Creative Community: Summer Camp for Designers (transcript)

This is a transcript of The Collab Collection podcast episode regarding Camp Mograph, generated from the provided sources.

---

Host (Wesley Slover): It’s 5:30 in the morning and I’m running down the street dragging a suitcase to catch the bus to the train station. I’ll get a train to Chicago, take the blue line to the airport, and meet up with the shuttle bus that’s headed to one of my favorite events of the year, Camp Mograph.

When I try to explain Camp Mograph to my friends, I say it’s like summer camp for nerdy creative professionals. More specifically, it’s for motion graphics designers—a portmanteau of motion and graphics. Each time, camp is hosted in a different location, and this year, we’re at Camp Duncan, a YMCA camp north of Chicago. This will be my third camp, and I’m excited to spend some time thinking about my career while also taking a break from the day-to-day work of it.

To understand the history of Camp Mograph, I chatted with Mark Cernosa, a motion graphics designer and one of the co-founders and directors of Camp. Mark, do you want to give me the genesis story?.

Mark Cernosa: Yeah. I’m from Vermont, and I was driving from Maine back to Vermont and saw a lake with a bunch of cabins. I thought it might be fun to get some motion graphics people together to just hang out, go fishing, and disconnect a little bit. About a week later, I attended a conference called Half Rez in Chicago and stayed in an Airbnb with some friends I knew online. I mentioned the idea of renting cabins, and everyone said, "We should make this an event".

Matt Milstead: I was still kind of "meh" about the idea at first. I grew up in scouts and enjoyed camping, but I had never been to summer camp before. To get the ball rolling, Mark visited a camp near his home in Vermont and live-streamed it for me and our friend Dave CS. My eyes opened up to the idea of getting back to basics.

Host (Wesley Slover): They moved forward and rented a campground for October 2018.

Matt Milstead: Our first year wasn't a disaster, but the weather was cold and rainy, and the cabins had no insulation. We bought a whole bunch of space heaters, but the camp wasn't equipped to handle that much power, so we kept flipping breakers all night. But what’s funny is that no one thinks about that now; they think about how much fun we had and the bonding that occurred.

Host (Wesley Slover): I attended that first year and it was an amazing experience. After that, word got out and tickets for the next camp in Portland, Oregon, sold out almost instantly. Fast forward six years later to the first morning of this camp. I attend a workshop on managing scope creep, but I was eager to get creative, so I headed to a crafting workshop led by Sarah Beth Morgan.

Sarah Beth Morgan: It has been pretty awesome. It feels like everyone needs a break from the digital world to unwind and make something for someone they love. I was inspired to do this when I had my son; it gave me the realization that I don’t have to just do art for work.

Host (Wesley Slover): Everyone attending camp spends their workdays making stuff for commercial clients, so we all found it refreshing to create simply for the joy of it. I decided to make a Minecraft-themed wood block for my ten-year-old.

Sarah Beth Morgan: The biggest part of crafting is letting go of expectations. You don’t have a client to appease or worry about feedback, so it opens you up to try different things.

Host (Wesley Slover): Camp workshops also provide space for reflection, like Donovan Brutus’s workshop, "Aligning Your Art with Your Purpose".

Donovan Brutus: You don’t really get enough time for self-reflection in a crazy work schedule. We talked about identity—for me, identifying as a male, black artist determines my worldview. Thinking about roles as fathers or mothers got people emotional because it’s a heavy, beautiful burden and opportunity. When you find a purpose that connects to your core, you become emotional because you’ve finally found that connection.

EJ Bravia: I’ve witnessed people crying in these workshops because they come to realizations they never thought of just by being open and vulnerable. Everyone here knows what you’re talking about.

Host (Wesley Slover): The motion graphics community has always been a bit fractured, and since COVID, most everyone works from home. Nick Campbell, whose company Grayscale Gorilla sponsors camp, thinks this connection is vital.

Nick Campbell: It’s a small community. Your parents and friends don't really know what you do for a living, so it’s rare to get a group together that says, "I know how hard it is". Relationships are everything. Jobs come from this, but it's a secondary thing—relationships drive all work.

Host (Wesley Slover): I caught up with Hershey Suffin, a motion designer from Chicago who is the official-unofficial rabbi of Camp Mograph.

Hershey Suffin: I set up a little Shabbat corner for anyone who was interested, and it was a beautiful way to connect. At a typical business expo, you bring the most buttoned-up version of yourself, but here, you bring your whole self.

Host (Wesley Slover): Another feature of Camp Mograph is the Fireside Chats.

Ryan Summers: I did the very first fireside chat five years ago. I realized I should lean into the fact that this is a chance to have a discussion rather than a scripted talk. These are conversations we don't have because there’s no place to have them intimate enough for real questions.

Joyce Ho: I wanted to bring to light that there are other routes in our industry besides owning your own business. I feel more fulfilled working independently as an artist and collaboratively within a company that inspires me.

Host (Wesley Slover): The last night’s chat was an epic conversation with creative director Brandon Parvini. Justin Voss, who works at Google, told me it was refreshing because Brandon was speaking frankly about "positive rage"—loving what you do but also hating parts of it.

Brandon Parvini: My story was mostly a series of failures in a row that positioned me for the right opportunities. It takes "dumb endurance" to have a passionate relationship with the craft. I think people felt safe to get an honest answer, so we could get deeper into topics that don’t always make everyone feel good, but are good to explore.

Host (Wesley Slover): Probably the biggest experiment happened in June of 2024 when Camp Mograph went international to Australia.

Shell Weiss: I asked Matt if he would do a camp in Australia and he said, "If you want to do it, go ahead and do it yourself". The US team gave us their playbook and endless amounts of support to make it happen.

Host (Wesley Slover): I called Mark to ask what advice he has for people who want to create their own events.

Mark Cernosa: My advice is to just give it a shot and start small. Start with a meetup or renting a house for ten people and build slowly. This past year we had 180 people, and we wouldn't have known what to do if that was year one. Honestly, what was on the line more than the deposit was our reputation. I wasn't going to let it be absolute crap; I was going to make the best lemonade out of whatever lemons we had. I'm so happy camp has made an impact on so many people.

Host (Wesley Slover): Thanks to everyone at camp who took the time to be interviewed. This episode was written and produced by me, with help from Jake Merritt. It was mixed by Trevor Richardson. Our graphic design is by Audrey Haby. If you could use a sonic collaborator, hit us up.