Last Saturday, What Cheer was holding an open house to celebrate their new office space. They may not have had a Street Fighter II machine in the lobby like we do, but there was an Elvis pinball (TCB!) machine in the building. They also had a camera set up to automatically take pictures every 10 or 15 seconds, leaving prrof that Nate and I were both there. The evening also gave us a chance to see the new Secret Penguin office next door (still under construction), and talk with the head penguin himself, Dave Nelson.

Dave had previously been a guest on the Be A Design Cast (#28: The Freelance Show) when he was part of Divvy Collective, and a guest of The Reflex Blue Show (#11: Epic Fail) when he shared office space with What Cheer. As Dave is in a two-week limbo between offices, and working out of his house, we figured it was an ideal time to steal an hour of his time to talk about the industry.

The big buzz is all about the iPad (which we had things to say about) and how to get work in this economy (which it ends up we didn't have much to say about, so it's best to just listen to Michael Bierut talk about clients). We end by speaking about what Secret Penguin has been up to lately: getting skateparks in Omaha, an award-winning website for an OB/GYN, and all sorts of Martial Arts.

And of course, Mig Reyes brings us the student tip. And Dave supplied the Red Bull Sugarfree.

Download The Reflex Blue Show with Nate Voss and Donovan Beery, Season 2 Episode 21 (26 meg) or click here to subscribe to The Reflex Blue Show from the iTunes Music Store. 

It was exactly one year ago today that Nate set up the @36Point Twitter account, and told me to use it. That weekend we drove to Fort Smith to help judge the AAF-Fort Smith ADDY show, and documented the travel with regular tweeting. The following week, we decided we'd ask our wonderful show listeners to ask us our take on anything design related via Twitter, and recorded our first Twitter Show (The Reflex Blue Show #26).

A year later, we figured it was time again - a whole show talking about what was sent to us just an hour or so before recording. @nick_merritt, @iKitty, and @notoriouslb3 ask - and we answer.

For those who like a little more detail on what we cover: view Al's very cool Haiti poster, check out some vertically-striped socks, turn ahead the clock, witness the return of a 'hillbilly', love or hate a serif, view a movie, drool over some crowns, dress like a Skywalker, and listen to Mig Reyes tell you how to be successful.

Download The Reflex Blue Show with Nate Voss and Donovan Beery, Season 2 Episode 20 (27 meg) or click here to subscribe to The Reflex Blue Show from the iTunes Music Store. 

How far have we come in design over the past 10 years? Think butterfly ballots and iPods. 

How far has technology evolved between Y2K and the end of 2009? Obviously not enough to where a laptop running GarageBand and iChat can handle more then 15 minutes of audio before crashing with memory problems is the answer to that one.

The aughts also brought designers the merger of Adobe and Macromedia, the demise of the rolodex and a change in how stock imagery is bought.  

So this week we bring Steve Gordon and Adam Nielsen out of the frozen lands of Hoth (or Omaha, it's the same place this week) to recap the last ten years with Nate and I, while making predictions of the next ten.

And how can a design podcast on the past ten years not mention the design blogs, the design podcasts and forums? We can't - we cover them as well.

As the show progresses, it becomes like the Highlander, "in the end, there can be only one." The technology delays kill the time we have with Adam. Nate is soon to follow (and since Nate was stranded on a remote area of Hoth, and had to conference in, we immediately moved to more traditional recording methods, making the sound instantly better). Steve and I are left dueling for the Immortality that we both feel destined for until Mig Reyes swoops in with the final say and wins the game. 

Do you have some wild predictions of your own for the next ten years? Be sure to leave them here.     

Download The Reflex Blue Show with Nate Voss and Donovan Beery, Season 2 Episode 19 (28 meg) or click here to subscribe to The Reflex Blue Show from the iTunes Music Store. 

If memory serves me correctly, I met Jason Tselentis during an AIGA Nebraska event where House Industries presented at a bowling event. After the presentation, Jason ended up being in the same group of lanes I was during the after-presentation bowling. Over the next year or so, I spoke with Jason at a number of AIGA events, until he left the city to get a master's degree.

Years later, we ran into each other in the online world, with him writing for Speak Up and me at the also defunct Be A Design Group. It was only a matter of time before he finally stepped foot back in Nebraska, where we got him to stop by and record a podcast with us.

Since Jason also teaches design, we start with a conversation of specialization versus generalization in design degrees and design businesses. From there we show him that which he has never seen. The new 'Aol.' mark.

Mig Reyes makes a return with a student tip, and we end speaking of Jason's upcoming (2011) Rockport book on Type.

And please, let us know if you use the measurement known as the pica. Do you?      

Download The Reflex Blue Show with Nate Voss and Donovan Beery, Season 2 Episode 18 (26 meg) or click here to subscribe to The Reflex Blue Show from the iTunes Music Store.