Articulate Design ASMR has over 113K subscribers on YouTube, and a total of 19,492,499 views and counting!





He paves the way for the male role play, from hotel check-ins to futuristic sleep clinics; his subtle Scottish accent will calm you down in any situation.





Sit back, relax and discover more about this popular ASMRtist....





How did you discover ASMR?

I used to listen to clips of movies on YouTube whenever I went to bed - anything that had lots of speaking at a quiet and relaxed level.





YouTube realised that I was using these kinds of videos to fall asleep to and recommended an ASMR video.





I don’t remember the very first ASMR video I watched, but I do remember discovering Gentle Whispering and Ephemeral Rift very early on and thinking ‘YES this is what I’ve been looking for!’





What's the story behind your channel name? Why did you decide to call your channel Articulate Design ASMR?

I never paid much attention to channels or their names on YouTube.





So when I decided to try and give back a little and create my own, I decided on a name that was reflective of the way I see the world and how it’s so beautifully random, but so precise at the same time.





It wasn’t until much later that I realised I’m supposed to BE the channel!

I do not see myself as articulate, in any kind of way at all.





Has your channel grown slowly? Or did your channel blow-up over night?

At the time of writing this you have 113, 000 subscribers! Let’s put this into perspective: Wembley Stadium has a maximum capacity of 90,000 people - your subscribers wouldn’t fit into Wembley stadium!





I think this is tough to call really.





My channel reached 5k subscribers in the first year and I thought this was a lot of people to be making videos for.

In year two it went up to 30k, and in my third year it reached 100k+.





For me, this is an absolutely insane amount of people to have decided at some point in their lives that this is a dude I’d like to hear more from.





It’s incredibly humbling and I am quite possibly one of the luckiest guys in the world!

Although I am very aware 113k is a drop in the ocean by YouTube standards!





I work full time and creating ASMR is a part-time thing for me. I'm lucky if I make 3 videos a month!





What happens when you reach each milestone on YouTube? Do you go out and celebrate? Does YouTube congratulate you?

YouTube used to send all sorts of milestone emails. Reaching 100 subscribers, reaching XXXX minutes played etc.





The first physical thing I received from YouTube was my silver play button plaque. My parents were enormously proud of this, as were my whole family actually!





What changes when you reach 100,000 subscribers?

When I reached 30k, the dream was to somehow reach 100k one day, just so I could get that shiny little tick.





Upon reaching the 100k milestone, YouTube doesn’t automatically give you anything, including the button. You have to contact them and say ‘hey, give me stuff’.





I believe you also have access to a proper customer service section once you’re at 100k+ (that might be incorrect though).





Has your perception of ASMR changed over the years? Has the community changed?

The community has grown exponentially, it’s enormous now and filled with different genres and approaches to ASMR.





Remarkably, my immediate community hasn’t really changed all that much. I still Tweet with most of the same creators, though some have quit or have become silent over the years.





The introduction of serious monetization has undoubtedly had an impact on the community as well, albeit very slowly and subtlety.





For example, if you created a poll back in 2014 (before I was creating) of the ASMR creators who were genuinely creating for the love of the genre, instead of the monetization – I’d expect the results to be 90% in favour of love for the genre.





I feel if this poll was conducted now and with honesty, I think you could be looking at a 50/50 split.





That’s not to say people who create for the money aren’t also caring and considered for their subscribers and the community. Just that the cash is the reason they started and perhaps continue to do so.





Many content creators suffer from burnout. Have you ever experienced this? If so, what happened and how did you manage this?

I’ve never really felt burnt out, at all actually.





It’s the doubt and worry over a video doing poorly that limits my output somewhat.





Most creators will always have an underlying fear their channel is going to die one day and for me, seeing a video doing poorly compared to how a video usually does, is really quite a downer.





To avoid the feeling, sometimes I just do not create at all.





Of course, the message here is ‘never let views dictate a video’s success’ but it’s not so much about success for me as it is about failing to do a good job!





Though in reality, some of the very best videos and creators I’ve ever seen, have far less views and subscribers than such a level of quality deserves.





I try to remind myself of this, or just physically ignore the feeling for the sake of my subscribers who don’t care about a video’s success – they just want to fall asleep!





Do you think YouTube is fit for purpose for ASMR content?

I think the connotations with YouTube and ASMR are very negative, but for me – unfairly so!





YouTube has created an opportunity for creative individuals to earn millions, doing something they love and more importantly helping people in the most amazing way.





The demonetisation and stigma of ASMR is a pain-in-the-behind, but every genre and every kind of video on all of YouTube has a select group of detractors and naysayers.





You cannot please everybody.





I think YouTube is an incredible platform and opportunity for anybody. Seriously, I’d encourage everyone to give it a go – you never know where it might lead!





What is the weirdest/funniest comment you’ve seen in your comments section?

I think I must have one of the cleanest and most mature comment sections in the community - for which I’m really grateful btw!





It’s very rare that I need to delete or block anything.





That being said, there have still been a few where I’m like what!?





The weirdest and funniest was a viewer asking if they could fly me over to Florida, cook for me, clean for me and I could live as a man of leisure and all I had to do was walk around their house all day in my boxer shorts.





I politely declined but did also think that I’m doing that almost every weekend over here in Dubai, for free!





What do you dislike about ASMR? What are the challenges?

I think the competition for views is reaching new highs every day and there are certain sub-genres within the community that seem to explore the most wild and shocking titles they can possibly imagine.





Of course, click-baiting isn’t an ASMR thing, but it’s certainly being incorporated by a few of its creators.





Now, there isn’t anything wrong with that, they want to earn money, however, I think it might be quite a dangerous mindset to adopt as the slope is probably quite slippy.





Where do you think ASMR will be in the future?

I actually have no idea.





I think ASMR has near limitless potential and given the current exploration into sound therapy (using sound waves as a cure for certain kinds of illness) we see ASMR continue to break through into the mainstream until it’s as common as a Swedish massage!





Compare your first video to your most recent video. What have you learned? What went wrong/right?

I’ve purposefully kept this video up as a reminder to myself!





What went right in this video? Well it ended :D That’s about the only positive thing I can take from it, well that and it’s what led me to where my channel is now.





What went wrong? The camera appears to be in a different country from myself, it is so far away that I look like a school kid!





Articulate Design ASMR's First video

I seem to have finally hit puberty at the ripe old age of 34 since making my first video at 31!





I don’t even know how to compare the two videos; they are so far apart!





I haven’t actually added all that much, yes the microphones are different but I still use the very same Blue Yeti in lots of my videos, as I did for my first ever video!

Other than that, it’s just a green-screen and some lights!





Articulate Design ASMR's Most Recent Video

It takes far less effort than people might realise to create videos.





Yes of course there are the pillars of our community, like ASMR Zeitgeist who will spend days, lovingly preparing and recording his videos, but lots of us just whip some props together, flip record and talk!





Please give it a go, it might be the best thing you’ve ever done, even if it only helps one single person.