Did I Do That?

Adam JK (AKA Adam J. Kurtz) sits down with Sean to talk about his design mistakes… as well as parking scams, bootleg Barts, and Advanced Macaroni. It’s the episode that will make you ask, “is this for the podcast?” over and over as someone tries and fails to describe the plot of Back to the Future to you (and somehow the answer remains yes). ABOUT THE GUEST: Adam J. Kurtz ("Adam JK") is...

Welcome to the Port Authority Bus Terminal! Would you like a hot towel? AIGA Portland President and NBC ArtWorks Studio Creative Director Ventura Castro sits down with Sean to talk about his design mistakes… as well as Bleeding Cowboys, the many attractions of Secaucus, New Jersey, and Moby’s failed fact checking career. As Ventura mentioned, Portland Design Month is indeed happening now, and if y...

Illustrator and artist Allie Yacina sits down with Sean to talk about their design mistakes… as well as Good Friends, ways to keep a cool head during a job interview, and summiting the Rockies in a Miata. It’s the episode that’ll make you do the shuffling-your-hands-back-and-forth dance that’s sweeping the nation, which is called the… uh…? Allie Yacina is an artist, illustrator, teacher and design...

This is not Casual Encounters! We’re trying to do design here! The great Dave Pabellon (Assistant Professor of Design at University of Notre Dame) sits down with Sean to talk about his design mistakes… as well as the Costanza Maneuver, Scantron aesthetics, and the Rivers that run through it (it being multiple Chicago neighborhoods in very different parts of town). ABOUT THE GUEST: Dave Pabellon is...

Did I Do That? is back with a new live show direct from the mainstage of Seattle Design Festival 2026! Listen as the great Colby Nichols (Art Director, Print Innovation for Magic: The Gathering at Wizards of the Coast) and Sean Bucknam (Senior Designer at Starbucks) square off with their most regrettable past work to see whose is bad enough for Seattle's favorite mythical raccoon to want to fish i...

I’m away this week, so rather than giving a summer update backed by the soothingly persistent rumble of a hotel air conditioner, I thought I’d share a straight-up rerun—though one inspired by our sister Portland art school (and, of course, hated rivals ) PNCA hosting her for a recent talk as part of their Design Lecture Series . Way back in 2022 as part of season 3, Olivia Johnson (then an Associa...

With our fourth Design Confessional event happening the night this episode is released, we're this week pairing our event news with a rehashed version of the show's very first confessional event four years ago! How can you find peace when faced with cross crossworders, ghost(ed) cookbooks, and duck pornography? There’s only one way to find out! (To be clear: the way is listening; you must listen t...

What’s been happening behind the scenes during this summer break? A LOT! Sean is here to talk events, squirrel infestations, construction, the secret value of gambling, and the changes coming in Season 9! Upcoming Events: The Design Confessional at Future Fonts & Friends Thursday, August 6 from 6–9pm Outlet, 2500 NE Sandy Blvd., Portland OR Presented by Future Fonts as part of TypeCon 2026! Fr...

Did I Do That? doesn’t have a studio anymore!? Whatever! We don't need a studio, we need a tuxedo, because it might well be the last episode of season 8 as well!* Jack-of-all trades creative Scrappers sits down with Sean one last time in the Rat’s Nest to talk about his design mistakes… as well as professional papier-mâché, the Scarlett Pushpin, and knives: the perfect job interview gift. Grab a s...

Legendary educator and detail-oriented designer for good Precious Bugarin sits down with Sean to talk about her design mistakes… as well as John Cage’s call-in show, clothing tags, and the challenges of “Illustrating” a 200-page book. Plus, help fund our smash-hit sequel to Backrooms : Creepy Hallway Is The Portal (To Creativity) (And Also There’s Tiny Locked Room In The Room That Has A Sink) . Pr...

While I’m busy packing up the last bits of the Rat’s Nest and closing out a busy school year, I thought I’d share a feed drop from one of my favorite podcasts, Weird Medieval Guys ! It’s a great time, and folks who like a heavy dose of silly alongside their design talk will definitely enjoy it. While it’s not normally a design-specific show, this episode covers a large swath of the evolution of we...

We can’t go too crazy, but we try to get close! Gianni Scarpino Candy (AIGA Portland Mentorship Program co-chair and Senior Visual Design Lead on the Player Experience Editorial and Loyalty Team for XBox) sits down with Sean to talk about her design mistakes… as well as cemetery parties, Shoemaker’s Lung, and Icy Hot for galas. Gianni Scarpino Candy is a visual design leader with a passion for exp...

In the confusingly-named conclusion to our first-ever two parter, Jelly Helm continues sitting down with Sean to talk about his design mistakes at Wieden+Kennedy and beyond… as well as the Season 6 cast of Saturday Night Live, Zip plus-fours, and bean basements. What can we say: it’s a freaky time and we’re feeling freaky! Miss part 1 with Jelly? This episode should be fairly self-contained,...

In our the first half of our first-ever two-parter, the legendary Jelly Helm sits down with Sean to talk about his early career design mistakes… as well as urinal content, slowly becoming the big gray bean cube, and the worst conversations you can have on a long flight. This is interesting to other people—we swear! Since we recorded more than 3 hours together in studio, I broke our conversati...

This might be the first you’re hearing of it, but we feel very strongly you should listen to a new episode of Did I Do That?! Rinee Shah (Executive Creative Director at Hatch) sits down with Sean to talk about her design mistakes… as well as chinchilla celebrations, ceremonial cream cheese tastings, and Sleepytime satanic panics. Rinee Shah is a creative director and illustrator, based in Por...

A new Did I Do That?!? Holy cow, we don't even know how to attack it! Neven Mrgan (Creative Lead at Panic) sits down with Sean to talk about his design mistakes… as well as German dub Darth Vader, turning your company’s office into a mad scientist’s lab, and the Seinfeld Presidential Library. Neven Mrgan is the Creative Lead at Portland very own Panic. Born in Croatia, he moved to the US in t...

Put on your biggest, fuzziest Jamiroquai hat because this Did I Do That? is virtually insane! Illustrator, art director, set designer, game maker, and more Emily Suvanvej (AKA Emy Su) sits down with Sean to talk about her design mistakes… as well as comforting crustaceans, “gardening,” and The Backrooms at the mall. Emily Suvanvej is an award-winning, Thai-American designer & illustrator...

Why not make a new Did I Do That? All the listeners could say is no! Katie McHugh (Group Design Director at Wieden+Kennedy) sits down with Sean to talk about her design mistakes… as well as pledge drive phone banks, magical janitors, and Spartacus’ bulk aisle. Katie McHugh is a Design Director at Wieden and Kennedy. She has also played strategist, senior art director, 3D space and experientia...

Did I Do That? is back again, even though every time someone says that, it presages a disaster. Globetrotting art director, father, and genuine jack-of-all-trades Sam O’Leary sits down with Sean for our season 8 premiere to talk about his creative missteps… as well as the “good” stuff “kids” go for, woofing, and North America: where everybody knows your name. Sam O’Leary is a maker, storytell...

Did I Do That? is back, because failure is the best design teacher. Starting next Thursday, we’re cramming for a lecture hall-sized eighth season that’ll drop new episodes through ‘til August, summer school be damned. This season’s curriculum will be jam-packed with guests hailing from all over the map (specifically, that big one on the pull-down screen above the chalkboard). We’ll have new medium...

Season 8 is on our doorstep, with the next thing you hear here being the season 8 trailer! In the mean time, though, we've got another awesome all-timer from the archives to share—the great Eason Yang (founder and design director of NED: Not Entirely Dead, and more recently of AIGA New York's board) made the trek down from Seattle on St. Patrick’s Day 2023 to talk with Sean about looking for...

Season 8 is drawing closer, but in the meantime, we're sharing yet another past favorite, this time from the amazing Kristin Rogers Brown, now full Professor, Chair of Graphic Design, and Director of the Center for Design at Pacific Northwest College of Art). Way back in September 2023 as part of season 3, Kristin joined Sean to talk nightmarish mascots, the corporate handshake aesthetic, and penc...

It’s a new year, and to celebrate while I dive deep into prep mode for season 8, I’ve picked out one of my past favorites to share again—freelance designer, grad student, and fellow Portland Institute for Contemporary Art design alum Mallary Wilson joined me way back in June of 2023 to talk inadvertently inappropriate imagery, erasers shaped like food items, and hoarding AOL hours. It’s an episode...

What’s the worst project you’ve ever made—the one you almost cringe to think about sharing with the world? It’s a feeling every designer can identity. But what if you had a chance to fish it out of the proverbial trash can and pit it toe-to-toe against some of your peers’ worst-ever work live on stage, with the hope of having it named “Worst in Show?” Did I Do That? Scrapes the Bottom of the Barre...

Canadian/Australian illustrator and designer Mariah Barnaby-Norris joins Sean to talk about her design mistakes… as well as school photo backdrops, choosing graphic design over a promising career as a rural road work flagger, and THE DID I DO THAT? 2026 TREND REPORT (based entirely on the out-of-date trade and specialty magazines available in downtown Los Angeles’ Central Library). You can keep up...