The Logo Geek Podcast

This episode is sponsored by The Perfect Match , a game where designers submit mood boards created using Adobe Stock assets. If your skilful project is chosen, you will be featured on Adobe's monthly live streaming game show with other talented designers, art directors, and creatives, where the winner goes home with $1000!

I’ve always liked to recommend to young designers is that you start your career working in a design agency before going freelance or starting your own design agency, that way you can see how things work and learn from others. But the founders of SNASK have challenged that. Since the very beginning of their agency, which they started straight out of uni, they’ve set out to challenge the standard in...

After arriving in America in 1968, the London designer Ian Logan was blown away by the logos and slogans he saw painted on the sides of freight trains rumbling down Main Street. That day was what started a lifelong passion for Railroad branding and graphic design, which is the topic of the new book, Logomotive: Railroad Graphics and the American Dream. In this interview, Ian chats with the creator...

This week Ian is joined by designer and illustrator Scott Fuller , founder of The Studio Temporary, in Atlanta, Georgia. In this interview, we go right back to how Scott first got into design, how he managed to get his first first design job while working in an apple store and how he discovered his first studio space where the Studio Temporary was born. We also discuss how he's successfully used c...

For many designers, the ultimate dream is to work as an independent graphic designer, studio owner or freelancer. To work when you want, on the type of projects you want, with the clients of your choice. The reality however isn’t as easy as we might expect. Heck, it can be tough. To discuss the reality of freelancing, and the survival skills you’ll need to survive I’ve invited Sarah Townsend, auth...

On this weeks episode, Ian is joined by Christopher Doyle, founder of the independent creative studio, Christopher Doyle & Co. based in Sydney. In this interview, we discuss how Chris started his career by getting a job at Saachi & Sacchi despite a bad interview. The lessons he learned at the agency. The importance of working with language within his design work. Design books that have been import...

When first looking at the portfolio and online presence of Kwaku Amprako, Ian assumed that he had been doing this for many years. He has a great website, a solid portfolio, an established social presence... and most significantly, he's been featured on Bechance multiple times. To Ian's surprise, he'd been running his business for only 6 months!! In this episode, Ian interviews Kwaku to find out ho...

Whilst 2020 could easily be deemed as the worst year in living history there were still plenty of individual success stories from Logo Geek community members throughout the year. One such story was from Chris Logsdon, who fulfilled a lifelong dream of designing a logo for NASA . Chris was tasked to redesigning the logo for NASA Launch America , the company that bridges the gap between NASA and pri...

When I say Independence Day , a few of you will think of the 1996 movie starring Will Smith and Jeff Goldblum. But if you're an American, Independence Day is a celebration of the signing of the Declaration of Independence , which happened on July 4, 1776. It's a day celebrated with fireworks, family reunions, barbecues, picnics, parades and more. In 2026, America will be celebrating the 250th anni...

Design is one of the hardest jobs there is. We strive to create the best design work we can, seek to follow the latest design trends and constantly push to get better. With that comes comparison, and often a feeling of never being good enough. Many designers struggle with self-doubt and impostor syndrome , which can lead to an unhealthy mental health. On this podcast Ian is joined by Arjun Ahluwal...

We all love to hear, read or watch a good story. But have you considered that a brand can have a story too? If you're a business owner, creating a story might be deemed as a low priority task. But did you know that a well-crafted brand story will allow a business to display its uniqueness, increase sales, help founders build more a fulfilling business, and attract and retain good staff too? To lea...

Dribbble is a social networking platform for designers and creatives, and is one of the largest platforms for designers to share their work online. But how do you make the most of the platform to attract clients? In this podcast Ian’s joined by Lisa Jacobs, a young designer from the Netherlands, who shares how she’s attracted clients through Dribble , which has allowed her to start her own design...

When most of us think about branding we picture logos, fonts, images and colour. But with a TV in most peoples homes, and mobile devices in peoples pockets everywhere they go, sound and video have become increasingly important for businesses globally. With so much opportunity to be heard through a wide range of platforms, having a consistent audio brand across video and audio is key to aid recogni...

If you operate as an independent designer it's a good idea to build up multiple revenue streams so you're not always trading your time for money. There's plenty of ways to do this, such as designing and selling digital products like fonts, stock icons and images, but have you ever considered designing a product to solve a problem? That's what Andy Brown did. He struggled to choose colours, so he c...

On this weeks Halloween Special episode Ian speaks to members of the Logo Geek Community who share their client horror stories and the lessons learned. Thank you to Katie Cope, Ephraim Schum, John Bermudes, Carolina Lopes and Arun Sharma for sharing your nightmare stories! Show notes and episode transcription can be found here:   https://logogeek.uk/podcast/client-horror-stories Avoid most horror...

To celebrate 100 episodes of the Logo Geek Podcast, this time show host Ian Paget becomes the guest! To perform the interview, Ian's joined by host of the Resourceful Designer Podcast, Mark Des Cotes. In this interview we find out how Ian became a designer, how he developed his passion for logo design, how Logo Geek was born, how the podcast started, and what's next in store for the Logo Geek bran...

If a logo design is beautiful and skilfully crafted, will it be a successful logo? Not necessarily. A successful logo requires more. It should factor in context , an understanding of the business, its competition and target audience. Only then can you understand the challenges faced, do the necessary research, and know if the logo designed will be an effective solution. The importance of context i...

Over the past few years there have been some pretty big movie identities designed by Pentagram . These include "DC Entertainment", JK Rowling’s  films "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" and "The Crimes of Grindelwald", Steven Spielberg‘s adaptation of "Ready Player One", "Birds of Prey'" the Warner Brothers identity... the list goes on. The person behind all of this is Emily Oberman . Emily...

Mark Des Cotes is a well known podcaster in the design industry, being the host of The Resourceful Designer Podcast . After several years of attending podcasting events to learn more about the craft, as a way to attract potential clients from the events he created a new brand for himself, where he was positioned as the go-to designer for any podcast design requirements. And so the niche design ser...

Allen Peters has a fascination for handcrafted antique design. This has inspired him to focus almost entirely on the niche style of vintage badge logo design through his own design studio, Peters Design Company . Throughout his career Allans done just about every kind of design job. He’s worked for large and small design agencies, he's worked in-house at Target, and as an independant designer. Thr...

At some point in your career you might get stuck in a rut . Stuck in a pattern doing the same thing day in, day out, without making any progress. But because change is hard, it’s easy to become comfortably unhappy, and let the days pass. This is what happened to Sophia Ahmed . She was in a dead-end job, and at a low point in her life. But after dramatic personal life events she was pushed to refle...

The dream for many designers is to work exclusively on logo design. But most design jobs sadly require you to work on many different types of design projects. So if you want to work exclusively on logo design, you need to work as a freelance graphic designer, and build your own business. Freelancing can be tough, so to help you grow and flourish as a freelance graphic designer Ian's joined by Jay...

Back in 2012, in the basement of the New York Pentagram office, Jesse Reed , along with his colleague Hamish Smyth, unexpectedly came across a piece of design history - the original New York City Transit Authority graphic standards manual , a modernist masterpiece designed by Massimo Vignelli and Bob Noorda. This was the moment that lead to the pair founding Standards Manual , an independent publi...

Some of the most famous logo designs in the world feature a monogram, including General Electric, Louis Vuitton and Hewlett-Packard. But how do you approach designing a monogram? In this weeks episode Ian's joined by Hope Meng to find out. Hope is a brand designer and lettering artist from San Francisco, CA. In November 2015 she started Monogram Project , a personal challenge to draw every letter...

When you start out as a designer you'll likely focus on the visuals. But as you begin to understand the role design plays in business, you'll start to see the value of good brand strategy, and will want to work closer with your clients to understand and solve deeper business challenges before you work on any design. For some designers, as they grow in their career they become more interested in th...