Next up in our "Behind the Button" series is Marieke McClendon. Besides being a freelance graphic designer and editor of Lineworks Comics Anthology, McClendon also occasionally helps out at Busy Beaver. She was part of the crew that assembled our button mini-comic and had a hand in assembling a massive Lil Bub button order earlier this summer. So when we needed a 10th button for our Button-O-Matic series we didn't have to go far to find a talented participant. And McClendon delivered with a this charming and humorous button design:
What inspired your Button-O-Matic design?
I really wanted my button to made with Busy Beaver's "cosmic" paper. It has a holographic effect and reminds me of stickers I used to collect when I was a kid. I'm hoping the sparkly paper and layered background pattern complement the message of the button.
What's your button's message about?
I started to drive myself a little crazy when trying to come up with the words I wanted to put on my button. I second (and third and fourth) guessed my ideas, sketched a lot of those ideas out, and tossed most of them. This is something I do a lot. When I'm drawing or working on a project, I tend to get caught up on little details and am good at convincing myself why something won't work. The phrase on my button, "Go nuts," came to me as when I was feeling particularly frustrated a couple of days before my button design was due. It was something I had started to tell myself when I would get stuck on an idea. "Go nuts." Or, the long version: "Stop thinking so much, and try this out. If it doesn't work, who cares? Try something else."
What do you want people to get out of your button?
My button kind of ended up being advice to myself about getting over creative obstacles, but I'm hoping other people interpret it in different ways. Maybe someone out there will get it from a Button-o-Matic machine and be really excited about it because they like pistachios. By the way, my buttons were manufactured in a facility that does NOT process nuts, so it's safe for people with nut allergies.
