Two Designers Walk Into a Bar

For our final illustration episode, we wrap-up our jazz album conversation by sharing the story and work of Jim Flora. His cartoonish style “betrayed a diabolic humor and uninhibited sense of outrageousness” that evolved over the years to go from borderline obscene to children’s books. We also name names of a couple contemporary artists directly influenced by Flora’s manic work and highlight his a...

Building on our last episode, we continue talking illustrators and jazz albums by sharing the story of S. Neil Fujita. Jump in with us as we recap how pop culture arrived at a “look” for artifacts from the era of The Beats through the work of Fujita, another artist whose work influenced our cultural landscape and help explain why those jazz-themed Pinterest boards you follow look the way they do....

Records have always featured mood-setting illustrations in addition to more standard photographs. In this episode we share the story of the fun and idiosyncratic illustrator David Stone Martin finding jazz music. We then shift into discussing how pop culture arrived at a “look” for artifacts from the era of The Beats being influenced by the atomic age, the space race and jazz, and what that meant...

Any conversation about art will involve Andy Warhol sooner or later. Today we jump in and discuss album illustration from early in his career for Count Basie, a group called Trombone By Three and a duet with Thelonious Monk and Sonny Rollins. We also discuss the phenomenon of different layouts for album issues and reissues, especially in jazz. - - - - - Visit our full episode page for show notes,...

The jazz label Blue Note Records existed before Reid Miles was hired, so we talk about the guy who set the stage for him: John Hermansader. Once we’ve set the scene, we jaw about a couple of our favorite albums from artists Horace Parlan and Jackie McLean. Who was in charge of designing them? Why did they make the creative choices they did? And, perhaps most importantly, does each album’s look do...

This episode begins with the founding of iconic Blue Note Records. Albums from the golden age of jazz—the same ones The Beats listened to—have a distinct look and feel, largely thanks to a single label. We drop into the coffee houses, jazz clubs and record label offices of New York to talk about the late-night, rebellious music people were listening to and some of the personalities behind that wor...

Our conversation about The Beats continues by revisiting when Jackson Pollock revolutionized art in America and how the media brought that revolution to Middle America. We discuss different spots in the U.S. where The Beats found themselves and name some of their wider influences including the abstract expressionist painters and jazz musicians they shared creative and social spaces with. - - - - -...

We start our collection of episodes about The Beat era with the release of Jack Kerouac’s iconic book On the Road in 1957. We discuss who The Beats were beyond Kerouac (Ginsberg, Burroughs and more), the conformity and consumerism they were questioning and rebelling against, and their impact on pop culture for future generations (including the one you’re in). - - - - - Visit our full episode page...

Hi, it’s Todd and Elliot here with a quick announcement about Season 3. We’re going to be mixing it up a little bit from our first two seasons. Think themes. Think mini-series. We heard streaming services like Netflix make crazy money with these things so we thought, Why not? (We have a rather large bar tab we need to pay.) Anyway… We’re still talking design and pop culture, but how certain people...

Sometimes, in spite of their better judgement, friends choose to join us in the bar. One of our drinking buddies is frequent artist, occasional sax player and North Carolina resident Kyle T. Webster. Today we ask him even more thought-provoking questions over a few drinks: What’s your favorite album cover? What video game (arcade or console) is the best? What’s your favorite sport? What’s the best...

Sometimes, in spite of their better judgement, friends choose to join us in the bar. One of our drinking buddies is frequent artist, occasional sax player and North Carolina resident Kyle T. Webster. Today we ask him even more thought-provoking questions over a few drinks: What was the last thing you bought based on the ad or package? Tell us about your favorite drink? (We’ll see if the bartender...

Sometimes, in spite of their better judgement, friends choose to join us in the bar. One of our drinking buddies is frequent artist, occasional sax player and North Carolina resident Kyle T. Webster. Today we ask him even more thought-provoking questions over a few drinks: What’s the first movie you remember seeing in the theater? Who was (or is) the best advertising character? Are you camp Warner...

Sometimes, in spite of their better judgement, friends choose to join us in the bar. One of our drinking buddies is frequent artist, occasional sax player and North Carolina resident Kyle T. Webster. Today we ask him some thought-provoking questions over a few drinks: What’s an iconic design from your childhood? What logo brings a smile to your face? Who is your favorite cartoon character? If you...

Sometimes, in spite of their better judgment, friends choose to join us in the bar. One of our drinking buddies is artist, North Carolina resident and all-around nice guy Lenny Terenzi. Today we ask him even more thought-provoking questions over a few drinks: What video game (arcade or console) is the best? What’s your favorite sport? What’s the best Halloween costume you ever had? You’re at the f...

Sometimes, in spite of their better judgment, friends choose to join us in the bar. One of our drinking buddies is artist, North Carolina resident and all-around nice guy Lenny Terenzi. Today we ask him even more thought-provoking questions over a few drinks: Tell us about your favorite drink? (We’ll see if the bartender can make it for you.) What’s your favorite place you’ve had a chance to visit...

Sometimes, in spite of their better judgment, friends choose to join us in the bar. One of our drinking buddies is artist, North Carolina resident and all-around nice guy Lenny Terenzi. Today we ask him even more thought-provoking questions over a few drinks: What’s the first movie you remember seeing in the theater? Who was (or is) the best advertising character? Are you camp Warner Brothers or c...

Sometimes, in spite of their better judgment, friends choose to join us in the bar. One of our drinking buddies is artist, North Carolina resident and all-around nice guy Lenny Terenzi. Today we ask him some thought-provoking questions over a few drinks: What’s an iconic design from your childhood? What logo brings a smile to your face? Who is your favorite cartoon character? If you like this conv...

Sometimes, in spite of their better judgment, friends choose to join us in the bar. One of our drinking buddies is a designer, autodidact and bon vivant in Seattle and beyond named Terry Marks. Today we ask him even more thought-provoking questions over a few drinks: What’s your favorite album cover? What video game (arcade or console) is the best? What’s the best Halloween costume you ever had? Y...

Sometimes, in spite of their better judgment, friends choose to join us in the bar. One of our drinking buddies is a designer, autodidact and bon vivant in Seattle and beyond named Terry Marks. Today we ask him even more thought-provoking questions over a few drinks: What was the last thing you bought based on the ad or package? Tell us about your favorite drink? (We’ll see if the bartender can ma...

Sometimes, in spite of their better judgment, friends choose to join us in the bar. One of our drinking buddies is a designer, autodidact and bon vivant in Seattle and beyond named Terry Marks. Today we ask him even more thought-provoking questions over a few drinks: What’s the first movie you remember seeing in the theater? Who was (or is) the best advertising character? Are you camp Warner Broth...

Sometimes, in spite of their better judgment, friends choose to join us in the bar. One of our drinking buddies is a designer, autodidact and bon vivant in Seattle and beyond named Terry Marks. Today we ask him some thought-provoking questions over a few drinks: What’s an iconic design from your childhood? What logo brings a smile to your face? Who is your favorite cartoon character? If you like t...

We’re wrapping-up our second season with one last six pack. Our mix includes books about Batman and from The Onion, iconic images of Bigfoot and a World War II battle, logos for both The Dead Kennedys and The Ramones, a couple of incredible B movie posters from Reynold Brown, two stunning TV show openers for Carnivalé and Six Feet Under, and we finish up with a conversation about hobo symbols and...

Today we’re back with a big stack of goodies from our second season. Consider it your Dagwood sandwich of audio deliciousness. Ingredients include product flops from Coca-Cola and Google, movie props including a tiny business card and a giant W, a couple of stories about the Olympics in Denver and Los Angeles (one good, one bad), a return to Saturday morning with some cartoon characters (all of wh...

Today, we’re doing our dutiful service by revealing some secrets hidden in plain sight. We begin by talking about the symbols found all over the one dollar bill—think pyramids with eyes—and why they’re part of the bill’s design. We then shift gears to discuss who a hobo was and the alphabet they used to communicate with their fellow travelers. - - - - - Visit our full episode page for show notes,...

Nothing sets the stage for a TV show or movie quite like title design. Today we explore two different examples of amazing work that went above and beyond to get viewers excited about each episode of two shows on HBO, Carnivalé and Six Feet Under. We talk about the hints these openers drop, the stories they contain and the talented people who brought them to life, so don’t touch that dial. - - - -...