Robyn Hepker

Hey little squirrel, have a nice trip?

Robyn Hepker has a good strategy for keeping the laughs rolling.

Hepker has been building a scrap book for at least the last 10 years of clippings and other keepsakes she finds amusing.

It’s “random normal stuff taken out of context and blown out to the extreme,” Hepker, owner of Benson & Hepker Design, said of her humor.

Her book is full of comics, advertisements, short stories, pictures and everything else imaginable of a size that would fit into a scrapbook.

The other day Hepker was driving by a parking lot. For some reason, there was a sign right by it that said “No Parking.”

“Someone stenciled in ‘please,’” Hepker said. “That’s funny.”

Her humor is pretty much in your face, “the opposite of subtle,” Hepker said. It’s not very intellectual or thought provoking. Rather it’s often noticing the most obvious things right in front of you.

Hepker works in a design agency where her job is to tell stories for clients. The scrap book often comes in handy in keeping the mood light and the ideas flowing.

Everyone in her world gets exposed to her sense of humor — co-workers, clients, vendors.

“Clearly, there is a lot of interesting news in the world, but when you see a squirrel trip in front of you, you could be having a horrible day, you have to say, ‘Thank you for doing that.’ You have to choose what to pay attention to.”

— Brian Morelli

Iowa City Press-Citizen -- March 12, 2009