The Superb Owl Spectacular iv : The Reflex Blue Show
February 7th, 2012 | by Donovan Beery
What seems to, usually, most of the time, 60% of the time every time, be our most fun show to record is the yearly ad recap from the big game. Hey, we record it the night after the game, and launch it the day after that, so we may be two days behind some, but that’s how we do this every year, so without delay, or much more of one anyway, we bring you the Superb Owl Spectacular iv!
Joined by Steve Gordon, Ashley McFeeley, and this episode’s guest host Tom Nemitz, we bring a fun show this time, enjoy.
Oh yes, we break it down to five catecories before debating the “best”:
- Cars
- Beverages / Food
- Retail / Online
- Movies
- Whatever Else is Left in a Giant Grab Bag of Stuff
For those who enjoy some footnotes to go with the show:
- Will Ferrell’s commercial only shown in North Platte, Nebraska
- The 3 that ran in Davenport, Iowa
- Eleven19 – 10 Year Open House
- April 11th – The 1st 36 Pints event at 5:30 – The Homy Inn
- 5 Hours of Adriana Lima in 1080p
- Flavor Flav Hugging Tom Coughlin
Download The Reflex Blue Show, The Superb Owl Spectacular iv or, click here to subscribe to The Reflex Blue Show from the iTunes Music Store.
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Allan Haley Interview : The Reflex Blue Show #84
January 24th, 2012 | by Donovan Beery
Type is one of those elements that I use it every day, I could not do my job without, and yet as much as I know about it, there is even more that I do not know. That’s why I find it such a great opportunity to speak with guests like Allan Haley of Monotype Imaging. Allan knows more about letters than I ever will, so it was great to have him on this episode of The Reflex Blue Show.
Joined by co-host Ben Lueders, we talk about Monotype Imaging, web fonts, how to become a type designer and the hardest letter in the English alphabet to design.
We also speak a bit about his 2012 HOW Conference presentation (Allan is one of the speakers) coming this June in Boston.
We’ll be back in two weeks recapping the ads from some football game. See you then!
Download The Reflex Blue Show, Season 5 Episode 2 or, click here to subscribe to The Reflex Blue Show from the iTunes Music Store.
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A Review of Design from 2011 : The Reflex Blue Show #83
January 8th, 2012 | by Donovan Beery
Looks like we ended the fourth season of The Reflex Blue Show with 12 episodes featuring guests such as James Victore, Jessica Hische, Michael Osborne, and Dyana Valentine. We also somehow found the time (with help from Ben Lueders) to cover 3 national conferences (in HOW, How Interactive, and AIGA) with 12 special episodes featuring guests like Emily Potts, Von Glitschka, Doug Powell, Cami Travis-Groves, and Terry White.
Season 5 kicks off with the biggest change we’ve ever made on this show – my co-host, Nate Voss, is stepping down from his podcasting duties. I am a bit unsure of how this will effect the direction of the show, but I’d love to take you with me on this adventure – and thank you for listening, it’s the reason I keep doing this.
In my six plus years of podcasting now, I have realized that the show has not always been just me and Nate, but has grown into what it is because of the listeners, and because of the great guests we have been able to have on the show. It is with that in mind that I bring back one of our most frequent friends of the show in Steve Gordon, and our newest one in Ben Lueders.
New Year? I guess it’s time we discuss 2011 then, as we each talk about what we found to be the Design Event of 2011; the Design Product of 2011; and the Design Story of 2011. Then I empty my fridge of vintage (i.e. old) soda in a taste test.
Hope you enjoy the new show.
Your host,
Donovan Beery
Download The Reflex Blue Show, Season 5 Episode 1 or, click here to subscribe to The Reflex Blue Show from the iTunes Music Store.
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“ ‘If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?’ Whenever the answer has been ‘No’ for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.” — Steve Jobs
The tweet here is probably something along the lines of “I’m hanging up my podcasting spurs.” Of course, brevity has never really been a strong suit of mine, so I’ll elaborate below. But if you just want the quick hit, there it is. These old spurs, I am a’ hangin’ them up.
The Reflex Blue Show, Season 4, Episode 11: Staying Relevant as a Freelancer
October 3rd, 2011 | by Donovan Beery
How we made it through half of a season without having Steve Gordon, Jr. swing by to guest on a show is beyond me – and a problem we decided to fix immediately. So, welcome back to the show Steve! This time around, we start by talking of the Field Paper show in Omaha, Nebraska, which led to me getting this week’s topic from the immensely talented Cathy Solarana. We basically talk about staying relevant, and positioning yourself as a freelancer when you are no longer just a year or two outside of school.
We spend the second half of the show going over all sorts of things: Steve’s new book (which he just found out about this month), 365 Habits of Successful Graphic Designers: Insider Secrets from Top Designers on Working Smart and Staying Creative (ends up that Rockport is packaging his previous book with two others in a new volume); Steve judging the HOW International Design Awards with Ann Willoughby and Mary Zalla; other upcoming F+W Media competitions; me blogging for Neenah Paper at the upcoming AIGA Pivot Conference in Phoenix; and what we are working on right now.
I’ll be back with daily podcast recaps from the big Phoenix event in a couple weeks, and we’ll be back with new shows starting in a month. Thanks for listening, and here is a link to the behind-the-scenes work on the new Neenah Paper promotions Design Army did (the ones we keep referencing in this episode).
Download The Reflex Blue Show, Season 4 Episode 11 or, click here to subscribe to The Reflex Blue Show from the iTunes Music Store.
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Nate Voss is a designer, illustrator, talkshow host and design journalist. Working in Omaha since 2001, Nate served four years on the Board of Directors for
Donovan oversees all creative development at