Podcast Awesome

Font Awesome

On Podcast Awesome we talk to members of the Font Awesome team about icons, design, tech, business, and of course, nerdery. 🎙️ Podcast Awesome is your all-access pass into the creative engine behind Font Awesome — the web’s favorite icon toolkit. Join host Matt Johnson and the Font Awesome crew (and friends) for deep dives into icon design, front-end engineering, software development, healthy business culture, and a whole lot of lovingly-rendered nerdery. From technical explorations of our open-source tooling, chats with web builders, icon designers, and content creators, with the occasional gleeful rants about early internet meme culture, we bring you stories and strategies from the trenches of building modern web software — with a healthy dose of 80s references and tech dad jokes. 🎧 Perfect for: Icon design and content-first thinkingCreative process and collaborative designWork-life balance in techRemote team culture and async collaborationInternet history, meme archaeology, and other nerd ephemera 🧠 Come for the design wisdom, stay for the deep meme cuts and beautifully crafted icons.

  1. Icon Design, Creative Freedom, and the Return of Visual Personality — with Josh Williams [Part 1]

    5d ago

    Icon Design, Creative Freedom, and the Return of Visual Personality — with Josh Williams [Part 1]

    Josh Williams has been designing icons since before it was a “real” job. These days, Josh is one of the most respected icon and identity designers working in the field. He helped shape the Font Awesome and Web Awesome logos, and he just designed Mosaic — a brand-new icon pack for Font Awesome Pro with roots in his long-running Uni Calendar letterpress project and a style that's unlike anything we've shipped before. In Part 1, we talk about where Mosaic came from, what it looks like when a designer actually gets creative freedom, why the web went homogenous, and whether it's finally starting to break back out. Also: Kaleidoscope themes, MySpace CSS exploits, and a cease-and-desist that made at least one person internet famous. 🗒️ What We Cover 🗑️ How Josh nearly bricked a Mac trying to edit the trash can icon 🌈 Kaleidoscope themes, Winamp skins, and the era of tinkering ✨ The MySpace CSS underground (yes, it was a thing) 🖨️ The Uni Calendar letterpress project and how it became Mosaic 🕊️ What "creative freedom" actually feels like when someone hands it to you 🌐 Why everything on the web started looking the same and why it might not stay that way 🤖 AI, low-cost experimentation, and the return of design personality 📸 What Josh is doing next (hint: it involves Keegan Jones and Instagram) ⏱️ Timestamps 00:00 – Cold open: demystification 01:00 – Intro 02:00 – Meeting Josh / fanboy moment 03:00 – Logo collaboration: Web Awesome and Font Awesome marks 04:00 – Announcing Mosaic 06:00 – Uni Calendar roots and the style thread 09:00 – The ResEdit / trash can story 13:00 – Kaleidoscope themes era 14:00 – MySpace CSS and early community 17:00 – Tinkerer culture and design demystification 18:00 – How homogenous web cycles work 21:00 – AI and low-cost experimentation 23:00 – What Josh is doing next ✨ Check out the Mosaic icon pack: https://fontawesome.com/icons 🔗 Credits Hosted, produced, and edited by Matt Johnson Co-host Jory Raphael Featuring Josh Williams Theme song by Ronnie Martin Music interstitials by Zach Malm Video editing by Isaac Chase Stay up to date on all the Font Awesomeness!

    27 min
  2. Laura Bohill: A Dream Project, a Design Crisis, and the Chisel Icon Pack

    Jun 16

    Laura Bohill: A Dream Project, a Design Crisis, and the Chisel Icon Pack

    Episode Summary What happens when you give a world-class icon designer a dream brief with almost no boundaries? A brief existential crisis, and eventually a beautiful type-inspired icon packs for Font Awesome 7. 😅 In this episode, Matt and Jory chat with icon designer Laura Bohill about the making of Chisel — the wonderfully chunky icon pack she designed for Font Awesome 7. They get into the weird magic of creative constraints, why icon design is really just tiny-illustration puzzle solving, and how type, branding, and metaphor all shape great icon systems. They also talk about freelance life, protecting your creative brain, why not every design problem should follow you into your evenings, and how sometimes the best ideas show up only after you’ve stepped away from the screen. It’s thoughtful, funny, nerdy, and full of delightful icon design rabbit trails.  What We Cover in This Episode  ✨ How Laura went from “dream project” to “I am spiritually untethered”  ✏️ How a book cover typeface sparked the visual idea behind the Chisel icon pack  🧩 Why icon design is basically a never-ending series of tiny, beautiful puzzles  🧠 Why creative boundaries and time away from work matter more than hustle culture admits  🖼️ How Laura balances clarity vs. creativity in icon design systems  🏰 Why designing icons for Historic England meant trading “upload” icons for castles and country houses  🛠️ Laura’s journey from Illustrator to Figma, with a little help from Noah  🌍 Why icon designers might secretly be some of the most-seen artists on the internet Timestamps 00:00 — Dream project meets existential crisis 00:04:00 — How an open-ended brief led to Chisel’s distinctive style 00:09:30 — Why Laura doesn’t usually do self-directed design projects 00:12:00 — How she found icon design through illustration and freelance work 00:16:00 — Freelance life, boundaries, and protecting creative energy 00:20:00 — How type design influences icon systems 00:30:00 — Why icon design is really a puzzle-solving practice 00:36:00 — Balancing clarity and creativity in icon systems 00:40:30 — Historic England, castles, and designing beyond typical UI icons 00:45:00 — Laura’s Figma origin story and Noah’s helpful onboarding 00:48:00 — Why icon designers are quietly famous 00:50:00 — Find Laura online and final thoughts Links & Resources Laura Bohill / Laura Bee Find Laura Laura Bee online 😄 Font Awesome 7 Explore Font Awesome 7 and its small batch icon packs, including ChiselChisel icon pack Laura’s custom icon pack for Font Awesome 7, inspired by stroke contrast in typography YouTube version of this episode Watch the visual demo version to see the Chisel icons on screen while the team talks through the design Figma Making the leap from Illustrator to FigmaHistoric England Laura’s recent icon system project featuring castles, parks, and places of worshipCredits Hosted by Matt Johnson Featuring: Laura Bohill, and Jory Raphael Produced and edited by Matt Johnson Theme song: Ronnie Martin Music interstitials:  Zach Malm Additional video editing: Isaac Chase Stay up to date on all the Font Awesomeness!

    53 min
  3. How to Spot Great Leadership in Interviews (and Avoid Bad Managers) | Dave Gandy

    May 26

    How to Spot Great Leadership in Interviews (and Avoid Bad Managers) | Dave Gandy

    In this episode of Podcast Awesome, Matt  sits down with Font Awesome founder Dave Gandy to unpack what it really means to be a great employee and a great manager — without the “rockstar ninja unicorn” nonsense, micromanaging, or performative perks. Dave reframes the idea of a “lifestyle business” as a badge of honor (not a slight), explains why leadership matters more than the role you’re hired for, and shares practical ways to spot healthy management during interviews — plus what autonomy should actually look like inside a team that trusts each other. Watch this episode on YouTube 🗒️ What We Cover in This Episode 💸 Why “lifestyle business” is often used as manipulation (and why it’s actually a badge of honor)  🧭 The #1 thing to evaluate in a job interview: leadership (not the role)  🧠 How to flip the interview script by asking better questions  ⏱️ What micromanagement (“butt in seat” culture) really signals  🚩 Why “rockstar / ninja / unicorn” language can be a culture red flag  🔍 How to read “small signals” with inductive reasoning (not just deductive logic)  📸 The photo wall story: how tiny rules reveal big cultural problems  🧰 Why managing people is a craft (and how to learn it like one)  📚 Books + frameworks Dave recommends (Lencioni, Working Genius, Shape Up)  🧩 What healthy autonomy looks like in practice (and why “execute with excellence” is rare) ⏱️ Timestamps 0:00 - Cold Open: What Loyalty Really Costs  0:23 - Welcome + What This Episode Covers  0:53 - Lifestyle Business as a “Slight” (and the Trade-Offs)  2:00 - Lifestyle Business Myth: Manipulation vs. Real Bottom Lines  4:00 - Interview for Leadership: Why Your Boss Matters More Than the Role  6:00 - Managers & Autonomy: Hiring Adults and Treating Them Like Adults  8:00 - A “Butt in Seat” Culture (and Why It’s a Technical Leadership Smell)  10:00 - Sussing Out Culture: How to Ask the Unaskable Questions  12:00 - Lifestyle Business = Sanity (and Why Retention Is the Real Metric)  14:00 - Hard Interview Questions That Reveal Leadership  16:00 - Retention Without Perks: The Real “Perks” That Matter  18:00 - When Life Happens: The Loyalty Moment That Costs Something  22:00 - Rockstar / Ninja / Unicorn Language (and Flattery as a Red Flag)  24:00 - Bad Interviewer Psychology: “Gotcha” Certainty vs. Real Confidence  26:00 - Inductive vs Deductive Reasoning (and Why Nerds Miss the Signals)  28:00 - The Photo Wall Story: Tiny Rules, Big Control Problems  32:00 - Rockstar Culture Warning: Accountability and the “Rockstar Exception”  34:00 - Interview Like Dating: Standards, Curiosity, and Connection  36:00 - Botching Interviews When You Want It Too Much  37:00 - Management Is a Craft (Not Just a Promotion)  38:00 - Books & Frameworks: Lencioni + Working Genius + More  42:00 - Organizational Health Signals (Trust, Conflict, Clarity)  44:00 - Autonomy with Shape Up: Freedom Inside the Box  46:00 - Wrap-Up + Closing Thoughts 🔗 Links & Resources Patrick Lencioni / The Table Group  Shape Up  Font Awesome:  🎶 The Font Awesome Theme Song – Composed by Ronnie Martin 🎸 Music Interstitials by Zach Malm  🎬 Produced and edited by Matt Johnson with some extra video editing help from Isaac Chase Stay up to date on all the Font Awesomeness!

    49 min
  4. Website Color Theming Made Easy [Look Awesome Demo]

    May 12 ·  Bonus

    Website Color Theming Made Easy [Look Awesome Demo]

    Look Awesome: Solving Color Once and for All Locking in the color palette for your project is one of those things that seems simple until you're actually doing it. Pick the wrong shade and your text is unreadable. Pick the right shade and it only works in Figma, not in your codebase, not in Tailwind, not anywhere that matters. Dave Gandy — Font Awesome founder, Kickstarter legend, self-described Nantucket color enthusiast — has been quietly building a tool to fix this mess. It's called Look Awesome, and it tackles color from three angles at once: the technical side (WCAG contrast math), the artistic side (palettes that actually look good), and yes, the genetic side (turns out not everyone sees color the same way, and there's a 100-dot test to prove it). This episode is an audio cut of a live demo Dave gave during the Build Awesome Kickstarter stream. He walks through how Look Awesome works, why he built it in under three weeks using modern AI tooling, and why he thinks this might be the most fun thing he's ever made. You'll also hear about NASA's brand guidelines, the color laws of Nantucket, and a binary search algorithm that finds the exact one shade of blue that satisfies both dark and light text contrast requirements. Fair warning: this is a color tool, so if you want to actually see the thing, head over to the YouTube channel. The link is in the show notes. What We Cover What Look Awesome is and why it existsThe three challenges of color: technical, artistic, and geneticThe Farnsworth-Munsell 100 hue test and what it means for working with colorHow the palette-building math actually works (including that binary search)Theming once and getting it everywhere — Tailwind, Web Awesome, Claude's design.md, whereverHow Look Awesome fits into the Build Awesome workflowWhy Dave built this in under three weeks and what AI-assisted Build Week looked likeThe Nantucket color palette demo (10 seconds, one URL)Try It Look Awesome is live now at look.awesome.me. Dave wants to hear what's working — not just the bugs. Drop him a note at dave@awesome.me. Want to support the broader project? The Build Awesome Kickstarter is still running at build.awesome.me. Watch the full demo from the livestream! youtube.com/live/XBMSvupE7Bc?si=3Ow2B1I4pOAYnsb  Credits Hosted, produced and edited by Matt JohnsonFeaturing Dave Gandy and Zach (from the Build Awesome livestream)Theme song by Ronnie MartinMusic interstitials by Zach MalmVideo editing by Isaac ChaseStay up to date on all the Font Awesomeness!

    21 min
  5. Build Week: What we Made with AI [Part 2] with Dave + Travis

    May 5

    Build Week: What we Made with AI [Part 2] with Dave + Travis

    AI makes it easier to build almost anything. So why does that make the job harder? In this episode, Matt sits down with Font Awesome founder Dave Gandy and engineer Travis Chase to get past the hype and into the real day-to-day of building with AI. The conversation covers what's actually changing on the team, where AI falls short, and what human skills matter more now than they did before. If you're a designer, developer, or anyone trying to figure out where you fit in a world where your output can suddenly go 10x — this one's worth your time. Dave and Travis don't pretend the answers are simple. They also don't pretend the concerns aren't real. Fair warning: Dave also makes a case for revisiting waterfall development. It's more convincing than it has any right to be. What We Cover Why producing more means your quality bar has to get sharper, not looserThe discernment problem — when you can build anything, how do you decide what's worth building?Why saying no is now a more important skill than everThe strongest AI concerns Dave and Travis actually take seriously (energy, training data ethics, governance)Why AI seems to help people become more of who they already areHow to stay curious and useful during a major technology transition without chasing every squirrel Timestamps 0:00 Cold open — from low-level to strategy0:38 Intro1:30 Where AI falls short right now2:00 Quality control when output explodes2:30 Taste, responsibility, and Jory's point at the snuggle3:00 The discernment problem and snacktivities4:20 Simplicity means saying no more than yes5:30 Chasing waterfalls — does waterfall development make a comeback?6:00 The strongest anti-AI arguments worth taking seriously6:45 Energy, ethics, and training data consent8:00 Technology's evolution and the genie that's out of the bottle9:00 The Industrial Revolution farmer analogy9:45 Superheroes, supervillains, and hiring for character first10:20 Two ditches: navigating between idealism and cynicism11:10 Rev share and what the world should look like11:45 Governance, compromise, and garbage design13:30 Washing machines and making more clean water14:00 Guiding principles for using AI internally15:00 Company behaviors as an AI framework: curious, humble, adventurous16:00 AI helps people become more of who they are16:45 AI will ask people to operate at a higher level18:00 Refusing to engage is the riskiest move of all19:00 We need critical voices — and we need them in the room20:00 Echo chambers, bad data, and the water story21:30 The world is hopeful — spend your life in wonder22:30 Home prices, colonizing planets, and the leap to the real world23:00 Outro Credits Hosted by Matt JohnsonFeaturing Dave Gandy and Travis ChaseProduced and edited by Matt JohnsonTheme song by Ronnie MartinMusic interstitials by Zach MalmVideo editing by Isaac Chase🔗 Font Awesome: https://fontawesome.com  🔗 Check out episode one of the conversation! https://www.podcastawesome.com/2092855/episodes/19065993-build-week-what-we-made-part-1-with-dave-travis 🔗 Podcast Awesome: https://podcastawesome.com #PodcastAwesome #FontAwesome #AI #DesignAndDevelopment #TechEthics #SoftwareDevelopment Stay up to date on all the Font Awesomeness!

    25 min
  6. Build Week: What we Made with AI [Part 1] with Dave + Travis

    Apr 23

    Build Week: What we Made with AI [Part 1] with Dave + Travis

    💻 AI side quests, but make it Snuggle. 🤖✨ In this episode, we’re fresh off the Snuggle (our company retreat) and talking about what happens when you give a curious team some time, space… and a bunch of AI tools. Travis and Dave join us to share how experimenting with tools like G-Stack, Spec-Kit, and Claude helped us explore ideas, prototype faster, and take on projects we normally wouldn’t have time for. We get into the practical side of it all—what worked, what didn’t, and where AI actually fits into a creative workflow (without the hype). It’s part experiment recap, part philosophy, and part “what if we just tried it?” Whether you're building products, designing systems, or just curious how AI can fit into your process, this one’s for you. 🎙️ What we cover in this episode: 🧑‍🚀 Why we dedicated Snuggle time to AI exploration🧩 How tools like G-Stack, Spec-Kit, and Claude fit into real workflows💻 Using AI to prototype and pressure-test ideas quickly⚖️ The balance between human creativity and machine assistance🧠 What surprised us (and what didn’t) ⏱️ Timestamps: 00:00:00 – Welcome & Intro 00:01:59 – What are Snacktivites? 00:02:57 – Company Behaviors Framework 00:04:16 – Build Week Explained 00:05:00 – Travis's Thoughts on AI Shift 00:08:05 – Ethics Over Slop 00:08:31 – Education and Intent 00:11:47 – Using AI as a Force Multiplier 00:14:50 – Skills Files and Standards 00:21:10 – Tooling Roundup: G-Stack, Spec-Kit, and more 00:25:46 – Color Awesome Finale 00:27:45 – Wrap Up ... To Be Continued in Part 2 🔗 Links & resources: Font Awesome: https://fontawesome.com/ Browse icons: https://fontawesome.com/icons Kits: https://fontawesome.com/kits Web Awesome: https://webawesome.com/ Credits: 🎵 Theme music by Ronnie Martin 🎶 Interstitials by Zach Malm Stay up to date on all the Font Awesomeness!

    28 min
  7. Hiring Is a Two-Way Street — Here’s What Most People Miss

    Apr 7

    Hiring Is a Two-Way Street — Here’s What Most People Miss

    Job interviews aren’t just about proving you’re a fit — they’re about figuring out whether the company deserves you, too. 👀 In this episode, Matt chats with Font Awesome founder Dave Gandy about why hiring is a two-way street. They unpack the red flags candidates should watch for, what healthy companies actually look like, and how the interview process can reveal way more than a polished mission statement ever will. Dave shares practical advice for job seekers on asking better questions, spotting dysfunctional hiring practices, and approaching the search with intention instead of desperation. They also dig into trust, team health, and why the best workplaces tend to value character just as much as capability. Whether you’re job hunting, hiring, or just trying to avoid ending up in a workplace that feels like a corporate escape room, this episode has plenty to chew on. 😅 What we cover: Why hiring should be a two-way evaluation The biggest red flags in interview processes What healthy organizations prioritize Why trust matters more than pure talent How to ask smarter interview questions Why job seekers need a strategy, not just a stack of resumes How to identify companies that are actually worth your time Timestamps: 00:00 – Why hiring is a two-way street 02:00 – HR screenings, weird assessments, and early red flags 05:10 – Desperation in job hunting and why standards still matter 07:00 – What healthy companies really look like 09:20 – How to flip the script and interview the company 12:00 – Big companies, bad filters, and missing great candidates 16:00 – Why knowing yourself matters before you start looking 19:00 – Why spray-and-pray applications usually fall flat 21:00 – The value of being “double T-shaped” in your career 24:00 – Why the best opportunities often come through side doors 25:00 – Building relationships before you need a job 27:00 – How companies communicate values in the hiring process 29:00 – The one thing a company needs to do differently 30:00 – Wrap-up and outro Credits: Hosted by Matt Johnson Featuring Dave Gandy Produced and edited by Matt Johnson Theme song by Ronnie Martin Music interstitials by Zach Malm Video editing by Isaac Chase Watch this episode on YouTube #Hiring #InterviewTips #JobSearch #CareerAdvice #Leadership #CompanyCulture #WorkplaceCulture #TechCareers #PodcastAwesome #FontAwesome 🚀 Stay up to date on all the Font Awesomeness!

    32 min
  8. New Font Awesome Features: PNG Downloads, Color Picker, and User Blender

    Mar 24

    New Font Awesome Features: PNG Downloads, Color Picker, and User Blender

    In this episode of Podcast Awesome, Matt sits down with Ed and Francis to talk through three newly shipped Font Awesome features that are small, practical, and just the right amount of fun. They dig into individual PNG downloads, a new global color picker for previewing icons in brand colors, and the wonderfully playful User Blender, which lets you mix and match heads, bodies, and styles to create custom user icons for your kit. Along the way, they unpack the thinking behind each feature, how these updates connect to Icon Wizard and the broader Font Awesome 7.2 release, and why shaving off a few annoying workflow steps can make life noticeably better for designers and developers. There’s also an unexpected side quest into Ed’s cameo in his son’s YouTube channel, because apparently every product update deserves a B-plot. 🎬 If you want to actually see these features in action, there’s also an extended video version on YouTube with demos. But this audio-only episode still gives you the full behind-the-scenes story, the practical use cases, and all the delightful nerdery you’d expect from the Awesomeverse. What We Cover in This Episode 🎨 How the new global color picker makes previewing icon colors much easier🖼️ Why individual PNG downloads are a handy addition for quick icon grabs🧑‍🚀 How User Blender lets you create custom user icons with random and manual combinations🧩 How these features build on ideas from Icon Wizard💻 Why small workflow improvements can have a big impact for teams🧪 How playful side projects sometimes turn into genuinely useful features🎬 Ed’s surprise side quest into low-budget cinematic gloryTimestamps 00:00 Welcome to Podcast Awesome  00:20 Introducing the episode and today’s guests  00:45 The three new features: PNG downloads, color picker, and User Blender  01:10 Francis makes a Podcast Awesome debut  01:40 Looking back at Ed’s previous appearances and Icon Wizard history  02:10 Why individual PNG downloads were added  03:00 When and why someone might want PNG instead of SVG  04:10 The idea behind the new global color picker  05:00 Previewing brand colors across icon search results  05:40 Using the color picker on category pages and kits  06:10 Duotone controls, secondary colors, opacity, reset, and swatches  07:10 Reusing Web Awesome tools inside Font Awesome  07:50 How color settings carry over across different areas  08:20 How the color picker affects code snippets and icon styling  08:55 Meet User Blender  09:20 How randomizing and mixing custom user icons works  10:00 Available styles and future expansion plans  10:40 Why User Blender is both useful and toy-like in the best possible way  11:15 How the feature grew out of a snuggle and Icon Wizard success  12:00 A call for community creations and creative icon mashups  12:40 How these features fit into the Font Awesome 7.2 release  13:10 Ed’s unexpected acting career and his son’s YouTube side quest  14:00 Wrap-up and where to share your creations YouTube episode with visual examples: https://youtu.be/NDsqZozkn3A  Font Awesome: https://fontawesome.com/ Browse Font Awesome Icons: https://fontawesome.com/icons Learn about Kits: https://fontawesome.com/kits Explore Web Awesome: https://webawesome.com/ Contact the team: hello@fontawesome.com Theme music by Ronnie Martin: https://ronniemartin.org/ Interstitial music by Zach Malm: https://muzach.bandcamp.com/ BowziTV: https://www.youtube.com/@BowziTV Stay up to date on all the Font Awesomeness!

    15 min
See All (84)

Ratings & Reviews

4.8
out of 5
9 Ratings

About

On Podcast Awesome we talk to members of the Font Awesome team about icons, design, tech, business, and of course, nerdery. 🎙️ Podcast Awesome is your all-access pass into the creative engine behind Font Awesome — the web’s favorite icon toolkit. Join host Matt Johnson and the Font Awesome crew (and friends) for deep dives into icon design, front-end engineering, software development, healthy business culture, and a whole lot of lovingly-rendered nerdery. From technical explorations of our open-source tooling, chats with web builders, icon designers, and content creators, with the occasional gleeful rants about early internet meme culture, we bring you stories and strategies from the trenches of building modern web software — with a healthy dose of 80s references and tech dad jokes. 🎧 Perfect for: Icon design and content-first thinkingCreative process and collaborative designWork-life balance in techRemote team culture and async collaborationInternet history, meme archaeology, and other nerd ephemera 🧠 Come for the design wisdom, stay for the deep meme cuts and beautifully crafted icons.

Information

  • Creator
    Font Awesome
  • Years Active
    2022 - 2026
  • Episodes
    84
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Podcast Awesome
  • Show Website
    Podcast Awesome

You Might Also Like