Can you tell us a little about who you are and what you do?
Hey! Thank you so much for having me. It's so weird to be the one who is answering the questions. I always read answers to one of my questions where people reply being like ‘wow how do I describe myself’ and now I completely understand that reaction!
So my name is Megan and I'm a third year (not for long) design student at the University of Bolton. I'm a lifelong Man Utd fan although I have never been near Old Trafford, I have a low-key Pepsi (cherry, the best flavor) addiction and I’ve never seen Harry Potter or Friends. Aside from this I describe myself as a designer and photographer and I'm also the Founder of an art platform called Let’s Talk Creative.
We are big fans of Let's Talk Creative! What were your main motivations behind founding the platform? Is this something you’d like to pursue long-term?
Wow, thank you! So I created the platform in August of 2020 in about a week honestly without any big direction. All I knew is that I wanted to create something that would speak to people and start conversations. This was more for me as well as others, especially in the beginning. Outside of everything online I am SO nervous and anxious to speak to people and will actively avoid it. I would rather send a text to get someone's attention even if we’re in the same room. Having these conversations allowed me to speak to people and put myself out there and try to work on these anxieties.
Let’s Talk Creative has grown into something that I'm hugely proud of and through it I have been able to have so many great conversations and also meet so many amazing people. I would definitely love to pursue it long term! For now we need to carry on going and carry on having conversations that I hope will help people!
What is the ethos behind the platform and what are you hoping your audience will get out of it?
The ethos behind the platform honestly is to just talk. To have conversations and show that everyone is a real person. You often see everyone on Instagram and look at their work especially as a student and think wow that's so good but you don’t really get to know the people behind it. I love to read conversations and listen to talks and there are questions that I would love to know as a student myself so I just want to talk creative and show young creatives that everyone is human and everyone has stories that deserve to be shared. I hope that the audience will just be inspired and excited to be in the industry. I want them to get involved and be featured and be shown and to just speak about what they love with like minded individuals.
so I just want to talk creative and show young creatives that everyone is human and everyone has stories that deserve to be shared
Can you tell us a little about how you came up with the visual identity for the platform?
This is honestly such a good question that I hope to go into further detail at a later date. It all stems from me and how it's associated with who I am. I started the platform as a blog in 2020 and it was called Morgan Vickers Blog. This was always a temporary name as I knew that this wasn’t my own personal identity.
However, this took a long time and I had to deal with coming out as a trans-woman and choosing a name and all of the admin that comes with that. I redesigned the site and the whole branding in about the middle of 2021 and changed the name to LTC. The branding that I chose was extremely similar to my own personal branding and featured my own personal logos a lot in the branding. So I wanted to then change it at the same time I updated my personal branding to reflect my personal name change (Morgan - Megan).
This latest redesign was created in the effort to make updating the site easier and also making it more user friendly. It was also inspired by my uni projects and some posts I saw on Instagram of typefaces and was mainly driven by wanting to distance myself in terms of branding. I am very much still a massive part of the platform but it has grown enough to deserve its own personal identity.
How did you find the courage to take the leap and start your own platform? And did you find the process of launching it scary or intimidating? If so, how did you overcome this feeling?
Every change and idea I come up with is terrifying. I don’t think I ever overcame this feeling and I don’t think I will. I think with the right people behind you, you can do anything and I think naturally confidence comes along with this. You just need to keep at it and keep trying. I actually recently got a DM from someone who is in the same position as me and they said that they were loving the platform and that means the world to me. Its so nice to know that what you are doing is worth it and other people are getting enjoyment out of it. I want to create the platform that I would love to use and I think thats what keeps driving me forward.
I want to create the platform that I would love to use and I think thats what keeps driving me forward.
Congratulations on making the transition to become an all female-based platform! Has this transition changed your ultimate goals for the platform?
Thank you so much! Honestly that is still so weird but SO nice to hear. Yes, we are now an all female-based platform and it's not just me onboard. We have two amazing creatives in Penny and Ellie who will be starting to interview creatives very soon and hopefully have a new take on the interviews that I possibly wouldn’t see. I think my ultimate goals haven’t changed but definitely the way this is achieved has done. When picking my interviews in the past I have spoken to people whose work I enjoy. That is the only factor I look at but looking back at who I have interviewed it is easy to see how easy it is for people to be under appreciated and not be given that chance to be highlighted. That's why I think it is so important for platforms such as yourself and Fuse to exist.
That doesn’t mean platforms such as my own can’t improve and do better. Of course we can and we intend to. Ultimately we want to talk creative and show off young creatives and speak to people within industry but equality is definitely something myself and LTC are wanting to strive for and we definitely have fallen short in achieving that at times. However, when given the chance we want to have the important questions spoken about and for our conversations to be meaningful. That is one of our ultimate goals for the platform and that will not change.
we want to have the important questions spoken about and for our conversations to be meaningful. That is one of our ultimate goals for the platform and that will not change.
Social media can be a great place for tackling gender inequality and accepting the underrepresented. Do you think that social media is positively helping with the change towards a more diverse industry?
I think social media is a strange place and there are a lot of positives to take from it. It allows people to connect in a way we couldn't before but this may be off topic but I think that social media definitely has its limits. And I think a great example of this is censorship on Instagram but mainly TikTok. The amount of trans and non-male creators that have been banned on the platforms for doing the same things as their counterparts its crazy to me. So yeah I think social media definitely helps but then social media companies have so much power and agendas that concern me. However, in the industry social media is integral to getting yourself out there and so many people are making changes to make sure that it is more diverse and everyone is represented.
How do you see Let's Talk Creative evolving ?
LTC is two years old this year and a lot has happened in that time and we have spoken to many people in that time. We started a featured series in order to feature young creatives as well as the 21’ Grad Feature which highlighted the latest grads from many different uni’s all over the country. We also launched the takeovers on our Instagram and most recently standout. So I think for now we need to be consistent and keep making steady progress and keep having fun!
What piece of advice would you give to anybody inspired by your platform, who wants to start their own platform or movement?
Just do it. Speak to people for advice and don’t be afraid to make mistakes.
don’t be afraid to make mistakes
Are there any books/podcasts/magazines or platforms that inspire you?
Firstly you guys! Secondly, Creative Boom is ace Katy is doing a phenomenal job, The Better Late Than Never podcast is soooo good and the Always Creating Podcast by Jorja Taylor is definitely one to listen too! This one isn’t creative based but the Tiny Hands Pod is such a good pick me up!
Lastly, what is the best piece of career advice that you have ever received?
Wow this ones tricky. I guess I would say to just be you. Let yourself and your personality shine through in everything you do because you are unique and special and that deserves to be shown off.
Let yourself and your personality shine through in everything you do
