This was the final day of the exhibit hall, and I made the most of it by spending a few minutes with Aaron Draplin while he set up his pop-up shop. I then headed over to the booth of this year’s social cause – Wheels4Water. Before I was able to speak to Justin Ahrens, AIGA Medalist David Carson walked by, and we went from there. I wrapped up the recap back at the Neenah Paper booth where I speak with Doug Grever about paper and packaging.
I still can’t believe this was recorded six days ago. For those who’ve been to HOW, you know that once returning to your regular schedule a few days later that there is a weird feeling of that first day. In some ways, it feels like it happened just hours ago – while at the same time feeling like a month away.
I wrote a few blog posts documenting the trip for Neenah Paper again this year if you want to also see recaps in written and photo form:
And of course, I did some podcasting while in Chicago. In the following days I have three more daily recaps to post, followed by seven interview podcasts that will go out over the next few months. I think I ended up with a great lineup of guests over the week, including two AIGA Medalists (one on a recap, one as a full show).
Justin Ahrens of Rule29, one of my favorite guests, joins the Reflex Blue Show to discuss his Design Of podcast, Wheels 4 Water, Designing for Good, AIGA (Justin just joined the National Board), and the coming up way too soon and yet not soon enough HOW Design Live 2017 in Chicago (where he will once again be a speaker).
One of my favorite things about recording this show has been the ability to get to talk with some really great guests, and a lot of them. Somehow or another, Justin has been the only person, other than myself, to make at least one appearance on every season we’ve had, so I thank him for his availability, willingness, and ability to be able to talk about such a wide variety of design topics over the years.
And when it comes to things that seemed to have come along way too soon, I guess this is the beginning of our tenth(!) season of The Reflex Blue Show. Along with the two-plus seasons of The Be A Cast we did before this, November marked eleven years of podcasting – hard to fathom that when Nate Voss, Tom Nemitz, and I first launched that episode back in 2005 – but the calendar keeps moving.
And, a huge thanks to Cody Fenske for designing the podcast all new artwork for Season 10 (and as in the past, it may last a season or two more). He also designed some stickers (you know we love stickers around here) for the occasion, so if you see me throughout the year, be sure to ask for one.
We told a bit of the story on the last Reflex Blue Show when we had Justin on as a guest, but today, 36 Point is launching a new podcast / video / thing called, “Why I Design.”
What started out as a conversation after interviewing Kevin Carroll in 2010, and was followed up by multiple emails and a phone call, turned into creating the above video series. This project is a lot better than it should be because of Kevin. I’ll chat a bit more about the creation in an upcoming podcast, but this would not have happened without a few conversations and guidance from Steve Gordon, Nate Voss, Ben Lueders, and Madison Neal.
I also need to thank those who actually helped in the creation itself. Nicholas Burroughs ended up doing almost all of the design and editing, as well as helping me to write all of the questions and figuring out what “Why I Design” could be (this project would not have happened without Nicholas, so huge thanks); Craig Hughes wrote us a custom score (yes, we have original music on this!); and Justin Ahrens, who was gracious enough to put up with multiple requests as we figured out what to do with the audio we recorded back at HOW Design Live in 2013.
Anyway, I really hope you enjoy the video above, as we have the first eight of these recorded, and in various states of completion. We’ll be back in April with Jim Woods!
Why I Design (Episode 1: Justin Ahrens)
Created by Donovan Beery & Kevin Carroll
Recorded and Designed by Donovan Beery & Nicholas Burroughs
Music by Studio Polymath
Images Provided by Justin Ahrens