Podcast Awesome

🎧 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.

🎙️ The Beautiful Catastrophe: Lessons from Failing Forward with Dave GandyWhat if failure wasn’t the end — but the beginning of something awesome?In this introspective and surprisingly funny episode of Podcast Awesome, host Matt Johnson sits down with Font Awesome founder Dave Gandy to get real about the stumbles, scrapes, and hard-earned wisdom that came from flunking out of MIT — twice. Yep, twice.From crashing through academia to launching one of the most successful tech Kickstarters of all time, Dave opens up about the not-so-straight path to building something meaningful, and the strange truth that sometimes... believing the lie is part of what makes it real.This one’s a goldmine for startup dreamers, believers in second (and third) chances, and anyone who’s failed their way into something better.🔹 What We Cover in This Episode🎓 Dave’s two-time flunk from MIT and what it taught him🔄 How failure can be rebranded as feedback🚀 Behind-the-scenes chaos (and hope!) of the Font Awesome 5 Kickstarter🔮 The psychology of self-fulfilling prophecies🤝 Finding the right co-founders and learning to trust again🧠 Why doing hard things is the ultimate learning machine⏱️ Timestamps00:04:54 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.🎙️ Noteworthy Quotes from Dave Gandy on Failure, Reality, and Resilience"A startup is nothing more than believing a lie long enough that it becomes the truth.""Failure is really nothing more than reality attempting to introduce itself to us.""Most companies don’t ever recognize that this will almost certainly not be the last place you ever work. Climbing somebody else’s ladder is always a form of failure.""The only real failure is giving up, giving in… not making a conscious choice.""Nothing is ever failure if you’ve done it the right way — the way you think is right and healthy.""If we're only ever succeeding in life, that means we're never trying anything hard enough that truly challenges us.""Humility is one of the things we look for most in people we hire.""I can always come up with a reason why something is somebody else's fault. That’s why humility is such a key component.""Try hard things and find the right person to do them alongside.""There are two kinds of successful failures: choosing to stop because it’s wise, and choosing to go on because it’s wise. The only truly awful one is stopping without making the choice."📎 Links & ResourcesY 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.

☕ From Junior High Principal to Pixels: Trevor “The Real Human Technical Support™ Guy” Chase Talks Career Pivots, Debugging Joy & Coffee ObsessionIn this Podcast Awesome episode, host Matt Johnson chats with Trevor Chase, Font Awesome’s Real Human Technical Support™ Guy. Once a junior high assistant principal, Trevor made the leap from school hallways to tech tickets — and along the way, discovered a love for debugging... and roasting the perfect cup of Ethiopian coffee.Trevor opens up about:How he transitioned from education into tech supportThe most common licensing and icon questions he fields dailyWhy learning new things is at the heart of his Font Awesome journeyHis grassroots coffee roasting business that started with a popcorn popperA once-in-a-lifetime Ethiopian coffee ceremony that sparked a lifelong obsessionAnd what it means to reconnect with remote teammates at our beloved team SnugglesThis one’s got 🔧 troubleshooting tips, ☕ artisan-level coffee takes, and ❤️ all the warm fuzzies of working on a remote team that actually gets along.⏱️ Timestamps01:03 – Trevor's Career Shift from Education to Tech Support03:39 – The Emotional Toll of Being an Assistant Principal06:16 – Joining Font Awesome and Learning On-the-Go06:19 – Most Common Tech Support and Licensing Questions08:14 – Hands-On Learning and Font Awesome’s Education Culture09:32 – Debugging and QA: The Joy of Finding Problems10:53 – Trevor’s Coffee Roasting Journey (From Popcorn Popper to Pro Roaster)13:33 – Ethiopian Coffee Ceremony: A Life-Changing Experience17:10 – Remote Culture and the Importance of the Font Awesome “Snuggle”🎙️ Highlights"If I’m ever bored in this job, it’s my own fault — there’s always something to learn." – Trevor Chase“I started roasting coffee in a popcorn popper... and now my dad and I have a little side business roasting beans from around the world.”“You roast it over hot coals, and they serve you two shots of the strongest, best coffee you’ve ever had. That Ethiopian ceremony? Changed everything.”“I love debugging. It’s kind of like putting out fires, which I weirdly enjoyed even as an assistant principal.”“Remote work can get isolating, so I really look forward to our team Snuggles. Getting to know everyone more deeply matters.”🔗 Links & Credits🔧 Font Awesome Support & Licensing🎬 Mill City Roasters on YouTube🎵 Theme song by Ronnie Martin🎛️ Audio mastering by Chris Enns at Lemon ProductionsStay 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.

🛸 Dungeons, Dragons, and the Oregon Trail… in Space?!On this episode of Nerd Show and Tell, we beam up with Ed Emanuel, Senior Developer at Font Awesome, to chat about his lifelong nerdery, dev adventures, and a galactically nostalgic side project called Space Awesome — a text-based, icon-powered space game inspired by the Oregon Trail.Ed shares how creating Space Awesome helped him learn Vue.js, how he mashed up 8-bit style game logic with Font Awesome’s space-themed icons, and why it’s a quick, secret-filled trip through the stars (no microtransactions, we promise).We also talk 3D printing, Dungeons & Dragons, and the magic behind Icon Wizard, the tool Ed and fellow FA-er Mike Wilkerson built to help customize icons on the fly.If you love dev rabbit holes, retro gaming, or rolling D20s, this ep's got your name on it.⏱️ Episode Timestamps02:27 – Working with Dave and Travis at Font Awesome04:07 – Creating Custom Icons with Font Awesome Pro06:34 – 3D Printing and D&D Miniatures10:31 – Exploring Icon Themes and Ed’s Faves12:11 – Launching the Space Awesome Game14:02 – Text-Based Games and Blockbuster Nostalgia16:20 – Ed’s Dungeons & Dragons Origin Story19:21 – The Rise of D&D and Role-Playing Games21:51 – What Makes a Great Dungeon Master?🧠 Highlights“I designed Space Awesome to respect your time. You can sit down and play for 5–10 minutes. No timers. Just secrets to discover and paths to explore.”“We’ve got the sword, the wizard hat, the 20-sided die… But we could definitely use a slime monster. Maybe a gelatinous cube? Just… not called a beholder.”“We homebrewed our own D&D rules as kids. We didn’t have the books, but we had imagination.”🔗 Links & CreditsPlay Space AwesomeCheck out Icon Wizard 🎵 Theme by Ronnie Martin 🎛️ Audio mastering by Chris Enns at Lemon Productions--------------------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.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 definitely a few icons we could add. 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.---------------------Stay up to date on all the Font Awesomeness!

💥 How Font Awesome’s Kickstarter Became a Record-Breaking SuccessWhat happens when a tiny team with an awesome idea turns to crowdfunding? You get the most-backed tech Kickstarter of all time. In this episode of Podcast Awesome, Matt and the Font Awesome team take you behind the scenes of their  2017 Kickstarter campaign for Font Awesome 5.Hear how a failed campaign turned into a historic win, how a bakery became the perfect metaphor for icon design, and how humor (plus a 12-hour filming session) helped their story resonate with backers worldwide. Oh, and how it caught the attention of Y Combinator, too.🚀 In this episode, we explore:How humor and storytelling powered a viral Kickstarter videoLessons learned from a past campaign misfire (RIP Font Awesome Black Tie)Why we set a modest goal — and obliterated itBehind-the-scenes of choosing a video partner (Knox Avenue FTW)The unexpected doors Y Combinator opened up for Font AwesomeIf you're a designer, founder, or just love a good origin story, this episode is packed with laughs, lessons, and bakery metaphors you won’t forget.⏱️ Episode Timestamps00:09 – Reflecting on the Success of Font Awesome's 2017 Kickstarter02:14 – Was Y Combinator Worth It?05:32 – Lessons Learned from the Crowdfunding Campaign07:30 – Finding the Right Video Production Partner09:03 – Why the Kickstarter Video Was a Huge Risk13:10 – The 12-Hour Shoot That Made It Work14:58 – The Campaign That Changed Everything🔗 Links & Credits 🎵 Theme by Ronnie Martin 🎛️ Audio mastering by Chris Enns at Lemon ProductionsFont Awesome 5 Kickstarter Video How Font Awesome became the most funded software project on Kickstarter  — and what we can learn from it -------------------------------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? ---------------------------------Stay up to date on all the Font Awesomeness!