Podcast Awesome

Why Font Awesome Uses Shape Up: Ditching Backlogs and Shipping Better SoftwareIn this episode of Podcast Awesome, Matt sits down with Font Awesome co-founder Travis Chase for a deep dive into the project management philosophy that keeps the FA ship sailing smoothly — Shape Up, the brainchild of 37signals (makers of Basecamp). If you're tired of bloated backlogs, eternal sprints, or shipping stress, this one’s for you.They contrast Shape Up with traditional methodologies like Waterfall, Agile, Scrum, and Kanban, and unpack how Font Awesome’s flavor of Shape Up—built around six-week splits and two-week cooldowns — helps them actually ship meaningful features without burning out. They also talk about the power of constraints, creative freedom, and why abandoning some work is not a failure —it's strategy.🤓 What We Cover in This Episode🧠 Why Shape Up beats the backlog bloat🛠️ The downside of building everything all at once📦 How six-week splits & two-week cooldowns keep FA productive🚀 Space Awesome and other cool-down creations🔮 How creative constraints unlock innovation💡 Tools like Haunt Forge & Icon Wizard born from autonomy📚 37signals’ books that shaped Font Awesome's ethos⏱️ Timestamps[00:00:09] Shape Up Method and How Font Awesome Uses It[00:02:41] Traditional Waterfall and Agile Methodologies[00:04:22] Agile and Kanban Methods in the Real World[00:07:51] Product Development Lifecycle with Shape Up[00:09:15] Six-Week Splits and Two-Week Cooldowns[00:11:18] Side Projects like “Space Awesome”[00:12:39] Shape Up Workflow Breakdown[00:15:39] Project Management Meets Business Philosophy[00:19:16] 40-Hour Work Weeks & Whole-Person Thinking[00:20:51] Autonomy & Creative Flow at Work[00:22:39] Behind the Scenes of Haunt Forge[00:23:56] Icon Wizard + the Magic of Constraints[00:27:35] Iterative Dev à la Basecamp[00:29:41] Wrapping Up: Software and Project Management Insights🔗 Links & Resources📘 Shape Up (Book) 📗 Always Be Shipping (and On Time for Dinner): Why We Use Shape Up 🧠 It Doesn’t Have to Be Crazy at Work⚙️ Haunt Forge Font Engine🧙‍♂️ Icon Wizard🎵 The Font Awesome theme song was composed by Ronnie Martin🎧 Audio mastering by Chris Enns and Lemon Productions🔖 Noteworthy Quotes"One of the surprising things and sort of a takeaway I took from reading Shape Up is that it's okay — It might even be expected that certain work gets abandoned and that shipping really is the highest priority and that backlogs kill productivity. And that kind of goes along with the philosophy, too, of work, that you have to have constraints and limits to actually allow creativity to flow. And you can't do everything. So you do have to have constraints. You do have to be able to say no. ""Dave and I take a lot of inspiration from the books that 37Signals put out like Rework and It Doesn't Have to be Crazy at Work. And trying to maybe do business differently, do our own spin on it, see what works for us based on all the places we've worked. And kind of how we would try to change things."Stay up to date on all the Font Awesomeness!

Working Genius at Font Awesome: Dave Gandy on Building Stronger, Happier TeamsIn this illuminating episode of Podcast Awesome, Matt sits down with Font Awesome founder Dave Gandy to unpack the magic behind Patrick Lencioni’s “Six Types of Working Genius.” It's a deep dive into the power of knowing your work style, building better teams, and unlocking peak productivity—without all the corporate gobbledygook. Dave explains how Font Awesome embraced the Working Genius framework, why it matters, and how it's shaping everything from meetings to morale. If you're a startup nerd or workplace culture aficionado, this one’s for you.🤓 What We Cover in This Episode🧠 What are the Six Types of Working Genius (WIDGET!) and why they matter🌍 Why remote work success hinges on IRL relationships🛠️ How organizational health is a competitive edge💥 The difference between work that energizes vs. drains you👥 Why understanding how others work might be your secret weapon🎯 The practical impact of knowing your team’s working geniuses🔧 How better meetings = more efficiency, less money torching🕰️ Timestamps[00:06:19] Six types of working genius[00:09:53] Remote work relationships[00:16:57] Wonder and innovation[00:19:12] Taking the time for work[00:23:09] Importance of being a domain expert[00:24:55] Tenacity in the workplace[00:27:58] Ideation process and meetings[00:30:43] Working geniuses and efficiency[00:33:59] Organizational health and satisfaction🔥 Best Quotes“Font Awesome is a company of nerds who like people. Not machines —people.” — Dave Gandy“"Working genius isn’t about skills. It’s about energy — what lights you up and what drains you.” — Dave Gandy"Just because you’re not a domain expert doesn’t mean you're better at managing. That’s a warm blanket of nonsense.” — Dave Gandy"Understanding how work gets done is the first step to actually changing reality.” — Dave Gandy🔗 Links & ResourcesThe Six Types of Working GeniusThe Font Awesome theme song was composed by Ronnie MartinAudio mastering by Chris Enns and Lemon ProductionsStay up to date on all the Font Awesomeness!

🎸 Code, Kits, and Killer Guitar Riffs with Jason OteroIn this episode of Podcast Awesome, Matt sits down with Font Awesome software engineer Jason Otero to dive into the rhythms of code and chord progressions alike. Jason talks about what it’s like working on Font Awesome Kits, his experience with six-week splits (spoiler: better than two-week sprints), and why taking time to cool down after intense work sessions is chef’s kiss for productivity.We also nerd out about loading Kits using only CSS, explore Jason’s thoughts on WebAssembly and Rust, and hear about his double life as a guitarist in two bands, one of which is Blister Soul. It’s an episode with strong tech, strong opinions, and strong guitar tones. Plug in and press play.🎧 What We Cover in This Episode🧪 Six-week splits: why they beat sprints🎛️ Jason’s clever new way of loading Font Awesome Kits💅 CSS-only web font Kits? You bet!🧠 Embracing “cool down” time for better tech work🛠️ Rust, WebAssembly, and Jason’s programming faves🎸 His guitar gear rabbit hole (you know the one)🤘 Life in not one but two bands⏱️ Timestamps00:00:36 — Six week splits vs two week sprints00:05:57 — New method of loading Kits00:07:18 — CSS-only web font Kits00:09:47 — Project management methods00:12:41 — Full benefits of 'cool down' time00:18:33 — WebAssembly and Rust technology00:19:09 — Programming language preferences00:22:14 — Favorite icons and hobbies00:26:33 — Guitar gear obsession00:31:38 — Music and Band Promotion🎙️ Notable Quotes “That process of logical deduction that you have to do whenever you're troubleshooting something I think kind of helped lead me toward the development side of things.” (On how installing alarm systems shaped his dev skills)“For people that just don't really want to use a lot of JavaScript... we now are getting ready to release a new way of loading the kit that is only using CSS.” (Re: CSS-only Kits as a streamlined solution)“The cool down, they're nice for many things... it's a great time for fixing bugs, putting on polish, trying out new things.” (Explaining the value of Font Awesome’s Basecamp-style 6-week split + 2-week cooldown rhythm)“It was a little hazardous. I used like a big old mixer... and to clean it, they would literally set it on fire.” (Recalling his teenage glue-mixing job — the most pyro-nerdy flex ever!)“I haven't counted up recently the number of guitars I have, but it's probably in the range of 15 or so.” (Guitar gearhead status: confirmed)“We want to give customers cool stuff because it's cool to have customers like to use our stuff.” (Why he loves shipping features that solve problems)🔗 Links & ResourcesBlister Soul (Jason's band – rock on 🎶)The Font Awesome theme song was composed by Ronnie MartinAudio mastering by Chris Enns and Lemon ProductionsStay up to date on all the Font Awesomeness!

🎧 The Fine Art of Structure & Chaos — Inside Font Awesome’s Creative ProcessWhat happens when you mix dinosaur icons, brain science, and a meticulous-yet-messy creative workflow? You get a peak behind the pixel curtain with icon maestros Jory Raphael and Noah Jacobus! In this episode of Podcast Awesome, Matt chats with the duo about their icon design process — equal parts strategy and serendipity.From high-level sketches to final pixel perfection, Jory and Noah reveal how they balance structure with creative chaos using tools like Figma and a well-worn sketchpad. Along the way, we explore productivity hacks, the rhythm of creative flow, and yes — dinosaur design drama. 🦖💡🎙️ What We Cover in This Episode:🧠 Icon design as both art and science✏️ Why sketching still matters in a digital world🦕 The joy and struggle of designing dinosaur icons🛠️ Why Figma makes their workflows less "rawr" and more "refined"🧬 What brain science and music have to do with creativity🗓️ Rebuilding your schedule to support creative energy💥 How pressure impacts the design process—for better or worse⏱️ Timestamps[00:01:23] Design process[00:05:01] High level sketching[00:07:45] Figma for interface design[00:10:39] Designing dinosaur icons[00:14:08] Messy creative process[00:17:13] Creative process and productivity[00:20:31] Brain science in music[00:23:38] Creating a new schedule[00:26:52] Creative process and pressure🎯 Top Noteworthy Quotes from Jory & Noah on Design ProcessOn Messy Creativity:“The creative process in general is so by its very nature, amorphous and all over the place.” — Jory RaphaelOn Collaborating Across the Fence:“Sometimes I will design something, take a kind of a first pass at it, kick it across the fence to Noah, and he'll go in and tweak it and add, improve it generally... it's kind of collaborative when it needs to be and isn't when it doesn't need to be.” — Jory RaphaelOn Tool-Based Sketching:“My sketching process is like digitally drawing right in the program itself.” — Noah JacobusOn Dinosaur Design Woes:“The Tyrannosaurus... it’s not done yet... you have to find a way. Like, you can bend, or is it squatting? Does it look like it's pooping instead of standing up?” — Jory RaphaelOn Visual Rhythm in Workspaces:“I often will put a movie or a TV show on my little side monitor... just something I can kind of pay half attention to... helps me just get into a zone where I can draw.” — Jory RaphaelOn Brain Science and Structure:“There’s got to be brain science to this stuff for sure.” — Matt Johnson “We just draw small pictures, Matt.” — Jory RaphaelOn Icon Design Pressure:“We’re not on the hook to force anything to work. It can be much more freeform.” — Noah JacobusOn Growing Process Needs:“What works when there's a smaller group of people doesn't work necessarily as well when there are more... We put in as much process as we need to.” — Jory Raphael🔗 Links & ResourcesThe Font Awesome theme song was composed by Ronnie MartinAudio mastering by Chris Enns and Lemon ProductionsStay up to date on all the Font Awesomeness!

🎧 Episode Summary: Design Systems, B-Grade Horror, and a Splash of Rum with Kelsey JacksonIn this episode of Nerd Show and Tell, Matt kicks back with Font Awesome’s (now a part of the Web Awesome team) Designer and Front-End Developer, Kelsey Jackson. If you’ve admired how snappy and stylish the Font Awesome site looks lately — yep, that’s Kelsey’s handiwork. From refining a slick internal design system to mixing tiki drinks and geeking out over B-horror classics, this convo serves up career insights and cult movie nerdery with a twist.You'll hear how Kelsey conned "convinced" Dave Gandy to bring him onboard the FA crew, his high school art teacher’s pivotal advice, and why middle-shelf rum might just be the real MVP of mixology. Oh, and if you're into “Killer Klowns from Outer Space,” buckle up.🔍 What We Cover in This Episode🎨 Creating an internal design system that doesn’t suck 🍿 Kelsey’s wishlist for horror-themed icons 🧪 Drawing-to-design transitions and nerdy career pivots 👟 Bourbon, sneakers, and the legend of the Snuggle swag 🍔 Cooking inspo from The Bear and YouTube foodies 🍹 Why expensive rum is a scam (probably)⏱️ Timestamps00:00:16 – Creating an Internal Design System and More 00:02:43 – Kelsey’s Job at Waco Media as Developer/Designer 00:04:28 – Drawing vs. Design: The OG Connection 00:07:29 – Refining Font Awesome’s Design System 00:11:57 – Why Design System Consistency Matters 00:13:27 – Web Components, AI, and the Content Creation Game 00:15:34 – Horror Movie Icon Wishlist 00:17:32 – B-Horror and Bad Job Flashbacks 00:22:07 – Car Wash Reflections + Disaster Relief Vibes 00:27:49 – Bourbon at the Snuggle, Kicks, and Spirits 00:29:47 – Cooking Steak & Mixing Tiki Drinks 00:31:25 – Thoughts on The Bear 00:33:29 – Matty Matheson’s Culinary Comedy 00:35:18 – Resources for Building Design Systems🎤 Noteworthy Quotes 🎨 On Becoming a Designer“If you want to sort of stay connected to the art world and not be broke, you might want to look into design.” — on advice from his high school art teacher🤝 On Meeting Dave Gandy“It's weird how people were just afraid to walk up to the man and introduce themselves, and I was one of the few that did that... I’ve kind of been working that angle up since I met the guy. I wanted to work at Font Awesome.”🛠️ On Building a Design System“A design system is a set of standards to help manage design at scale. It reduces redundancy and creates a shared visual language.”📚 On Learning Design Systems“I just jumped in... I landed on Brad Frost and his Atomic Design, and that helped me figure it out.”🔗 Links & ResourcesAtomic Design by Brad FrostNielsen Norman GroupThe Bear – HuluMatty MathesonKiller Klowns from Outer Space – IMDBSam the Cooking Guy – YouTubeBabish Culinary UniverseJoshua Weissman – YouTubeStay up to date on all the Font Awesomeness!

Why Font Awesome Switched to Figma: Boolean Magic, Sharp Icons & Real-Time Design 🚀In this fun and vector-loving episode of Podcast Awesome, Matt catches up with icon design duo Noah Jacobus and Jory Raphael to chat all things Figma. They unpack what makes Figma such a killer tool for collaborative design — hello, real-time editing and Boolean wizardry! We also peek into how it compares to Adobe Illustrator, get the scoop on Adobe’s acquisition of Figma, and daydream about a possible Font Awesome plugin in the future. Whether you're a vector nerd or just Fig-curious, there’s plenty to love here.✨ What We Cover in This Episode🌈 “Figma has rainbow magic.” (For real, it does.)🤝 Real-time collab and why it rocks for icon design🧮 Boolean operations and non-destructive editing, aka vector sorcery🏢 Adobe's acquisition of Figma: friend or foe?🧩 Plugins, problems, and finding fixes with the Figma community💡 How Sharp icons + Figma = the dream team⏱️ Timestamps00:05:56 Tools don’t always matter (but sometimes they really do)00:12:12 Adobe owns Figma now00:12:31 Adobe acquisitions: the good, the bad, the ugly00:24:22 Linking Font Awesome Pro accounts00:27:09 Figma has rainbow magic 🌈✨🔗 Links & ResourcesThe Font Awesome theme song was composed by Ronnie MartinAudio mastering by Chris Enns and Lemon Productions10 Reasons We Switched to Figma for Icon Design-------------------HIGHLIGHTS"So Figma has rainbow magic." (00:26:57-00:27:19)"Figma is a central place where we can both work in the same file at the same time. If I make a change, he sees it." (00:20:52-00:23:44)"Noah is entirely responsible for us moving to Figma." (00:00:00-00:03:29)"And the ability to easily test things in the context of digital products is kind of where it found its place for me." (00:03:23-00:06:24)"Being able to identify each of those, you know, every element of a stroke shape or path and make adjustments to it that way is pretty cool." (00:17:58-00:20:57)"Boolean operations are one of the biggest ones... it's kind of a unique way of treating stroked objects like their actual shapes at the same time... that is something that it can't do. So it's a nice more unique feature." (00:15:08-00:18:08)"I think that Figma is enough of a powerhouse kind of on its own that that's not going to happen with the employees there and the community, especially as such a huge force with a lot of momentum behind it that helps support the product and keeps it moving." (00:11:51-00:15:16)"There are just tons of things that are out there that if you run into an issue, someone else likely has run into it already and there's probably a plugin that exists to fix it or address it, which is awesome." (00:23:38-00:27:07)"But what started to become really appealing to me about Figma was, as Noah said, some of the, well, number one, the simplicity of collaboration, which is now super important because we have multiple icon designers at Fawn Awesome, but also some of their unique takes on doing things with vectors." (00:06:17-00:09:04)Stay up to date on all the Font Awesomeness!

🎧 Episode Summary: Finance Wizards & Fitness Quests with Joey HensonIn this episode of Podcast Awesome, Matt sits down with Joey Henson, Controller at Font Awesome and low-key wizard of spreadsheets, startup survival, and Hogwarts-worthy metaphors. Joey opens up about his journey through the high-pressure world of startup finance, what burnout looked like after becoming a parent, and how Font Awesome’s uniquely human work culture has helped him reclaim balance and joy in his career.We dive into how Font Awesome’s values around work-life balance, empathy, and thoughtful leadership created space for Joey to rediscover what matters: family, fitness, and—yes—fandom. From conjuring Harry Potter analogies to explain how Kits work, to lobbying for a wizarding icon set, Joey brings humor and heart to everything he does. He also talks about his recent health transformation, the joys of counting macros, and his budding love affair with Ruby on Rails.Whether you're a finance pro, a budding dev, or a wand-wielding D&D nerd, this episode’s got something magical for you.✨ What We Cover in This Episode💼 Burnout in the startup finance world🧘 Work-life balance at Font Awesome🧙 A Harry Potter metaphor for Kits (Hermione’s bag FTW!)🧮 Learning SQL, Ruby, and Rails for fun🍳 Why Joey counts macros and how it changed his life🧙‍♂️ Dungeons & Dragons meets nutrition tracking🕒 Timestamps00:03:50 Reflection on the Challenges of Working Long Hours00:05:27 Self-Development and Quality of Life at Font Awesome00:08:43 Tech, Finance, and Harry Potter Icon Pack at Font Awesome00:11:13 Exploring Harry Potter Lore to Explain Kits00:18:34 Dungeons & Dragons and Nutrition Habits00:20:20 Counting Macros for Optimal Health and Fitness🔗 Links & ResourcesA Beginner's Guide to Counting MacrosThe Font Awesome theme song was composed by Ronnie MartinAudio mastering by Chris Enns at Lemon Productions-----------------------HIGHLIGHTS In a previous Snuggle, we were talking about metaphors or some way to describe how a kit works. And I seem to remember an allusion to Harry Potter lore would maybe be a good way to explain it. I think we discovered that there was confusion among folks between whether a kit is populated like it's a container that's full of something, or if it's empty and you add to it. And what we came around to say was more accurate is that a kit comes fully loaded with everything you might want to use.Yeah, it is. So Hermione, the beaded bag, it had an undetectable extension charm on it. They used that multiple times in the books and the movies. And it is it's kind of like the DND bag of holding where you can pull out a lot of stuff if you know what's in there. And it comes pre loaded. That works. So, like with Hermiones, the best analogy I could think of was they needed a ton of books and they needed clothes, and when they needed that, Hermione said, oh, let me grab that. Let me just get that out of this bag here. And that's kind of how the kits work, too. You're 100% right. I remember that conversation now where it's, hey, you don't have to worry about it. We've already got it handled for you, and we're going to make it super easy for you to get that out of there.Stay up to date on all the Font Awesomeness!

Behind the Scenes at Config: Icon Design, Figma Variables, and Public Speaking Tips | Podcast AwesomeIn this episode of Podcast Awesome, host Matt Johnson gets the post-Config download from Font Awesome’s resident icon heroes, Jory Raphael and Noah Jacobus. They dish on their experiences at the legendary Config design conference, spill the beans on what it’s like to speak in front of a crowd (or an empty room 😅), and reflect on the power of Figma’s tools—especially variables. They also talk about Adobe’s acquisition of Figma and why designer-led storytelling still reigns supreme. Whether you’re a Figma fanatic or just love a good nerdy confab, this one’s for you.Spoiler: They also reveal the secret sauce behind prepping a slick design talk... and it’s not just coffee. ☕💬 What We Cover in This Episode✨ Figma’s future post-Adobe acquisition🇮🇸 Insights from Halli Thorleifsson’s keynote (and that viral Elon moment)🎤 What it’s really like to speak at Config🧠 How structure helps defeat public speaking nerves💻 Variables in Figma—big win or major whoa?🎨 Icon design wisdom from the stage to your screen⏱️ Timestamps00:02:23 — Figma's acquisition by Adobe00:06:06 — Keynote by Icelandic entrepreneur Halli Thorleifsson00:10:28 — The awkwardness of speaking to an empty room00:14:14 — Structuring a conference talk (with some serious prep tips)00:17:25 — Virtual presentations & why feedback matters00:22:07 — Exploring variables in Figma (🎉 design nerd gold!)00:24:18 — Outro & reflection🎤 Quotable Highlights from the EpisodeOn Conference Impressions“It’s kind of poop-your-pants big.” – Jory RaphaelOn Speaking Prep“We got a couple little tee-hees out of our stage manager… we’re hoping for some good guffaws and chortles when we actually get people in the room.” – Jory RaphaelOn the Power of Good Talks“The ability to explain these concepts… and make it understandable and clear and funny and silly and memorable… it lingers.” – Bonnie Kate WolfOn Conference Support“They gave us a designer advocate, Miggy, who was our support throughout the whole process… it made the process a lot less scary.” – Jory RaphaelOn Audience Energy“By the 10th time through it… you wonder if any of it still makes sense. Actually being able to receive that validation from the crowd… was amazing.” – Noah Jacobus🔗 Links & ResourcesThe 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 23843807Stay 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.