Archive for ‘The Reflex Blue Show’
118 items.
Get a Grip with Kevin McConkey : The Reflex Blue Show #89
April 26th, 2012 |Posted In: The Reflex Blue Show
Kevin McConkey not only helps run one of the hottest design agencies in Chicago (Grip), he’s just a lot of fun to talk to. So the real question is, why did it take us so long to have him on the show? I really don’t have a good answer, but I’m glad we finally corrected this.
Ben and I speak to Kevin about Grip’s work for Girl and the Goat, Whole Foods Market, and Death’s Door Spirits. We also speak of designing on an equity model, hanging out at the HOW Conference in Chicago last year, the Grip book 1000 Package Designs, and more.
But maybe of most importance is the discussion of if Tone Lōc or The Pharcyde created the greatest hip hop album of all time. Maybe we can put this to an Exhibit A vs Exhibit B.
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Finding Design Motivation : The Reflex Blue Show #88
April 9th, 2012 |Posted In: The Reflex Blue Show
Ben Lueders and I were trying to motivate ourselves to come up with a topic for the next podcast, when we started thinking about what would motivate us to find such a topic. That was all the motivation we needed – we decided to talk about “finding design motivation.”
We had already lined up Steve Gordon and Brandon Herbel to be guests, so all we had left to do was get some sort of structure together, or so we thought.
Once we decided to have five categories to come up with answers for, we went ahead and had some future and past guests of the show give us the “correct answers” for designers looking for motivation. Our categories for finding motivation ended up being: website; quote; advice; activity; and food and/or drink. And a huge thanks goes out to our expert panel who emailed in their motivations: Armin Vit, Von Glitchka, Nate Voss, Sean Adams, and Kevin McConkey.
A lot of these things get done by us last minute, and it’s amazing anyone on our panel got back to me in time, but this one came in just a couple hours after we recorded, but I love it, so wanted to share it. The advice from Debbie Millman, and all the motivation I need for the rest of the day, “DON’T GIVE UP. EVER.”
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Life Kerning with Justin Ahrens : The Reflex Blue Show #87
March 19th, 2012 |Posted In: The Reflex Blue Show
Justin Ahrens of Rule29 makes his return (does he ever really go away? do we really want him to go away? why does he keep hanging around?) to The Reflex Blue Show. This time though, he brings with us a new book (note: I really did enjoy the book, Ben’s still reading it, we both recommend it for people trying to balance work and life). Out now, Life Kerning is worth picking up, so we mostly speak of it.
We do have time left to talk about his standing desk, LEGO brand building blocks, paper, his speaking at HOW Live in Boston and more.
And as a bonus, we bring back Dyana Valentine for a fantastic installment of “Dyana’s Valentine Notes”.
And here is the link Ben (oh yeah, Ben Lueders co-hosts once again) mentions to buy individual LEGO brand building bricks.
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Lisa Brings a Client to the Show : The Reflex Blue Show #86
February 27th, 2012 |Posted In: The Reflex Blue Show
Today is a first (I think). We’ve done enough shows that I sometimes forget all that we’ve done, but I do not recall anyone ever bringing their client with them to a show. So, we speak to Lisa Vitale of Brand Hero, and her client Sarah Lewis of Cooking Matters in Omaha (part of the national Cooking Matters).
Joined by co-hosts Ben Lueders and Steve Gordon, we discuss doing good, volunteering, cooking, fashion, the recipe for life program, shoes, and what it will take for Steve to start designing watches.
All that, and then Dyana Valentine brings us another great installment of “Dyana’s Valentine Notes”.
See you in a couple of weeks as we bring back Justin Ahrens of Rule29.
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Valentine’s Day with Dyana : The Reflex Blue Show #85
February 14th, 2012 |Posted In: The Reflex Blue Show
Last Monday it was cold here in Omaha. We had half a foot of snow on the ground, and wait, same thing today, great. But what really got us excited to work was speaking with Dyana Valentine.
We covered a number of things between the creative bubble, not being sorry (at Trader Joe’s anyway, feel free to be sorry at Wally World), and speaking at 3 of the 4 HOW Live conferences in Boston this June (If 2 out of 3 ain’t bad, then Dyana is doing great).
Joined by co-host Ben Lueders, we bring you Dyana Valentine on Valentine’s Day. Enjoy.
Also, we bring (and we put in a chapter marker, so you can skip right to it if you prefer) what we hope will be a fairly regular feature through the rest of season 5, inspirational short tidbits from Dyana we’re calling “Dyana’s Valentine Note”.
Download The Reflex Blue Show, Season 5 Episode 3 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