Once we left the Willoughby Design Group, we were off to check out some comic shops, an impromptu tour of HAMMERPRESS (we need to schedule another Kansas City podcast tour just to talk to these amazing designers), then went to visit Christine Taylor and get a short tour of the Hallmark offices. By far, this place had more resources for creatives in one area than I have ever seen. When you hire this many creatives, it is nice to see they do a lot of good things to keep them that way. Original items like this are just hanging in the hallway.

And in between the tour and dinner at the amazing Oklahoma Joe's (now I get why KC is known for BBQ), we spoke with Christine about the Tron arcade game and a lot of the pop culture entities she has to work on for her day job. Things like The Simpsons, Star Wars, Twilight, The Office and 30 Rock. And we bring you another student tip from Mig Reyes. 

We leave a few things undecided, and need your help to determine:

• What is the 3rd best Star Wars movie?
• What is the best 30 minutes from any of the Star Wars movies?
• And do I need to watch any bit of that Twilight movie?

Let us know in the comments below.

Download The Reflex Blue Show with Nate Voss and Donovan Beery, Season 2 Episode 16 (30 meg) or click here to subscribe to The Reflex Blue Show from the iTunes Music Store. 

After recording the last show, and having lunch with Stefan Mumaw, our Kansas City podcast trip took us to stop three: Willoughby Design Group. For the half hour we sat and spoke with her, I don't think Ann Willoughby stopped working for thirty seconds. She was sketching the entire time, and we got an immediate sense of a talent level that is rare (like flashbacks of visiting the San Francisco offices of Pentagram).

We covered a wide range of topics including her many projects dedicated to environmentally friendly items, the barn and redesigning the environment people work in. We end with her recalling a story of living through the era of MadMen as a female in a male dominated profession - and how that has thankfully changed, and how design is better because of that change.

As we were wrapping up, we ran into the Drifting Creatives in the hallway. We only spoke for a minute, but I applaud them for making cross-country treks to learn more about the industry. We have learned so much just going to a few cities and speaking to designers who have much more experience than us, I can only imagine what a life-changing journey they have taken so far.

Once again, Mig Reyes provides our student tip.

Leave your thoughts and opinions in the comments below. We have one more stop on our Kansas City podcast trip, which will air in two weeks.

Download The Reflex Blue Show with Nate Voss and Donovan Beery, Season 2 Episode 15 (27 meg) or click here to subscribe to The Reflex Blue Show from the iTunes Music Store. 

After speaking with Mike Adair and Bob Holt at Hallmark, the next stop on our Kansas City podcast tour was to find Stefan Mumaw at Reign. As we pulled up to the entry, we noticed Hammerpress Letterpress and Design Studio, and decided to stop by a bit later in the day to see the presses. For now, it was up to the third floor, in what may be the most square footage I have ever seen for a four-person design shop. But the guitars, massive open spaces and white boards everywhere told us they were serious about the creative. 

Even though Reign has only been around for a few months (Stefan just moved to Kansas City this year), you can already sense that it won't take long for them to make their mark on the city's design scene. But Reign was only part of what we wanted to speak about, we mainly wanted to talk about the other hobbies Stefan has, which seems to be writing design books.

Starting with Simple Websites and Redesigning Websites, Stefan then moved on to teaming up with Wendy Lee Oldfield and creating two books that seem to be everywhere in the design circles now: Caffeine for the Creative Mind and the just released Caffeine for the Creative Team. If you ever run out of creative, these books will give you the pick-up you need to get going again, and this is what we mostly talk about. When you create two books like these, it's really all we want to cover.

After the fact, we realized what we should have talked about is if Stefan Mumaw is a hobo. Let's consider that Stefan just moved across country and is working in a basically vacant building. Now let's remember that Stefan took us to Jack Stack BBQ for lunch and confessed that he is all about the Burnt Ends when it comes to his BBQ. Aren't burnt ends like the pieces of meat that fall off the real food? Like table scraps? And now we remember that this episode of The Reflex Blue Show is the only one being released during 36 Hobo week? Not sure if this is all coincidence. 

Finally we bring another student tip from Mig Reyes. This may also make Mig a hobo. Sorry.

Our roadtrip returns in a few weeks with Ann Willoughby, but look for some sort of special episode from the AIGA Make/Think Conference in Memphis between now and then.

And as always, leave your thoughts and opinions in the comments below. And anyone who has more information on what burnt ends are, and why they taste so good, please share.

Download The Reflex Blue Show with Nate Voss and Donovan Beery, Season 2 Episode 14 (29 meg) or click here to subscribe to The Reflex Blue Show from the iTunes Music Store.