Daniel is a dad, designer, and speaker who specializes in letterpress design and printing. After 14 years, he lost his career in 2020, so his family relocated back to the 5th-generation farmland he grew up on in rural Indiana. There, his growing interest in typography turned into a small letterpress studio called Hoosier Type Company. Daniel does everything. He sources antique wood type, carves new letterforms when he can't find what he needs, and creates prints of his designs, which he eventually sells on Etsy—from the same garage where his grandfather used to paint. Also, all of his designs are handcrafted in small batches and proudly made in the Midwest.

Tune in for a talk about wood fonts and their measurements, locking up a design on his flatbed letterpress, and how working with antique materials comes with compromise. Follow Daniel on Instagram @hoosiertype.co, buy one of his prints on Etsy, or book him for a type talk or workshop on his website.

Ink, Paper, Sweat, & Hope.

Questions for this interview.

• Does speaking to an audience about your career and what you do become a bigger part of your journey?
• You're introducing a new wood font to your collection. Can you explain what you're doing to those blocks and why you're treating them before you print some proofs?
• Can you help us understand what terms like '8-line', '10-line', or '15-line' mean?
• What does the term "scheme" mean in the context of wood type?
• Why would you want multiple blocks of certain letters in a wood font?
• Can you explain why the "type high" measurement is essential and the exact measurement you're looking for?
• Can you tell us what else is inside a chase besides the wood type?
• How do you make sure the placement of woodblocks is level, straight, and aligned?
• How do you explore ideas with digital fonts before setting wood type?
• When you create digitally, and the final output will not be letterpressed, what specific features or characters do you look for in a font or font family?
• Do you think good typographic taste is something that can be taught and learned?
• What are some of the compromises you make with letterpress, and how do they influence your designs?
• Why should people care about wood type? How can the everyday average designer benefit from learning about letterpress design and printing?

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If you LOVE what you hear and want to help me keep the interviews coming—consider buying me a coffee on Ko-Fi.

Also, I'm always looking for questions from listeners. If there's a burning question you want to hear answered on the podcast, please email it to me at studentsofdesignpod@gmail.com.

Follow @studentsofdesignpod on Instagram for updates, episode drops, and behind-the-scenes content.

The music you hear on the podcast is Accident by Timothy Infinite and PUSH !T by Nbhd Nick.

studentsofdesign.simplecast.com

Fiorella—or Fio—is a designer, illustrator, and content creator from Lima, Peru, living in Toronto, Ontario. She's a lifelong basketball player, so it's no surprise she's worked with organizations and sports brands like the WNBA, NBA, NFL, PWHL, and Asics. Not only was Fio named MVP of her high school basketball team TWICE, but she also played guard for the University of Toronto, and her mother played for Peru's Women's National Team. So, yeah, basketball (literally) flows through her veins. Fiorella has always been passionate about blending the intersections of design and sports, and she's on a mission to find meaningful work that allows her to share that passion with women around the world.

Tune in for a talk about designing Canada's first outdoor WNBA court, why she left the world of architecture, and putting yourself out there on social media. Follow Fio on Instagram @fiorelladoodles, connect with her on LinkedIn, and see more of her work on her website, fiorellagranda.myportfolio.com.

Questions for this interview.

• When people ask you about your visual style, how do you like to describe it?
• Before designing Canada's first outdoor WNBA court, what was going through your mind, and what were you struggling with?
• How did you feel when you learned the WNBA was going to play its first game on Canadian soil in 2023?
• Transitioning from architecture, what was missing from your life at that time, and was there a catalyst that convinced you to pursue graphic design and illustration full-time?
• How does your online presence benefit from appearing alongside your artwork?
• What's your advice for someone who wants to build their brand or business like you, but they're holding themselves back because they're intimidated by the idea of being face-forward on their social channels?
• Have you ever felt like what you're doing on Instagram and TikTok is cringeworthy?
• Is there a silver lining when you pitch ideas to big brands, even when you don't hear back from them?
• How do you feel when you notice someone on Instagram or TikTok is doing the same thing you're doing, and their videos are taking off, but yours aren't?
• You adopted a Why Not Me mindset. How and when has that way of thinking helped you in your career?
• How have people you look up to in the creative community helped you get to where you are today?
• If you consider your professional experience, your cultural background, and your strengths and weaknesses, what do you believe gives you an edge?

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If you LIKE what you hear, please subscribe and keep listening. Sharing this episode with someone is the best way to support the podcast.

If you LOVE what you hear and want to help me keep the interviews coming—consider buying me a coffee on Ko-Fi.

Also, I'm always looking for questions from listeners. If there's a burning question you want to hear answered on the podcast, please email it to me at studentsofdesignpod@gmail.com.

Follow @studentsofdesignpod on Instagram for updates, episode drops, and behind-the-scenes content.

The music you hear on the podcast is Accident by Timothy Infinite and PUSH !T by Nbhd Nick.

studentsofdesign.simplecast.com

Josh is an art director, illustrator, and author in Colorado Springs, Colorado. He's a sucker for LEGO minifigures and thought he'd never get a chance to illustrate a Little Golden Book—until he worked on four of them for LEGO! Josh has also worked with Scholastic, Highlights for Children, Discovery Education, Orion Telescopes and Binoculars, and other EdTech companies. He's spoken on stages like Creative South and ICON: The Illustration Conference and knows a thing or two about classic cartoons like Loony Tunes, Tom and Jerry, and Popeye. One of the most fascinating parts of his story is the parallels with his great-great-grandfather, Von G. It turns out that writing and illustrating kids' books is (literally) part of his DNA.

Tune in for a talk about exploring his ancestry, being strategic with personal projects, and the difficulty of bringing LEGO minifigures to life in a kids' book. Follow Josh on Instagram @joshjlewis and LinkedIn, and see more of his work on his website joshjlewis.com and Dribbble.

Questions for this interview.

• How do you approach giving constructive feedback to someone early in their career?
• Which do you weigh more heavily, concept and process, or execution and craft?
• Have you ever received a review that changed your feelings about your work?
• Would you be an author and illustrator of kids' books if you had never had children?
• How and when did you learn so much about classic cartoons?
• How did you discover Oscar Hunt Von Gottschalck is your great-great-grandfather? Was that information passed down to you by your mother, or did you find it yourself?
• Is Von G the oldest ancestor you've uncovered in your family tree?
• How did it make you feel to learn about your great-great-grandfather?
• Can you explain the idea behind Bite-Sized Books?
• How does treating a personal project like a real project help you, and how can someone do that for themselves?
• Which do you want to learn how to be the most? A pirate, a knight, a unicorn, or a ghost?
• Do you remember how you felt when asked to illustrate your first Little Golden Book?
• How difficult was bringing LEGO plastic minifigs to life in those books? Especially their expressions.
• What kind of feedback have you gotten about your book, Ray's Big Day?
• What makes a good picture book? What should it have, and what does it need to do?

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If you LIKE what you hear, please subscribe and keep listening. Sharing this episode with someone is the best way to support the podcast.

If you LOVE what you hear and want to help me keep the interviews coming—consider buying me a coffee on Ko-Fi.

Also, I'm always looking for questions from listeners. If there's a burning question you want to hear answered on the podcast, please email it to me at studentsofdesignpod@gmail.com.

Follow @studentsofdesignpod on Instagram for updates, episode drops, and behind-the-scenes content.

The music you hear on the podcast is Accident by Timothy Infinite and PUSH !T by Nbhd Nick.

studentsofdesign.simplecast.com