I've Been Invited to Guest Lecture at Stanford this Fall. (Yikes!)

Surely, this is some kind of administrative error...

Hey friend!

Big news and shameless humble‑brag alert! I’ve been invited to deliver the Fall Liu Lecture at Stanford. The one where they bring together people working in design, art, technology, architecture, science and let them loose on an unsuspecting audience.

Yeah. It’s kind of insane. 😳

This fall (November 13th, @ 4:30 PM PT), I’ll be up in front of Stanford’s brains trust, talking about my creative process. Q&A to follow (i.e. bring questions, or roast me lightly).

The David H. Liu Memorial Lecture Series in Design is a Stanford institution. They invite thinkers, makers, doers -people who bridge disciplines- to speak about what in God’s name inspires them to keep doing what they do. Past speakers have included some of the biggest names in art and design. It’s very humbling to be asked. I’m still waiting for them to email me telling me they meant to invite Chason Jatfield.

I mean, I grew up doodling cartoons in the margins of my school notebooks. Now I’m being asked to talk to Stanford about “design, creativity, art” and how I make things — cartoons, books, jokes, ideas. It feels like someone letting the class clown give the keynote at Oxford (if Oxford had a class clown). Anyway. It’s very humbling.

What I’ll talk about (tentative preview)

• How cartoons are designed, and why they’re such a universally powerful medium.

• The tension between deadlines and inspiration (spoiler: deadlines win more often).

• Balancing humour, meaning, and craft.

• The weird bits nobody’s ever told you about being a “creative professional.”

• And probably some war stories about trying to get jokes to land in front of 19,000 newsletter subscribers.

To my readers: thank YOU.

You who read this Substack, like my weird jokes, share ideas, reply with feedback, you all are part of why I get invited to things like this. If I stood on stage with zero audience, it’d feel like doing stand‑up to an empty room. (Something I’ve done before..) Your support -sometimes by simply opening an email- matters more than you know.

So expect more posts leading up: behind the scenes, what I’m preparing, doubts, triumphs, and maybe a few cartoons testing ground. And, yes, if any of you want to be there (or press “RSVP” on the Stanford page), I’ll drop a link when it’s live.

Stay tuned!
This is going to be fun. and terrifying.

‘til next time,

Your pal,