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Fans of RBtL, Matt is starting a new design show called On the Grid, see below:
Episode 1: Replacing Your Eyes [mp3 link released on July 24, 2012]
We’re posting our pilot episode of On the Grid! We’ve been recording the show for a few weeks now, we’ve done tests that will probably never see the light of day, and we’re finally ready to launch episode one.
We plan on using the show to discuss design through recent events and news. Hopefully you’ll enjoy a mix of design conversation, joking side comments, and discussion of the issues that affect us as designers.
Below are some links to articles and topics discussed:
Apple supporting Podcasts responsible for Twitter?
Dieter Rams’ 10 Principles of Good Design
Dribbble is Not a Platform for Critique
Studio 360 Redesigns: Know Canada
We’re very excited to start this new podcast, and we know it will be may a bit of a process to find our voice, so we can appreciate a good to critique. If you have some thoughtful feedback, leave a comment here, email us (mail at onthegrid dot co), or even call us if want us to possibly play your comments on the show: (973) ON-GRID-2
If you want to share a topic, tweet a link with the hashtag #onthegrid
We also continue to design our logo, so we’ll keep posting those here.
Don’t forget to subscribe.
On this episode we talk with Elliot Jay Stocks. We discuss his web work, his book, and his upcoming periodical “8 Faces,” as well as a few other things.
In addition, this episode talks about some RBtL news and evolutions, including new segments we plan on introducing.
Shownotes for Episode 28
We want to thank Elliot again for coming on, apologize to him and you for taking so long on this episode, and encourage everyone again to send us an email. It’s our favorite part of the day!
Thanks, and enjoy!
On this episode we got a chance to talk to Scott Thomas, design director of the Obama campaign. We talked about his work on the campaign, his new book Designing Obama, and the Post Family.
Shownotes for Episode 27
This episode takes a turn from our previous episode’s very specific topic. In episode 26, we discuss some lofty ideas concerning design sustainability in all matters (social, economic, environmental, etc.) as well as design altruism. We tackle three specific examples, including Cradle to Cradle, and two inventions that are helping developing nations and people. We go in-depth to discuss our consumption, poke fun at laptop stands, and try to begin to peel the bandaid to see how designers can help.
We ask that you let us know too. At the end, we pose a few questions, and now more than ever, we’d love to hear from you. This is a big topic that, comparatively, the two of us know nothing about. The question, though, is pretty simple—how can we help?
In addition, we’d love to have you, dear viewers, on the show. Send us an email. Let us know what times during the week you’re available. Maybe you’ll hear back and be invited on a future episode.
Finally, we’d like to thank Jos for our acknowledgment in his recent Museo Slab spec book. You can check it out in the shownotes, and the face should be available soon.
Shownotes for Episode 26
Michael Pritchard talks about his Lifesaver Water Bottle
William McDonough talks about Cradle to Cradle
Josh Silver talk about his Adjustable Glasses
This week on the show we’re talking about web fonts again. A lot has happened since the last time we’ve talked about it. We’re joined by our friend and fellow designer Dan Auer.
Shownotes for Episode 25
This week on the show we interviewed type designer Jos Buivenga, designer of Museo and Calluna. We talked to him about his background, his journey from designing free fonts to selling them through Exljbris, and his recent work with Martin Majoor.
Shownotes for Episode 24
On this episode, we speak with Robyn Waxman. We discuss Robyn’s role in the design and education world, as well as the paradigm shift leading design to new realms of activism, protest, and plainly supporting a cause, whatever it may be. We touch on her role in The Designer’s Accord, as well as her thesis and FARM project.
Shownotes for Episode 23
A Bit Behind the Scenes
I’m not sure if I’ve gone over this previously, but we hear about sound quality on a regular basis, so I just wanted to take a moment to let everyone know we are devoted to continually improve the quality of RBtL.
As it stands, nearly 15-20 hours go into work a week on the show. I know on any given week I myself spend 7-10, and I can imagine Matt spends about the same.
During the week, I spend a few hours thinking of future episodes, topics, or question for this week’s episode. I spent some time reviewing other blogs, news, and trends (although I’d do this even without the show), and I can easily spend a couple of hours emailing and checking up on Twitter for the show.
Recording usually lasts about 2 hours, from setup to finishing.
Editing almost always takes 2-3 hours.
Additionally, when it comes to guests, we don’t ever have complete control in the final audio. We’ve made tremendous achievements with some accidental and crazy mishaps over the past 3 months, especially.
If you listen to shows with just Matt and myself, you can usually tell the audio quality is quite good for a podcast. It may not be professional studio level, but we’re happy about it.
However, each person is responsible for recording their own audio. This helps us avoid the interference from the internet and whatever medium we’re using to chat. This is the drawback of being specifically online (although being able to interview anyone, anywhere, obviously makes up for this by leaps and bounds).
This responsibility becomes an issue with guests. Matt and I have done this more than 22 times now, and have a system down. We ask quite a bit of our guests, and they always do an incredibly wonderful job, and we are always thankful that they can donate any time. Through this process, we want to cut down on their hassle as much as possible. While we ask that they record their own audio with GarageBand or something like it, there simply isn’t always the time or availability.
There almost always is however—yet technology still messes up. Things crash, etc.
Luckily for ourselves and our listeners, we always record a backup copy. After episode 5, any episode you’ve heard with bad sound quality has been a backup recording. And it’s always been because of an unforseen mishap.
We are always sorry when these things happen, but never would we want to stop a show, impose upon our guests for even more time, or discard a very interesting conversation we’ve already had. So we go through, edit the individual recordings we do have into the backup (which actually takes more time) and put it up.
I assure you though, we plan to do better. We hear the requests, and we are on it. Every episode I edit, I learn a little bit more about the software I’m using, and I’ve easily made some mistakes when it comes to volume levels, etc. And honestly, sometimes it is just laziness. After a long edit, I’m ready and excited to get the show up.
But, to stop this post from being any longer, the point is—we’re always trying harder, and you can be sure we’ll keep trying to take those extra steps, spend a few extra minutes, and hopefully—eventually maybe have some sponsorship so we can afford new equipment.
So mostly, I wanted to give an overview of the backends of the show. Thank you all so much for listening, and please keep the fire under us! But trust us, our passion is going nowhere.
As always, we’re always open and reading suggestions on how to improve. Better equipment—check, we’re working on that. We’ve had a few other suggestions and are checking up on them as well. (We had a friendly email from a former audio engineer, however something appeared to have happened to his email address). Never the less.
Thanks as always and best wishes,
Aaron
We kick off Season 2 with an interview with David Airey. We talked to David about identity design, his blog, and his new book.
Shownotes for Episode 22
This week on the show we had a conversation with Veronika and José of TypeTogether. We talked to them about their education at Reading, designing type for different media, custom type work, and type on the web.
Shownotes for Episode 21
