Lasso Studio Interview
In this conversation, Mack Garrison interviews Lindsay and Alan Lasseter, co-founders of Lasso Studio, about their journey in motion design and branding. They discuss their early experiences in the field, the challenges and joys of running a creative studio as a married couple, and the importance of authenticity in client relationships. The Lasseters share insights on their unique creative process, memorable projects, and the significance of trust and community in their work. They also reflect on their experiences with major clients like Apple and the lessons learned along the way, emphasizing the value of connection and collaboration in the creative industry.
Takeaways
Lasso Studios was founded in 2020 by Lindsay and Alan Lasseter.
Their early experiences in motion design shaped their creative journey.
Balancing work and family life is a priority for the Lasseters.
Authenticity is key in building client relationships.
Trust between clients and studios enhances project outcomes.
Memorable projects often stem from strong client connections.
The creative process is unique to each project and client.
Community and connection are vital in the creative industry.
Lessons from working with major clients can reshape studio practices.
Events like Dash Bash foster learning and collaboration among creatives.
Chapters
00:00 Introduction to Lasso Studios
02:02 Early Experiences in Motion Design
05:02 The Birth of Lasso Studios
07:07 Navigating Work-Life Balance as Partners
09:07 The Unique Style and Process of Lasso Studios
11:59 Authenticity in Client Relationships
15:09 Memorable Projects and Client Connections
19:47 The Importance of Trust in Client Partnerships
24:00 Lessons from Working with Major Clients
29:01 The Value of Community and Connection at Events
Transcript:
Mack Garrison (00:00)
Hey, what's up everyone? This is Mack Garrison, co-founder, director of content over at Dash, and we've got another speaker series interview with the talented studio, Lasso Studios, a husband and wife partners, Lindsey and Allen Laseter. They are co-founders and co-creative directors of Lasso Studio. I'm sure that doesn't get complicated. Co-creative directors, no butting heads there. Out of Nashville, Tennessee, since 2020, they've worked together to merge their passions and branding, design, and animation.
serving clients ranging from local clients and nonprofits they believe in to powerhouse brands, including Apple and more. As partners in both business and life, they are building their studio intentionally to balance raising a family, building the life they desire and creating a foundation that can hold steady when life shifts in major and unexpected ways. Ooh, I'm excited. Allen, Lindsey, so good to see you all. I know you both. Thank you so much for hanging out with us today and introducing yourself to the dash bash.
Audience.
Lasso (00:58)
Absolutely. Thanks for having us, Mack, and inviting us to the Dash Bash. This will be our first time. Yeah.
Mack Garrison (01:02)
Is this really your first time? my gosh. One,
disappointed you haven't been before. But two, incredibly excited that y'all are gonna be joining us this year. I think folks are really in for a treat. I've known you both now for a long time. Lindsey, you and I are in the producers channel. We talk regularly. And Allen, I swear Allen, I tried to hire you for like years. You're the most booked up freelance contractor I've ever met in my life. I think literally for five years Dash tried to hire you and we were never able to do it because you're always booked up.
Lasso (01:31)
Yeah.
Mack Garrison (01:32)
Well, let's hop into it. I'd be curious from y'all's perspective. It's always interesting to me in motion design because it's such an eclectic mix of people from different backgrounds who kind of find their way into this space. I'd be curious from y'all's perspective, what are some of those earliest moments of motion design? When did you kind of realize, this is a cool field to be in? And I could toss that. We'll start off with you, Allen, and then we can go over to you, Lindsey.
Lasso (01:58)
Yeah, think my first, my truly first experience with motion was actually, I was just kind of thinking about this earlier, was working with a company I used to work for full time. That's right. Red Pepper, here in Nashville, and I didn't really know what I was doing, but I had a friend who knew After Effects and he had shown me a little bit of stuff and Red Pepper needed someone to just like make some little graphics move for like a...
Mack Garrison (02:13)
nice.
Lasso (02:28)
type video for some company and so I like jumped into like some really kind of simple what is it kinetic type kind of stuff so that was kind of like yes totally yeah and so I kind of that was like kind of my first kind of dipping my toe into the waters kind of memory and then my
Mack Garrison (02:38)
yeah, classic, classic. It's the gateway animation to animation is kinetic type.
Lasso (02:55)
My first full-on motion experience was doing some intro titles for a Google conference in Nashville in, what was that, 2013 or something like that, That was another thing where I had just a little bit of experience. The project fell into my lap and I was just thrown to the deep end. That was like it.
Mack Garrison (03:05)
wow.
Was your background always
design, Allen? Did it start kind of with design and creative and then there was this kind of like moment or two that you got into the motion side of it?
Lasso (03:26)
I was more like specifically like live-action like I really wanted to like be a director like for like live-action like film that kind of thing and I just kind of yeah stumbled into motion through that.
Mack Garrison (03:28)
Mmm, okay.
super cool. And I feel like I feel like everyone's got that friend. It's like, hey, look at this cool thing I made. You want to do something similar? You're like, yeah, that sounds kind of fun. How about how about you, Lindsey? What was kind of your early experience with the animation space?
Lasso (03:43)
Total it. Yeah.
Yeah, I mean, honestly, it came through Allen. We met at art school and we literally lived across the hall from each other. And that's how we got introduced. And Allen was studying film and I was studying graphic design. We both had transferred into college. This was kind of like our second go around, right? Of like the first thing we were both studying. Allen originally studied graphic design, though, too. So I think it's interesting all the overlapping. And so, yeah, really for motion.
Mack Garrison (03:54)
nice.
Okay
Lasso (04:17)
And I think what I remember most was like recognizing how much power that could have. Like he mentioned the agency job that I had more in the advertising realm. But what was really cool for me in experiencing it was seeing Allen's shift and discovering it was something that he really loved and recognizing like it was a direction that he could take because.
Mack Garrison (04:34)
Mm.
Lasso (04:39)
Just being able to watch him develop his skills for it was really my real introduction. And yeah, like to your point of like someone sharing what's inspiring them, I feel like that was a really special way to be introduced to it and to get really inspired by a world that was definitely not my own.
Mack Garrison (04:53)
I love that.
What was the college that y'all met at?
Lasso (04:57)
It's called Watkins College of Art and Design and Film. Yeah, yeah.
Mack Garrison (04:59)
How cool. Nice. Do they still
have the art design program and all that stuff still run strong? Cool.
Lasso (05:05)
They do. I'm actually teaching
my first class there. They're part of Belmont University now and so yeah it feels fun to be kind of back into yeah college world.
Mack Garrison (05:14)
That's super fun. That's great. You go find a major that you love and you find a life partner. I feel like that's a, that's a huge win from going to school. So that's great. So y'all are, y'all are dating, you're creative, you're doing all this stuff. When was kind of this moment that was like, maybe, maybe we should start a studio. Maybe we make this more. Cause if I'm not mistaken, you were both kind of independent contractors for a bit, or maybe Lindsey, you were in house for full time. Like when was it this idea of like, let's, let's pull together a studio.
Lasso (05:22)
Yeah.
Yeah, I mean it was 2020 and I think for most people that was when like life, like oh life could be different kind of revelations came up and so for us I think a big reason was we had had our daughter at that point and I did have like worked in agency, boutique studio, in-house as a creative director and
was working freelance for probably about six months before that. And it was like proof to us of like, we can work in the same space, like, and know that we could still have a good relationship. And so really an opportunity came to us very beginning of 2020 for rebranding Nashville Design Week. And yeah, it was really a casual, I was telling Allen about it and it was like, wow, it would be really fun to take like what we just genuinely love.
Mack Garrison (06:25)
Fun.
Lasso (06:34)
being like branding and identity systems and motion and illustration. And there was so much freedom with that project. It really was a dream in that way of like a lot of trust. We are getting to create something that is for the creative community itself. And so there was so much freedom. And I think that was honestly the best way that it could have started out for us.
Mack Garrison (06:52)
Nice. It's
always good when it starts on like a project that you really love, right? And when it goes smoothly, you're really proud of it. You're like, dang, could I just do this more? Like, how do I do this more? You know, I find it so interesting, just being partners and working together. You know, how do y'all navigate that work life balance? Is it one of those things where like you kind of leave work at work and when you're off, it's like, look, we can't talk about the same work because we always talk about work. Or is it just part of life that that is just always around and y'all kind of just lean into that?
Lasso (07:01)
Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah, we kind of, think it's just kind of a juggle and we go in, you know, ups and downs of like being really good at the, you know, leaving work at work thing. And then we get into times where it becomes all consuming, you know, just kind of depending on how busy things are and what any given project requires. But the ideal is, we keep our work to pretty specific work hours. And, you know, we try to like be pretty intentional about hanging out as a family.
as much time as we possibly can and in those times work just doesn't come up naturally and then by the time we put our kids to bed we're like we can't we don't have any bandwidth to talk about work. it kind of lends itself to having a natural separation there.
Mack Garrison (07:51)
Sure
That's good. I'm glad
y'all aren't like that super, super couple that's just like on point all the time. Cause like I get home and I have to disconnect. just talk all day, do stuff all day. I'll just like, you know, veg out on the couch with my phone. So glad to know that y'all are human as well and doing that too.
Lasso (08:15)
Yeah, it's been interesting just like over the years learning how to communicate with each other in that way and like even helping each other of like remembering like hey this is not the time for this like we can move this to tomorrow and and supporting each other too of like we really did start the studio so that we could have like this balance that wasn't existing previously and so it's nice to be able to support each other in that.
Mack Garrison (08:24)
Yeah.
I love that. Well, I got y'all's website pulled up and I'm try to do my best to describe what I'm looking at on y'all's work to audiences listening to this. But you you have such like a funky style and I don't know how to describe this other than it one is incredibly unique. It feels old but modern, right? You're tapping into this kind of retro feel but it also feels really progressive and forward focus. It's such a good unique mixture of like compositions but there's such a sense of brand.
and branding that comes into it, of course, as being a brand studio and emotion studio. You know, how do you all I'm so curious about y'all's process, you know, because I think there's a lot of typical motion studios out there that might feel a little bit similar on their process. But for a group that has such keen insight on branding, maybe you could walk me through just like what does it look like on a project when you get something and it may be a high level.
Lasso (09:34)
I mean, it really depends on the client and on the end result. And that puts us into like, okay, who's owning since we're both creative directors and deciding like how that should go about. really, I think.
There is so much behind the scenes of like the years that both of us have been like honing in and especially for Allen as like the illustration that he brings and just his unique approach to motion. It feels like there's a lot of beauty of the work that's been building to that so that it can come more naturally in our process now. And we definitely like whether it's like a brand forward or a motion forward project, like we're like, okay, this is essentially the steps that we're gonna start moving in towards. But really, I think one of the big
things is connecting to the intent of the project, connecting deeply to the clients and creating a good flow with them. then, I mean really for the creative, I think one of the most important things is trying to get into the mindset and the flow where we can actually trust our own instincts.
Mack Garrison (10:30)
Mm-mm.
I love that. Anything you wanna add to that, Allen?
Lasso (10:34)
Yeah, I feel like one of the other things that kind of makes our process unique is that like, think, and this is something we're still kind of trying to figure out is...
Because when we first started, really saw ourselves, what was exciting to us was being able to not be a studio that does motion and also branding, but have those things integrated from the very beginning. And we've had a few projects like that, but obviously it's a little bit more of a niche kind of, you know.
market I guess for that. So that kind of makes things interesting. like when we don't have a project like that, like how do we keep like, how do we keep it like collaborative and working together as opposed to like, well you go do this, I'll go do this kind of thing. So that is something that we're kind of constantly having to think about a lot. Sure.
Mack Garrison (11:02)
Yeah.
Mmm.
Honestly, I think everyone is to a certain degree on like systems and process
type stuff. It's one of those things like you're like, you find something, it works super well, you keep doing it then you're kind of at this new place where you're doing new work and you're like, man, maybe we need to tweak this a little bit, right? I think something that I get from both of y'all just immediately is just so much authenticity, just even in our conversation today, I've met both of you in person, you are who you say you are, I can just get the vibe of how it's like working with you.
You know, how much do you feel like that aspect of it plays in, you know, to the work you do? Like if someone's out there thinking about starting their own studio, like, do you feel like it's pretty important to kind of understand just like your vibe and how you work and kind of your personality equally as as important as the work that you do?
Lasso (12:07)
Absolutely. I think that is one of the key components of like when people are hiring you like they're not just hiring your studio they're hiring like the essence of what you're bringing and what the relationship while you're working together can be like so I think that is such a key component.
And yeah, I remember like early days of my career and you know, places that I dreamed of working and eventually did get to work where they were just like, really, I want, you know, ideally we're not working together late at night on a project. Those times come sometimes and I want to work with someone that I'm going to have like just really good feelings about. Like we get to make that choice. So yeah, absolutely.
Mack Garrison (12:38)
Right.
I love that. go ahead, Allen.
Lasso (12:51)
Well, no, no, yeah, I don't have much to add other than for me it just kind of comes down to I think I think of it, try to keep it simple and just try to be honest in every part of life. And this mode where you start feeling like you have to perform or project a certain image, it just puts so much pressure on you. And so for me, it's like, yeah, just...
It's like hard sometimes because even when you're trying to like there's like a trap you can fall into where it's like well I want to be seen as authentic and so then you're like Doing a little dance to like make people think wow. I'm so honest I just try to like and I think we've kind of built this into our city like just try to be honest like in everything whether we're talking to a client whether we're talking to other
studio owners or whatever. A lot of the stuff kind of falls into its place itself if you just kind of approach it.
Mack Garrison (13:44)
falls into his place
or falls flat. feel like I've made some jokes on some like corporate client calls and they're nothing there. I'm like, okay. It's a test.
Lasso (13:49)
Yeah, there you go. There is always that. But even that, I
mean, I would rather that than like have to, again, like uphold this like kind of image, kind of project. Yeah.
Mack Garrison (13:57)
Right, man, that's so accurate, that's so honest and
so much truth to that. here's a good question for y'all. You we talked about the Nashville Design Week and just how that felt like such a good project and a perfect fit for y'all and really was a jumping point into becoming Lasso. I'm curious, looking back at your career thus far, if there's any other projects you're really proud of, either from a creative standpoint or just that.
client relationship we're talking about where the work looked good. Maybe it wasn't the best out there, but there was such a good relationship that was really enjoyable. Anything else stick out to you all besides the Nashville Design Week project.
Lasso (14:30)
Yeah, I've got my answer. I'm curious what yours would be. The thing that's come into mind is it's funny because it's one of the projects that we had a little bit lighter kind of involvement in.
at least in proportion to all the work that was done with it because it was kind of a collaboration of different creative studios in Nashville but really cool little wine bar restaurant in Nashville called Bad Idea. got to collaborate with some super amazing creative people here in town and like a lot of our work and before we started our studio like the...
huge majority of my work as a freelancer was with people outside of Nashville, which is awesome. And I still am so thankful for the ability to be able to work with people all over the world. But there's something really cool about doing some work for a place in town that's trying to do something cool in and of itself and like seeing the work come to life, like in brick and mortar and seeing people that you live close to like interact with in that kind of way. So that's been, that's been a really cool one for me. Yeah.
Mack Garrison (15:23)
I love that.
Lasso (15:24)
Yeah, honestly, like the first time that we went and like actually had a date and ate there. Because from the first time we had the conversation with the owner, Alex, he actually reached out to us because of Nashville Design Week. That's how he found out about us.
Mack Garrison (15:36)
cool, nice.
Lasso (15:37)
It was just a perfect example of someone who is like, we want what you do. I want what you do and I'm just going to trust you to do it. And it was really encouraging too, just to witness him as a client doing that with so many other people that are a big part of the Nashville creative community and people that we consider good friends. So yeah, I would definitely agree with that one.
Mack Garrison (15:57)
I feel like it's one of those things and I'm sure you all have been asked this question as well. I think every creative kind of gets asked it at certain point. What is, who's your dream client? Who is the ideal client you want to work with? And my answer, and it sounds like I would echo the same sentiment is always like, it's less about like the industry or the client. It's like, is there trust?
Do we have a good working relationship? Because you can make anything exciting and fun if there's that partnership of like, let's get into it. I love your style. This is what I know about it. This is what I our customers want. And you have that back and forth. That trust is so key.
Lasso (16:29)
Yeah.
100%. And I think it's been fascinating, like all the different types of clients that we've been fortunate to work with and being able to channel in to that element. And I think that you can, as we've been doing this over the years, it's like we can like tell, you know, even from like very first conversation of, you know, is that there, knowing what questions to ask, and then if it's not a good fit, like sending them to someone who we think it would be like really great for what they need. And so yeah, it's.
that's so important and it's such a gift when you have it.
Mack Garrison (17:02)
There's such a vibe on that initial conversation and I love that. I wanna pull that thread a little bit. What are some of the questions that you ask right up front that you feel like kind of sets the tone on like whether this could be a good relationship or not? Is there any that come to mind? It's like a go-to question y'all ask over and over.
Lasso (17:18)
Yeah, I think it really is more like getting a personal connection to them of, know, we've tested and I handle like new business development and connecting to our clients and potential clients. So letting it be like less formal, honestly, is where I feel like it helps a lot. And just really just asking questions and letting them speak and not controlling the conversation so much and, you know, letting it...
letting them dive into like, why do you want to do this? Why does it matter? Like being able to connect to them personally as a human, I think is really important of again, kind of that vibe check of like, hey, if we're going to be working together for like months on end, like what's it going to be like for us to talk each day? And oftentimes you really can get a sense of that right away. And even just knowing like confidence level and clarity for them. And is it a space where like we can support them and just really getting that like energy along?
which I think really helps because yeah, we would we've definitely had projects where we've started to move forward in the conversations of working together and that there's essentially just a series of flags of like hey I don't know that that we are really the best partner for this and even just protecting our our time and energy more to know like sometimes even the largest budgets are not worth it if it's gonna spend our lives and our days into chaos
Mack Garrison (18:35)
Yes.
It's also, think
this like scarcity mindset that unfortunately exists for a lot of us or people who are just starting their own studio or freelance career that are listening to this. It's like, is that next one there? If I say no to this one, is that okay? And I think all three of us would agree that you have to recognize those flags and act on it. And our regrets that we have from our careers, I would surmise come from the one we didn't react to those red flags that we saw.
Lasso (19:04)
Yes,
absolutely. Yeah, and like you said something a minute ago about thinking, because I think it's so easy to when there's like a prospective project coming in, you think about the point of signing the contract and locking in the project and you never think about like, yeah, day after day for a long time working on it. Like it took me forever to actually start remembering that that's most of what we're doing is like working with other people. It's not about just winning the project.
Mack Garrison (19:31)
Yes.
Lasso (19:32)
So yeah, that's definitely cool.
Mack Garrison (19:32)
Makes you a little bit more, critical is not the word, but just focused on the right partnerships. Because again, like you said, Allen, like you're gonna be working with them for a couple of months at a time, potentially. It's like you wanna make sure you enjoy that relationship. You know, one thing I didn't ask y'all earlier, I meant to ask about LASA, where does the name come from? I'm so curious. And you got to put y'all on the spot here, because I know some names sometimes just sound fun, and that's totally reasonable.
Lasso (19:38)
own.
Yeah.
Mack Garrison (19:56)
but I'm really curious if there is any, y'all are a brand studio. I feel like it last though has to come from someone.
Lasso (20:01)
Yeah, it definitely does. Yeah, it sounds so silly. Yeah, my friends kind of used to jokingly call me Lasso because my last name was Laseter in high school.
Mack Garrison (20:12)
sick. I was hoping like, I was like, I used to be a cowboy and totally was just gonna
live out less be a cowboy.
Lasso (20:19)
Yeah, that would be cooler. yeah, I think, yeah, I don't remember. I think I maybe started...
I don't know, it was always kind like in the back of my mind. I don't actually remember when we said we should use that as our studio name. Well, it's funny because yeah, like as a branding studio, it's like we even support brands who are considering like, what should we name our company or our product or things like that? And so I think there was kind of a beauty to the fact that like we didn't, we didn't overthink it to that nth degree. Like it felt fun where we did worry or overthink it was like there was another Lasso Studio
in a country that I can't pronounce, but it looked like they had not been operating for a really long time. So for a period, we even just considered, we were like, all right, we're husband and wife, what if we were just the Lasseters? Which I'm so glad that we didn't move forward with that. And honestly, we give credit to one of our friends because they just started calling us Lasso as a duo. Yeah, because Lasso was always there, but it's like, we actually did, so we spent a lot of time like...
Mack Garrison (21:08)
haha
fine.
Lasso (21:21)
trying to go through like a real naming process. There's something about coming up with a new name. It just feels like too, it feels like overthought and like too random. then you're like, just not that Lasso is like inherently any better than any of the other names we came up with, but just the fact that it's kind of has a history. It's like, it just feels more natural. And yeah, like our friends saying, just go with Lasso. It's like hearing it from the outside. Yeah.
Mack Garrison (21:23)
Mmm.
Mm-hmm.
Honestly, I feel like it's kind of that push you need to
have a friend to like take you out of your bubble and be like, look, it's a great name. Just roll with it. Even for us, we had a late great friend, Andrew, who was like, we told him we were flirting with these different names. We were like, all right, we're thinking about Dash. And he's like, oh, there's the day you're born, the day you die. Dash is what happens in between. I'm like, yeah, well, that. But the reality was my business partner Cory and I, couldn't agree on a damn name.
Lasso (21:53)
Yeah.
Love that.
Mack Garrison (22:15)
we kicked around like 300 and we got to that point, we're like sick, know, dash works. So sometimes you need that, that friend to give you that little sidekick of like, you're in the right place.
Lasso (22:18)
Yeah. Yes.
Yeah, it's like the same as like when you're trying to name your kid. And so I'm glad that ultimately it was like, it just feels good. And yeah, I think that that could even just connect back to like how we want like our work to feel and how we want our clients to feel even like, yes, that feels right. It feels good.
Mack Garrison (22:28)
Mmm.
Yeah.
Well, I love that you're like tying it
together, right? We're bringing everyone around on this project. Last one it up. I love it. I love it. Although I would have loved it more if you, one of you was a cowboy. I will say that going back to it, but yeah, that's true.
Lasso (22:51)
We at least live in Nashville, so it's like the automatic connection that
most people outside of the city have, so we've got that in a way.
Mack Garrison (22:59)
So I'm, to change the subject a little bit, I'm really curious. One question I've been asking on these interviews is just about some stories in our industry. Both of you all have been working in this space for a long time. And one of my favorite things about attending conferences like the bash and others is just connecting with other creatives, finding out some stories that they have, like you'll never believe this client one time or we worked on this crazy thing.
Good, bad, or anything in between, I'm curious if you have a story you could share about a project that was either like crazy hard to get done or something just unheard of that you're working on. Any stories kind of bubble up to the top that maybe you could share on here, even if you disguise some names.
Lasso (23:39)
Yeah, mean, absolutely. I think one that comes to mind is the first time we ever worked with Apple. And it was, you know, one interesting thing in starting the studio and that I think that we continue to work through is even just our own mindset of like, we are a studio and we're capable of like doing all that we dream of doing. And even just...
you know, hoping that we could have opportunities with clients at like a larger scale who really value creativity, especially in the way that they do. Like those are ideal clients for us. And so it was interesting timing because I was pregnant with our second child and that that year, you know, we really, it was the first time that we were going to like create our own maternity leave as a company and knowing like, okay, this is, this is a big thing. This is something that we really want.
And so something that was really beautiful about that timing was, you we had created the plan and the vision for what we wanted that to look like. And we needed like a solid project to land within a certain time period and experiencing the fear of like, what is going to land? When is it going to come? And then the beauty of like it, the way that the email and the inquiry came in and the relationship, and then even the beauty of how that team worked with us, because the truth was I was
pregnant and our son was going to come, clearly in pregnancy, it's very hard to say it's going to happen on this date. So from the producer side being like, we just need to be like super clear with you of like, we're planning to shut the studio down for two weeks whenever the baby does come, but we can't tell you, you know, when that is going to happen. And so just like laying that all out at the beginning and experiencing that fear for ourselves, right? Of like, what if us kind of taking away what a studio would typically offer?
Mack Garrison (25:20)
Hmm.
Lasso (25:24)
which is like we're gonna get this project done by X-State.
Mack Garrison (25:24)
Mm-hmm.
Lasso (25:27)
And the beauty of that project was how just human and joyful they all were for us. Like they were thrilled for us. And that was just one beautiful example of how those partnerships can really support like the life that we actually wanted and allowing that project to flow. And it's one that like we're super proud of, but that, you know, just based on the nature of the project and white labels and all those, like it's not one that we've gotten to share before. But that was like a really, I think a much
Mack Garrison (25:51)
Hmm.
Lasso (25:54)
more personal but like really special project that we've experienced.
Mack Garrison (25:58)
I love that so much. I feel like there's always a fear. I think we all navigate this as creatives, because whether it's you have a boss in your in-house, you're a freelancer working for a client, you're running a studio, dealing with clients, there's always this fear as if we don't do something that we might not get the opportunity to do it again, or it has to be handled a certain way.
You know, it's such a refreshing conversation to hear that story and that Apple treated you all that way. I'm sure that it probably shifted your perspective on what is a purple. Like have you guys gone from that conversation? Has it shifted your mentality even on other projects? It's like, wow, if Apple is doing XYZ, we should have the standard with everyone. If that standard was different before. Have you felt a change since that project on how you treat other projects and handle other clients?
Lasso (26:48)
I I think even we were trying to do that beforehand, but I think there was something unique about how big that project and even just like the opportunity with a more well-known client name was, but that that really was getting to practice, like being honest about who we are. Like we are a husband and wife team and we scale up based on the scale of the project that we have.
And so I think just knowing, like we can be honest about who we are. We can set really clear boundaries too of like this is what we're doing or this is what needs to happen. And so continuing to like build that confidence and to know that we can do it for other clients too.
Mack Garrison (27:25)
I love that, love that so much. If anyone's listening to this podcast, which we hope people are, I don't even know, is this a podcast? Is it a vidcast? It's all of the above, check D, right? I'd love to get y'all's pitch on someone who's maybe on the fence of buying a bash ticket, thinking about coming to see y'all. Why should someone come see Lasso? Why should they come hang with Allen and Lindsey? What are you guys gonna talk about at the event, you think?
Lasso (27:33)
It's all these things.
I think it kind of did again kind of go back to what we talking about earlier. I mean the goal is just to be as honest as possible and to try because you know this is really fun. think this is what's so interesting about this event is that we're kind of trying to focus on and my understanding is that in general like we're kind of trying to focus more on you know the true like authentic part of you know what doing this work is like.
And you know, as a studio, like, you know, it's like we have kind of a mixed, it's okay if we're get this honest here, but there's kind of a mixed like motivation where it's like we want to come and be totally honest. But also, yeah, it's like we want just in general, not just at this event, but more people to know our name.
to get more work and form more relationships and stuff. So it's like going to be a really interesting balance, I think, of like being totally honest, but also like, I don't know, like how honest do you want to be and not like scare people off, you know, because we're messy. It's messy humans.
Mack Garrison (28:48)
We want the field
to continue. People need to continue to start studios and stuff. We don't want to be, you know, tell them how hard it is sometimes.
Lasso (28:53)
Yeah. But it's
like to me, I don't know, to me that's the most interesting thing. Like meeting anyone, hearing anyone talk is just like hearing the truest thing they can say about themselves. So I don't know. To me, I think that's the reason of self to come and hear not only us, but hopefully a bunch of other people talk about the real, the real part of all this stuff. Yeah.
Mack Garrison (29:13)
And it is the real
part about all this. Go ahead, Lindsey.
Lasso (29:15)
Yeah, I just going to add, I think the beauty of these types of events is, you know, clearly you're drawn to it for a certain reason and the people who are speaking are essentially like an expander for things that are possible. you know, our goal, like Allen said, is like, it is messy. It is messy to do the work. It's messy to be a parent. It's messy to work with other human beings in your own studio and other like just clients. And so I think like we were honored to be asked and I think that it felt
It felt like a level up moment of like, like we have been working really hard and getting the chance to like share the real behind the scenes, I think is a real gift. And just allowing people to see here's how they handled it. Here is what I'm drawn to. Here's what I know I want to do in my life right now. Like I've been thinking about that so much lately, especially teaching like these students that are about to graduate and like go out into the world and just being able to really zero in on what matters to you and connecting to people who are.
gonna like you know kind of help you step into that next version even when it feels scary and so I hope in a small way like we can do that just by sharing what what's happened for us so far.
Mack Garrison (30:22)
I love it so much. Community, connection, reconnecting, learning from one another. It's what's so important and what keeps our relationships with other peers so strong in this industry. Thanks everyone for tuning in today. Been chatting with Lindsey and Allen Laseter who are the co-founders and Creative Directors at Lasso Studio, an amazing brand and animation shop based out of Nashville. We cannot wait to have you at the Dash Bash. If you have not got your ticket yet, it's June 11th through 13th, 2025.
We're having an optional third day of workshops this year, two full day of speakers and hangouts. There'll be parties, there'll be plenty of time to network and really just learn a thing or two from one another, which is what it's all about. Thanks so much for hanging out with me today, y'all. Great chatting and can't wait to see you all this summer.
Lasso (31:05)
See you soon!
Mack Garrison (31:07)
See
ya.