Robot Friday started like many other web comics - with a name and a URL. But unlike most, its name and domain existed long before its characters ever did.

Years before Robot Friday, I experimented with an action-adventure web comic that aimed to push the boundaries of both storytelling and the emerging internet. As my first foray into web comics, it saw mild success. However, technology advanced faster than my ability to keep pace and without the drive to sustain such an ambitious project it ultimately fell apart.

Disillusioned with the volatile web comic scene of the early 2000s, I stepped away from webcomics and focused on my primary career as a graphic designer. Yet my love for comics and illustration never faded and I integrated those passions into my design work whenever possible. During this period I also taught myself web design and coding, creating personal websites to showcase my growing portfolio of graphic design and illustration projects. One of those projects was Robot Friday, a name I secured through the same hosting company that had once housed my previous web comic venture.

Initially, Robot Friday was intended as a community-driven site. The idea was simple: every Friday, artists could submit their own robot illustration to post on the websit. Keep in mind, this was before social media, when user-generated content was just starting to gain traction. However, once again, my ambition outstripped my follow-through and the project never materialized, leaving the Robot Friday URL to collect digital dust.

Years later, burned out from the demands of my graphic design career, I needed a creative outlet - something fun, personal, and cathartic. By then, social media had made web comics more accessible and widespread. Inspired by this resurgence, I decided to return to the medium. Drawing from my own experiences and those of my creative friends, I wrote dozens of comic strips venting about industry frustrations, client quirks, and the everyday absurdities of being a designer.

All that remained was to name this new comic and launch it into the world. Thanks to years of abandoned projects and unused domain names I already had the perfect title waiting for me - Robot Friday.

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