John Henry Müller: The Reflex Blue Show #191

August 20th, 2018 | by Donovan Beery
Posted In: The Reflex Blue Show

John Henry Müller: The Reflex Blue Show #191

John Henry Müller (Design Director at Hudl) returns to the show after last having his work go to the dogs over five years ago.

We meet up in the hallway (I love recording at conferences (the energy, the people, the fun), but the drawback is less than ideal background noises also coming through on the recording from said activities (or, maybe that just adds to it? Yeah, let’s just go with that.)) at the OnBrand Conference in Omaha. What a great event – a collaboration of the local AAF, AIGA, AMA, and PRSA chapters to create what can only be described as a pretty amazing success – really looking forward to where this conference goes from here.

John Henry and I discuss a bit of the OnBrand conference (he was on a creative panel that afternoon), and his work at Hudl (and what it’s like working with a 30-person in-house product design team).

We also discuss the 10th (and final, about to be rebranded) Big Omaha, as well as the 10th MAHA Music Festival (both events occurred over this past weekend). We then rehash a bit of his past life running Pack and, before that, What Cheer, and some of the work What Cheer did around Big Omaha (like the Selective Perspective Detective Objective, HOT or COLD, and the coloring contest).

Finally, what’s next? How do you stay current? and what is even staying current in the web? We’ll be back in a week or two with the 2nd (of 3) shows recorded at OnBrand.

Enjoy.

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Dan Rhatigan: The Reflex Blue Show #190

July 23rd, 2018 | by Donovan Beery
Posted In: The Reflex Blue Show

Dan Rhatigan: The Reflex Blue Show #190

Dan Rhatigan (Senior Manager of Adobe‘s type team) was at the HOW Design Live design conference in Boston to talk about what’s next in the type world.

Software does have a lifespan, and with Open Type being over two decades old, well, it makes sense that there may be newer technology being created to deliver all of those wonderful letters and glyphs onto our screens – but I never would have guessed that the emoji was a big reason we needed new file formats (but of course that would be the reason). We speak about all of this, as well as what else is coming, and how browsers and desktops are involved.

We also talk about Typekit, and Adobe constantly working on new fonts, as well as updating old one – hello to Minion 3.

The biggest pro to moving to Adobe’s Creative Cloud (that I found anyway), was having access to Typekit. I use it way more often that I thought I would. Most of the other positive cloud changes I had already assumed to be the case, this is just the one that I didn’t see coming I guess. I do look forward to seeing the things Dan speaks of making there way into regular usage – and in another twenty years, well, who knows what will happen…

This was the last of the six interview podcasts I recorded at HOW Live in Boston, but no worry, The Reflex Blue Show will be back in just a week or two with interviews I plan to record this Thursday at the OnBrand Conference in Omaha, Nebraska.

Enjoy.

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Grace Dawson & Tosh Hall: The Reflex Blue Show #189

July 9th, 2018 | by Donovan Beery
Posted In: The Reflex Blue Show

Grace Dawson & Tosh Hall: The Reflex Blue Show #189

Grace Dawson and Tosh Hall of Jones Knowles Ritchie (JKR / JKR Global / some random law firm) were at the HOW Design Live design conference in Boston to give a presentation about how we haven’t changed – the world has. And to eat chowder. A lot of chowder. At minimum, a bowl of chowder a day.

We speak about their presentation, chowder, how to pronounce chowder, giving out cans of Budweiser at last year’s HOW Design live, giving out Dunkin’ Donuts at this year’s HOW, the work of JKR Global, The Dieline, and more.

Somewhere along the way, Tosh mentioned that Budweiser went through a global rebrand in 2014 – and I recall that being around the first time, that as a designer, I looked at a Bud Light can and thought it was maybe, well, nice. Very nice – like, people who are really good at packaging worked on this. For a history of the previous cans, here it is. You’re free to your own opinions, but 2014 did an amazing job of paying homage to the brand, still looking and feeling like Bud Light, and also being something waaaaaaaaaay better. Then for the summer of 2016, Bud heavy was rebranded as America. Once again, the work stood for itself. I had no idea who was behind any of this until I met Tosh Hall at a Dieline party at one of the past HOW events. Thankfully our schedules aligned this year. So, we also talk about America, Bud Heavy, Bud Light, clients bringing more beverages to your office than you can consume, the work of the JKR Foundation, and The Gut Stuff.

Enjoy.

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Josh Silverman: The Reflex Blue Show #188

June 26th, 2018 | by Donovan Beery
Posted In: The Reflex Blue Show

Josh Silverman: The Reflex Blue Show #188

Josh Silverman was at the HOW Design Live design conference in Boston to give a presentation about working at the layer of people. So, we talk about The People Layer and why it’s so important. We also discuss things that constantly change (was the last FreeHand release really back in 2003? Did PageMaker really release a new version as recently as 2001?), and things that never really change in design (seriously, how did no mention of clients asking for the logo to be bigger come up?).

At the time of this recording (6 weeks ago? So, like 127 years ago in Twitter time?), Josh was, well, at Twitter, where he keeps his handle of @jhsilverman (might as well mention that mine is @36point I guess) – so let’s talk working at a super well known company like that. And yes, one character Twitter names are both rare, valuable, and have people willing to steal them.

Josh, this is for you – I “think” this is the book I referenced that had a chart showing the titles and number of people on various team sizes. If anyone else can confirm / deny such statements, let us know. I had a copy of this book I loaned away around 2000 or 2001, and it was never returned (I likely would have gotten rid of it long ago regardless, so no issues to the party who took it).

I’m not exactly sure when or where I first met Josh, but I am pretty certain is was at an AIGA event of some sort. Joining the AIGA Nebraska board was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made in this profession – and one that has led me to meet so many other great volunteers and board members around the country. We speak a bit about this as well. Even when your AIGA term or volunteer service ends, it seems you never really give up those connections you made, or the desire to want to help again. And going to graphic design events starts to turn into a family reunion of sorts after a while.

Enjoy.

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Allan Espiritu & Kevin Kernan: The Reflex Blue Show #187

June 11th, 2018 | by Donovan Beery
Posted In: The Reflex Blue Show

Allan Espiritu & Kevin Kernan: The Reflex Blue Show #187

Allan Espiritu and Kevin Kernan of GDLOFT were at the HOW Design Live design conference in Boston to celebrate winning the Print Magazine Regional Design Award, Grand Prize with their poster designs for AIGA Philadelphia’s 35th Anniversary. They were also signing slightly modified versions of these posters at the Neenah Paper booth while there.

And I have to say, these posters are sweet. I have a, well, crazy amount of stuff in the office, so it’s not like one item can stand out that much, right? Or maybe so, as I hung up one of the three posters, and the first two people to visit the office afterwards (and not at the same time), immediately mentioned how cool this one poster was.

Anyway, we talk about the posters, about pop music lyrics, David Bowie, the colors for a 35th anniversary, GDLOFT, teaching, and wait – Allan not only works full-time at GDLOFT, but also seems to teach design full-time at Rutgers. We also talk a bit about fine-art, and advice for students.

Graphic design is such a wide and varied profession, that I always enjoy talking to people that see what they can do with design, and then make their own path rather than just follow what they believe to be the norm. And GDLOFT certainly makes their own roads in design. There may be a difference between fine art, design, and teaching, but there is also an overlap, and sometimes the best ideas come from those little areas that we find in-between.

Enjoy.

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