Did I Do That? – Details, episodes & analysis

THREE big pieces of news!

#1: Season 5 is coming on Thursday, September 5! Now is a great time to get subscribed and ready—we've got a killer roster already lined up and you won't want to miss it!

#2: If you weren't able to get out to our Seattle live show as part of Seattle Design Festival, not to worry! SDF has published a video of the whole show to their YouTube channel that you can watch, either on its own or paired with the other SDF Day 1 Mainstage presentations. It was so wonderful to get to connect with Seattle's design community and to share a stage with the great Terry Marks! Big thanks to the entire team at SDF for making the show happen!

#3: There is still more summer news yet to be revealed, and as soon as I can do it, I plan to publish the announcement to the folks who read our newsletter first, so if you're not already signed up, what are you waiting for? Christmas? That's a long time away and you will know what the announcement is well in advance of December 25, unless you are very, very inattentive. Don't wait—subscribe to the newsletter and let it be your Christmas miracle!

This week in the feed as our final rerun of summer: those tossed salads and scrambled eggs must have been calling again back at the midpoint of season 2, because Did I Do That? was in Seattle for the AIGA Design Conference 2022! Lee-Sean Huang (Creative Director of Foossa and Director of Design Content & Learning at AIGA) joins Sean to talk dialup conspiracies, leveraging the combined might of the Center for Academic Precocity and the Cronkite School of Journalism to make a reality show, and what business people think about.

You can find more about Lee-Sean at his website, leesean.net, or follow him nearly anywhere social by searching for the handle @leesean. You can learn more about Foossa’s work in service design, futurecasting, and more at foossa.com. You can find the Lee-Sean's podcasting work with the AIGA on their site, or by searching for "AIGA Design Podcast" wherever you prefer your pod-based experiences are found; AIGA recently has been expanding their podcast and exploring the theme of "Margins" and it's been really great to listen to—go check it out!

This episode was recorded at the 2022 AIGA Design Conference in Seattle, Washington on Saturday, October 22, 2022 and originally published on Thursday, November 17, 2022 as part of season 2.

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Summertime fun-time rerun-time continues, but before it does, some big news: I'm doing a live Did I Do That? in Seattle for Seattle Design Festival on Saturday, August 17, 2024 at 4:15pm in Lake Union Park! I'll be joined on stage by the incredible Terry Marks!

I hope you can make it out to the live show—it's going to be really special to bring this silly podcast to the SDF mainstage and bring it to friends new and old out in Seattle!

This week in the feed, though: To close out 2022, we called in The Fixer! “Logotype surgeon” and type designer Dan Rhatigan (Director of Type Products at Type Network) sits down with Sean to talk about failing successfully, gifts from fast food heaven, and not quite getting to act with Gwyneth Paltrow in a high school musical.

You can find Dan’s work all over the internet—his blog is at ultrasparky.org, and he can be found @ultrasparky on Twitter and @bijoutype on Instagram. Speaking of the latter, his foundry Bijou Type (bijoutype.com) should be up an d running soon with an update of Dan’s beautiful graduate school typeface project you can add to your own type collection. His fantastic Pink Mince zine series can be found and purchased at pinkmince.com and @pinkmince on Twitter.

This episode was recorded Tuesday, December 20, 2022 in Portland, Oregon and originally published right at the start of 2023. Were we ever so young?

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Throw away your phones and pick up your oil paints! Rachel Frankel (Senior Brand Designer at Zendesk) joins Sean to talk portfolio lust, Apple allergies, and the weirdest social network’s weirdest pivot yet (and it’s only partially to video).

You can find Rachel’s work all over the ‘net (and IRL):

• You can find Rachel’s portfolio, and more of her work, on her website: rachelevefrankel.com!
• Transmute and all of Phosphene’s other albums—as well as Rachel’s awesome album design for them—are available to enjoy at their Bandcamp page, phosphenepdx.bandcamp.com. Buying albums there gives the band way more money than streaming fees, but you can also find Phosphene on Spotify, Apple Music, and the like as well.
• You can find Rachel’s book, She Can Really Lay It Down: 50 Rebels, Rockers, and Music Revolutionaries (Who Happen To Be Women) (published by Chronicle Books in 2019) on Indiebound/Bookshop.org, Barnes & Noble, Powell’s, or wherever else you should happen to shop for books.

This episode was recorded Sunday, March 31, 2024 in the Rat’s Nest.

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OMFGCO Creative Director and author/designer of Rural Kimberly Sutherland joins Sean to talk the horrifying truth about figs, the top ten signs you’re in romcom, and the crowning of Portland’s #1 (vegan) ice cream boi. Why not grab a Gatorade and join the fuuuuuuuuuuuuun!

You can find Kimberly’s work all over the ‘net (and IRL):

• You can find more of Kim’s work—both design and art related—on her website, kimberly-sutherland.com!
• The OMFGCO Journal, which Kim co-writes with Fritz Mesenbrink, is the best place to go to learn the latest from the studio, and is where you can go first to hear about when the And Then What?! podcast drops. Along with their Journal articles, you can also find audio versions which might be considered soft pilots for the show all on their own! Keep your eyes (and ears) peeled for it and their upcoming merch!
• If you’re planning on attending Creative Works West 2024 in Seattle at the end of April, Kim will be hosting a workshop on Brand Concepts & Frameworks alongside OMFGCO’s Fritz on Saturday, April 27 at 9am! If you’re interested, hop on over to the Creative Works site to learn more or their Eventbrite to register! As of this writing, tickets are still available!

Addendum: Since I’ve come to record this episode, I’ve learned that there are in fact some varieties of figs that do not require wasps to pollinate them. Still, the truth that most figs pretty much consume wasps in order to become figs is undeniably A PROBLEM that we must reckon with as a species if we are going to continue to live on this planet.

This episode was recorded Friday, March 15, 2023 in the Rat’s Nest.

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Get those offer codes ready! Creative Director Matt Graff joins Sean to talk Pee-Chee folder portfolios, unusual interview questions, and the six quadrants of action sports marketing.

You can find Matt’s work on his website, mattgraff.com. He’s currently looking for his next Creative Direction role, so if your studio is looking for someone, reach out! Matt can also be found on LinkedIn at inkedin.com/in/mattgraff.

This episode was recorded Saturday, March 2, 2024 in the Rat’s Nest.

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Lena Hall of Fontroversy is on Did I Do That?! Or Sean Schumacher is on Fontroversy!? We’re all mixed up because it’s a Did I Do That?-Fontroversy acoustic universe crossover spectacular to kick off one of those shows’ fourth season!

The two hosts sit down to talk about the process behind getting Fontroversy off the ground, as well as Lena’s Fallout Boy audition outfit, the meltiest car, and the Wizarding World of Woody Harrelson.

You can find more about Lena ’s work on their Instagram, @ps.its.lena. They are indeed graduating soon and you should absolutely hire them! You can view Lena's font horoscopes for the both of us here!

This episode was recorded Saturday, February 3, 2024 in the Rat’s Nest.

Special thanks to the entire team that made Fontroversy possible: Lea Thompson, Lena Hall, Malia Masterson, Whitney McPhie, Ashley Heeke, Sophia Stoker, Anna Stanton, Hannah Joseph, Sophia Mick, Mette Voldengen, Milos Dugas, Freya Kargard, Robert Ditty, Izzy Gavaza, Dana Ives, Kaitlyn Casey, Aline Chercover, and Orion Cortez.

Closing Music/The Fontroversy Theme: “How Can Things Be” by Holizna

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To close out our season break, I wanted to share one last feed drop! The creators of Two Designers Walk Into A Bar reached out a few weeks back to connect as fellow creators of media about design that doesn't take design too seriously. They make a really fun show, and this episode comes from the end of their third season covering a subject my students have heard me talk about many times: one of the most financially catastrophic packaging redesigns in history. It's a really wonderful show—give it a listen and then give them a follow! You can find them on whatever podcasting platform you like, as well as Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, X, and LinkedIn!

Pepsi announced it’s moving forward by moving backwards (sort of), returning to more of a traditional look for their logo and cans. (Think black. It's a slimming color.) But as they kick their last logo to the curb, we go back in time to discuss how they became saddled with this burdensome brand look in the first place. We talk ovals, smiles, globes, magnetic fields and cosmic forces of the universe in this special breathtaking and scientifically-tangential episode.

Images, articles and links mentioned in this episode can be found on their episode page: https://www.twodesignerswalkintoabar.com/episodes/episode-50-pepsi-logo-story

This episode was originally published June 7, 2023.

Two Designers Walk Into a Bar is a podcast about iconic design and popular culture.

Hosted by graphic designers and collectors Todd Coats and Elliot Strunk, the podcast is constantly looking at pop culture and thinking about how it influences us and what we do for a living. Starting with a theme, we choose iconic work that we find meaningful and use humor and insight to break it down, turn it inside out and try to understand why it has stood the test of time.

Two Designers Walk Into a Bar encourages listeners to dive into their libraries, mini storage units or memories with us.

Discover more at their website: https://www.twodesignerswalkintoabar.com

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Need to thaw yourself out from this winter freeze? Why not let a reheated episode of Fontroversy—our last of the season break—from last summer warm you back up!

When Lena and Sean start fuming about the most famous (and infamous) font there is, guest expert Freya Kargard steps in to modernize their thinking about Helvetica. This might well mark our limited series' finale, but stay tuned as we might have one or two surprises in store as well!

Segment Producer: Freya Kargard

Researcher: Robert Ditty

Story Editor: Izzy Gavaza

Sound Editing and Mix/Mastering: Orion Cortez

This episode was recorded Tuesday, May 30, 2023 and originally published on Thursday, August 31, 2023.

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Fontroversy was created by the students of DES 399 Public Design Communication in the Spring of 2019 as part of Portland State University’s Graphic Design program in Portland, Oregon. You can learn more about PSUGD at psu.gd. You can learn more about the PSU School of Art+Design at pdx.edu/art-design.

Host: Lena Hall

Show Art: Robert Ditty

Social Media Coordinator: Ashley Heeke

Producer: Sean Schumacher

Editorial Assistance by: Orion Cortez

Music: “How Can Things Be” by Holizna

For more about Fontroversy, visit fontroversy.com or follow @fontroversy.psugd on Instagram.

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When frustration around the meme-iest of meme fonts starts to go viral around the studio, guest expert Sophia Mick bursts in to help set Lena and Sean straight on Impact’s… impact.

Segment Producer: Sophia Mick

Researcher: Mette Voldengen

Story Editor: Milos Dugas

"Candy Paper Wrap Crinkling" Sound Effect by Emile99, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 License.

This episode was recorded Tuesday, June 6, 2023 and originally published on Thursday, August 17, 2023.

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PRODUCTION CREDITS

Fontroversy was created by the students of DES 399 Public Design Communication in the Spring of 2019 as part of Portland State University’s Graphic Design program in Portland, Oregon. You can learn more about PSUGD at psu.gd. You can learn more about the PSU School of Art+Design at pdx.edu/art-design.

Host: Lena Hall

Show Art: Robert Ditty

Social Media Coordinator: Ashley Heeke

Producer: Sean Schumacher

Editorial Assistance by: Orion Cortez

Music: “How Can Things Be” by Holizna

For more about Fontroversy, visit fontroversy.com or follow @fontroversy.psugd on Instagram.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Graphic design may be our passion, but everybody needs a break too! While Did I Do That? is off for a few weeks between seasons, enjoy a few episodes of our sister podcast Fontroversy, produced by one of Sean's classes in Spring 2023. If you missed episode 1, no worries—unlike the glut of superhero cinematic universe movies out there, there's nothing there you need to know to enjoy to this one! If you want to revisit it, though, you can find it here!

When a typeface ripped from the funny pages starts to get contentious, surprise guest expert Whitney McPhie (currently serving as Interim Creative Director at Willamette Week) intervenes to school Lena and Sean on what Comic Sans can really do.

IMPORTANT EDITORIAL CORRECTION: Gentle Giants Dog Food does NOT, in fact, use Comic Sans on its packaging—it instead uses a DaFont-style Disney-inspired sans paired with, of all things, Bank Gothic Sean apologies for this truly shameful oversight, although in their defense, attempting to look at any one specific type block on the package without being immediately distracted is basically impossible.

Segment Producer: Whitney McPhie

Researchers: Ashley Heeke, Sophia Stoker

Story Editors: Anna Stanton, Hannah Joseph

Sound Editing & Mix: Orion Cortez

This episode was recorded Tuesday, May 30, 2023, and originally published Thursday, August 3, 2023.

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PRODUCTION CREDITS

Fontroversy was created by the students of DES 399 Public Design Communication in the Spring of 2019 as part of Portland State University’s Graphic Design program in Portland, Oregon. You can learn more about PSUGD at psu.gd. You can learn more about the PSU School of Art+Design at pdx.edu/art-design.

Host: Lena Hall

Show Logo: Robert Ditty

Social Media Coordinator: Ashley Heeke

Producer: Sean Schumacher

Editorial Assistance by: Orion Cortez

Music: “How Can Things Be” by Holizna

For more about Fontroversy, visit fontroversy.com or follow @fontroversy.psugd on Instagram.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.