Rachel Mae Zeolla, Creative Director at NBCUniversal, meets up with The Reflex Blue Show while at the 2024 HOW Design Live conference in Denver, Colorado.

We talk about her being eaten by a shark on The Last Sharknado: It’s About Time (I have been fortunate to have a LOT of great guests on the show over the years, but still get amazed by the things people get to do in this profession, and this one is just cool), Chucky, Suits, Wynonna Earp, Hacks, her talk at HOW about fandom and how to use marketing to tap into it, how a musical theatre background helps in marketing, and more.

Enjoy.

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Alex Center meets up with The Reflex Blue Show while at the 2024 HOW Design Live conference in Denver, Colorado (I should mention that his company Center did the branding for this year’s event as well). We talk about his decade of doing design for Coca-Cola, starting his design career as an intern for The New York Knicks, and even getting to meet 50 Cent while working on an ad for VitaminWater. We also talk about his own podcast, Front and Center.

Enjoy.

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Aaron Draplin stops by, I mean, more like I crashed his merch booth in the lobby to talk to him about closing down the 2024 HOW Design Live in Denver. And wow, that merch table has grown over the years to truly be a sight to behold.

After that, I speak with Stephen Gates about his talk, which was followed by an immediate, and basically unplanned, open Q&A chat – maybe next year he’ll finally bring that band he works with to HOW as well.

And on the other side of the lobby, I find Rick Griffith near the pop-up bookstore run by, well, his bookstore. I will say, I was very happy to see a bookstore return to the conference, and such a well curated one at that. It was also worth the walk to the actual store the day before.

And that wraps up – wait, one more, very brief cameo to close down the daily recaps from Bill Gardner, who celebrated his birthday in Denver by giving his yearly LogoLounge Trend Report.

Recorded on September 25, 2024 in the lobby of the Ellie Caulkins Opera House during the final day of 2024’s HOW Design Live. I recorded eight podcasts while there, and they will be released over the next few months.

Enjoy.

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Amy Conover, HOW Design’s Brand and Content Director; show attendees, and fellow Omaha area designers Anne Hughes and Erin Pille; HOW Ambassadors Keith Smith and Darcy Hinrichs; and Jason Wedekind of Genghis Kern discuss the first two days of another incredible conference.

Big thanks to the Letterpress Depot for letting me record from their booth in the exhibit hall, where they were printing posters for attendees, as well as promoting “The Letterpress Depot: a living museum of letterpress printing, typography, design, poetry and art.” And a huge thanks to HOW for once again having me out to record podcasts during the event.

Recorded on September 24, 2024 in the Seawell Ballroom during the closing reception of HOW Design Live –  which is just over 2/3 of the way through the program itself, so there is still a lot of HOW to cover, and we will be back later this week with our final recap.

Enjoy.

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Debbie Millman joined me backstage just as the 2024 HOW Design Live was starting up. We talk about The Shop at Matter, her upcoming book, “Love Letter to a Garden“, breaking the elevator at the San Francisco Sterling Brands office within minutes of when we first met, podcasting for almost 20 years, and more.

Recorded on September 23, 2024 in the Ellie Caulkins Opera House. Moving HOW Design Live to a creative venue was one that was a a big hit – seeing the main stage speakers in an Opera House really added to the creativity and inspiration of the event – one I would love to see continued.

As usual, the speakers were great (Debbie helps with selection of a number of them, which we also discuss), being in Denver is always a week to remember, and I can’t wait to see what next year brings. Until then, I will be back this week with two more daily recaps, and will finish off Season 17 with eight podcasts recorded during the event.

Still can’t believe that Design Matters is going to be 20 in February, as it also reminds me of my own podcasting beginnings later that year…

Enjoy.

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Liz Hunt, CEO of DayCloud Studios, sits down with me in the DayCloud penthouse suite located in The Blackstone District of Omaha, Nebraska to talk about the advice she gives to those starting up their own creative business.

We also talk about how to lead a client through the creative process, how to get that first big client, and the importance of following through – which includes a tip from a hostage negotiator.

And or course, we talk about her own podcast, the Agency Rocket Show.

Enjoy.

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Tessa Porter, a candy scientist and founder of Sprinkk, was the closing keynote speaker at the 2024 OnBrand Conference in Omaha, Nebraska. Recorded from the event on July 25, we spoke just before her closing the event and handing out treats from the Norma’s line of handcrafted fruity snacks.

We speak about how candy brings joy, why I buy the donuts with sprinkles on them, being a candy scientist, getting into candy as a career, building a candy factory in Nebraska, and more.

Thanks again to the AAF Nebraska, AMA Lincoln, AMA Omaha, and PRSA Nebraska on a wonderful conference.

Enjoy.

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Kathleen Riessen, the business manager at Applied Art & Technology in Des Moines, was the opening keynote speaker at the 2024 OnBrand Conference in Omaha, Nebraska. Recorded from the event on July 25, we spoke just after her opening the event with her talk – “Grow Your Creativity: It’s Not Just for Designers.”

We also speak about her afternoon breakout topic of “What do you want me to do?!?! Using Emotional Intelligence to get clear direction from your client or your boss”; her former podcast, The Kathleen Riessen Show; her books; the three ways of listening; and more.

Thanks again to the AAF Nebraska, AMA Lincoln, AMA Omaha, and PRSA Nebraska on a wonderful conference.

Enjoy.

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Todd Coats & Elliot Strunk, the hosts of Two Designers Walk Into a Bar (a podcast about iconic design and popular culture), well, walk into The Reflex Blue Show.

We talk about their influences in the design field, pop culture, listening to vinyl, and more.

It’s funny, I started podcasting back in 2005 because Nate, Tom and I would end up hanging out at a bar talking about graphic design and things we loved. So, hanging out in this virtual bar with Todd and Elliot took me back to where it felt like I started. Of course, we recorded this one well before the bars around here would even be open…

Enjoy.

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Katrina Torrijos, an Adobe Express Evangelist, was in Omaha a couple of weeks ago for Adobe Create Now. We recorded this episode in a green room / nuclear bunker / hidden lounge below The Durham Museum just hours before Katrina took the stage to show off the capabilities of Adobe Express and how Adobe Firefly (Adobe’s generative AI tool) incorporates itself into Illustrator and Photoshop, as well as Express. For the record, I still have yet to test out Adobe Express, but if I was running an instagram account, the tools built in to schedule posts and allow a client to make some text changes, as well as the simplicity of basic animation – well, I’d definitely test it out.

We also talk about the value in attending events such as this (and this one was completely free by the way), Katrina’s path to becoming an Adobe Evangelist, the power of owning that you are a creative, and more.

Enjoy.

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I met up with Tad Carpenter in the green room at The Funny Bone Omaha of all places. That’s right, AAF Nebraska’s annual Meet the Pros upped their game on the location and went full-on comedy club! Tad was just hours away from being the main keynote speaker at the area’s best design / advertising / marketing student event, and we crammed into the coat closet / janitorial supplies storage / green room to talk about his brand-centric design company, Carpenter Collective.

We talk a bit about doing cup designs for Sonic, and knowing how many people have thrown your work away, designing a book cover for Wonder (which then went on to be a huge deal), and more.

We also talk about the importance of play, and finding joy in the design we do – something that Tad has found over the past (almost) 9 years by creating a sun every Sunday in his Sunday Suns.

Thanks again to AAF Nebraska for hosting an amazing event. I still have great memories of attending when I was a student, and always encourage others in the area to find a way to make this one. Once again, I also served as one of the many portfolio reviewers (the ‘Pros’ in the Meet the Pros I suppose), which I am happy to see the local market once again stepping up to support the event with their presence.

Enjoy.

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