Podcast Awesome

What happens when you take icons built to scale cleanly at any size and deliberately make them look like they were drawn on a Game Boy? You get Pixel, Font Awesome’s retro video game–inspired Pro+ icon pack.
On this episode of Podcast Awesome, Matt sits down with Font Awesome designers Noah Jacobus and Jory Raphael to dig into how Pixel came together. They cover the Game Boy, Panic’s little yellow Playdate, a tip of the hat to original Mac icon designer Susan Kare, and the surprisingly sneaky math behind faking pixels with vectors. Bonus: Jory admits to lying about file sizes in real time.
This one gets visual, with grids, key shapes, and pixel cheats on screen, so it’s worth watching on YouTube instead of just listening.
What We Cover
Why the original Game Boy shaped Pixel’s look, right down to that shadowy old display
The Playdate, Panic’s tiny banana-colored handheld, as a daily dose of pixel art inspiration
Easter eggs on the Pixel page: a Playdate settings screen and a classic Mac System 7 control panel
How Font Awesome took off by scaling cleanly on high-density screens, and how Pixel runs the opposite direction
“Pixel cheating”: why the skull’s eyes sit on a different grid than its outline
Landing on a 24-pixel grid after three or four rounds of test sets
Why removing a single pixel from a corner is a huge design decision
Why vector “pixels” actually make bigger files than smooth curves
Creative constraints, Jack White, and four-track recorders
A Space Invaders prototype built from Pixel icons, and a possible Space Awesome cameo
Timestamps
00:00 – A quick heads-up: watch this one
00:30 – Welcome to Podcast Awesome
01:00 – The Game Boy as Pixel’s muse
02:30 – The Playdate and creative constraints
03:15 – Susan Kare and the classic Mac nods
04:15 – Icon fonts vs. raster: how Font Awesome got its start
05:45 – Pixel cheating and the skull’s eyes
07:15 – The Space Awesome rocket and the 200-icon baseline
08:30 – The Font Awesome flag goes pixel
09:15 – Jory’s Space Invaders prototype
10:15 – Finding the 24-pixel grid
11:30 – Drawing pixels with vectors: paper sketches and key shapes
12:30 – Why one pixel matters so much
14:00 – Jory’s file size confession
15:45 – Jack White, four-tracks, and working with limits
18:00 – Easier and harder at the same time
19:45 – Spotting Pixel in the wild
21:00 – Making things just because they’re fun
22:15 – Wrap-up and credits
Links
Browse the Pixel icon pack (Pro+): https://fontawesome.com/icons/packs/pixel
Explore the full icon library: https://fontawesome.com/icons
Play Space Awesome: https://spaceawesome.io/
More episodes of Podcast Awesome: https://www.podcastawesome.com/
Using Pixel or another Pro+ pack in a project? Send it our way. We’d love to see what you’re making.
Credits
Produced, edited, and hosted by Matt Johnson
Theme song by Ronnie Martin
Music interstitials by Zach Malm
Video editing by Isaac Chase
#FontAwesome #PixelArt #IconDesign #GameBoy #Playdate #RetroGaming #PodcastAwesome

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What do a scene from Silicon Valley, a typeface shaped like sausages, and a bottle of mustard have in common? They're all part of the origin story of Notdog, one of Font Awesome's small-batch Pro+ icon packs. It's glossy, it's gooey, and it is very much not a hot dog.
On this episode of Podcast Awesome, Matt sits down with Font Awesome designers Noah Jacobus and Jory Raphael to talk about how a challenge from Dave Gandy ("can we make an icon pack that looks like this?") turned into one of the first proofs that Pro+ packs could work at all. Noah explains why one simple rule about shine shaped every icon in the set, why his early emoji faces looked like dino nuggets, and how a pack inspired by tubes ended up looking like condiments. Plus: the actor who plays Milton in the Font Awesome marketing videos eats a lot of hot dogs on set, and we settle nothing about which regional hot dog is best.
What We Cover
How a Silicon Valley gag and the Frankfurter typeface combined into Notdog
Why every icon needed room for a highlight, and how that set the smallest possible shape
The shift from tube-shaped strokes to blobby, condiment-style forms
How Noah builds a test set of about 10 icons before committing to all 200
Why Pro+ packs trade some legibility for personality, like a headline typeface
The faces that fought back, and why the Duotone style is the one to use
Notdog's starring role in the Font Awesome 7 video
Chicago dogs, Seattle dogs, and the legendary $1.50 Costco hot dog
Timestamps
00:00 Not a hot dog
00:45 Welcome to Podcast Awesome
01:00 Jory lists his favorite hot dogs
02:00 Why is it called Notdog?
03:45 The Glyph book and the "could we even do this?" challenge
05:15 Mood boards and sausage balloon animals
06:45 From tubes to condiments
08:15 The shine rule
09:00 Building a brief: from 200 icons down to 10
11:15 Core Font Awesome vs. Pro+ personality
13:45 Where you'd actually use Notdog
16:15 The easy icons and the dino nugget faces
19:00 Why Duo is the Notdog to use
20:15 Diner art, Milton, and hot dog consumption on set
24:15 Notdog, Jelly, and Slab: the first Pro+ packs
27:15 The best regional hot dog? 
29:30 The $1.50 Costco hot dog legend
32:00 Wrap-up and credits
Links
Explore the Notdog icon pack: https://fontawesome.com/icons/packs/notdog
More episodes of Podcast Awesome: https://www.podcastawesome.com/
Credits
Hosted produced and edited by Matt Johnson
Guests: Noah Jacobus and Jory Raphael
Theme song by Ronnie Martin
Music interstitials by Zach Malm
Video editing by Isaac Chase
#FontAwesome #PodcastAwesome #IconDesign #GraphicDesign #DesignProcess #Typography
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Every company has a name for the week everybody flies in. The offsite. The summit. The all-hands. At Font Awesome, it's called the Snuggle. For real.
Recorded from a hotel room at the October 2026 Snuggle, this episode digs into the Podcast Awesome vault to tell the story behind the most ridiculous name in company meetups. Matt stitches together clips from Dave Gandy, Travis Chase, Rob Madole, Jory Raphael, Cory LaViska, Ed Emanuel, and Frances Botsford. Along the way you'll hear how four guys and a beach house on Cape Cod turned into a fully remote company that still flies everyone in, and what keeps coming out of that week together. 
What We Cover
How the "Cape Cuddles" became the Snuggle, and why the name stuck 
Rob Madole on the real tradeoff of remote work: focus is great, but coworkers can start to feel like a resource
The Icon Wizard, a feature that got its start at a Snuggle
Cory LaViska's whirlwind trip from a Twitter follow to a porch phone call to Arkansas, plus the "Snuggle Is Real" shirt
How the Icon Wizard grew into something bigger, with Ed and Frances
Snacktivities: bite-size projects you can only really build in person (and a feature name that, thankfully, got changed)
What it felt like when COVID canceled the Snuggles
Rob's change of heart, and why he stopped being annoyed
Dave Gandy at the 2024 Snuggle, somewhere between karaoke and game night, on how loyalty gets built
Why the ridiculous name has one great side effect
Timestamps
00:00 – Welcome to the Snuggle (yes, really)
01:10 – Cape Cuddles and the origin of the name
02:30 – Rob Madole on what remote work gives and what it costs
04:10 – The Icon Wizard's Snuggle roots
05:00 – Cory LaViska joins the crew
06:15 – "The Snuggle Is Real"
07:30 – Ed and Frances on pushing the Icon Wizard further
08:15 – Snacktivities explained
09:50 – When the Snuggles stopped
11:40 – Rob comes around
13:40 – The 2024 Snuggle with Dave Gandy
15:00 – How loyalty is built
15:20 – Back to the name
16:10 – Telling the story from the 2026 Snuggle
16:50 – Credits
Episodes Featured
Remote Work: How We Snuggle Our Way to a Healthy Company Culture
Font Awesome's 2022 Year in Review with Matt and Jory
The Snuggle Is Real: How Font Awesome and Shoelace Are on a Mission to Make Dev Work Easier 
New Font Awesome Features: PNG Downloads, Color Picker, and User Blender
Character First: The Font Awesome Key to Hiring Success
Links
Try the Icon Wizard
More episodes of Podcast Awesome
Credits
Hosted, produced, and edited by Matt Johnson
Theme song by Ronnie Martin
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Would you take a shot at something you cared about if your odds of success were 1.4%? Font Awesome founders Dave Gandy and Travis Chase did exactly that when they applied to Y Combinator back in 2014. And in the years since, Font Awesome has racked up plenty of failures right alongside the wins. 'Cos that's just what happens when you're building something awesome.
In this episode, we go digging through Font Awesome's own flops (a product name that confused customers, a CDN experiment that converted exactly ONE person in three months) and line them up next to the real-life Museum of Failure. Which is hilariously an actual museum, started in Sweden in 2017, dedicated entirely to products that didn't make it. Expect Colgate's short-lived frozen dinners, a cologne no biker asked for, and the Nintendo Power Glove.
We also go back to a 2023 conversation with Dave Gandy about flunking out of MIT (twice), what it means to have the freedom to fail, and how a completely unprepped first Y Combinator interview turned into a second shot years later. And the second shot at YC was built on meticulous prep, a childhood friend's help at the Mountain View Public Library, and an unexpected connection with a YC partner.
The through-line: none of this looks like a success story on its own. But it's basically the only way Font Awesome got built.

What We Cover
Font Awesome's own quarterly product failures: Fort Awesome and the Font Awesome CDN
How a "failed" CDN experiment quietly built the email list that powered a record-breaking Kickstarter
Dave Gandy on flunking out of MIT, twice
A tour through the real-life Museum of Failure: Colgate Kitchen (and the lasagna that probably never existed), Harley-Davidson Cologne, and the Nintendo Power Glove
Dave's first Y Combinator interview (zero prep) versus his second (a lot of prep, a library, and some serious spreadsheet work)
Why humility, not confidence, is the trait Font Awesome hires for

Timestamps
00:00 — Would you take a 1.4% shot? Font Awesome's Y Combinator odds
00:03 — A quick tease: meet "Fort Awesome"
00:03 — Clip: Dave Gandy on startups, believing the lie, and finding your real limits
00:04 — The Fort Awesome experiment — and the name confusion that helped sink it
00:04 — Font Awesome CDN: a full quarter of work for one signup
00:05 — The quiet payoff: how that "failed" CDN built the email list behind the Kickstarter
00:06 — Dave on flunking out of MIT — twice
00:07 — Inside the Museum of Failure: Colgate Kitchen (and the lasagna that almost certainly never existed)
00:09 — Harley-Davidson Cologne: bikers said no thanks
00:10 — The Nintendo Power Glove — so bad it inspired a movie line, and still helped shape the Wii Remote
00:13 — Dave's first Y Combinator interview: no plan, no prep
00:13 — Round two: Ryan, the Mountain View Public Library, and the Adobe Typekit comps
00:15 — The Kevin Hale interview and finally clicking
00:17 — The real lesson: humility over hype
00:19 — Go make something awesome

Credits
Produced, hosted, and edited by Matt Johnson
Featuring Dave Gandy and Travis Chase
Theme song by Ronnie Martin
Music interstitials by Zach Malm
Video editing by Isaac Chase
Links
Font Awesome: https://fontawesome.com
Podcast Awesome: https://www.podcastawesome.com
When Failure Isn't Failure: Hard Lessons in Business and Life with Dave Gandy — Podcast Awesome (June 2023)

Museum of Failure
Museum of Failure — official site
Colgate Kitchen Entrees — exhibit page
Harley-Davidson Perfume — exhibit page
Nintendo Power Glove — exhibit page
Museum of Failure — Wikipedia (background, Samuel West, tour history)

The "Colgate Lasagna" myth
Ripley's Believe It or Not: The Truth Behind the "Failure" of Colgate Beef Lasagna
Food Republic: Did Colgate Really Sell Frozen Lasagna in the '60s?

Y Combinator
Y Combinator — official site
Apply to YC

Adobe Typekit / Adobe Fonts
Adobe Fonts — Wikipedia
Typekit Blog: "Time for a change: Typekit has become Adobe Fonts"

Power Glove background
Power Glove — Wikipedia
Smithsonian/Lemelson: "Success Born of Failure: The Nintendo Power Glove"

#FontAwesome #PodcastAwesome #FailureIsData #StartupLessons #YCombinator #DesignAndDev #WebDesign #BuildInPublic
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Pretty much every website has one, you know, those three little lines, usually tucked in a corner, hiding a whole menu behind them. It's become what's known as the hamburger icon. And if you've ever visited fontawesome.com, you may have noticed ours isn't three lines. It's an actual burger, sesame seed bun and all.
On this episode of Podcast Awesome, we trace the icon back to a 1981 Xerox Star screen-space problem, through a 20-year disappearance, a comeback on the first iPhone, and a decade of top UX researchers telling designers to knock it off. And you could probably have guessed it, but the sandwich won anyway. Then we get to why Font Awesome designer Brian Talbot looked at the safe, conventional three-line icon, asked "where's the beef?!" and used the FA-burger icon in the most delicious way possible.
What We Cover
How a 1981 screen-space problem at Xerox PARC turned into three stacked lines
Norm Cox, the designer behind the original icon, and how he didn't even know it was called "hamburger" until a reporter called him decades later
The icon's 20-year disappearance and its comeback on the first iPhone
The Nielsen Norman Group research showing how hidden menus cut discoverability almost in half
Why the same research group came back a decade later and declared the icon a win anyway
Why Font Awesome's own menu icon isn't three lines but an illustrated burger, courtesy of Brian Talbot
Timestamps 00:00 – A burger on our own website 
00:01 – Welcome to Podcast Awesome 00:02 – Norm Cox and the Xerox Star 00:03 – "Road sign simple": Cox's design philosophy 
00:04 – The hamburger menu resurfaces on the first iPhone 
00:05 – Apple, Google, and a name nobody planned 
00:06 – The UX community picks a fight 
00:07 – Nielsen Norman Group's discoverability research 
00:08 – "Like a cheap fast food chain..." 
00:09 – A decade later: the hamburger icon wins anyway 
00:10 – Norm Cox on symbols that improve with time 
00:11 – Font Awesome's actual burger icon, courtesy of Brian Talbot 
00:13 – Wrap-up and credits
Links
Get the burger icon: 
Act 1 — The Origin
 A Conversation with Norm Cox, Creator of the Hamburger Menu — Tri Vo, Mic Product Blog
Act 3 — The Controversy
 Hamburger Menus and Hidden Navigation Hurt UX Metrics — Nielsen Norman Group
Hamburger Menu and UX Design — UXPin
Act 4 — The Verdict
 Hamburger Menu Icon Recognizability — Nielsen Norman Group, 2026
Background / Research Reading
 The History of the Hamburger Icon — Eternity Marketing
Credits 
Hosted, produced, and edited by Matt Johnson 
Theme song by Ronnie Martin 
Music interstitials by Zach Malm 
Video editing by Isaac Chase

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