Interview by Lucy Han

Lucy Han: Hi Kendra and Kelli! Could you please give an overview of And/Or, and your individual roles in the studio?

And/Or is a creative production studio known for intelligent humor and bold, systematic design in motion. Founded in 2014, our work focuses on branded content, show titles, packaging, and entertainment campaigns. We like to say we make clever things for screens of all sizes.

Kendra: I came up as a copywriter and creative director on the agency side, so my main creative role at the studio falls under writing, strategy, and creative concepting. That can encompass everything from writing scripts, taglines, deck copy and naming exercises to thinking of concepts and campaign ideas and directing editorial for things like trailers and promos. Business wise, we’re both involved in a lot of aspects, and we have a team of people helping us, but I tend to take the lead on financial management, HR, PR, operations and new business outreach. It’s a lot. Ha.

Kelli: On the flip side, I come from the visual side of things and have primarily worked with design and motion design studios. I’m a graphic designer by training, and over my career have expanded that passion into motion design, live action directing, animation and branding. My work tends to land on the visual and design aspects, leading and directing our team through projects that require visual thinking, solutions and directing on set when we’re involved in live action work. 

LH: How was And/Or started and how long has it been operating?

Kendra: We didn’t really get rolling (aka I didn’t quit my job) until spring of 2015. Kelli and I had just gotten married, and we were each working in various spheres of the industry: she had just designed and creatively directed the show open for Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, while I had this side project, a humor piece I had written called, “This Is A Generic Brand Video”.

We decided to leave our jobs and start our own thing because we had a shared sensibility for creating bold, clever content but neither of us really saw a path to doing more of that stuff at our day jobs. We had worked on a few art projects together and our skill sets were complementary – we felt we could bring something different to the motion design and production studio space. A nice side effect was that just by starting our own thing we became one of the few women-owned studios in advertising and design. I think we were able to establish a unique vibe naturally. We didn’t start And/Or to make a statement or change a ratio, but it was cool that we found ourselves making a difference just by existing.

LH: I see that you guys have a number of clients in the media and entertainment space, with an impressive portfolio of video work. Is this something that is actively pursued or just how the studio has naturally evolved?

Kelli: Yes, I fell in love with motion design before it was even really “a thing” while studying interactive design in undergrad. I’ve been playing music since I was 16 in various punk bands and the idea that I could combine two things I was obsessed with, design and music, into a career kind of blew my mind. I taught myself how to use After Effects in grad school at Cranbrook and didn’t look back. I’ve also always had a deep love and passion for film so moving media has always beckoned me. I really enjoy working within the cultural space and working with entertainment and media clients offers a lot of great opportunities to be super creative as a designer. It’s also a really nice way to inch into live action directing and narrative, which is something we’re both interested in.

Kendra: It’s been a constantly shifting space for the five years we’ve been doing this, and I think being small, flexible, and conceptual as a studio, with full production chops has helped us stand out – we’re a place that can pitch you a campaign and then actually make all the pieces. And when you work with us, you get us. We’re not big enough (nor do we want to be) middle men (or middlewomen). That said, we’ve also been purposefully expanding our client base to do more work direct-to-brand, with clients like Spotify and Airbnb.  I think that’s been a natural evolution as tech brands are looking to do more project based work, or are looking for small studios that can collaborate with their in-house creative teams. We think that is the advertising format of the future, at least when it comes to making cool stuff for brands.

LH: Do you guys have any personal favorite projects and if so, why?

Kendra: We made a self-directed piece called, What Is Content?, which is a commentary on the glut of content in the industry that gave us a chance to flex our directorial sensibility. It was fun because we just did what we wanted and got to direct a weird thing that featured a toilet and bro-y mannequins called Tad and Chad. 

Aside from that piece, we did a series of animated films with MTV’s pro social team, called Gender Bent, where we researched gender stereotypes and went back in time to find out where they came from, and put an absurd twist on them. That was a super fun project because it used all of our talents, from scriptwriting to design to animation and finishing. 

We also did some work with Amazon Prime Video recently that highlights all of the content on their platform in a really fun and irreverent way. It isn’t out yet, but we’re looking forward to seeing some of that work out in the world.

Kelli: I would second Kendra’s picks here. I think anytime we can write, direct and produce a project we are at our best. I love it when the output of our work really showcases our creative point of view, this is something that’s really important to us as a studio. It’s why we started And/Or - so we could work on projects that really reflected our clever, quirky sensibility. I’m also really proud of the film titles we’ve worked on. I love the work we did on The Case Against Adnan Syed, even though it might not hit the “humorous” tone we cultivate. I think there are many ways to be clever and smart in design and this project allowed us to flex our creative muscles. Using great design and animation to build and support a larger narrative was really fun and something we’d love to do more of. I’m also very proud of the Spotify Stay Scary films we did last October. We were presented with a perfect brief: do something that doesn’t feel commercial, make it art. I think they came out very cool. And I can’t leave out our packaging for the FXX show CAKE in which we filmed cakes falling in slow motion on a variety of mundane scenes. It was...delicious.

LH: As a creative business, how have you been affected by the global spread of Covid-19 and the current lock-down measures in New York?

Kendra: Well, it’s definitely been a bit weird! But we are lucky in that a lot of what we do can be done remotely with minimal interruption. It’s a bit tricky transferring large files, creative directing over video chat, and keeping everything organized, but it surprisingly isn’t as challenging as we thought. If anything, it makes us question how often and how long we need to be in an office in the future. Of course, some of our clients have been much more heavily affected, and that has a trickle down effect, but we’re trying to reach out and be helpful in whatever way we can – for example, live action production is difficult right now, so we’re trying to offer design and animation solutions.

Kelli: Definitely weird. But we are super lucky that basically all we need is a laptop and decent internet to remain productive and busy. I really feel for people who do not have this luxury. I think the most disruptive part of this for us as a studio is the shake up to our studio culture. We all genuinely like working together, so it’s been a little hard not seeing people in the flesh everyday and doing our weekly happy hours IRL. At least we have Zoom!

LH: As a freelance creative myself, what advice would you give me on how to best navigate this period of uncertainty? Specifically, how to maintain a healthy and positive mental outlook, and how to be a supportive, empathetic member of the creative community?

Kendra: Well, it’s certainly a scary time for everyone, because no one knows what the world is going to look like when we start to go back to our previous routines, but that’s kind of exciting as well. Part of the weird irony for me personally is that I think in familiar times I would be afraid of failure, or more easily put off thinking about my long term creative goals. But maybe now, when the entire world seems to be failing, everything just seems absurd. It’s like a free space to shift and experiment and re-examine and rethink your goals and purpose. No one is going to care or notice if you fail because the world is falling apart. That said I am acutely aware that we all need money and we all need to eat. But again, it seems less intimidating because it’s happening to everyone, so we’re less alone in these moments of stress. On a more practical level, being a small business owner is just non-stop uncertainty, so in a way this hasn’t felt much different from the lesson I’m always trying to learn: to accept that I can’t control everything and to just take it one step at a time. 

Kelli: I have been really aware of what makes me feel motivated and happy through this and it’s been exercising. I know that sounds very NYT Health report but honestly, everyday that I do some amount of physical activity it really makes all the difference. That and playing Animal Crossing. I think just knowing that we’re all going through this together, nobody knows WTF is going on or what is going to happen is also strangely reassuring. As a business owner, a lot of the twists and turns of the studio can really weigh heavy on my personal responsibility scale. So just knowing that this is not my fault has been really reassuring. I’m also an idealist and optimist (aka Aquarius) and I really love the idea that this pause on “normalcy” could illuminate a path to a much more balanced and inventive future for everyone. What have we learned from this that can actually help the world and each other?  

LH: Do you for-see any lasting effects this may have on the creative industries?

Kendra: I think for our industry it has shown that we can be more flexible and versatile in our teams and where we are working, including working from home more often. I think it’s been interesting to see everyone realize how challenging it is to work and parent at the same time; I hope that leads to more inclusive and generous parental leave policies and a general acceptance of what juggling those roles really entails (and that’s coming from someone who doesn’t have kids). Finally, and this might be a pipe dream, I think it could be cool to come out of this with a slower, more thoughtful way of doing things. Americans, and this industry in particular, have long been chastised for not taking all their vacation days or being “plugged in” round the clock with work stress. It could be a good thing to just kind of step back and delineate our time again now that it’s all been smushed together for months. I think that would be cool!

Kelli: 100% same. Let’s slow down, let’s make time, let’s be more mindful. Let’s use our creative talent and powers for good.

LH: What are your tips for working-from-home? How are you keeping your physical health in check?

Kendra: I instituted a challenge to do 100 squats, sit ups, and push ups every day. The twist is that we just do twenty at a time in two hour intervals. It’s something that would be almost impossible to do if we were working at the studio or really, among other people, but now that we’ve been cooped up at home for this long it’s kind of like why not? Let’s mix it up. Sure! 

LH: Thank you for your time and insight! Where can we go to find out more about And/Or?

and-or.co