Episode Transcript
Zoe Mock 0:19
The next step for this is to have you guys record the podcast and post the videos on YouTube.
Don Mock 0:25
For sure. Video podcast is where it’s at.
Zoe Mock 0:27
You know what they call that? Television. Talk show.
Don Mock 0:33
I love the smarty pants. All right, Episode 81.
Zoe Mock 0:35
That’s what I always thought about people who record their podcast.
Don Mock 0:39
What do you mean? It’s just television?
Zoe Mock 0:40
It’s just a talk show. You guys just rebranded… Sorry.
Don Mock 0:43
No, it’s cool. All right, Episode 81. We’re back. And obviously, from this friendly voice you’re hearing, who keeps interrupting, the flow of things… Zoe’s back.
Zoe Mock 0:52
As the oldest child, I’m obligated to.
Don Mock 0:54
Alright, so speaking of being the only child and speaking of having you here…
Zoe Mock 0:58
Do tell.
Don Mock 0:59
I thought it would be interesting today to talk about what it’s like bringing your kids to work. I mean –
Zoe Mock 1:08
I don’t have any kids.
Don Mock 1:09
And how they’ve shaped the understanding of what we do. You know what I mean? Or what you know, or weird vernacular, that you picked up, just from our language. How you know what RFPs mean, for example.
Zoe Mock 1:23
I was about to say that, because I walked into my first day of work, and they were throwing around all these acronyms, and the only one I knew was an RFP.
Don Mock 1:32
Yeah. So –
Zoe Mock 1:33
Weird stuff?
Don Mock 1:34
Yeah, I mean, I don’t know. You came to work a fair amount as a youth. Certainly –
Zoe Mock 1:39
You also talk about work a lot. You and Mommy talk about –
Don Mock 1:42
Do we really?
Zoe Mock 1:43
Yeah, I would say so.
Don Mock 1:44
Boo. I don’t want to hear that.
Zoe Mock 1:46
Oh, not in a bad way. Just like what you’re actually doing with your life when you’re not with us.
Don Mock 1:50
Okay. Well, because my parents… growing up, my parents worked together. My dad was a photographer, and they worked together. And it was all they did. I mean, we wake up in the morning talking about photography, come home for dinner and talking about photography. And then it’d be like, “Time to go down to the dark room and develop some photos.” It’s like, “Oh, my God, get me away from – “
Zoe Mock 2:10
Photography Hell’s Gate?
Don Mock 2:11
Yeah, I was like, “Oh, I’m going ot eat this dinner as fast as possible. I don’t need to hear about XYZ client.”
Zoe Mock 2:17
I don’t mean it like that at all. I mean you guys like what you do. It comes up.
Don Mock 2:21
Well, yeah, we do love it. Rachel ended up skewing, as we’ve talked about on previous podcasts, more towards the educational side. Which is actually really interesting.
Zoe Mock 2:31
Academia.
Don Mock 2:31
Academics. Yeah, exactly. So I mean, what’s your take on growing up with creative, interesting…
Zoe Mock 2:40
Interesting people?
Don Mock 2:41
Interesting, beautiful, handsome parents that are unbelievably talented, and having to live in that shadow, while you came to work with us.
Zoe Mock 2:53
Laughing because it’s a joke.
Don Mock 2:54
What’s interesting, I think that was actually Kirby is probably the one that has been to the office the most and probably spent the most time here.
Zoe Mock 3:01
I think, with Covid, too.
Don Mock 3:02
Yeah. Because of the Covid factor and whatnot. Well, what do you think? So let me turn it over.
Zoe Mock 3:07
To answer your first question… I’m very opinionated. Very opinionated.
Don Mock 3:12
You think that’s a byproduct?
Zoe Mock 3:13
100%.
Don Mock 3:14
Fascinating.
Zoe Mock 3:15
Everything I see. Okay, because I think my entire life is “Oh, look at that logo they just stretched.”
Don Mock 3:22
Okay. So skewed your prism of… the visualization of the world around you is skewed through an art directors eye.
Zoe Mock 3:29
Because there is a right way to do things.
Don Mock 3:31
Yeah.
Zoe Mock 3:31
And 90%… I mean, you’re making me angry right now.
Don Mock 3:35
Getting fired up.
Zoe Mock 3:36
We’re getting the juices flowing.
Don Mock 3:37
We’re gonna run through the brick wall.
Zoe Mock 3:38
There is a right way to do things. I feel like I’ve known for a long time, when I can point out what is wrong.
Don Mock 3:46
Let me interrupt just for a quick, funny little point. What do you think is the worst design out in the world? You know what I mean? If you do see the world more through the prism of a designer or an art director, when you go out in the world, and you see things that are incorrect. You see things that rub you the wrong way, what are those things?
Zoe Mock 4:03
This is going to upset my generation. There’s the joke of making things in Comic Sans. Of like, Oh, my shirt says “Sparkles.” And sparkles is in Comic Sans.
Don Mock 4:14
Okay, and that makes you upset?
Zoe Mock 4:16
It’s just, it’s not funny.
Don Mock 4:19
But the rest of the generation thinks it’s funny?
Zoe Mock 4:21
It’s kind of like a little inside. “We know it’s ugly, but hee hee.”
Don Mock 4:24
Okay, wow, you went very specific. I love that. Yeah, the Comic Sans.
Zoe Mock 4:28
That and then I would say this stretching and skewing of logos when people just didn’t hold down Shift.
Don Mock 4:34
Hold on shift, people. God Dammit.
Zoe Mock 4:37
And then all of the general do’s and don’t.
Don Mock 4:39
I would have said I would have said… Any Mexican restaurant menu gives me like typesetting, it makes my-
Zoe Mock 4:47
You can tell when people didn’t use a grid.
Don Mock 4:48
Yeah, my Apple Watch starts bleeping about my heart rate, but that being said… I will say the worse the menu and the worse the spelling, the better the food.
Zoe Mock 4:59
Yes. If half of it is in Spanish, or all of it is in Spanish.
Don Mock 5:02
All the better, all the better, I’m here for it. Especially if it’s laminated. I mean, it’s permanently bad.
Zoe Mock 5:07
And sticky.
Don Mock 5:08
Yeah. That’s where it’s at. All right. So back – time in.
Zoe Mock 5:11
Time in?
Don Mock 5:11
Cause I keep interrupting. Okay, so you think you’re definitely opinionated Having come in having come to work?
Zoe Mock 5:17
Yeah, come to work. I heard about it.
Don Mock 5:20
What did you think I did for a living, growing up?
Zoe Mock 5:23
I thought you guys were artists.
Don Mock 5:25
Okay.
Zoe Mock 5:25
Like painters.
Don Mock 5:26
Okay, interesting.
Zoe Mock 5:27
Yeah. Very… and I would say you’re not far from that, to be honest.
Don Mock 5:31
Thank you.
Zoe Mock 5:32
But very, very technically, like, “Oh, we have all these paint cans in the basement.”
Don Mock 5:38
We do have a lot of paint cans.
Zoe Mock 5:40
They must do a lot of painting. Yeah. Then just kind of like, “Oh, they designed that T shirt. Maybe they painted that T shirt.”
Don Mock 5:48
Interesting, interesting.
Zoe Mock 5:50
I think that’s very, very juvenile perception of it. I think once I –
Don Mock 5:54
That’s okay. You’re a juvenile. You’re young.
Zoe Mock 5:56
I think Kirby… He’s like 11 now. So I think, by the time I was 10, or 11, it was more I understand that you guys are doing ads and packaging. And you’re using a computer. I don’t know what the hell you’re doing on a computer.
Don Mock 6:07
Sure, sure.
Zoe Mock 6:08
But things are moving.
Don Mock 6:08
I don’t know half the time either.
Zoe Mock 6:09
And there’s command controls. And you go ch-ch-ch. And somehow my book report cover is now perfect. Yeah. Okay. Cool.
Don Mock 6:19
I didn’t help you with any school projects ever.
Zoe Mock 6:22
No. No, you did not.
Don Mock 6:24
Well, I guess the reason why I asked that is… there’s an old famous advertising tagline. “Time to make the donuts.” The old Dunkin Donuts campaign.
Zoe Mock 6:34
Yes. I know where this is going.
Don Mock 6:36
So it became kind of a joke, of course, for multiple generations. That kind of became an expression of just going to work. I’m going to make the donuts, that type of thing. I don’t know how it started. I don’t know how it happened. But –
Zoe Mock 6:49
Oh, I know how it started and how it happened? You said it a lot.
Don Mock 6:53
But why did I start saying it? Is the question.
Zoe Mock 6:57
I think it was a time in life where there was need of some light-hearted chuckles.
Don Mock 7:04
Okay. All right.
Zoe Mock 7:05
I think it just kind of became…
Don Mock 7:07
“Time to go make the donuts.” Exactly. Yeah. So that’s what I’d say as I was walking out the door.
Zoe Mock 7:11
When everyone is out the door by 7:30, there’s got to be some sort of standardization.
Don Mock 7:15
Well, your younger brother, later –
Zoe Mock 7:17
My favorite brother.
Don Mock 7:18
Yeah. Later in life came to the realization, that I did not, in fact, make donuts in the morning. And was actually kind of upset about it. It was like, “Wait a minute. I thought you made donuts, dude.”
Zoe Mock 7:30
What are you doing?
Don Mock 7:31
Yeah, well, “You don’t make donuts in the morning?” It’s like, “Nah, man.” What? And it was like, I never even thought about it. It was just kind of funny.
Zoe Mock 7:38
And he’d been in the office before and just didn’t know where the doughnuts were made.
Don Mock 7:41
I think so. Yeah. So now he’s gotten older, obviously, you mentioned Covid. We went through the virtual school, as many people did.
Zoe Mock 7:47
He knows that we don’t make donuts for people.
Don Mock 7:48
And hey, we got great internet here in the office. And there was a time when he used to come to the office, borderline, every day, actually.
Zoe Mock 7:54
Do school.
Don Mock 7:56
That, I think, was interesting, because he then started to ask me, and he still does to this day.
Zoe Mock 8:03
Questions.
Don Mock 8:03
Yeah, like, “Hey, what happened to work today? Hey, what are you working on?”
Zoe Mock 8:08
I will say, that’s another thing. We’re all sitting at dinner. And everyone talks about, “Oh, how was your day today?”
Don Mock 8:12
Yeah.
Zoe Mock 8:13
And you and Mommy would actually talk about, I think in very adult terms, about what was happening? Like we’re not –
Don Mock 8:19
I’m an adult.
Zoe Mock 8:20
Not, “I went to work. And I made donuts.” You’re talking, “Oh, I had an RFP for blah blah blah.” And whether we understood that or not, that was more of a conversation. But I think the “we’re not gonna put it through the child scope” was a big deal.
Don Mock 8:33
Yeah. Understood. Well, it’s been summer. And he’s been doing camp. And camp is around the corner from the office. So we have been coming to work first thing in the morning. I don’t even know if you know this.
Zoe Mock 8:34
No, I don’t.
Don Mock 8:36
We’ve been coming into work, and he has been hanging out in the office here for about an hour or so, before camp starts. Then I’ll run him over to camp real quick.
Zoe Mock 8:54
Yeah. He says he sees my car on campus.
Don Mock 8:57
Yeah, he does. He does. It’s pretty funny. And so because of that, he’s hanging out in the office doing things. He’s just watching whatever I’m doing. We’re doing different things. We’re doing an identity – a logo project for a specific client. And “Hey, what are you working on?” That type of thing. And it was, “Oh, okay. Hey, let me run you through the thing. Just for fun.” Just for fun, just like as we had filmed years ago, Kid Clients. It was like, “Hey –
Zoe Mock 8:57
It’s on the YouTube if you’re interested.
Don Mock 9:03
Yeah, go hit YouTube. “Hey, let me show you, here’s what the client asked for. Here’s a b-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh. And Hey it’s am opinionated world. Even 11-year-olds have opinions. So he’s all in on this one. “Oh, I like that one. That’s the one.”
Zoe Mock 9:41
There a big consumer, 11-year-olds.
Don Mock 9:42
They are, actually. Their purchasing power is incredible cause mom’s allowance and whatnot. But anyway, so I’m telling you, for a week straight. “Hey, did you get feedback on that logo?” Have they picked? Did you get any feedback on it? No yet, dude, not yet. Sometimes you can only move as fast as your clients will let you.
Zoe Mock 10:03
You should tell them the 11-year-old really wants it.
Don Mock 10:04
It’s pretty funny. And it was, well, “Gosh, I really want them to pick this one.” And I’m like, “Dude, I don’t think they’re gonna… I think this is the one they’re going to do. I’ve been doing this a long time.” I can read the tea leaves.
Zoe Mock 10:04
Nice try, buddy.
Don Mock 10:04
Yeah, exactly. But it was really funny. It was like, Hey, I think when I was that young, I used to go to – as I mentioned the photography – I used to go to studio all the time. But I don’t think I was really as interested. He’s like super interested, which I find, actually, pretty interesting. I finally got to tell him, “Hey, this is the one they picked. And this is what they’re…” “Oh, man.” It’s pretty funny.
Zoe Mock 10:41
You read the tea leaves correctly.
Don Mock 10:42
Yeah, it’s pretty funny. So any other interesting, weird notes about coming into the office as a kid?
Zoe Mock 10:50
I love the office. I’ve always loved the office.
Don Mock 10:52
Really?
Zoe Mock 10:53
Yeah.
Don Mock 10:53
Cool. Yeah. You learned to ride your bike in our previous office’s parking lot.
Zoe Mock 10:57
Yeah. A lot of great memories.
Don Mock 10:58
It was nice and flat.
Zoe Mock 10:59
It was perfect. There were only two speedbumps in there. Well, I grew up with a very creative office. I’m now in my corporate cubicle. I had the realization that not every office looks like your guys’s office.
Don Mock 11:14
You don’t have a stormtrooper in the corner?
Zoe Mock 11:15
There is no Stormtrooper in the corner. There aren’t brand packages lying around. There aren’t big murals and graffiti and you can’t draw all over the walls, which I think is just a product of creative agencies. But I thought for a long time, growing up, that everyone’s office was this cool.
Don Mock 11:32
Yeah.
Zoe Mock 11:33
That’s just not the case.
Don Mock 11:34
Well, I’ll take that as a compliment. That’s interesting.
Zoe Mock 11:36
Yeah. So let’s see… I don’t know if there’s anything else.
Don Mock 11:42
Is that it? Are we out of things to talk about?
Zoe Mock 11:43
I don’t think so. But I do love the office. It’s great.
Don Mock 11:48
Yeah, I love the office, too. I mean, I think that we are fortunate here in that, we love what we do. And so maybe we do talk about it a little bit more than the average –
Zoe Mock 11:57
The average Joe.
Don Mock 11:58
Yeah. I do love, we did – as the rest of the world did – work from home for a little while, too, during this intermittent global plague we had. I did miss the office and it wasn’t Hey, the walls are painted cool and this and that.
Zoe Mock 12:15
Turning your brain on and off?
Don Mock 12:15
Yes. Yes.
Zoe Mock 12:15
I can also read your tea leaves.
Don Mock 12:20
Yeah, there’s definitely something to – I mean, we’re creative. I don’t want clients to think I’m working on their stuff 24 hours a day, but you’re always kind of, in the back of your mind, churning, thinking about ideas, things are happening. Creativity is percolating. All that good stuff.
Zoe Mock 12:37
Bubbling
Don Mock 12:38
Yeah, gurgling.
Zoe Mock 12:40
Splattering.
Don Mock 12:41
Salivating. So there is something that’s really nice about going in turning the lights on, hammering it, doing an awesome job. Working and rocking and rolling, blasting some metal.
Zoe Mock 12:41
You know when your brain is creative.
Don Mock 12:54
Then clicking that light switch and going, “Okay, it’s downtime.”
Zoe Mock 12:57
Good night.
Don Mock 12:58
Yeah, it’s downtime.
Zoe Mock 12:59
We’re on the backburner now.
Don Mock 13:00
It’s timefor the hot tub. Gotta soak those creative juices.
Zoe Mock 13:05
That was a pandemic purchase.
Don Mock 13:06
Yeah. Hey, man. For those other hot tub lovers out there, I’m with you. It’s a wonderful thing.
Zoe Mock 13:13
If you ever need pictures of him with an umbrella in the hot tub.
Don Mock 13:15
The irony too is I worked on spa, hot tub and pool care chemicals for gosh, 15 years.
Zoe Mock 13:23
That’s why you’re the resident hot tub expert.
Don Mock 13:27
Well, I don’t know. I may have lost some of that juice. That’s not a thing. Don’t make it a thing.
Zoe Mock 13:32
Resident… R –
Don Mock 13:32
Don’t make it a thing – stop. It’s not a thing.
Zoe Mock 13:35
R…H…T…E. RHTE. Resident Hot Tub expert.
Don Mock 13:39
Yeah, I think it’s cool. I think it’s cool that the kids – that you guys – all sort of have had experiences coming to the office. I think it’s fun. I think it’s really been interesting and enlightening for me, as you’ve gotten older, like the RFP example, just learning the different –
Zoe Mock 14:00
Absorbing a lot.
Don Mock 14:01
Yeah. The difference in how different companies and commerce… companies work, I guess.
Zoe Mock 14:07
I think a big part of that is again, just not putting it through the child scope. You guys always explained things as they were. If we need more clarification, given. But no baby voices. I don’t know how else to say that.
Don Mock 14:23
It’s weird to hear you say it like that, though, to be honest.
Zoe Mock 14:24
The concepts are not being dumbed down. Well, I have… I mean, you’ve explained things to my friends that I’ve been like, “Oh, yeah, for sure.” And they’ve been like, “What is he talking about?”
Don Mock 14:29
“What?” Really?
Zoe Mock 14:36
Yeah.
Don Mock 14:37
That’s interesting.
Zoe Mock 14:38
Their parents, I guess, never – you might know who I’m talking about – but their parents never talked about their work and talked about whatever. Here we are sitting on the couch, hashing it out for half an hour about what’s going on with the business.
Don Mock 14:52
If you’re gonna ask a question, I’m gonna answer the question.
Zoe Mock 14:54
Exactly. But that’s not common, apparently.
Don Mock 14:58
Well, I only know what I know.
Zoe Mock 14:59
You only know what you know.
Don Mock 15:01
Yeah, yeah.
Zoe Mock 15:02
It’s worked out well so far.
Don Mock 15:03
As I’ve mentioned before, I’m the son of an entrepreneur who is the son of an entrepreneur. So maybe we are quirky in our own weird ways.
Zoe Mock 15:11
Have your own little idiosyncracies.
Don Mock 15:13
Plus, I’m probably an overshare. As the fact that we’re on a podcast right now talking about this kind of stuff. So I’m just a big, Hey, if there’s something that has happened to me in my life, or that I’ve learned that I can impart. I mean, not not in a preachy way, but just in a like, Hey, if you ask a question –
Zoe Mock 15:30
All he ever did was preach. Ugh.
Don Mock 15:32
That’s not a true statement. But you know, sharing is caring, right?
Zoe Mock 15:37
Exactly.
Don Mock 15:38
That type of thing. I mean, just making the world a better place, One little… one great little design at a time, everybody.
Zoe Mock 15:46
Hold down Shift when you make those.
Don Mock 15:47
And where can they find those magical companies that can do those designs, Zoe?
Zoe Mock 15:51
On the interwebs at mocktheagency and on all the socials @mocktheagency. I’ve seen the Instagram has been posting more recently.
Don Mock 15:51
Thanks.
Zoe Mock 16:00
Yeah, I’m liking them. Don’t worry.
Don Mock 16:03
We’re crushing it, crushing it online. Well…
Zoe Mock 16:07
You can drop everyone a line.
Don Mock 16:08
Yeah, drop us a line online. Give us a five star review, all the good stuff, and we will chat with you next time. All right. Thanks everybody, buddy.
Zoe Mock 16:31
Bye, everybody.
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