Do you remember your first connection to the One Club for Creativity and how you got involved?

I served on the TDC Board for about two and a half years and produced The Type Drives Culture conference in 2022. But before that our studio was recognized through the TDC Annual Competition. I also hosted the Young Guns 22 party at Sony Hall and served on the ADC103 Publication Design Jury, so I’ve been involved with The One Club in many ways.

Is there a place, type of music, or an environment that fuels your creativity?

A lot of the work my studio does is for cultural institutions, exhibitions, and books, so I love going to gallery shows, museums, and bookstores. Whenever I am in Providence, I love going into Symposium Books and looking at the book covers and smelling the paper and ink. It’s really fun to watch people choose books, too. And I listen to a lot of music. Every year, I clock about 80,000 minutes of music on Spotify. Music keeps my energy up, and it keeps me focused.

Why did you choose to open your studio Morcos Key in Bushwick?

I love Bushwick because it’s energetic. When I first moved to New York in 2013, Bushwick was the creative capital where everyone moved to if you were trying to be an artist. I’ve been here for 13 years. It’s very creative, especially where I live right now. It’s residential. There are a lot of families, Black folks, and Latino folks, so it’s very diverse in that way. There’s a park right across the street from my house, which is so nice. It’s easy access to great restaurants, clubbing, and bars. It’s chill, spacious, and open. I love the trees.

Where did you move from?

I am originally from Alabama. Then I went to RISD for undergrad, and then I was in Hamilton Heights for a summer. And then, I’ve been in Bushwick ever since. I moved around to a couple of places in Bushwick.

How do you approach a creative project from scratch?

So if we’re doing a client project, we will have an onboarding conversation with the client to get to know who they are. Then, we send a questionnaire with 10 to 15 questions to let them share their ideas. We ask for any images that inspire them and go through it together on a call.

After that we do a proposal, and once everything gets approved, we do an interactive workshop online. We dig into the brand details – tone, voice, and mood boards. We are building a visual vocabulary with the client.

We do a strategy presentation where we present all this information including brand analysis and competitors. Then we go from strategy to the design phase. We present two to three design directions. The client gives feedback. We go back and forth over a few rounds until we establish an identity. The project could involve a big website, brand components, and social media. We really think of our clients as the experts in their fields. We’re the experts in graphic design. It’s our job to collaborate with them to achieve whatever story is needed for the project.

“We really think of our clients as the experts in their fields. We’re the experts in graphic design. It’s our job to collaborate with them to achieve whatever story is needed for the project.”

Is there a story behind the necklace you are wearing?

It is a hair pick that I got this in this beach town called Margate in the UK. I’ve spent a lot of time going back and forth to London because I work with a gallery that’s based there. Margate is really amazing, super artsy, and kind of feels like Bushwick to be honest. And there’s a store there that my friend owns who sells a lot of objects, necklaces, and all kinds of things that are all made by women of color all around the world, which is very cool. So I thought it was a hair pick, but someone recently told me it’s an Adinkra symbol for femininity.

What were your creative outlets as a kid?

My mom would set up an arts and crafts table for me and my twin. We played the recorder in the first grade, did choir, participated in church pageants, and theater camp. I played piano and saxophone, and made home movies. I realized at a young age that there are so many ways you can use art to express yourself, boost your confidence, and help you build community. I played all the sports as a kid. At around 10 years old I got serious about painting and graphic design. My mom brought home an HTML book from her coworker, and I loved it. So that was my first introduction to graphic design – tinkering with a text pad, making websites, creating logos in Photoshop, and pulling it all together.

What’s your go-to coffee order?

I don’t drink coffee. I drink water or Gatorade.

Are you on TikTok at all?

No, I downloaded TikTok for four days, and I ruined my life, so I deleted it immediately.

Besides work and art, what are you really passionate about?

I love traveling. I am always on the road, which is really nice. I travel to the UK and the Middle East a lot. I travel a lot with friends. I travel a lot alone. I travel for work. I travel for fun. It’s an amazing privilege that I have communities all over the world.

How do you feel about professional creative awards?

We’ve won some awards. It’s an important part of the industry. It’s amazing to be recognized by your peers for creating work that people deem interesting, good, or rising to the top for that year. It’s really amazing for professional connections, getting your work into relevant conversations, and trying to attract new clients. It’s fantastic when these award shows genuinely fund small organizations like the TDC, because we need these local chapters to exist and bring the community together, otherwise, we risk being siloed.

“Creative awards are really amazing for professional connections, getting your work into relevant conversations, and trying to attract new clients.”

However, some awards are geared towards corporate entities, chasing corporate money, which is a different ballgame. I don’t want to be competing against Google and paying the same entry price, because we’re not doing the same thing. This creates a tension, especially for young design studios, younger designers, or designers from marginalized backgrounds, in terms of being able to participate equitably. How do you make these competitions fair for someone making an amazing book that deserves recognition but might not be able to afford a $500 entry fee?

I see people making efforts to create more equitable pathways by offering discounts, free entries, or student discounts. These things are crucial because otherwise, the only work that gets chosen are from those with millions and millions of dollars. It becomes a cycle where Apple and The New York Times often win, not just because they create beautiful work – some of it is indeed amazing – but because smaller teams or individuals making stellar work might not get the chance to be seen.

What’s a campaign you admire?

Zipeng Zhu YG13 did the branding for Asset*. It’s basically a butt cream company. It’s so good. It’s so funny. And it’s so bold. The illustrations are so great, and the language and copywriting is amazing. It’s perfectly queer-coded, but also very open to everyone because everyone has a butt. Every time I see an ad from them it always stands out, feeling really fresh and also with the times.

What is a goal you are working on this year?

A goal we have for this year is to build in more breaks. As someone in New York running a studio for eight years, along with our designers and everyone involved, we actually have to take breaks. We shut down the studio for a week for spring break, we’re going to shut down for a couple of weeks in August, and we’re incorporating some Fridays off. We haven’t consistently done this in the past, but we realize we need breaks to sustain ourselves.

“We shut down the studio for a week for spring break, we’re going to shut down for a couple of weeks in August, and we’re incorporating some Fridays off. We haven’t consistently done this in the past, but we realize we need breaks to sustain ourselves.”