Join host, Diana Varma, as she explores the wonderful world of design and printing, typography and branding, books and publishing. In each episode Diana aims to answer many age-old, deep philosophical questions such as: Where the heck did Comic Sans originate? Why do the majority of printed books have blank pages at the end? What is the world's ugliest colour? What does a sassy three-year-old have to say about the visible colour spectrum? Ready to have some fun? Let's talk paper scissors.
This is the first episode in a 3-part guest lecture series in GCM 230 Typography, speaking with design typography pros from across North America!
This episode features type designer and educator at Emily Carr University of Art + Design in Vancouver, Leo Vicenti.
In this conversation, you’ll hear how Leo believes typography can support Indigenous language and culture, the ways in which typography isn’t always necessary, Indigenization of digital spaces, and why fixed systems don’t necessarily work (Unicode, for example).
This episode was recorded as part of a guest lecture series in GCM 230 - Typography in fall 2025 at The Creative School at Toronto Metropolitan University.
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Today’s episode features two authors with two new books on two interrelated topics: David Berry (How Artists Make Money & How Money Makes Artists) and Raymond Biesinger (9 Times My Work Has Been Ripped Off: An Informal Self-Defence Guide for Independent Creatives).
In this conversation you’ll hear the macro and the micro of economics and art; David and Raymond share history’s most interesting examples, alongside personal examples of the ways in which art and money are intertwined. We talk challenges for early career creatives, artists vs. AI, and what it means to create in a rapidly-shifting media ecosystem. There’s so much richness in this conversation, so many incredible insights, and so much food for thought. If you consider yourself an artist, a designer, an author, a creative… you won’t want to miss this one.
Illustration Credit: Raymond Biesinger
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Allow me to point something out…
From Medieval manuscripts to 19th-century advertising, modern interfaces, and emoji culture, this episode follows the curious history of the iconic pointing hand, commonly referred to as the “manicule”.
Inspired by a letterpress project created for the Canadian Letterpress Alliance, I step back in time to print postcards on a 170-year-old press at Mackenzie House Toronto, using historic wood type found in a cabinet of typographic curiosities.
We explore its origins as a reader’s mark, its many aliases, its evolution through print and persuasion, and its quiet persistence today, right down to the moment I realized that my cursor is a modern-day manicule.
💅🏽 See the final print and process at talkpaperscissors.info/letterpress
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Down the rabbit hole we go! Each conversation in this series connects in unexpected ways. Every new episode spurring a new line of inquiry, like tunnels turning off in different directions, each with an origin that’s traced back to episode 273.
This episode features Jill Blackmore Evans who created GeoCities Memory, a personal and scholarly project designed to capture some of the most interesting examples of websites in Web 1.0. In this conversation, you’ll hear well as what Jill has found to be surprisingly similar about the web now vs. 20-30 years ago, as well as what feels different. She explains the interesting links between the maturation of the web and colonization and control, pondering “Is the Internet forever?” Finally, Jill and I ask and answer big questions about digital ownership and if future generations will event want what we’ve created online.
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Today’s conversation is with Alanna Munro of Arcane Type Foundry. She is a certified letter nerd, designer, and educator. In this conversation you’ll hear about Alanna’s creative process for designing type, the importance of squinting, and common misconceptions about independent foundries. You’ll also hear helpful, actionable advice about font licensing. And for all students here: listen up! Alanna lets type design students know how they can get professional critique on your type design work.
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Today I’m joined by Andrew Huot, who is book making royalty: a book artist, bookbinder, printer, and conservator whose artists’ books are in collections across the US, from the Art Institute of Chicago to Yale University.
In this conversation, you’ll hear what the term “book arts” means. You’ll learn what a typical day in Andrew’s studio looks like, including his most necessary tools: from bone, to surgical scalpels, to teflon. Andrew shares how he repairs paper (my mind is blown!), the oldest book he’s ever worked on, and he debunks a popular book handling myth (again, my mind is blown!). Finally, Andrew speaks to the importance of books in a highly digital world, and he shares the best next steps for aspiring book artists, which might just be you after hearing this episode!
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Meet emerging typeface designers, Ivana Vukmirovic and Mahrukh Saeed! Ivana designed a typeface called Lindworm and Mahrukh designed a typeface called Khabartoon. In the following conversation, you'll get to hear about each typeface, their perfect type pairings, sensory descriptions of each, as well as what each of these emerging typeface designers plans to do next in the world of letterforms. Let the type geekery begin!
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Let's Connect on the web or via Instagram. :)
Down the rabbit hole we go! Each conversation in this series connects in unexpected ways. Every new episode spurring a new line of inquiry, like tunnels turning off in different directions, each with an origin that’s traced back to episode 273.
This episode features George Wylesol who is an artist and author based in Baltimore, Maryland. In this conversation, you’ll hear about George’s grown-up choose-your-own-adventure book, 2120, that forces the reader to question who is in control. You’ll hear about his inspiration for the work, his technical process, as well as how AI’s evolution shaped the book’s content and meaning. George also waxes nostalgia for early Internet culture and websites like those found on the now defunct Geocities website.
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Today’s guest and her team’s most recent book project is truly emotional and inspiring. In this conversation, you’ll hear from Rachel Arthur, Founder and Editor of boom saloon, “an independent publisher dedicated to democratizing creativity for good”. You’ll hear about their most recent publication (and deeply personal project) that humanizes the experiences of dementia, called “4,4,4&2”.
You’ll hear about the process of co-creation central to the making of the publication, the disappearing ink technology and intentional typographic choices used to mimic the experience of living with dementia, as well as Rachel’s beautiful hope for this project and where it could lead.
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This episode features Maria Bowler, author of ‘Making Time: A New Vision for Crafting a Life Beyond Productivity’. In this conversation, Maria clarifies the way we orient to the world, either as “the producer” or “the maker”. She dives deep into the problematic ideas around productivity, the ways in which these ideas reinforce colonial systems, and how to re-imagine time, questioning the typical options laid out before us.
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In this conversation, you’ll hear from Amanda Breeze, a cannabis writer based out of Toronto, Canada, who documents international cannabis culture and explores new smells. This year she launched Tripper Magazine, an adventure travel guide to the world’s cannabis friendly destinations.
In this conversation, you’ll learn about the process of making a magazine from the seedling of an idea, through to distribution all around town. Amanda shares so much invaluable info for new magazine makers!
I'm all about interesting projects with interesting people!
Let's Connect on the web or via Instagram. :)