Episode 17
Graphic Design, Freelancing and AI, with Adelaide Leeder
July 31st, 2026
1 hr 23 mins 42 secs
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About this Episode
Illustrator and graphic designer Adelaide Leeder joins us to talk about creative careers, freelance client disasters, pricing design work, and what generative AI means for artists.
- Mark returns from Truck Festival with a giant battery and a solar panel
- Michael tries mindful coffee drinking after reaching ten cups a day
- Adelaide reveals what Michael was like at university
- We discover that blunt feedback can make you an excellent design client
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Who is Adelaide Leeder?Adelaide is an illustrator and graphic designer at Bally’s, the designer of the ctrl-alt-expletive branding, and one of Michael’s oldest friends. She talks about moving from animation and web work into illustration, designing games, making props for film, and creating work that still feels personal.
Quickfire Questions
- Spend a day doing 2D or 3D design?
- When starting a character design, pen and paper or a digital notepad?
- Design one important logo or a whole series of illustrations?
- After Effects or Flash?
- What is the biggest misconception freelance clients have about design work?
- How much completed work never makes it into your portfolio?
- Does AI image generation make you nervous about employment?
- What is your dream creative job?
Breaking Prod
Adelaide tells us about the freelance children’s game that lasted for roughly five years, involved endless revisions and several thousand pounds of unpaid work, and ended with the client asking Adelaide to compensate them for changing illustrator.
Big Topic: Freelance Design
- Is freelance work a dream job or a necessary evil?
- What work should a designer include in a portfolio?
- Why should freelancers take 50% up front?
- How long should mood boards and initial concepts take?
- Hourly rates or day rates?
- How do you price repeat clients and work for friends?
- How much direction should come from the client?
- How do designers collaborate with developers and animators?
- Do tools like Squarespace mean fewer people need bespoke web design?
- How do freelancers handle invoicing, tax, irregular work and late payment?
AI, Creativity and the Future of Design
- Where does AI genuinely save designers time?
- When does inspiration or assistance become passing off generated work as your own?
- What is lost when phone software “fixes” memories and removes imperfections?
- Can clients already recognise the look of AI-generated work?
- Will demand grow for handmade, analogue and demonstrably human work?
- Are physical crafts such as prop-making becoming more appealing as digital work becomes easier to generate?
- Online age checks now in force — Ofcom
- The UK Online Safety Act, age verification, privacy, and why VPN use surged after the new rules came into force
- What a VPN actually does, legitimate privacy uses, and whether you should trust a commercial VPN provider
Books
- The Psychology of Money, by Morgan Housel
- Men in Love, by Irvine Welsh
Talks and Podcasts
- Do schools kill creativity? — Sir Ken Robinson, TED
- The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
TV & Film
- Here We Go — BBC comedy
- Joker: Folie à Deux
- Severance, season two — Apple TV+
- Untamed — Netflix
Music
- TONGUE, including “Dyson Airblade”
Technology
- Nanoleaf light strips
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