algorithm in between. This is a conversation about finding your value, choosing happiness, and refusing to make salami for Zuckerberg. What we cover: * His father's death and why it led him to Japan * 20 years in Amsterdam — and why he finally chose to leave * Almost Perfect — six years of welcoming artists into his Tokyo home * Why social media is dry disgusting bread — and the salami analogy * Building Mundo Mendo on Ghost, the anti-Substack platform * Biking numbered, signed books to the post office himself * Why he's building something that survives him * Finding the value in your work — advice for young illustrators * Japan's exploding independent print and zine scene * AI is for laundry — and what he actually uses it for * What he wrote in a letter to his daughter growing up in Japan Connect with Luis Mendo: Website: https://www.luismendo.com/ [https://www.luismendo.com/] Mundo Mendo: https://www.mundomendo.com/ [https://www.mundomendo.com/] Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/luismendo [https://www.instagram.com/luismendo] LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/luismendo/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/luismendo/] Listen and subscribe: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/captn-offscript/id1837469433 [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/captn-offscript/id1837469433] Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7nJ5dKTP2dQN5OwICKjTY5 [https://open.spotify.com/show/7nJ5dKTP2dQN5OwICKjTY5] More from Captn OffScript: Website: https://captnoffscript.com/ [https://captnoffscript.com/] YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CAPTNOffScript [https://www.youtube.com/@CAPTNOffScript] Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/captnoffscript [https://www.instagram.com/captnoffscript] Newsletter: https://captn.myflodesk.com/newsletter [https://captn.myflodesk.com/newsletter] If you liked this episode, listen to: Elliot Jay Stocks (S02/E25) — on building a direct relationship with your audience through newsletters, why human connection matters more than algorithms, and creating work that lasts. If you enjoyed this episode, leaving a 5-star rating on Apple Podcasts or Spotify takes less than a minute and helps more people find the show. I'd be incredibly grateful. 🙏

S02/E28 - Temi Coker: Put the Work You Want to Be Hired For & Everything Else Follows

He wakes up at 4:30am. Two kids under two. Three hours of work before the house comes alive. This is how one of the most sought-after artists in America currently operates. Temi Coker is a Nigerian-American artist and creative director based in Dallas, Texas. His work has appeared in campaigns for Adobe, Apple, ESPN, AT&T, and the Oscars. He launched a home collection with Walmart in 2025. And he will tell you, clearly and without drama, that none of it happened by accident — it happened because he kept making the work he wanted to be hired for, long before anyone asked him to. What we cover: * Growing up in Lagos — limitations, bottle-cap football, and a love of colour * Moving to Canada and then Texas at 12, navigating two Black identities at once * Leaving biomedical engineering to pursue design — and why he doesn't regret either * Seven years of head-down work before the Adobe Creative Residency changed everything * How a pillow he made for fun led to the Walmart home collection * Apple said no four or five times — he now has 20+ collaborations with them * Financial literacy for creatives — the conversation nobody is having * Running a photography studio, a clothing brand, and raising two kids under two * Learning to actually accept a compliment Connect with Temi Coker: Website: https://temicoker.co [https://temicoker.co] Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/temi.coker [https://www.instagram.com/temi.coker] Listen and subscribe: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/captn-offscript/id1837469433 [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/captn-offscript/id1837469433] Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7nJ5dKTP2dQN5OwICKjTY5 [https://open.spotify.com/show/7nJ5dKTP2dQN5OwICKjTY5] More from Captn OffScript: Website: https://captnoffscript.com/ [https://captnoffscript.com/] YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CAPTNOffScript [https://www.youtube.com/@CAPTNOffScript] Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/captnoffscript [https://www.instagram.com/captnoffscript] Newsletter: https://captn.myflodesk.com/newsletter [https://captn.myflodesk.com/newsletter]

S02/E27 — Ingrid Picanyol: I'm a Designer, But Other Things Too — Poetry, Punk & Philosophy

She chose graphic design over photography because she couldn't afford a camera. She chose it over philosophy because her teacher said get work first, study ideas later. Now she runs a studio of exactly three people, plays guitar in an all-women punk band with no expectations, writes articles on the bus, and has just started her philosophy degree. Ingrid Picanyol is a Catalan graphic designer based in Barcelona — and one of the most quietly profound conversations of the season. What we cover: * Growing up in the "Catalan Liverpool" — small town, punk band, leaving home at 16 * $12 a day in New York, sleeping on couches, investing in a career * Why she keeps her studio to exactly three people — and why that matters * How a developer noticed her design process is basically poetry * Writing articles on the bus — and the Set Margins book coming from it * Why design can't satisfy every creative need — and what to do about it * Sending voice messages to ChatGPT asking what Plato thinks about difficult clients * Studying philosophy in her forties — and why now is finally the right moment * What she'd say to her 8-year-old self, who always felt like a stranger Connect with Ingrid Picanyol: Website: https://ingridpicanyol.com/ [https://ingridpicanyol.com/] Instagram (personal): https://www.instagram.com/ingridpicanyol [https://www.instagram.com/ingridpicanyol] Instagram (studio): https://www.instagram.com/ingridpicanyolstudio/ [https://www.instagram.com/ingridpicanyolstudio/] Listen and subscribe: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/captn-offscript/id1837469433 [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/captn-offscript/id1837469433] Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7nJ5dKTP2dQN5OwICKjTY5 [https://open.spotify.com/show/7nJ5dKTP2dQN5OwICKjTY5] More from Captn OffScript: Website: https://captnoffscript.com/ [https://captnoffscript.com/] YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CAPTNOffScript [https://www.youtube.com/@CAPTNOffScript] Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/captnoffscript [https://www.instagram.com/captnoffscript] Newsletter: https://captn.myflodesk.com/newsletter [https://captn.myflodesk.com/newsletter] If you liked this episode, listen to: Marta Cerdà Alimbau (S02/E26) — another deeply personal conversation with a Catalan designer about creative identity, surviving the hard years, and why the work is worth fighting for.