Did I Do That?

Sean Schumacher

Graphic designers' biggest, most embarrassing, and funniest creative and career mistakes, because you can't be a graphic designer without making 'em. New episodes every other Thursday. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  1. Aug 20 ·  Bonus

    Plastic Heaven (with Olivia Johnson) [Rerun]

    I’m away this week, so rather than giving a summer update backed by the soothingly persistent rumble of a hotel air conditioner, I thought I’d share a straight-up rerun—though one inspired by our sister Portland art school (and, of course, hated rivals) PNCA hosting her for a recent talk as part of their Design Lecture Series. Way back in 2022 as part of season 3, Olivia Johnson (then an Associate Design Director at Instrument, now a Senior Product Designer at eBay) joined Sean to talk challenging Barbies, Neopets Black Friday, and what Elvis had been up to. If you want to watch Olivia’s talk, you can find it on the PNCA Live Video YouTube channel (for your convenience, I’ve linked straight to her introduction a few minutes into the video). You can find Olivia’s work on Instagram @o_j.co, for just her handcrafted data viz work (mentioned both here and in the PNCA talk) onto its own Instagram @handcharted. If you want to learn how to make your own textile-based data visualizations, Olivia’s self-paced online course “Data Visualization with Alternative Mediums” is available on Domestica. Too, if textile work is new to you, the course also includes an introduction to cross-stitch! Give it a download! This episode was originally published July 27, 2023. Thank you to all who came out to share stories at our Design Confessional at the Future Fonts & Friends event in Portland, and who attended our live "Bottom of the Barrel" event at Seattle Design Festival! Special shout out to the great Colby Nichols and Sean Bucknam for being a part of it. Both those recordings will hit this feed in the near future, so keep eyes out for it! If you'd rather experience the latter in video, though, your wait is already over: Seattle Design Festival has posted the full thing, slides and all, for you to view on their YouTube channel! Please feel free to pause and marvel my Tiger Beat cover—I put so much more time into it than I should've that maybe I should be directed to a medical professional. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  2. Aug 6 ·  Bonus

    More Summer Event News and Revisiting the Original Design Confessional

    With our fourth Design Confessional event happening the night this episode is released, we're this week pairing our event news with a rehashed version of the show's very first confessional event four years ago! How can you find peace when faced with cross crossworders, ghost(ed) cookbooks, and duck pornography? There’s only one way to find out! (To be clear: the way is listening; you must listen to find out.) Upcoming EventsThe Design Confessional at Future Fonts & FriendsThursday, August 6 from 6–9pm (that's the night this episode is released!) Outlet, 2500 NE Sandy Blvd., Portland OR Presented by Future Fonts as part of TypeCon 2026! Free and open to all! Featuring: DJ Music by @keanunarciso_, Drinks by @baerlicbrewing & (past guest Andy McMillan’s) @heckbrewing, food by @astralpdx, and snacks by @ordertypefoundry. Artwork/Design by @colbybrooksstudio using the Future Fonts Grenat by @theoguillard, Zetkin by @ingaploennigs, and a little HEX Franklin by @hex_projects. Promo sounds (on the Future Fonts IG post) by Klaxlorq aka @travis.kochel. Wanna get a taste of the event? Here our previous Design Confessional episodes here: Confessional #3, Confessional #2, or Confessional #1 by listening through to the end of this episode! ‍ Did I Do That? Back to the Bottom of the Barrel at Seattle Design FestivalSaturday, August 15 at 5:30pm Seattle Design Festival Mainstage at Lake Union Park, Seattle WA Did I Do That?: Back to the Bottom of the Barrel gives the Seattle design community a chance to dig into their archives and share that shame with the world live on stage, defanging it with laughter in the process. A panel of Seattle’s best graphic designers will talk through their most hilariously regrettable projects live on stage. Together, we’ll reflect on what made that work the way it the way it is and how making it has helped them grow. Then, you’ll help decide whose work is bad enough to win our trophy made out of a trash can. It’s a funny, irreverent chance to unpack the fear of feedback while celebrating something that rarely gets to be at center stage—the messy work you have to make to get to somewhere better. Our competitors:Colby Nichols is a creative leader who dreams big, supports others, and brings a bright spark to teams and projects. His approach to work and creative management is heart-forward with a focus on collaboration. He spent the last 12 years co-running the collaboration-focused design and illustration studio, Jolby. During that time he co-founded an award-winning space of inclusivity, put to use his unique approach to leading projects and solving big problems, directed projects across multiple teams for global entertainment and consumer brands with a focus on storytelling, recruited, cultivated, and inspired creative teams, led artists in commissions including the creation of artwork, voice over, music, animation, design, writing, editing, and coding, maintained meaningful client and vendor partnerships, did the hard thing, shared the spotlight, and made people smile. Currently, Colby serves as Art Director, Print Innovation for Magic: The Gathering at Wizards of the Coast.Sean Bucknam is a Designer and Maker of things working in the Seattle area. Los Angeles born and raised, PNW local by choice. He can see the bigger picture in any simple brief while concepting and creating designs that stand out from the crowd. He always aims to provide an elevated, imaginative, and fresh way of thinking through pictures rather than words. He has collected a wealth of knowledge while honing his design and art direction with companies like Amazon, Starbucks, Nike, REI, and Brooks Running. A problem solver at heart, Sean is skilled in Typography, Branding and Identity Design, Illustration, and Art Direction. Currently, Sean serves as a Senior Designer at Starbucks.Thanks again to Seattle Design Festival and to Travis & Lizy at Future Fonts for including this silly show in your events! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    More Summer Event News and Revisiting the Original Design Confessional
  3. Jul 23 ·  Bonus

    Summer Updates!

    What’s been happening behind the scenes during this summer break? A LOT! Sean is here to talk events, squirrel infestations, construction, the secret value of gambling, and the changes coming in Season 9! Upcoming Events:The Design Confessional at Future Fonts & FriendsThursday, August 6 from 6–9pmOutlet, 2500 NE Sandy Blvd., Portland ORPresented by Future Fonts as part of TypeCon 2026! Free and open to all! Featuring: DJ Music by @keanunarciso_, Drinks by @baerlicbrewing & (past guest Andy McMillan's) @heckbrewing, food by @astralpdx, and snacks by @ordertypefoundry.Artwork/Design by @colbybrooksstudio using the Future Fonts Grenat by @theoguillard, Zetkin by @ingaploennigs, and a little HEX Franklin by @hex_projects. Promo sounds (on the Future Fonts IG post) by Klaxlorq aka @travis.kochel.Wanna get a taste of the event? Here our previous Design Confessional episodes here: Confessional #3, Confessional #2, Confessional #1 Did I Do That? Back to the Bottom of the Barrel at Seattle Design FestivalSaturday, August 15 at 5:30pmSeattle Design Festival Mainstage at Lake Union Park, Seattle WACritiques are rarely competitive affairs, but that doesn’t mean designers don’t know what it’s like to lose at one. What if you could take that work the world rejected, though, and flips its downfall into a victory? And what if you could also do it live on stage, in competition with another designer, to see whose worst-ever work really is the bottom of the barrel?Did I Do That?: Back to the Bottom of the Barrel gives the Seattle design community a chance to dig into their archives and share that shame with the world, defanging it with laughter in the process. A panel of Seattle’s best graphic designers will talk through their most hilariously regrettable projects live on stage with host Sean Schumacher (“Did I Do That” podcast and Associate Professor of Graphic Design at Portland State University).Together, we’ll reflect on what made that work the way it the way it is and how making it has helped them grow. Then, you’ll help decide whose work is bad enough to win our trophy made out of a trash can. It’s a funny, irreverent chance to unpack the fear of feedback while celebrating something that rarely gets to be at center stage—the messy work you have to make to get to somewhere better.Wanna hear last year’s to get a sense of the event? You can find it in audio form on the Did I Do That? website, or in video on YouTube. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  4. Jun 25

    Tomb of Making (with Precious Bugarin)

    Legendary educator and detail-oriented designer for good Precious Bugarin sits down with Sean to talk about her design mistakes… as well as John Cage’s call-in show, clothing tags, and the challenges of “Illustrating” a 200-page book. Plus, help fund our smash-hit sequel to Backrooms: Creepy Hallway Is The Portal (To Creativity) (And Also There’s Tiny Locked Room In The Room That Has A Sink). Precious Burgarin comes from a family of immigrants, migrant farmers, veterans, journalists, artists and teachers. She’s a first generation Filipino American; born in San Francisco and raised in Stockton, California. Over the span of two decades, she’s been a designer and design educator. Her studio amplifies the work of nonprofits and helps businesses grow through thoughtful branding. She was a senior adjunct professor at Portland State University in the School of Art + Design (2003-2023), teaching students about type details and branding for social good. Previously, she was Art Director at Mercy Corps and currently serves as Graphic Design Manager at Toole Design Group. This episode was recorded Saturday, April 25, 4 A.R. (AKA 2026) in the Rat’s Nest. While this is our final episode recorded from the Rat’s Nest, it isn’t the last episode that will be published from it! Come back in two weeks for that last recording from the weekend before, and what might be our final episode of season 8 (unless I can figure out some interim recording space in the mean time—talk about a cliffhanger to end the season on!). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    Tomb of Making (with Precious Bugarin)

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Graphic designers' biggest, most embarrassing, and funniest creative and career mistakes, because you can't be a graphic designer without making 'em. New episodes every other Thursday. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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