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Did I Do That?: Making Graphic Design & Mistakes

Did I Do That?: Making Graphic Design & Mistakes

By Sean Schumacher

Graphic design may be my passion, but danged if it isn't awfully weird to do too. Did I Do That? is about what it's like to really make design and make mistakes, because you can't do one without the other. Every other Thursday, Sean Schumacher (Assistant Professor of Graphic Design at Portland State University) is joined by a guest from the world of design with a special story about their own mistakes starting out and how they ended up where they did. Is it a bad idea to make an audio-only show about an inherently visual medium? There's only one way to find out.
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Currently playing episode

My Dangerous Fish Attack (with Alanna Risse)

Did I Do That?: Making Graphic Design & MistakesMar 10, 2022

00:00
59:06
In-Store Fun (with Jackie Brown)

In-Store Fun (with Jackie Brown)

Illustrator Jackie Brown joins Sean to talk gross kid clubhouse choices and Clown College, all while Sean speculates about what it is that sculptors actually need. It’s the episode that asks: By what process is toot? How does the toot happen?
You can find Jackie’s work at
hellojackiebrown.com or @Jackfacekillah on Instagram.
Follow "Did I Do That?" on some of the things via our website, dididothat.design!
If you enjoyed this episode and want to support the show, help spread the word! Five-star reviews are always welcome, as are written reviews if you need something to keep your idle hands at bay. Don’t want to deal with the hassle of stars or keys? Telling a friend IRL is a great way to avoid both, and helps the show plenty!
Wanna be on the show? If you’re a graphic designer in the Portland metro area (or who will be coming to the Portland metro area) and have a song in your heart in the form of a goofy story about your past work that you need to share, reach out! Sean is booking out guests for late spring and summer and would love to have you on board. Email hi@seanschumacher.com if you’re interested!
May 19, 202250:14
The Horse Scrambler (with Nishat Akhtar)

The Horse Scrambler (with Nishat Akhtar)

We’re literally creating magic on a new episode of Did I Do That? with illustrator, designer, educator, and all around cool person Nishat Akhtar (VP of Creative at Instrument), who joins Sean to talk Charles Barkley’s shrimp mistakes, ranking the Four Seasons, and young Sean’s excitement at the possibility of standing on a JPEG. Why not listen? It’s there if you want it!

You can find Nishat’s work at nishataktar.com, @nishat on Instagram (where you can also see Mr. Charles Barkley himself), or on Twitter @nishatsays.

You can find Did I Do That? on some of these things and more via our website, dididothat.design!

If you enjoyed this episode and want to support the show, help spread the word! Five-star reviews are always welcome, as are written reviews if you need something to keep your idle hands at bay. Don’t want to deal with the hassle of stars or keys? Telling a friend IRL is a great way to avoid both, and helps the show plenty!

Wanna be on the show? If you’re a graphic designer in the Portland metro area (or who will be coming to the Portland metro area) and have a song in your heart in the form of a goofy story about your past work that you need to share, reach out! Sean is booking out guests for summer and would love to have you on board. Email hi@seanschumacher.com if you’re interested!

May 05, 202201:04:39
It’s Gotta Be Moo (with Lizy Gershenzon)

It’s Gotta Be Moo (with Lizy Gershenzon)

Future Fonts co-founder Lizy Gershenzon joins Sean to talk pieces of flair, the opposite of missed connections, and The Rainbow Passage. We’re going back to high school and making font magic in an episode that’s got milk—just not in an officially licensed form.

Learn more about Lizy at @lizyjoy on Instagram or Twitter. You can find Future Fonts and their HyperText at futurefonts.xyz. You can find Lizy and Travis’ type design studio Vectro Type Foundry at vectrotype.com!

Follow "Did I Do That?" on some of the things via our website, https://dididothat.design! Our Twitter and Facebook are a veritable visual feast of poorly sourced stock photos related to each episode. Speaking of LinkedIn, did you know that you can also follow this show on LinkedIn—why not share the shame of your listenership with your most tangential professional contacts?

If you enjoyed this episode and want to support the show, help spread the word! Five-star reviews are always welcome, as are written reviews if you need something to keep your idle hands at bay. Don’t want to deal with the hassle of stars or keys? Telling a friend IRL is a great way to avoid both, and helps the show plenty!

Wanna be on the show? If you’re a graphic designer in the Portland metro area (or who will be coming to the Portland metro area) and have a song in your heart in the form of a goofy story about your past work that you need to share, reach out! Sean is booking out guests for late spring and summer and would love to have you join. Email hi@seanschumacher.com if you’re interested!

Apr 21, 202255:50
Quark vs. InDesign: Alien Wars (with Jason Sturgill)

Quark vs. InDesign: Alien Wars (with Jason Sturgill)

Illustrator, art director, and famous-cat haver Jason Sturgill joins Sean to talk screensaver dreamscapes, Henry Rollins’ snowstorm preparedness tips, and Instagram museums. It’s the episode that asks, what if we made a car entirely out of plastic? We’re building castles in the sky, just the two of us!

Learn more about Jason’s work at jasonsturgill.com, or on Instagram (@jgspdx), Facebook (jasonsturgill), and LinkedIn (jasonsturgill)!

Follow Did I Do That? on some of the things via our website, dididothat.design! Our Twitter and Instagram are a veritable visual feast of poorly sourced stock photos related to each episode. Speaking of LinkedIn, did you know that you can also follow this show on LinkedIn—why not share the shame of your listenership with your tangential professional contacts?

If you enjoyed this episode and want to support the show, help spread the word! Five-star reviews are always welcome, as are written reviews if you need something to keep your idle hands at bay. Don’t want to deal with the hassle of stars or keys? Telling a friend IRL is a great way to avoid both, and helps the show plenty!

Wanna be on the show? If you’re a graphic designer in the Portland metro area (or who will be coming to the Portland metro area) and have a song in your heart in the form of a goofy story about your past work that you need to share, reach out! Sean is booking out guests for late spring and summer and would love to have you join. Email hi@seanschumacher.com if you’re interested!

Apr 07, 202249:06
Sometimes The Moment Needs Extra Mayo (with Kyle Letendre)

Sometimes The Moment Needs Extra Mayo (with Kyle Letendre)

Lettering artist extraordinaire and Portland foliage fan Kyle Letendre joins Sean to talk Minnesota’s missing lakes, misguided entrepreneurial spirit, and rebrands that aren’t quite making the grade. We’re filling in the pixels in that JPEG manually in person while we get to the bottom of a question that’s been on everyone’s mind: what’s Sean’s favorite food color?
You can find Kyle at @heykyle on Instagram and @heykylehey on Twitter! You can find more about their work at kyleletendre.com!
You can find Did I Do That? on your podcatcher of choice, or through our website, dididothat.design! You can also follow on both Instagram and Twitter if you’ve not yet abandoned social media like a sinking ship.
If you enjoyed this show, despite the large body of evidence against such a thing being possible, why not share the misplaced love? Write a (five star) review on your podcasting service of choice—it really helps! Please tell a friend, too, because sharing is caring.
Mar 24, 202252:11
My Dangerous Fish Attack (with Alanna Risse)

My Dangerous Fish Attack (with Alanna Risse)

Alanna Risse joins Sean for the first episode of 2022 recorded in 2022 to talk mystery meat, accidental crimes, and all the reasons a nose is a good idea. We’re quantifying Photoshop filters in terms of number of cigarettes it takes them to finish rendering in the episode that asks how often is too often for a beer bash?

You can find Alanna at @alannarisse on all the things!

You can find Did I Do That? on your podcatcher of choice, or through our website, dididothat.design! You can also follow on both Instagram (@schuseanmacher) and Twitter (@designbycmte)! If you enjoyed this show, why not tell the world? Write us a review on your podcasting service or share it with a friend! These things help a new show out bunches, and this thing needs all the help it can get.

If you’re a designer reading this, good news—the next round of guests for spring and summer is being booked now! If you’re interested and will be in or around the Portland, Oregon area in the near future, send an email to sean@seanschumacher.com. I’d love to have you on if you think for some reason that’s a good idea!

Mar 10, 202259:06
Undercover Blankets (with Brendan Mulligan)

Undercover Blankets (with Brendan Mulligan)

It’s nearly March 2022, which means it’s time for the last episode recorded in 2021, and it’s one that starts pretty real and raw before pivoting into cookie shoptalk and the usual nonsense.

Brendan Mulligan (Nike Tees Graphics and @coolkidbrendan) joins Sean to talk about what they want on their Tombstones, sneeze guards, and the nightmarish realm that is the McDonald's Play Place. What even is design? We’re just talking about specific pastry vendors at the Portland State University Saturday farmers market. Serenity now!

You can find Brendan at @coolkidbrendan on many platforms! You can find more about his work at coolkidbrendan.com!

You can find Did I Do That? on your podcatcher of choice, or through our website, dididothat.design! You can also follow on both Instagram (@schuseanmacher) and Twitter (@designbycmte)! Yes, I do know this is a confusing, bad way to do things!

If you enjoyed this show, despite the large body of evidence against such a thing being possible, why not share the misplaced love? Write us a review on your podcasting service or share it with a friend! These things help a new show out bunches, and this thing needs all the help it can get.

Feb 24, 202248:41
Gnomes: True Secrets Revealed (with Briar Levit)

Gnomes: True Secrets Revealed (with Briar Levit)

Text ahoy! Designer, design historian, and filmmaker Briar Levit joins Sean to talk about the history of rude t-shirts, the secret to eternal life (for magazines), and the great shame of (a) PDA. Sean makes a guest say “ew,” which frankly is mostly surprising in that it took five whole episodes for it to happen. Remember: if you want to buy technology, don’t buy it at the mall!

You can find Briar at @briarlevit on Instagram and @briarmade on Twitter! You can find Briar’s book, “Baseline Shift: Untold Stories of Women in Graphic Design History” at papress.com/products/baseline-shift or at your local bookstore! You can find Briar’s movie “Graphic Means” at graphicmeans.com!

You can find Did I Do That? on your podcatcher of choice, or through our website, dididothat.design! You can also follow on both Instagram (@schuseanmacher) and Twitter (@designbycmte)! Come be our fourth follower on Twitter, won’t you?

If you enjoyed this show, despite the large body of evidence against such a thing being possible, why not share the misplaced love? Write us a review on your podcasting service or share it with a friend! These things help a new show out bunches, and this thing needs all the help it can get.

Feb 10, 202250:20
A Michael Bay Film in App Form (with Jordan Rosenblum)

A Michael Bay Film in App Form (with Jordan Rosenblum)

Jordan Rosenblum (visual designer/educator/socially engaged artist) joins Sean to talk blobby blue friends, a whole lot of chrome, and The Egg Space. Sean, meanwhile, spends a solid five minutes talking about a plastic skeleton in an apron at a business he never goes to! It’s the episode that finally diagrams it out for everybody who’s been dying to know: culture is where the RAM slot is and psycholinguistics is the foot. The more attention you draw to it, the more tomblike it feels!
Learn more about Jordan’s work at https://jordanrosenblum.com!
Follow "Did I Do That?" on some of the things via our website, https://dididothat.design!
If you enjoyed this episode, why not tell a friend (please ignore the many obvious reasons why not)? Please also rate us highly on your podcast platform of choice, even in spite of the note that will follow this paragraph!
Editor’s note: much like an actual Michael Bay film not in app form, this episode suffers from a bit of overzealous editing. Apologies if there’s some sound clipping and level mismatches here and there. It's not great always, but it could be worse!
Jan 27, 202252:25
Very Dramatic Trash Can (with Kate Bingaman-Burt)
Jan 13, 202253:27
Compelled by the Viscosity (with Taryn Cowart)

Compelled by the Viscosity (with Taryn Cowart)

Taryn Cowart (Creative Director at Instrument) joins Sean to talk about wedding ghosts, the Great D̵i̵s̵m̵a̵l̵ Swamp, and sheet cake shenanigans. We're layin’ eggs and droppin’ bombs in the episode that the former editors of the Coraddi call “a cesspool of commies and queers.”

Follow Taryn at @taryncowart on all the things.

Follow "Did I Do That?" on some of the things via our website, https://dididothat.design!

If you enjoyed this episode, why not tell a friend (please ignore the many obvious reasons why not)? Please also rate us highly on your podcast platform of choice and, if you would be so kind, write a review too—yours could be our first!

Dec 30, 202151:47
Pivot to Print (with Ethan Allen Smith)

Pivot to Print (with Ethan Allen Smith)

Ethan Allen Smith (Associate Creative Director at Owen Jones) joins Sean to talk about local cat food, collecting feather dusters, and the success of Water World. Sean contributes the worst "The Californians" impression ever put to tape and manages to somehow forget the name of the show—truly an auspicious start.

Follow Ethan at @ethanallensmith on all the things!

Follow "Did I Do That?" on some of the things via our website, https://dididothat.design!

If you enjoyed this episode, why not tell a friend? (please ignore the many obvious reasons why not.) Please also rate us highly on your podcast platform of choice—it really helps!

Dec 16, 202158:12
Introducing Did I Do That? Coming December 16!

Introducing Did I Do That? Coming December 16!

Graphic design may be my passion, but danged if it isn't awfully weird to do too.

Did I Do That? is all about that! It's a new podcast what it's like to really make design and make mistakes, because you can't do one without the other. Every other week, Sean Schumacher (Assistant Professor of Graphic Design at Portland State University) is joined by a guest from the world of design with a special story about their own mistakes starting out, how they ended up where they did, and other traditional topics pertinent to podcast listeners like "what was the weather like on the day they recorded this?" and "is this really the name of the show? Like, for sure?"

Sound good? Did I Do That? comes out every other Thursday starting December 16. Subscribe now, won't you?

Dec 09, 202101:21