_{Day 192/100}

Hey—It's Tim. 

I’ve designed a lot of sites.
Ranked more.
And like you, I’ve stared at that one image we all shipped because it felt… correct.

Corporate Memphis. The noodle-limbed, beige, poreless “who-man” dancing through a fintech dashboard like life has no 404s.

The startup default pack: bendy limbs, pastel blobs, everyone smiling at a graph no one understands.

The first Penfriend site wore that suit.
Like - this is startup, this is what all tech sites look like and feel like.

All of us have these crazy long limbs and matching wardrobes and no facial features...

I know I do.
I'm sure you do too.

I didn’t grow up wanting to be a CMO…

Oh no, somewhere along the line I sold my soul.,,

Before CMO, I was an illustrator - 2D, hand-drawn, pencil shavings in the lungs, Disney or bust. I went to uni for 4 years to be an animator.

Rubber hose was my comfort food: pie-slice eyes, gloved hands, knees that bounce like they know the beat.

It taught me timing, exaggeration, joy.

Now I’m watching rubber hose become the new default. The Gen Z skin you can buy in a pack, drag onto a hero, and call it “brand.”

And I feel weird about it. Half nostalgia, half “oh god, not again.” It’s like hearing your favorite underground song play in a toothpaste ad.

I want to defend it.
I also want to unplug the aux.

I keep opening old sketch files, remembering the kid who wanted to make frames move for a living. I like that kid. He didn’t care about conversion.

He cared about whether a wrist flick felt alive. Somewhere along the way I sold my soul for ARPU and ICPs.

Or maybe I just learned rent exists.

Does a site need a mascot?

I’m genuinely asking. Because I still love characters. I love the way a drawing can hold a mood you can’t explain in copy. But when I see the same eight poses sell the same thirty products, I feel my shoulders go up around my ears.

Maybe the problem isn’t mascots - it’s when we use them as a proxy for having a point. Or maybe I’m just projecting because I miss drawing more than I admit.

What do you think? Does a site need a mascot? Or is the best face sometimes no face at all?

Talking about rent… :P

11 of you wonderful people already jumping into the Founders Tier for the new Penfriend. I cannot thank you enough.

For those wanting the weekend to decide - here’s what you get.

✌️ Tim "my favourite film is AKIRA" Hanson
CMO @Penfriend.ai

Same brain, different platforms: X, Threads, LinkedIn.

P.S. Founders will get a custom drawing each from me. I don’t draw for anyone else but myself these days. You have the power to change that…

Penfriend.ai
Made by content marketers. Used by better ones.