Five to inspire with Jack Morgan
Designer @ Duolingo
Who are you?
Sure. I was born in a town called Dagenham, just on the outskirts of London, England. I skipped high-school, college and university and got my start at a (then small, now big) ad agency called Havas in Central London, where I somehow ended up managing multi-million dollar advertising budgets for Fortune 500 clients for over 5 years. That probably shouldn’t have happened.
I started an independent design consultancy in 2013 and became Google’s lead designer for their education initiatives in Europe, US and Asia. In 2016, I moved from London to the US to join Duolingo in their mission of bringing free education to the world. I was already a fan of Luis von Ahn after seeing his TED talk, Duolingo was already installed on my iPhone (although unfortunately buried on the 4th home-screen at the time) and I believed in their mission, so it made a lot of sense.
I currently look after partnerships, advertising and product launches in a mixed design/business role — accommodating the multidisciplinary approach I’ve become accustomed to over the years.
What’s a typical day on Jack life like?
I used to keep a very strict routine, but after a few years of round-the-clock work I decided to start allowing new experiences and my social life ‘interrupt’ that routine more and more. I’ve found somewhat of a balance now, but I travel a lot these days so I still have to train myself to get back into some form of routine every time I return back from a trip.
On an ‘ideal’ work day, I’ll wake up relatively early (I don’t have fixed working hours, so this could be any time between 6–10am depending on what I was doing the night before), head to the Gym in my apartment building and workout for 30–60 minutes. I’m starting to do a lot more strength work, but I’m more built to run so I’m typically drawn to the treadmill. Then comes the shower — I use this as an excuse to mentally prepare for the day, so anyone that’s spent more than a couple of days with me will tell you I spend way too long in there.
As soon as I’m dressed I’ll sit and meditate for 10 minutes using an app called Calm for iOS (this is a habit I’m finally getting back to after a 2 year lapse) and head to work, typically arriving between 9–11am. As soon as I get to my desk I sit and do two lessons on Duolingo for iOS or Android.
Once that’s complete, I’ll get to work. I used to dart in a thousand different directions every day (as is the nature of a cross-functional role) but these days I try and focus on tackling one big thing per week and just going all-in on that. Meetings, emails and general admin now sit at the very bottom of the priority pile and I just get to them when I can. I’ll head home sometime between 6–11pm and make dinner. Depending on the time, I’ll either jump into bed and read for an hour or head out to meet friends for drinks.
How would you define good design?
Ah, the age old question! That’s a difficult one. I think it depends on what you’re designing. A brand should be — first and foremost — memorable. A User Interface should get out of the way and let you get things done without thinking about *how* to get them done. Physical products should last as long or longer than you expect them to — and you should hopefully grow more fond of them as they age.
A city should be accessible; both in terms of mobility (walking, cycling, public transport and catering to the wheelchair bound, deaf and blind) and in terms of affordability — the rich and poor should coexist and not be segregated, and people shouldn’t be priced out of the city or forced into slums. Your clothes should make you feel comfortable and more like yourself, projecting your personality.
I think good design is a lack of nasty surprises — it’s something ‘normal’ people shouldn’t have to think about. It should just make sense. Good design should be so good that you innately take it for granted.
Share something you’d really like to do — but haven’t done yet. What’s keeping you from doing it?
I’d like to start a podcast with close friends (and sometimes strangers) where we just… chat. I find conversations with my friends so mutually, hysterically funny and off the wall that I (perhaps narcissistically) think other people might like to listen in. I also find conversations with strangers to be intensely fascinating; it turns out most people are just friendly, nice and deeply interesting once you break through that initial social shield we all carry.
I also know I personally find a lot of joy and comfort in listening to podcasts where people just banter back and forth with no real agenda — it’s a great way of battling loneliness when you’re traveling and are forced to spend a lot of time sitting alone, quietly. I think the reason I haven’t gone ahead with this yet is that:
1. I don’t want to feel like I’m forcing conversation with my friends; I find the best conversations seem to happen spontaneously.
2. I think a lot of what’s said online these days is often misconstrued, twisted, tweeted and taken out of context. People seem to get offended a lot more easily nowadays, and things get out of hand way too quickly. I’ll never censor myself or hold back for anyone, but right now I’m not sure enough that the general public won’t lynch me for making a joke, once that joke reaches enough ears. I expect the pendulum to swing the other way shortly, though.
How do you imagine your life as a designer 10 years from now will be?
In a decade, I think we’ll look back on the work we do today and the tools we use and consider it all quite primitive. The future will be dominated by virtual reality, 3d printing and invisible interfaces — I’m not sure where designers will fit in the new era because the true shape of the future is unknown, but we’ll settle somewhere and explore, and play, and hopefully build things that people enjoy. It’s a scary, but exciting future that will be unlike anything any generation has seen before. For now though, I’m just enjoying the journey.
People and/or designers that inspire you? (personally and professionally)
Bill Murray, for his attitude and approach to life. Elon Musk for his incredible achievements and drive to push mankind forward, and Michael Bierut for his incredible contribution to design throughout his career.
Beyond that, the people I work with genuinely humble me and inspire me to be better. My friends inspire me to be kinder, funnier, more adventurous, more welcoming. I feel very fortunate to have these people and these influences in my life — at least in that sense, I’m the luckiest man in the world.
Where can we find Jack Morgan?
The best place to find me is jackmorgan.com — although like most designers, my portfolio is often out of date as I can never seem to the find the time to update it, or so I keep telling myself! I’m on Twitter @jckmgn. I’m also jackmorgan on Dribbble and Behance.
