Courtney Macca

Originally hailing from the Pacific Northwest, Courtney Macca, visionary designer and illustrator, currently lives in “the heart of Atlanta” where she works as a graphic designer for a marketing team by day, and focuses on freelancing, hand lettering and illustration at night.

Courtney, a self proclaimed lover of typography, illustration, and branding, is constantly creating new designs to be viewed by the world. In her spare time (though it’s hard to believe she has any), Courtney spearheads an Atlanta-based monthly lettering Meetup group called ATLphabet.

One of the projects that sticks out to us is Courtney’s 100 Days of 15 Minute Faces, where she worked for 15 minutes each day to create a person’s face, sometimes based off of fictional characters, famous people, or people in her life, using her Wacom tablet, photoshop, and occasional reference photos.

We’re so glad Courtney found the time to join us for our DQSD series!

Q. What’s your least favorite letter to draw?

Definitely Y’s, K’s, and W’s. Pretty much anything that has that diagonal in it because balancing that out with the rest of your diagonal letters can be kind of mind boggling. It’s definitely something that I should work on a little bit more. Those letters for sure.

Q. People’s Court or Judge Judy?100 Days of 15 Faces by Courtney Macca

I love Judge Judy. (Laughs) I love her sass. Back in the days when I was unemployed, that was on TV all day. Having her sass and her comments on people’s lives like ‘this isn’t working, you need to get your life together.’ I’m all about that.

Q. What’s your uncle’s name?

Well, which one? Do you want all of them? Okay, let’s see, lets see, I’m gonna give you two – Jim and Tom, which is funny because they’re so similar but on different sides of the family.

Q. If you had to live in a pair of pants, would you rather leather or corduroy?

Corduroy because I feel like those have to be more breathable than leather, and especially living down in Atlanta where the humidity can be insane, you gotta get something with a little breathing room. Just a little.

Q. What’s one smell that brings you back to your childhood?

Dumb Questions for Smart Designers with Courtney MaccaThere’s a very specific white paste that I used to use in preschool. It would be a jar of paste when we cut out construction paper and glued stuffed together, and it has such a specific scent that I’ve literally spent the last 26 years of my life trying to find the scent. I miss this paste because it throws me straight back. I feel like I’ve only smelled it once or twice since then, but it wasn’t paste and I haven’t found it again. It’s this elusive scent and elusive product that was every day of my life in preschool.

Q. What’s your favorite brand of bottled water?

My favorite brand of bottled water? I’m gonna go with Dasani, both because it’s what i got every day in high school and also you know Dasani is Coca Cola, and Coca Cola’s represented in Atlanta, so you know I’ve got to have some city pride here.

Q. Do you know the difference between a llama and an alpaca?

Alpacas are nicer, llamas are mean. Alpacas have softer fur and I’m assuming the opposite for the llama. I wouldn’t hug a llama basically, I wouldn’t try to do that. Which one’s gonna get you bitten? Probably the llama.

Q. What is your writing apparatus of choice?

ATLphabet Lettering Group in AtlantaI love a real good ballpoint pen, like the Bic ballpoint pen – really simple with the removable cap, that’s what I use – that’s my key writing utensil if I’m writing notes or whatever. It’s simple but it works.

Q. Who would you like to punch today?

Who would I like to punch? I don’t think I could punch anyone to be honest. I would just punch that clown, the thing that falls down and comes back up when you punch it for kids. I’ll punch that because I don’t really think that I could inflict pain upon another person like that. I am an alpaca.

Q. Why do you think Pluto walks on all fours and can’t talk while Goofy walks on two legs and can talk?

Okay, I thought about this. I thought about it within the context of other TV shows, like Family Guy where you’ve got Brian who can talk, and then there’s normal dogs. So I’ve decided that the only reason that they both exist is so the rest of their kind can all exist. If you had Goofy, the only talking dog, then you can’t have any more dogs in that universe and what kind of world would that be? Vise versa. You have to have both if you want to have the diversity. Does that make sense?

But wait, there's more....
Dumb Questions for Smart Designers with Courtney Macca
The Complete Series of Interviews