Hi! What’s your name, what do you do?
Hi, I’m Connor and I’m a designer at Chaptr.
How’s working from home? What’s your setup like?
It’s not too bad so far – I miss everyone at the office, we all enjoy having a laugh and working together, but we’ve adapted quite well as a team to working from home. I’m not on my own in the house, so it’s not so bad. I’m trying to keep my routine as normal as possible, so for me, the change has felt pretty natural.
I enjoy being social, and having things going on around me – I don’t want to lock myself away, I’d feel too isolated that way. So I’ve positioned myself downstairs in the kitchen, it’s nice and light in here, and whenever someone comes to get themselves a coffee we can check up on each other. Lots of space, lots of light – it’s a nice place to design.
What gets you through the workday, any tips?
Keeping the routine has really helped, trying to see Monday-Friday as I would if everything was normal. I’ve stuck to my normal morning routine, aside from the commute. Plus, having a routine helps shape the evenings as they would during a normal week – am I doing a workout? Do I make some music, watch a film, etc. For me, it’s about doing everything I can to avoid feeling lethargic.
How many cups of tea are you on a day?
Well, no tea – but I think it’s about four or five cups of coffee at the moment.
What’s the soundtrack to your isolation?
Lots of Tame Impala, I love the new album and it’s made me go through the back catalogue. Waxahatchee released a new album the other day and that’s been on a fair bit, it’s a really good one to work to. I also find myself returning to Big Thief a lot. I just find them so easy to work to.
Watching or reading anything good?
I’ve smashed through The Devil Next Door on Netflix – that’s fantastic. I also caved and bought Disney Plus, so a few Disney classics have been on. I’d never watched all of the Star Wars films, so I’ve been watching those. One of the ways my girlfriend and I have been keeping in contact has been watching Atypical on Netflix together over Facetime, that’s been a good one, very sweet. We’re only two or three episodes in, but it’s been heartwarming and uplifting. We wanted to get away from the somewhat darker stuff we’ve watched together – like, I don’t want to be saying goodnight by watching Making a Murderer, it’s already quite a heavy time in the world.
If you weren’t working, what would you do with three weeks off?
I think I’d knuckle down and write some music. I bought a really nice synth a while back and still haven’t truly worked out everything it can do. I’d love to lock myself away and force myself to write and release some music. Spend some time working with the equipment I’ve got, learning new things, exploring all of that.