Let Max In

Please do not bring the cat inside. Its name is Max, and Max is a good-natured cat. Max’s owner does not want it to enter the library, and we also do not want it to enter the library. Max wants to stay in the library. Please do not allow Max to enter the library…

This is exactly what was written in an announcement on the window of a library in Minnesota, USA. A university student took a photo of this announcement with their phone and shared it on social media. Everyone who saw the share laughed, made fun of it, commented on Max’s freedom to read, wrote poems, drew cartoons, and even drew a library membership card. (Translations of these funny shares will come later.) Max, who was shared from person to person, was published on Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, Instagram, and many other digital and even print media, gaining the empathy and love of more than 5 million people approximately two weeks later. The announcement, icon, content, and our cat Max became a famous viral share somehow. By the way, for those who don’t know the meaning of viral, the term “viral,” which refers to uncontroll, fast viruses that spread unexpectedly and without our permission, is used in marketing and advertising.

So, what made this announcement so famous, made it famous worldwide organically without using any advertising tools? It became a famous viral share that appeared in newspapers such as The Washington Post and The New York Times and even became material for news and talk shows on television. If you want, you can say that people couldn’t resist sharing cat photos or that it was completely accidental. But who made this announcement, who designed the icon? To be honest, the rest of the story is a little more interesting. Chris Schommer, a library employee, is an old 3D designer who believes in the power of icons and is familiar with design work. Chris enters the internet to prepare this announcement to be hung on the library window and attaches an icon of a cat that he downloaded for free to the layout of the announcement. The designer of the icon is none other than me, your humble servant. I’m not saying that my icon is super, but it fits the situation and is a little cute, isn’t it? The icon, which was used without permission, was shared on social media without Chris’s knowledge and became a hit. The designer, who saw the viral share on the internet, was very happy and proud, of course. The viral share, which was shared hundreds of thousands of times on social media and became a hit, was also shared on traditional media such as television and newspapers, and the designer’s name and surname were also mentioned in these shares. The story, which was shared on social media and traditional media, was also shared on digital media such as websites and blogs, and the designer’s name and surname were mentioned in these shares as well.

Ne benim ne de kütüphanecimiz Chris’in durumdan haberi yok tabi, ilan almış yürümüş paylaşımlar 1 milyon olmuş sonra Chris’e söylemişler senin ilan ve Max viral oldunuz diye. Chris de işler ciddiye binince beni bulup haber vermek istemiş, benim de öyle haberim oldu yani maalesef aaa bu benim ikon yahu deyip internette dolaşan viral içeriği henüz görmemiştim ben. Chris de, Max’e ve bu hikayeye bunca ilgi ve alakayı gösterenleri daha da mutlu etmek için duyurunun devamı niteliğinde bir çocuk kitabı yazmak istediğini, kitap çizimlerini ise benim yapmam için teklifte bulundu. Ben de tabiki bu teklifi geri çevirmedim. Aynı gün bizimle röportaj yapmak isteyen gazeteciler peyda oldu, onl

Neither myself nor our librarian Chris were aware of the situation, of course. After the shares with the announcement had reached one million, they told Chris that you and Max had gone viral. Chris, taking things seriously, wanted to inform me and I learned of the situation, unfortunately. I had not yet seen the viral content circulating on the internet saying “aaa this is my icon”. Chris, wanting to make those who showed so much interest in Max and this story even happier, offered to have me draw the illustrations for a children’s book he wanted to write as a continuation of the announcement. I naturally did not refuse this offer. The same day, journalists wanting to interview us appeared, and interviews were conducted with my, Max’s, and Chris’s names appearing in newspapers along with the original, viral announcement. Chris is currently busy writing the book, and I have started on the illustrations. We have opened a website called LetMaxIn.com to collect emails from those interested in the book so we can inform them when it is published. We decided to make designs using my icons for the unhappy cat Max, print them on items, and sell them to make donations to animal shelters and use the proceeds for the book’s expenses. If you would like to support this project, I am attaching the link in the comments section. Because life becomes more beautiful when we share, and what we share multiplies.

While sharing my icons, which can be downloaded completely for free, on the noun project website with everyone, I had no expectations, and I didn’t even have any dreams of the icons or I becoming famous, etc. Share whatever you have; your bread, your love, your money, if you don’t have material possessions, your hope, your knowledge, your designs, whatever makes you lively; you will never decrease, on the contrary, you will increase, multiply, grow together, multiply together. A Nil Karaibrahimgil song, which makes me feel like I’m in a fairy tale every time I listen to it, says “I have enough for myself, it even increases” and is the world’s most beautiful philosophy. Don’t ask for something from someone. Instead, give something to someone. Look what happens after that…

For more detailed information on icons, you can visit my website or social media accounts. Thank you for reading this article, which was inspired by a viral share, to the end. I hope it was a little entertaining and informative.

Max in Press