Working File: Recent Episodes
Matt McInerney and Andy Mangold
This is our last episode of Working File, at least for a little while. Linda and Maurice join Matt and Andy to go down the list of possible topics for shows that we never got to make. It's a Working File lightning round! Thanks to all of our contributors over the past year who helped make the show a reality.
Links Discussed
Wrist Robot
Machine Learning
Material Design
Bootstrap
Wordpress
Abstract
Git
Frank Chimero
Frank's Rowhome Illustration
Official Objectified Poster
Andy's Ripoff of the Objectified Poster
Matt's Objectified Poster
Luba Lukova
Everything is a Remix
This episode features Matt and Andy having a one-on-one conversation about the future of Working File and the difference between expressive and functional design projects.
Links Discussed* On the Grid * Numerology * The Beginning of Infinity * David Cole * Waterfall Model
Matt is back for a lively discussion with Victoria and new contributor Daisy Sun about self-esteem and how to get a job when the world tells you that you're underqualified. Should you apply for a job if you don't meet the posted requirements? How do you break into an industry that feels elite and inaccessible to you? Is getting fired from Ben & Jerry's for being too short to scoop the ice cream technically discrimitation?
Links Discussed
Lord of the Rings "Cave"
SnapApp
Wayfair
Wayfair Jingle
NGP VAN
How to Pronounce Wacom
FontBureau
Ben & Jerry's
David Foster Wallace on Fish
Dear Prudence
Food Lust People Love
Matt and Andy take an episode off and Maurice wrangles three new contributors from all over the country to discuss how geography influences design community. Richard Wade Morgan, Kim Green, and Jamal Collins call in from Atlanta, Boseman, and Clevenland, respectively, and compare their experiences as a designer in different locales.
Links Discussed Studio WadeSarah LawrenceWeapons of Mass CreationAdventures in Design PodcastMontana State UniversityBora ShehuUniversity of GeorgiaLiving Walls AtlantaGoat Farm Arts CenterRazorfishSon & SonsMailchimpKabbageMake America Gay AgainLost-N-Found Youth
Long time contributor Maurice Cherry organized this episode where Andy, Matt, and new contributor Jon Lewis discuss what it's like starting your own business as a designer. What are the reasons to start something new instead of getting a normal, stable job? What are the most difficult parts that no one ever tells you about?
Links Discussed
Lunch
MetaLab
Bakken & Bæck
Million Dollar Matchmaker
Elevate App
Mike Monteiro
We take a break from our normal topical panel shows this week for something different. Prompted by an interview with Simon Sinek, Andy and Linda have a one-on-one discussion about our generation's attitudes towards work and social media. How does our approach to our careers differ from our parents'? Are connections made through social media less meaningful, or at least different, than those made in real life?
Links Discussed
Simon Sinek on Millennials in the Workplace
Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs
Friends of The Web
The Great Recession
Chermayeff & Geismar & Haviv
The Borg
Our Incredible Journey
Ueno
MailChimp
Candy Crush
Steve Jobs
2011 Tōhoku Earthquake and Tsunami
Millennials
This episode is all about education. Andy, Matt, Meg, and Maurice share their origin stories as we discuss the differences between being self-taught and learning about design through a formal, paid program. How do you find your voice when you begin your career working for others? How do you learn humility after you've spent four years and tens of thousands of dollars becoming an expert in something?
Links Discussed
Working File Episode 2 — The Artist and the Problem Solver
Morehouse College
Historically Black Colleges and Universities
Wolfram Mathematica
Lunch
Sarah Huny Young
Huny on Revision Path
Husani on Revision Path
Husani Oakley
Savannah College of Art and Design
Maryland Institute College of Art
Kutztown University
Rhode Island School of Design
Clients from Hell
Josef Albers
Lynda
Skillshare
Black in Design 2017
Revision Path
Creative Works
AIGA Eye on Design Conference
Annie and Jon join us for a speculative discussion about the future of design. Will artificial intelligence and machine learning replace us in the future? How will we develop taste in automated systems? What will become of our industry when capitalism finally implodes?
Links Discussed
“Merlin Manndroid”
AirBNB Design
Artificial Intelligence
Assembly Line
Twitterbot
Algorithm
Pun
Machine Learning
Word Embedding
Pupper2Vec: Analyzing Internet Dog Slang with Machine Learning
Anthony Jeselnik
Markov Chain
Replika App
Creativity
Planet Money
AirBNB — Painting with Code
Material Design
Image Synthesis From Text With Deep Learning
Philosopher King
Basic Income
A/B Testing
Zine
Baby Boomers
The arc of the universe is long…
Dark Ages
List of Countries by Infant Mortality Rate
The Matrix
Pokémon Red Programmed in Minecraft
Making Music and Art Through Machine Learning
Musical Novelty Search — Evolutionary Algorithms + Ableton Live
Moonlight
Upstream Color
Dream Daddy
SmarterChild
Alexa
Siri
On this episode, Matt, Andy, and Kristy are joined by new contributor Sabrina Majeed to discuss what it means to be senior in any field. Find out what potential employers think of your years of experience and what it means to be a mature designer.
Links Discussed
On Being a Senior Engineer
Buzzfeed
Slack
Bill O'Reilly
Kate Arnonwitz
Hire Sabrina
This episode reunites Matt and Andy with Dan Auer, cohost of On the Grid, the podcast that eventually led to the creation of Working File. We get caught up on developments in Dan's life and discuss how we've grown and changed in the five years since we recorded the first episode of On the Grid.
Links Discussed
On the Grid
My Brother, My Brother, and Me
Andy's Garden on Instagram
Cyberbullying
Dreamcast
Pentagram
Hedonic Treadmill
Burning Man
Sagmeister & Walsh
Robyn and Chappell join us for an episode all about the presence or absence of “weird” sensibility in graphic design. We start off talking about the new art direction of Bloomberg Businessweek but end up discussing capitalism, Snapchat, and the SR-71 Blackbird.
Links Discussed
Bloomberg Businessweek
Adobe Acrobat
Vectors Conference
Laverne and Shirley Intro
Etsy
PageRank
Bloomberg Businessweek Tim Cook Cover Comparison️
Time Magazine
Newsweek
Richard Turley
Snapchat
Allison McCann
Jennifer Daniel
Tracy Ma
Lucky Peach Magazine
The Economist
Urban Outfitters
GOOD Magazine
Coinstar
Machine Learning
A/B Testing
David Carson
Cult of the Ugly by Steven Heller
Drop Cap
Gemini
The Establishment
Ray Gun Magazine
Emigre Magazine
Brutalism
Chappell and Eric Hu's Twitter Thread
Ralph Caplan
Yale Graphic Design
Metahaven
Trapper Keeper
Gotham
The Outline
Law of the Instrument
VSCO
Clear App
SNAP on the New York Stock Exchange
Skunk Works
Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird
Parallax Scrolling
Five Thirty Eight
Vice
Nada Surf
Andy and Matt are joined by Lola and Kara to answer listener questions about design managers, creative staffing agencies, how user choice affects modern product design, and of course, whether or not design can change the world.
Links
On a team, what do you look for in a leader/design director?
How is design changing as consumers of creative content are more empowered than ever before? Skipping titles/filtering content/blocking ads
Netflix is testing a button for skipping the opening credits
True Detective title sequence
Ad blocking
The New Yorker
Adobe Flash Websites
RIP Google Reader
What's your opinion on the influence of classical graphic design education on today's interface designers?
Josef Müller-Brockmann
Villa Savoye
Designers make fun of each other for saying things like "design can change the world", do you think that it's asking too much, or can it?
XYZ Type
Andy and Matt are joined by Cap and Maurice to talk about our relationship with conferences and other design events. Even though all four of us have spoken at events before, why is it that we almost never attend them ourselves? What responsibility do conference organizers and speakers have to the greater community?
Links
Unconference
Design Thinkers (Event)
Background on Maurice’s Speaking
South by Southwest
Psychogenic Amnesia
XOXO
Blacklisting
Thought Leader
Tokenism
MacGuffin
You Look Nice Today
BuzzFeed Design on Medium
Etsy
James Victore
Angry Black Man on TV Tropes
Where are the Black Designers?
Ghosted
Cishet
Microaggression
Debbie Millman
Vectors
Lunch
Revision Path
On this episode we’re tackling a potentially sensitive subject: money. Linda and Annie join Matt and Andy for a candid discussion about their past jobs and how much money they made doing them. When is it appropriate to negotiate for a higher salary, and how do you do it? Is there a difference between how much we deserve to be paid and what we’re actually paid?
Links
Emily Post
AIGA Design Census
Working File Episode 10
New York City Passes Law Banning Prior Salary Questions in Hiring to Help Close Wage Gap
Cost of Living Calculator
Inflation
No more free meals for tech workers? IRS advances project that could tax on-site food perks
talkpay on Twitter
Glassdoor Salary Calculator
The Perfect Salary for Happiness: $75,000
Gender Equality: Women Must Advocate for Each Other
Chappell and Robyn join us for a lively episode wherein we discuss the language we use to describe ourselves and our work. With her recent transition to the private sector, Chappell gives us her take on agency life and the vernacular associated with it. Find out why the words we use matter, even just internally.
Links
Sidecar
Communication Studies
Product Requirements Document (PRD)
Huge
Business Requirements
Linguistic Relativity
Telephone Line
World of Warcraft
Chicken or the Egg Dilemma
Anthropology
Industrial Revolution
Basic Income
Socialism
Squarespace
“Verbal Designer”
Why Women Don’t Apply for Jobs Unless They’re 100% Qualified
Minimum Viable Product
Heuristic
Subtweet
Agile Software Development
Metahaven
Design Sprint
Fonts vs. Typefaces
Matt and Andy are on their own this week having a practical discussion about proposals and how we communicate with potential clients. What is the right amount of information to provide and the best way to provide it? Why do we keep sending 8.5″ by 11″ pdfs when no one is printing them out?
Links
Motel
Friends of The Web
Pentagram
Adobe Creative Cloud
Boilerplate
Engagement Letter
Google Webmaster Guidelines
Responsive Design
Minimum Viable Product
User Story
Git
Screen Reader
This episode is all about our relationship with the AIGA and more general feelings about design community and discourse. Annie, Matt, and Andy are joined by new contributor Nicole Killian to discuss our relationship with the AIGA and centralized representation of our industry. Why do so many of us feel distanced from our de facto professional organization?
Links
AIGA 2016 Design Census
The AIGA
AIGA Member Benefits
MCAD (Minneapolis College of Art and Design)
Walker Insights Design Lecture Series
AIGA Annual
Punk Rock
SCAD Union (Matt’s Rogue Design Club)
Make Trump’s branding great again: in-house experts talk campaign design
AIGA Diversity and Inclusion Initiative
How do you do, fellow kids?
Design Observer
Art Director’s Club
Type Director’s Club
RGD (The Association of Registered Graphic Designers)
Justified: AIGA Annual Design Competition
AIGA: Unjustified by Paula Scher
50 Books | 50 Covers competition
David Rudnick’s Tweet and Explanation
Design Thinking
Very Busy Andy
4 Corners Project is One Designer’s Solution to Help Syrian Refugees
Resist Logo
SpaceX makes aerospace history with successful launch and landing of a used rocket
Matt and Andy are joined by Kristy Tillman and new contributor Cap Watkins to discuss design management. We learn about some of the traits of bad managers and discuss how to advocate for design within an organization. Should design work be diversified and spread throughout a company, or is specialization valuabale?
Links
The Seed of this Episode
Soceity of Grownups
Skunk Works
Managing Humans by Michael Lopp
George Costanza
Sabrina Majeed
IDEO
“Stand-Up”
Design Thinking
Sonic Drive-In
High-Resolution Podcast
Think Wrong
“Head Count”
“Growth Marketing”
Jared Spool’s Tweet about Everyone being Designers
Follow-up Thread to Jared Spool’s Tweet
BuzzFeed Solid
Technological Singularity
Lifestyle Business
Kara Haupt and Victoria Rushton join us on the eve of Matt’s wedding and the first day of Kara’s new job for a candid discussion about our confidence and sense of self-worth. As designers, our value is constantly measured against other designers, other industies, and our own unforgiving standards. How do we come to terms with having a creative job in a world that often feels like it’s falling apart around us? How do we know if we are doing enough?
Links
The New Yorker
Impostor Syndrome
Victoria Rushton fixes things for fun and no profit (Review of Victoria’s talk at the TDC)
“Could Jesus microwave a burrito so hot, he himself could not eat it?”
“The Fixer”
Existentialism
Hillary for America
Babe Vibes
Pep Talk Generator
On the Grid
This marks the beginning of a conversation that we’ll be continuing in the future: the relationship between design and politics. Maurice Cherry and Robyn Kanner join us to talk about whether or not design is inherently political, turning down jobs for ethical reasons, and practical ways we can have a positive impact on the world around us.
Links
MyTransHealth
Consulting Bias
Sunk Cost
RFP (Request for Proposal)
Dear Design Student: How to Fight Fascism
Developing Citizen Designers
Voter Suppression
Law of the Instrument
Black Lives Matter
Linguistic Relativity
Affordable Care Act (a.k.a. "Obamacare")
Cold War Propaganda Posters
Kony 2012
Milton Glaser's "We are all African" Poster
Post-Truth Politics
Know Your Enemy
This episode, featuring Linda Eliasen and Jon Gold, addresses the relationship between the design process and production. Does an understanding of the materials and techniques used to manufacture your designs make you a better designer, or hold you back from doing truly innovative work? When should we push limitations of production and when should we just stick with a tried-and-true, established solution?
Links
Ueno
Designer News
Stranger Things
MailChimp
Dropbox
Impostor Syndrome
Tron
The Matrix
What Next for Design? with Jonathan Ive
Ruby on Rails
Objective-C
SDK
Caylee Betts on Twitter
React
Frank Gehry
Pixar
Concept Cars
Artificial Intelligence
Arup Develops 3D Printing Technique for Structural Steel
Reality Distortion Field
Everything is a Remix
Fractals
Samuel Mockbee
Rural Studio
Victoria Rushton and Annie Yiling-Wang join us to discuss criticism in a professional context. For many of us, what was once formal critiques with peers during our education has been replaced by a confusing array of criticism from a variety of people. How does feedback differ when it comes from our clients, our peers, or our superiors?
Links
Orange is the New Black
Font Bureau
IDEO
Telephone (aka “Chinese Whispers”)
User Research
Rule of Thumb
Clients from Hell
Fan Fiction
Andy and Matt are joined by Kristy Tillman and Lola Landekic for a conversation about side projects and the culture that surrounds them. We talk about the virtues and pitfalls of pursuing a self-initiated projects and whether we should hold people accountable for the things that they make. What role should side projects play in your portfolio, and how should we regard them when we’re hiring a designer?
Links
Art of the Title
Model View Culture
Side Project Culture: Opportunities and Obstacles for Marginalized People in Tech
Tomorrow Looks Bright
Detroit Water Project (now The Human Utility)
State Mottos Project
“Going on dates with eachother and documenting it.”
Redesigned Beer Cans
On the Grid
Elaine Bass on Wikipedia (Thank you, Lola!)
Gender Bias on Wikipedia
MICA
A Painting with Ampersands
Douy Swofford
General Assembly
Matt’s Fake Alternate NFL Logos
“Really Depressing Article, Do Not Read”
Gaslighting
On this episode of Working File, which is actually the first one we ever recorded, we’re joined by Satchell Drakes and Jen Mussari to discuss being a designer in the public eye. How is being a famous designer different than being a famous dentist? Is one particular personality type or kind of design work rewarded by social media? What are we saying when we only show our polished, perfect selves online?
Links
Satchell’s Video on That Dragon, Cancer
Charity Water
Small City — Jen's Studio in Brooklyn
“Being a famous designer is like being a famous dentist.” — Noreen Morioka
Neil deGrasse Tyson
The Kanye West Wiz Khalifa Twitter Beef of 2016
What it Looks Like on Reply All
Jamie Keiles on Instagram
Depressiongrams
24 Creative Pros Get Real About Their 2016 Goals on HOW (see: Dylan Lathrop’s response)
Creativity and Depression
Clients from Hell
Bruno Munari’s Children’s Books
CSS for Babies
James Victore — The Dinner Series
Design Matters with Debbie Millman
Bioshock Infinite
Developing Taste
Jen’s Instagram Account
The Gap by Ira Glass
Grace Bonney interview with The Great Discontent
This episode is all about the distinction between working individually and working collaboratively. Gitamba Saila-Ngita and Meg Lewis join us for a discussion where we talk about our preferred work environments, the difference between design education and practicing design professionally, and conflict resolution amongst coworkers and clients. When should we compromise and when should we stand up for our ourselves?
Links
Ghostly Ferns
Sagmeister & Walsh
Louise Fili
Experimental Jetset
Steve Jobs
Ringo Starr
MailChimp
Etsy
Cards Against Humanity
Nike
Pentagram
Malcolm Gladwell
Redscout
Our inaugural show is all about the state of the design community, design journalism, and what Working File should be. Chappell Ellison and Maurice Cherry join us for a conversation about the difference between design discourse in public and private spaces. We find out that Andy has high expectations for designers and discuss the nature of criticism across different creative industries. Is there a distinction between criticsm for consumers and criticism for creators? Is the internet even an appropriate medium for critical discourse?
Links
Fast Company
A New Look for Instagram
New Logo and Identity for Uber
Designer News
Dribbble
Smashing Magazine
AIGA
The Great Discontent
Revision Path
Design Matters with Debbie Millman
Flat Design
Open (NYC Based Design Studio)
Design for People
University of California Rebrand
Ralph Caplan
Revision Path 107: Dori Tunstall
Google Reader
Design Observer
Where are the Black Designers?
