Two Designers Walk Into a Bar

For our special Halloween episode, and because of our love of B movies, we wanted to pay homage to one of the best horror poster artists of all time, Reynold Brown. We talk about the movie (and poster for) Tarantula, plus what is arguably one of the most recognizable staples of pop culture: the poster for Attack of the 50 Ft. Woman. (The movie? Not so much.) - - - - - Visit our full episode page f...

Today’s episode is loud, fast and very DIY. We jump in to talk about two of our favorite logos, one simple and one ornate, from two iconic bands, The Dead Kennedys and The Ramones. We also talk about the artists Winston K. Smith and Arturo Vega, their relationships with the bands, and the sources of inspiration for their artwork. - - - - - Visit our full episode page for show notes, the visual exa...

Photos or it didn’t happen! In this episode we explain the circumstances that led up to two images most people could sketch from memory: Bigfoot walking across a dry creek bed in the woods of California and a group of American soldiers raising a flag halfway around the world from the United States on the island of Iwo Jima. Are they real? Are they fake? We dig in to find out why they have such sta...

Na-na-na-na-na-na-na…When it comes to iconic superheroes, few if any are bigger than Batman. And when it comes to satirical news parodies, there’s no bigger name than The Onion. Today we jump into 100 years of news with the Onion’s first book, a collection of front pages entitled Our Dumb Century. We then turn the page to highlight designer and author Chip Kidd’s incredible book Batman Collected t...

You may consider them funny, bizarre or annoying, but there’s no question they are the biggest fans of their home teams. No, we don’t mean little league parents. Today we’re talking sports mascots. First we drop into Milwaukee and get in a lap or two with The Famous Racing Sausages. Then we head to Central New York to spend time with the Syracuse Orange. Play ball! - - - - - Visit our full episode...

Flags have existed for thousands of years and are arguably the most well-known symbols for countries, cities and movements. They come in different shapes and sizes with distinctive designs and colors influenced by both patriotism, military association and legend. Today we discuss a couple of our favorites from Switzerland and Panama. - - - - - Visit our full episode page for show notes, the visual...

With this episode, regardless of the time of the week you’re listening, it’s Saturday morning. And for decades nothing was a bigger staple for kids of all ages than morning cartoons. We discuss a couple of our favorites when we start with how The Pink Panther wants to build his dream house, and then we slide into a jazzy update of a famous fable with The Three Little Bops. - - - - - Visit our full...

Bum-bum-ba-bum-bummm…Nothing brings the world together every couple of years like the Olympic Games. With such a large stage and a chance to influence audiences around the globe, designers jump at the chance to create something great. In this episode we discuss what did (or didn’t) happen in Denver in 1976 and the Technicolor vibrancy of Los Angeles in 1984. - - - - - Visit our full episode page f...

In this episode we discuss two movies where a couple of designed props—one small, one big—set things in motion. First we talk about business cards causing all sorts of problems in American Psycho’s game of boardroom one upmanship. Then we shift to a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad ensemble comedy with a 1963 who’s who of Hollywood as everyone searches for “The Big W.” - - - - - Visit our full episode page for...

Sometimes even the biggest companies can’t figure out what success looks like. In this episode we profile a couple of household names, Coca-Cola and Google, and tell the stories of how OK Soda (a beverage for Gen X slackers) and Google Glass (a product mostly worn by tech bro creeps) came to market and what happened once they did. - - - - - Visit our full episode page for show notes, the visual ex...

Today we’re providing even more sound bites from our first season. This is your six foot party sub of an episode, so grab a speaker and bring a healthy appetite. We crammed this sandwich full of deliciousness like the typefaces from Tootsie Roll and The Dukes of Hazzard, logos for Ghostbusters and The Rocketeer (with a Hollywood Sign bonus), stories about a blimp and a desk lamp, giant signs for U...

Today we’re providing some hot and ready sound bites from our first season. This is your Everything sheet pizza to satisfy a larger appetite, so pack earbuds and bring a bib. Toppings include MAD Magazine, KISS and the 200th birthday party of the United States, posters for rural electrification and a little hope courtesy of Barack Obama and Shepard Fairey, Reddy Kilowatt and Big Boy, street cultur...

Hey, Vern. In this episode we discuss how artwork advertising cigars became a cornerstone for kitsch and a character promoting local businesses became a movie star. What is the deal with dogs playing poker, anyway? And how did Ernest P. Worrell go from plugging local car lots in Nashville to saving Christmas in movie theaters across the country? We answer these questions and introduce you to what...

In this episode, we talk parody in glorious sticker form. As it turns out, both Wacky Packages and Garbage Pail Kids sprang from the same fountain of genius as MAD Magazine and both were printed and distributed by the trading card company Topps. We discuss the origins of each, the products they poked fun at and connect the dots to share what makes both collections so much fun. - - - - - Visit our...

In this episode we take to the road and journey back in time to when car culture was still growing and a couple of iconic brands beckoned travelers who wanted convenience and comfort. We talk about The Orange Ball from Union 76, The Great Sign from Holiday Inn and where these signs can be found today. - - - - - Visit our full episode page for show notes, the visual examples we discuss, additional...

Ever wonder why a tire company is most known for a blimp? Or why an animation studio has a desk lamp as its trademark? We did. Turns out Goodyear and Pixar didn’t invent either of these things. Learn the origin stories of Goodyear’s blimps, Pixar’s loveable Luxo lamp, and how these adopted objects transcended their initial utility to become known around the world. - - - - - Visit our full episode...

Hooray for Hollywood(land)! In our first bonus episode (there was simply too much goodness to pack into our movie logo stories), we wrap-up our logo conversation and Todd shares a trivia nugget about Ghostbusters and goes deeper on The Rocketeer. We then shift into talking about the most iconic of movie icons: The Hollywood Sign. - - - - - Visit our full episode page for show notes, the visual exa...

Today we’re telling a couple of stories you won’t find in Tobin’s Spirit Guide or any World War II history book: the logos for the movies Ghostbusters and The Rocketeer. We connect dots between National Lampoon and Ghostbusters and talk about how amazing Art Deco marketing materials from Disney didn’t deliver the box office success The Rocketeer rightly deserves. Proton pack, rocket pack... Doesn’...

Today we bring our listeners all sorts of candy, both literally and figuratively. We’re talking about a couple of sweet typefaces — Hobo and Cooper Black — that you have definitely seen throughout your life. Ever watched The Dukes of Hazzard? Hobo. Ever enjoy a Tootsie Pop? Cooper Black. Learn about the origins of both typefaces, why you see them everywhere and pick a side as Todd and Elliot duke...

What do a coffee drinking lion, a few black cats, a grasshopper, a penguin and a voodoo priest have in common? Aside from being the set-up for a great joke, they represent regional or lesser-known companies we’ve stumbled upon with logos we really like. We talk food (Royal Cup and Voodoo Doughnuts), shipping (Yamato Transport), clothing (The Original Penguin), and explosive stuff like fireworks (B...

For this episode, our bar is firmly planted in California and we’re talking illustration and rebellion. We start in the southern part of the state talking about hot rods, music, Ed “Big Daddy” Roth and his famous creation Rat Fink. We then travel up the coast to the town of Santa Cruz to talk skate culture, punk music, Jim Phillips and his equally famous Screaming Hand. We then wrap-up by talking...

You may think this episode is shocking. You may claim it has sizzle. That means our chosen characters are working their magic. Long before the Energizer Bunny or the GEICO Gecko, advertising icons Reddy Kilowatt and Big Boy rose from humble beginnings to popularity stretching from coast-to-coast (and beyond). We discuss how electricity became humanized, a portly youth inspired a diner owner, and t...

We went so “red, white and blue” in our 1976 episode that we just had to keep the train rolling with two amazing poster designs. We examine bringing electricity to rural parts of the United States 80 years later and inspiring a nation to rally behind an unknown presidential candidate named Barack Obama, along with how Lester Beall and Shepard Fairey made these big ideas easy to understand. And sin...

Why 1976? Plenty of reasons. We discuss each of our ages in this, the banner year our nation was turning 200 and everything in sight had bunting and was painted red, white and blue. KISS was at the height of their powers as Michael Doret’s amazing album art from “Rock and Roll Over” was gracing turntables from coast to coast and the timeless bicentennial star logo from designer Bruce Blackburn was...

In our first episode, we discuss our podcast’s humble beginnings including a conversation about illustrator Mort Drucker that got the ball rolling, meeting William Shatner and why MAD Magazine and the movie Airplane! are important parts of our creative sensibilities, and how our show got its name. We consider why all creative people are pack rats and how collecting PEZ dispensers is not a waste of...