Philadelphia based artist Martha Rich got started in the art world after a desk job turned her into someone she didn’t like so much. Learn how she transitioned into being a full-time artist and how she stays excited by work now by checking out our full interview below the break.

CB: We know you haven’t always made your living as an artist, we even heard you once worked repossessing peoples cars! Was there a driving force that brought you into the art world?

MR: Ha! Yes I was a collector for Ford Motor Credit Company in Atlanta back in the day. I sat in a cubicle with a monitor, a head set, one plant and one picture (that was all we were allowed) and called people all day about their late car payments. On several occasions they made me go out and physically repossess cars. It was kinda scary.

There was one day when I got really excited about finding a car that someone had quit paying for and was hiding from the repo man. I got up and high-fived my co-workers and at that moment I realized I was whooping and hollering about repossessing someone’s car! That’s despicable. I didn’t want to be despicable.

Then I looked at the woman in the next cubicle over. She had been with the company for 20 years and was a miserable wretch. I looked at her sitting there smoking a cigarette with a sour look on her face and I saw my future. I knew I had to get out. Fast.

I went home and in my apartment there was an Atlanta Magazine on my coffee table. I thought to myself hey I love magazines, I should work there! The next day I sent my resume and pestered them until they hired me. It turned out to be one of the best jobs I ever had and it was there where I was introduced to graphic designers, art directors, writers, editors and creative people.

So I would say this was the job that put me on the path to being an artist.

CB: That’s amazing that you had the insight to realize your job was turning you into someone you didn’t want to be, and good for you on getting out! Was painting the creative medium you started out in?

MR: Well as a kid I was a drawer. I loved drawing and drew all the time. I still love drawing. In art school they teach you everything; drawing, painting, sculpture, video, computer design and more. So I guess no painting wasn't where I started, but it is where I am now.

CB: What is your favorite medium to work in?

MR: My go to medium is acrylic on paper or wood, but I also love drawing with India ink and a brush. I love markers, spray paint, screen printing and I wish I could work in oil more, but I have bad ventilation in my studio. I can’t pick a favorite!

CB: Your paintings are so bright and colorful, where do you draw inspiration from?

MR: Well I am a fan of color. I think it stems from working in beige corporate offices for so long. Or growing up in the beige suburbs of PhiIadelphia. Although my parents had some color. Our house was a nice blue with a bright yellow door. If you think about it, a lot of buildings, homes and places in the US are beigey. So I am inspired by beige. Too much beige made me want to make things colorful! Also even though I have been doing colorful stuff for a while, my visit to Mexico City in December only reinforced my quest for color. That is one colorful place. You can even see the color when you fly into the airport! I loved it there and wish Americans were more daring and playful with color in daily life.

CB: Are there ever things about the art world that bog you down or discourage you? How do you stay excited about making new things?

MR: Oh heck yes! One of the big things that has discouraged me about the art world is that it can be pretty dang unfair and random. Comparing yourself to everyone else’s fabulous-looking careers is the worst. Getting caught up in envy sucks. Luckily the older I get the less I do this. I realize everyone is putting their best face forward and hiding their crummy stuff. So that arteest whose shiny success you covet may have a career that is not all sweetness and light. EVERYONE feels insecure. Everyone has successes and failures. Everyone I tells ya! Ya gotta put blinders on and focus on what you are making.

I stay excited by coming up with projects for myself that no one else has a say in. They always seem to lead to cool stuff, like the Stop Talking cat for instance. I did that for my 100 pieces of art for $100 project I came up with when work was slow. My corporate cubicle world experiences have made me a very don’t-tell-me-what-to-do type person so these projects are great for me. I also take time off from making art too. I like to go out and experiences things, travel, eat, drink wine with friends, read books, hang out with family and stop thinking about art for a bit.

CB: Thanks for chatting with us, Martha!

To learn more about Martha, you can check out her website, shop her artwork here and on 20x200, or follow her on twitter, instagram, and tumblr.

Our most recent interview catches up with Gerren Lamson. As the Head of Design & Community at Creative Market, he gets a chance to make sure that the work he does makes an impact, not just on the business, but on the greater community as well. Read on to see how important intention is to design.

CB: You’re the Head of Design & Community at Creative Market, co-founded Satchel & Sage with your wife Morgana, work on side projects like Drawologist, and you’re a new Dad. How do you wear so many hats and stay sane?!

GL: That’s a great question! Honestly, I think it comes down to context and priority. It goes without saying that being a dad comes first above everything else. (That includes changing diapers.) Next, I prioritize my design and creative projects. My work at Creative Market takes up (more than) 40 hours during the workweek, and then I squeeze in illustration projects and drawing exercises when I need to scratch the creative itch. I’m doing a lot less of that these days. Spending time with our son is its own rewarding “creative” experiment.

CB: Do you work from home? How has being a Dad changed how/when you work?

GL: I do work from home, and have been working remotely for Creative Market for 3 years. I’ve traveled a ton to our San Francisco HQ, too. To be honest, becoming a dad has totally enriched my design work. I care a lot more about the intention of my design work and the time I spend on it, and a lot more about the humans (read: users) who benefit from it. I love the fact that I get to be around my son all day. I can take a break at any time of the day to kiss his forehead or change his diaper, and that keeps my design work in perspective. I imagine that working from home with a kid will change in the future when he’s running around and banging on the office door.

CB: What does that mean, intentional design? Why is design better when the designer thinks about the people who will benefit from what they’re building?

GL: I believe that the intention of design work should always be to benefit the humans who engage with it. It’s easy to see how an app can help users achieve a goal, but I also think that illustrations, shirts designs, and related design projects can make people pause and think about the important things in life. In western culture, we focus so much on achieving, and that’s ok. It’s great if a design intention helps raise money for the impoverished or those in need. However, I also think that we undervalue design projects that makes us contemplate and gain perspective on our life experience. That’s equally important.

CB: Are there some examples of design that you think do a great job of being intentional? In what ways have you incorporated intention into your work lately?

GL: Here are a few projects that I’ve seen others applying *more* intention into the work to affect viewers and produce a positive outcome from their experience or use of the design. Sometimes, positive intention is baked into the business that the design work is supporting. Sometimes, positive intention is the thoughtfulness put into the visual work itself.

Atomic Lotus by Scott Lewis
This CB shirt illustration is sure to stop people in their tracks and think. By combining the lotus flower (a symbol of purity and rebirth) and the atom (a scientific symbol), viewers might be encouraged to see science and spirituality as a combined and integrated - rather than a polarized - system.

Skillshare Class! by Mikey Burton
Mikey’s class teaches folks to create illustrated idioms, which could spawn off a ton of intention-rich illustration pieces that could make the public think more about what’s going on society. We can only hope, yea?

50 Logo Mockups Bundle by GraphicBurger
This handy mockup set-up could help designers present their identity work as high caliber visuals for client presentation. It could make their logo pitch easier, ensuring that their current project is secure and approved. It could also aid them in growing future potential work just by elevating the presentation quality.

Learn Lettering by Simon Walker (for Sean Wes)
Simon took time to support the education efforts of fellow designer Sean Wes, by putting together a small batch of appealing visuals to help Sean promote the launch of Learn Lettering 2.0. Simon’s intention with this work is to excite and encourage users to illustrate lettering. Sean’s project is a deep dive of education, which has many layers of intention of teaching the visual craft and turning it into a business.

Here are a few of my recent projects that I’ve created that have more intention:

Pay It Forward Bundle
This one was an automatic win in terms of great intention. We (Creative Market) partnered with many design brands to create a pay what you want bundle of assets and services to raise money for Watsi last December. It raised over $150,000, and Watsi started sharing stories of how the money impacted impoverished people in need of healthcare.

Studio App - Birthday Kit
I produced a batch of fun illustrations for users to overlay their photos in the Studio App. This pack let’s them celebrate the birthday of their friends and loved ones online in a positive, fun manner.

Made With Creative Market
I designed a sub-identity for our Made With Creative Market platform where users can share how they’ve used design assets in their personal projects. It gives customers a place to share their creative work, gain more spotlight for their creativity, and a new channel to meet other creative professionals in the community.

Make Good
I drew a hand with a ribbon tied around the finger a while back, and then decided to upgrade the illustration and turn it into a gold on charcoal print for sale via Satchel & Sage. The message encourages the viewer to do two things: (a) remember to keep their important promises to others in their life, and (b) to go out and make a positive impact on the world.

CB: The Creative Market “Pay It Forward Bundle” seems like it was quite successful! How did you guys decide to partner with Watsi?

GL: Great question! The pay it forward bundle was a larger campaign that the team conceptualized as a natural evolution of similar past campaigns. The idea was to partner with lots of top design brands and services that the greater creative community loves, and get them to offer great resources in a pay what you want bundle. Before that, we also helped folks who were impacted by the flooding in Colorado and Hurricane Sandy through All Hands Volunteers.

We chose to work with Watsi because they have a great mission and they also went through Y-Combinator just like Creative Market. They were one of the fewer non-profit initiatives to go through Y-Combinator, and they showed great promise in terms of helping impoverished communities. How could we not join them in their cause?

Since creating our campaign for Watsi, we also launched an initiative to raise funds for disaster relief when Nepal got hit earlier in the year too. It’s in our culture to find a way to make a positive impact outside of the creative and design community, so we’ll likely do more campaigns like this in the future!

CB: Wow, congrats! That must be so rewarding for your team to have had such an impact on all those organizations. Finally, and for something a little different, where is your favorite place to visit? Why?

GL: I’d be hard pressed to pick one place in particular. I really enjoy visiting big cities with different cultures than the southern part of the United States, like where I live in Austin, Texas. I get energized by exploring places like France, Italy, New York, California, and more. In contrast, I love making treks to quiet destinations in nature, like state parks, beaches and mountain ranges. I find that those recharge me more than city trips. I guess the tl:dr short answer would be the mountains or the beach. We don’t really have either down here in the south.

CB: Trips to the beach are always a great way to recharge. Thanks for chatting with us Gerren!

To learn more about Gerren, check out the blog on his website or catch up with him on twitter, instagram, and dribbble. See all of his CB designs here, and check out his side project, Satchel & Sage, here.