Works In Process

Our guest, Deon Mixon is a Designer, Educator, and Author from Detroit, Michigan. He's a graduate of West Michigan University and alumni of Cass Tech. Deon also wrote a series of books called The Lethal Creed Saga and is a brand identity designer at Gyro. Our conversation is focused on the fact that he is the creator of the world's first graphic design educational board game, Design Eye that was f...

Our guest, Jen White-Johnson a Designer, Photographer, Art Activist, and Art Educator. She teaches as an Assistant Professor of Visual Communication at Bowie State University (HBCU) where her work focuses on the intersection of content and caregiving with an emphasis on redesigning ableist visual culture. When her son was diagnosed as Autistic at age 2 she began to examine the absence of black dis...

Don't get too comfortable. "I kind of feel if I know how to do it, too well, then I'm not having fun— I'm more like executing. So the moment that you shut off and just start doing the same thing that you did for somebody else, or kind of project, again and again, you're kind of losing what makes it so special. So yeah, just get out there and do it!" Mentions Sky Pie https://skypie.co/ Make Love ht...

"The capacity to read particularly is not just a nice to have. It's actually a moral imperative. If we want people to be good in the world, this is a huge issue, especially for designers, especially in the type world, especially right. If there's any, if we can say there's any moral claim of what's good for us, (as type designer) is people being able to read." In this episode, I speak with Thomas...

**"the sooner a designer can embrace the process, and if you can learn to work quickly, and in different ways, you can make a lot of different work in a fairly short time frame..." **—  Peter Ahlberg: Designer, Author, Educator I talk to Peter Ahlberg, partner at Ahl & Co about creating his exhibition and book around the creative process. he mentions what it was like to talk to desig...

“The ability to make something look finished, which I think is both a strength and a weakness ... because then you can make anything look good regardless of whether it makes sense or not. If you’re not doing things for the right reasons, with the right thinking behind it and you're just worried about how it looks on Behance, and how many likes it’s going to get you’re doing is wrong!” —  Armi...

This Xtras is from my conversation with Dearest Creative. We go a little deeper of how they started their own company and some of the things they figured out along the way. Their dedication to the brand is what drives them and keeps them moving forward. So enjoy and just take a listen Xtras are mini-episodes that are unedited and uncut snippets of conversations I've had with my guests. This podcas...

In this episode, I talk to the founders of Dearest Creative . Kori and Kerstin are Designers, Art Directors who started their creative studio after being in the corporate world for over 10 years. They focus on fashion, culture, and lifestyle, and their devotion to their clients is evident in the work they choose to produce. I met up with them in their studio in Brooklyn, NY to discuss how they tra...

In this Xtra, we listen to my episode 08 guest Fahamu's journey to becoming a Ph. D. and why this has always been something on his mind. Xtras are mini-episodes that are unedited and uncut snippets of conversations I've had with my guests. They are additional audio that never made it into the episode or we're just a little bit too long and were cut down for clarity. After re-listening, I created t...

In this episode, I finally catch up with longtime friend, Dr. Fahamu Pecou . Fahamu is an artist, scholar, and agitator whose work has been featured in galleries, museums in the backdrops of television shows. His early focus on “making Fahamu Pecou officially the shit” and the extensive series on black masculinity has propelled him to explore what it truly means to be black in America. We talked a...

"Being overconfident can do more hard than good— (especially) if you think that everything is going to be easy for you and you deserve everything right off the bat... people get into a lot of trouble and their growth gets stifled a little bit if they're not open to just toiling away in the dark for quite some time...” In this episode, I met up with Penguin Books, Mucca Design, and Fili Ltd. alum N...

In this Xtra, I continue my conversation with my episode 06 guest: Michael Braley . We talk more openly about his graphic style and why he enjoys leading creative workshops. Enjoy this snippet...  Xtras are mini-episodes that are unedited and uncut snippets of conversations I've had with my guests. They are additional audio that never made it into the episode or we're just a little bit t...

ON NOT OVERWORKING AN IDEA: “The hard part is for some people is allowing themselves TO be that simple, and overcomplicate it, not more is better, but to overthink it … sometimes you’re just done, you have it. It might take five minutes or it might take 3 weeks—but just stop when you know you have it.” — Michael Braley: Creative Director, Designer, Simplifier. In this episode we talk to Michael Br...

"I think I've learned to go, OKAY it's fine to put this one (project) hold, maybe draw something else, maybe go for a walk, go for a drink ... I've learned to take it easier on myself and not put so much pressure to make it happen." — Justin Teodoro: Artist and Illustrator. This episode guest is Justin Teodoro an Artist and Illustrator works primarily in chronicling and drawing for fashion. H...

David Soto:  graphic designer for fashion and a letterer. In this episode, I talk to a long time friend, who has created quite a following for himself on Instagram. David continues to connect with his 20k+ followers by establishing an open dialogue with like-minded type aficionados. "Instagram … that's basically my second portfolio. I have gotten more work using my Instagram page th...

Natalie Cooperman aka Nattmade:  textile designer, and an illustrator. I talk to Natalie, who after being in the fashion industry for over 15 years is taking her passion and rekindling her love for making art. "Just start drawing … you are going to make a lot of ugly ones before you get the one you want." Visiting Nattmade in her apartment, we discuss what has made her into the artist sh...

Eli Neugeboren : illustrator and educator. In this episode, I sit down with my colleague Eli, who teaches and reside in Brooklyn, NY. He has amassed over 1000 different illustrations from his ongoing project Drawing the News and is not stopping anytime soon. "The idea of paying your dues … that’s basically what fakin’ it ‘til you make it is. That's you payin’ your dues. You say yes to ev...

Lisa Pertoso: design facilitator, writer, and comedian. In this episode, our guest is Lisa Pertoso. She teaches experiential learning processes to companies and organizations, and she writes. "…in my younger years I did a lot of thinking and obviously talking myself out of doing a lot of things, Just stop that. Try to kill that voice and just do, and by doing you’re already creating and you’re som...