Work & Coronavirus update

New Background!

Lawrence Whiteside

I love the new background

Another newbie. I absolutely love all your videos and the new background is good. It's different. Not better or worse. It's something to show while you talk. Which brings me to a completely unrelated topic: You keep saying in your Q&As that your videos aren't that great and that other creators are better. That's just bullocks! Your videos are amazing. Your delivery, research, calm approach -- it is all great. To be honest, between you and Three Arrows, I can't see anyone on Youtube doing better videos. If they exist, please let me know!

Nicolai Nielsen

New Patreon here and for what it's worth I prefer the new background. Stay safe.

Dave Pitt

I like the new background, it's like a skull washed up on the beach and some stoners placed it amongst flowers and gave it sunglasses so the sun wouldn't be in their eyes.

Corran MacCorran

Seconded!

As long as the content is up to your standards, the background can be whatever you think looks best. But I do agree that it is a very nice background.

Oxnard Mantalvo

Nice background. Goes well with the cheerful "Death Penalty" video I can't wait to watch. Also, the Politics 101 series is much needed here in The New America. People don't seem to understand the words "fascism" or "socialism." They apparently defeated communism a few decades back, so that misunderstood word is now joining your background friend. Thanks for all you do, Shaun.

Thanks for that. And keep safe, yes, pretty please? I don’t know whether your subscriber numbers reflect it, but your channel is quite a big thing here in Switzerland. So yeah, keep going. And looking forward to when all of this blows over. ;)

Sascha Erni

Love the background and the intro to politics videos!

Eoin

I like the new background, but do agree with some previous comments that it has a more relaxed vibe. I hope to see it again somewhere though, cause I think it's rad!

Definitely liked the bolder lines of the old skull better but the background is very nice.

some dingus

I liked the old one, especially the old skull, but no rioting here.

I like the new background but I'm gonna be part of what I imagine will be a minority in saying I preferred the previous one, if only because I like the Palette a bit more. Having the skull on a grey background just looks nicer on a monitor for me (especially with YT's dark theme) and I think it contrasts nicely when you bring up example images (especially extracts from papers, studies etc. and YT comments) I think that image would work really nicely as the background for the credits however.

You should have a series of backgrounds! You can have a different one for each of your moods. This one can be "let's just chill and talk" and the normal one can be "lemme 'splain som'n ta you rightwing" and on it goes.

I like the background! And the politics 101 series sounds really interesting. Stay safe!

What is it with youtubers and skulls...no seriously, it remains cool. Maybe you will get some fanart chibi skull in the future. Have a variety, spice things up.

OH and script commentaries are right up my alley, personally, and politics 101 is A+ imo.

alexis

I love the new background. I agree with mire about it being more relaxed, so depending on the topic you could go back to the old one or maybe have a "serious" version and a chill version so it can be swapped out as needed for more serious vids. imo this would be totally fine for vids along the lines of your privatization one, but the charlottesville or trayvon martin ones would be a different story. tough to say what is best

alexis

I think the new background looks more relaxed, so it fits well for things like Q&A, streams, patreon updates, etc. Your existing background has less of a mood associated with it, which imo works better for more serious topics. For example the "chill skull" vibe might have felt weird during your video on Charlottesville. That said, the background is a very minor thing so you should do whatever you prefer.

Mire

I like the new background, and am not terribly attached to the old one, so switch away. Or not. Just my opinion. I'm lucky enough to keep my patronage going, and might bump it up a bit if I can. I have also found some smaller creators that I've started patreoning (spellcheck really doesn't like that "word"). Thanks for being understanding. I love all your work, and personally I like longer videos, so really looking forward to the next one. Be well Shaun.

Kathy G

I posted this thing (below) in the community section but I'm not sure there is much traffic there. So, re-posting it here... Hey people! Shawn said in his video that some people suspended their Patreon support due to the CORONA virus induced temporary financial difficulties (and I understand it). I am lucky enough (at least for now) to not have been affected by the virus. I temporarily (maybe) bumped up my support to $5. So... do the same if you can. What Shawn does is important and shouldn't be affected by some stupid virus.

Relieved to know that another of my favourite brands is also monitoring the ongoing covid-19 situation

Try making a bee name out of this, Mr Smart Guy

If the old skull is entirely retired my rage will be uncontrollable. I will have to take my anger to the streets. Unfortunately, that is currently illegal. I would then have to go to prison (obviously) and it would all be Shauns fault. Shame on you, Shaun.

Political theory 101 series sounds amazing! V excited. Personally I'm a big fan of the old skull because of the way the skull is 'smiling', would be sad to see it go completely but won't riot of course. Hope you are staying safe and healthy! <3

I gotta say, I fully assumed the script commentary video would be jenny nicholson style film script dissection about like star wars of something. But I guess your own scripts will be interesting subjects too! And the intro to politics -series sounds great. There is a need for that sort of content in YT to balance out the alt right avalanche of bullshit. The new background is adorable, but like some other folks already mentioned, it might work best for these lighter videos, like channel updates.

sssilppuri

Background is great

Alex Bryson

Thanks for the update. And yes to the new background from us. (Also yes to the political theory 101 series, at least in the abstract!)

Drew Messinger-Michaels & L. Villegas

The background is very cute, I dig it. The idea of a script commentary might not be for everyone, but as someone that very often runs out of stuff to listen to in the background as I work, I am very much looking forward to it. There's only so many times I can listen to your old videos after all.

I like the old one personally, but I think it’s your call to make overall! And trust me, I don’t watch for the backgrounds

Mona

I like the idea of a script commentary. I've got Stewart Lee's stand up book where he's goes through his stand up scripts, so an audio version of that for your stuff would be great, Shaun. Coincidentally, I actually looked on Youtube today to see if there was many 'political terminology' videos about and it seems relatively bare, so I think that's a good shout, too.

I like the new background, but I think the style might be more suited for videos like Q&As or channel updates.

I love this background, it's so much more livelier!

BabyBabaBofski

new skull great

Marcelli

I am really loving this new background! And I'm very excited about all your upcoming content

I also really love the new background! I agree the gray might work better for some image overlays depending on the picture, so you could maybe use both? They are both really great backgrounds, I don't think there's a wrong choice.

I think grey one for serious videos, new one for less serious videos like Q&A’s and shit

Aless

absolutely love the design of the new background, HOWEVER, i am a bit of a gray purist, so i will advocate for the pale blue color to be further tuned down to a more gray color.

God I love you !

I like the new background. Glad you're doing okay during the global pandemic!

Dru Rose

Love this background!

Deimy Chavez

New one is great. It was the first thing I thought when I started the video.

Well aged meme

I like both backgrounds quite a bit. There might be a use for both depending om context, which I'd be a fan of, but given an ultimatum, I vote for the new one

We need a United Federation of Planets economy as envisioned by Gene Roddenberry.

gridsleep

I think the background is neat.

Hey's getting rid of the gray background! GRAB YOUR PITCHFORKS EVERYONE!

Zachary T Pruckowski

I like the new background! Looks nice!

That voice is the best tranquilizer I have ever encountered.

gridsleep

I like this background better than the grey one! It's nice and calm, which suits your videos