Today on Obsessed Show we're finally airing a conversation for last fall with Abby Downing, Partner & Creative Director at The Superfan Company. The Superfan Company works with top entertainers, musicians, and brands to create programs and products to engage their superfans. From VIP packages at concerts, to limited edition products, to collectible album packages. Their clients span from Mumford & Sons and Ace Comic Con to Jimmy Buffett.
So without further ado, please enjoy this conversation with Abby Downing.
Jason and I discuss his former role at the NEA, the role of creative placemaking, and how he is embarking on a journey to redesign the largest design school in the world.
91 - Andrew Shorten, Adobe
Andrew Shorten is Senior Director of Product Management for Adobe XD at Adobe. He is passionate about improving the quality, richness, and value of digital experiences. Andrew previously developed user interfaces for government and enterprise customers while working at Fujitsu. He has since worked for Macromedia, Microsoft, and Adobe, where he has engaged with designers, developers, digital agencies, and organizations to help them deliver engaging web, mobile and desktop experiences.
Andrew and I unpack his origin story, the importance of prototyping in UX design, and his role in Adobe XD.
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Natalie and I discuss how she sold her interior design practice and became CEO of A Design Partnership, she works with a large distributed agency team to help with marketing, branding, and design.
89 - Best of Design Podcasters, Part I
Tips from Chris Do, Stephan Ango, Prescott Perez-Fox, and Matt Hunckler
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Josh’s passion for design began as a kid doodling logos and brainstorming jingles on the piano for different brands. He didn’t realize graphic design was a career path until high school, when he took a class that taught him about 2D v. 3D design. After working for IBM and running his own business for eighteen years he would eventually become the first design producer in product at Twitter.
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Randy attended Indiana University (I won’t hold it against him) and began the first decade of his career in Chicago. Eventually, he was led back to Indy and began working as a design partner for DeveloperTown. For lack of a better way of saying it, he’s completely obsessed with design.
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Paula has worn many hats throughout her career. Today, she's working on some incredibly cool projects. Get a sneak peek in this interview!
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Stacey Dyer is currently the Creative Strategist for iZotope, where audio software products are developed to enable and inspire creativity. While managing a new brand landscape, Stacey pushes the team to go beyond their usual boundaries through lean practices, as well as process discovery and customer validation.
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Her journey to publishing her first book, AstroWed.
Her favorite parts working for Loctite.
Her brief stint owning a cake bake shop.
Kelly always enjoyed creating artwork. However, growing up in Iowa there weren’t too many opportunities to pursue it, that’s what led him to the Art Center College of Design. After earning his degree in Advertising Illustration he began working at print shop as he built-up his freelance clients. Now he works solely freelance, and in his free time you can catch him jamming out in his “one man band,” Hume and the Humanoids.
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During Karen's childhood she would sit at the kitchen table and hear discussions swirl around her about business. These conversations placed an entrepreneurial spirit in her. After 15 years in the banking industry she changed her focus to home staging. Her purpose is simple, help bring people’s “vision to reality.”
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After college Betsy Helmuth packed up her bags and “angry cat” to pursue a career in painting and acting in the Big Apple. Later she would discover that her true calling was interior design on a budget. Her mission is simple, to change lives through the dynamic of a household, and she does just that with her business, Affordable Interior Design.
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In middle school Mackey Saturday’s mother told him he should pursue graphic design, but at the time he thought the art form was reserved for artistic “cheaters.” Later he would go onto to earn a degree in fine arts with a concentration in metalsmithing. After school he realized he could take art and turn it into something valuable and objective, which led him into design where he became the design principal at Chermayeff & Geismar & Haviv.
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Paul Sahre started his path in design at Kent State University. After working in a few different agencies he realized as a lone wolf he should begin his own independent practice, Office of Paul Sahre.
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Ian Paget landed into design, oddly, through a warehouse job. After being recognized by the owner as “good at drawing” he began creating promotional posters for their sales team. From there he self-taught himself Adobe Indesign and his career took off. Now he works as the lead creative designer at Advansys Ecommerce Solutions and a freelancer for Logo Geek.
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Born and raised a southerner, Christian discovered design during his final years at University of North Carolina. Following his design epiphany he headed to the Portfolio Center in Atlanta to brush up on the skills he needed to become an expert designer. After taking a brief stint for an internship with Pentagram in New York City, he headed down to Austin, fell in love with the city, and began his own agency, Helms Workshop.
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It started over a burrito, and now here they are...
This week, Josh sits down with Alex Wier and Daniel Stewart, Creative Director and Studio Director of Wier/Stewart in Augusta, Georgia to catch up.
You can follow them on Twitter here.
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Joseph Kalinowski, better known as JK, began his career in Cleveland by cutting his teeth in production and printing. Later in life, at a PTA bowling event, he struck up a conversation with the owner of Content Marketing Institute, Joe Pulizzi, which led to his role as creative director for CM. When he’s not searching for the latest Star Wars action figures he’s busy at work planning for the next Content Marketing World.
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By the time Tom was twelve he had already begun to dabble in the realm of graphic design. He entered his designs into online contest where he began to make a name for himself. After what he calls his “right of passage,” he found an amazing community of designers from all different backgrounds and formed his company, Design Cuts.
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Val Head launched into design when her rock band was in need of a website. Quickly, she realized how much she liked web design and that it paid the bills. From there she put her rocker past behind her and began her career in design.
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Maurice began coding at an early age, and with every new technology he refined his skill. Captain of the math team turned designer, his passion for design grew in college when he began freelancing web design for miscellaneous clients. After working for the State of Georgia and a few start-ups he decided it was time to create his own company, Lunch.
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In high school Chris was known as, "the guy that can draw anything." In the 80s he worked at a silkscreen shop where he was introduced to graphic design. From there, he found his "calling" and entered into a four year art program. He would later start his agency in 1995, Blind.
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Michael found his love for design as a curious kid, being interested in making things and taking things apart, and photography. To quote Michael, he has an "engineering mindset without the math skills." Find out more about Michael and view his work on his website: www.earthtomj.com.
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Show notes are available at ObsessedShow.com.
Based in Brooklyn, Douglas never intended to go to college. Today, he's the author of Creative Strategy and the Business of Design and he teaches online courses on design and business strategy.
During our interview, we talk about his book, his educational series, and how he went from not intending to go to college to educating college kids himself.
You can follow him on Twitter here.
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You can get show notes at ObsessedShow.com.