Podcast Awesome

SummaryIn this episode of Podcast Awesome, Matt sits down with icon designers Jory Raphael and Noah Jacobus to discuss their experience at the Config conference. They share insights and highlights from the event, including their own talk on drawing icons in Figma. From keynote talks by industry leaders to the importance of collaboration and design-first approaches, this episode covers it all. Tune in to gain valuable insights into the world of design, tech, and business.  ----------------Timestamps[00:02:23] Figma's acquisition by Adobe.[00:06:06] Icelandic entrepreneur Halli Thorleifsson.[00:10:28] The awkwardness of speaking to an empty room.[00:14:14] The structured process for prepping for a conference talk.[00:17:25] Virtual presentations and audience feedback.[00:22:07] Variables in Figma.[00:24:18] Outro--------------------------------------------------------NotesThe Font Awesome theme song was composed by Ronnie MartinAudio mastering by Chris Enns at Lemon Productions"Pixel Perfect" by Lesiakower"Legends" by Kim Lightyear "8-Bit-Space" by Purrsahfef"Retrorace" by WolfBeat"Victory Screen" by Lesiakower"Elixir of Life" by 23843807Interstitial music by Muzach Stay up to date on all the Font Awesomeness!

Icon designers Jory Raphael and Noah Jacobus discuss the history and future of Font Awesome icons. Topics include designer crushes, creating a video for Kickstarter, designing niche icons, the power of icons, creativity with constraints, icon design tips, developing artistic taste, and constantly improving design quality.

Matt talks with Mike Wilkerson, lead programmer at Font Awesome, about his love for coding, the design tool used by Font Awesome's designers, and his fandom for the Marble Machine X music project. They also discuss the importance of appreciating good curves and circles, finding motivation in mundane work, and the virtuous cycle of nerdery in building community.

In this episode of Podcast Awesome, host Matt Johnson talks with Font Awesome founder Dave Gandy about the lessons learned from failing in business and life. They discuss Gandy's experience of flunking out of MIT twice and how it impacted his journey as an entrepreneur. They also delve into a story about the Font Awesome 5 Kickstarter campaign and the self-fulfilling prophecies that can shape our beliefs and reality. Gandy shares his insights into the startup world and the power of believing a lie long enough that it becomes the truth.-------------------TIME STAMPS 00:04:54 Failure is not final.00:07:30 Embrace reality and grow.00:10:06 Failure is an opportunity for growth.00:18:56 Nothing is ever truly failure.00:23:25 Find trustworthy partners for success.00:27:05 Trust your teammates.00:29:09 Try hard things and learn.------------------NOTESY CombinatorMITMake Some People Want: A Behind the Scenes Look at Font Awesome's 2017 KickstarterThe Font Awesome theme song was composed by Ronnie MartinAudio mastering by Chris Enns at Lemon ProductionsStay up to date on all the Font Awesomeness!

Font Awesome founders, Dave Gandy and Travis Chase, discuss building a strong company culture through hiring the right people. They challenge the idea of hiring 'rock stars' or 'A players' and instead prioritize humility and character fit. The podcast explores the impact of the rock star mentality, flawed evaluation processes, and the importance of communication, dignity, and continuous learning in business.

In this episode of Podcast Awesome, host Matt Johnson interviews Trevor Chase, the technical support member of Font Awesome. Trevor opens up about his career change from a middle school principal to tech support, and also talks about his background in business administration and education. Listeners can also expect to hear about the most common tech support questions Trevor receives and the coffee roasting obsession that started by roasting coffee beans in a popcorn popper. ----------------------Time Stamps[00:01:03] Career change from education.[00:03:09] Learn new skills to pivot into new careers.[00:06:56] Licensing and Technical Support.[00:10:53] Coffee Roasting and favorite Icons.[00:13:33] Ethiopian Coffee Ceremony.[00:18:40] Working remotely and reconnecting with co-workers.-----------Show NotesThe Font Awesome theme song was composed by Ronnie MartinAudio mastering by Chris Enns at Lemon ProductionsMill City Roasters on YouTubeStay up to date on all the Font Awesomeness!

Cory LaViska, founder of Shoelace, and the hosts discuss the partnership between Shoelace and Font Awesome, benefits of using web components, challenges of modern web standards, and the power of open source technology. They also touch on the importance of keeping up with industry trends and the joy of solving problems with technology.

In this edition of the Nerd Show and Tell we chat with Ed Emanuel, Senior Developer at Font Awesome. Ed started programming at the age of 12 years old with a TSR 80, and hasn't looked back since. As part of Ed's  ongoing learning, he has been working on a new text-based game based on the Oregon Trail known as Space Awesome since last year. As Ed created Space Awesome, he also used it to learn Vue.JS, and the graphics are Font Awesome space-themed icons. The discussion also includes a look at the recent work that Ed and Mike Wilkerson have been doing on the Icon Wizard project. He also shares his love of 3D printers and Dungeons and Dragons.------------------TIMESTAMPS0:02:27 Working with Dave and Travis at Font Awesome0:04:07 Creating Custom Icons with Font Awesome Pro0:06:34 3D Printing and D&D Miniatures0:10:31 Exploring Icon Themes and Favorite Font Awesome Icons0:12:11 Space Awesome  Game Launch0:14:02 Text-Based Games and Working at Blockbuster Video Warehouse0:16:20 Discussing Ed's Interest in Dungeons and Dragons 0:19:21 Conversation on the Popularity of Dungeons & Dragons and Role-Playing Games0:21:51 The Role of a Dungeon Master in Dungeons and Dragons--------------------HighlightsWell, I think I can thank my brother in law for that one as well. When he started dating my sister, my older sister, they played DND and kind of introduced me and my other siblings to it. So I played Advanced Dungeons and Dragons back in the late eighty s a little bit. And then we didn't have any of the books. So we kind of homebrewed our own game for a while, just like everyone else. We kind of stepped away from it for a while and then, let's see, it's been five or six years ago actually.It went well. We had lots of traffic the first couple of weeks. Not as much since then, but when I designed the game, I wanted to kind of respect people's time. It does not require a huge investment in your time. You can sit down and play it for five to ten minutes, and while there are a lot of secrets to discover and things that you probably won't encounter your first time through. There's no timers. There's no anything that requires that you come back and play it every day.Well, I think we have a 20 sided dice that belongs in there. We have some swords, axe, the wizards hats. We have a bunch of icons, the cloak, the skull, stuff like that. I think there's probably definitely a few icons we could add along those lines. Some more DnD themed things. Oh, we have a dragon icon already, but I think there's some other monsters that would be cool to add some kind of slime or gelatinous cube or a beholder, but I suppose we couldn't call it a beholder.---------------------NOTESThe Icon WizardSpaceawesome.ioThe Font Awesome theme song was composed by Ronnie MartinAudio mastering by Chris Enns at Lemon ProductionsStay up to date on all the Font Awesomeness!

In this podcast, the Font Awesome team discuss the success of their 2017 Kickstarter for Font Awesome version 5. This was the most funded and most backed tech Kickstarter of all time. The team reflects on what contributed to the project's success, including the video, and the decision to add a paid, Pro version to Font Awesome. The team also discusses how they were invited to Y Combinator, a Silicon Valley tech accelerator, after making the decision to give Font Awesome a go as a viable business. To get their paid version of Font Awesome off the ground, Dave and the team decided to launch a crowdfunding campaign. They learned from the failure of their previous campaign for Font Awesome Black Tie. For the version 5 video, they'd need to hire professionals to create an engaging video to tell their story. After some research, they decided to work with Knox Avenue, who did a fantastic job. ---------------------------------TIMESTAMPS 0:00:09   Reflecting on the Success of Font Awesome's 2017 Kickstarter0:02:14   Was Y Combinator Worth It? 0:05:32   Lessons Learned from the Font Awesome Crowdfunding Campaign0:07:30   The Journey to Finding a Professional Video Production Company 0:09:03   The Risky Decision to Create the Font Awesome Kickstarter Video0:13:10   The 12-Hour Filming Session for Kickstarter Video0:14:58   The Font Awesome 5 Kickstarter: A Story of Success-------------------------------HIGHLIGHTS We have no idea how this is going to hit. But we think this is hysterical. We thought it was funny, so we launched the video. We did a few things right with it. We did a lot of things right. And we still got an article out there somewhere about all of the we think are good ways to run a Kickstarter. And it's a few years old, but most of it's going to be evergreen with that. And we set a goal for ourselves for $30,000.If Brian hasn't shared his nerd about baking, that would yeah, we should do that. The parallel we come up with [for the video] is a bakery. Because a bakery is we think of Font Awesome as this intersection of art and technology. We think of it as how do we make these Awesome assets. You get your icons. How do you make these real? How do you get these where they need to be in the way people want to use them so that everything can be better? As a company, we like humor. This is actually a core piece of who the company has become. Is that we value this so much, and so we're like, okay, so humor seems a clear way that we can try to make this more interesting. But also, what if we have nothing overtly digital in this? What if we tell this in the real world? What if we tell the story of Font Awesome 5, what we want to build? What if we tell this story in the real world? And so what's the biggest parallel, right? ---------------------------------NOTESFont Awesome 5 Kickstarter Video How Font Awesome became the most funded software project on Kickstarter  — and what we can learn from it The Font Awesome theme song was composed by Ronnie MartinAudio mastering by Chris Enns at Lemon ProductionsStay up to date on all the Font Awesomeness!

In this episode of Nerd Show and Tell, host Matt Johnson interviews Alex Poiry, Head of Security at Font Awesome. After Alex gives a rundown of what he does in his job as Head of Security, things get really fun. Alex explains how he found his way to tech after getting degrees in history and German, and explains his love of early 2000s memes. He also talks about his interest in historic European martial arts and how it ties into virtual reality. Alex also mentions how he gave himself tennis elbow using a longsword. As a fun aside, Alex explains the origin of his nickname “ Alex Yellow Dart Poiry”, which comes from a classic web video series called Homestar Runner. ---------------------TIMESTAMPS0:00:08 Interview with Alex Poiry, Font Awesome's Head of Security0:03:44 Alex's Professional Background and Connection to Font Awesome0:07:56 Security Considerations for Font Awesome0:12:30 Conversation on Technology and Data Privacy0:14:42 Exploring the Benefits of Analogous Circuit Systems and Metaphors for Learning Technology0:18:42 Conversation About the Klingon Language, Lord of the Rings, and Internet Memes0:21:30 Reflections on early 2000s Memes and Unusual Jobs0:23:26 Unusual Computer Repairs as a Geek Squad Tech0:25:20 Conversation on Computer Repair and Virtual Reality0:27:25 Exploring the Possibilities of Virtual Reality and Historic European Martial Arts0:33:22 Exploring the Impact of Technology on Storytelling0:39:15Discussion on the Power of Storytelling in PR and Marketing0:41:24 Conversation About Redemptive Storytelling----------------------HIGHLIGHTS At what point in time when you get to a certain age, how do you tell if it's you getting old or if some things actually are worse? Because there's a definitive period in American cinema that's not as good as some of the other periods.  There's a fantastic storytelling section of American cinema that starts in the 1970s and kind of goes into the it goes into the then you start to hit that era of the blockbuster.The MCU is great. It's fun, and it's nice to see all this expansive stuff. But I wonder, are we going to look down the line in, like, 30 or 40 years and we're going to be like, these movies were fantastic storytelling, or if it's just going to just kind of be, like, fluffy. Almost all of the effects in The Wizard of Oz are practical effects. I don't even know if there's a special effect in the whole thing. And the beauty part is you can put The Wizard of Oz on for a kid, for an adult. It's a good story.It wouldn't be too much of a stretch to basically take those devices, put a solid stick between them, and basically be like, all right, now, what is your form like when it comes to historic European martial arts? And then you could do like a super hot thing where you just put a character up in front of it and just like whack him with a sword and he breaks and falls down or he blocks and you can try that stuff. So then you can actually work on your form without getting sword elbow.-------------NOTESSpintronicsThe Crazy Nastyass Honey Badger (original narration by Randall) G.I. Joe PSAs The Font Awesome theme song was composed by Ronnie MartinAudio mastering by Chris Enns at Lemon ProductionsStay up to date on all the Font Awesomeness!