🖇️ Podcast Awesome: The Story Behind the Stapler Icon
🔴 “Excuse me … I believe you have my stapler?”One line. Infinite memes. A red-hot icon.In this episode of The Story Behind the Icon, we dive deep into the surprisingly rich lore behind the humble office stapler — and how a cult classic film, a soft-spoken cubicle dweller, and a spray-painted prop turned it into a cultural artifact.🎧 Whether you’ve got 37 pieces of flair or just enough sarcasm to survive corporate life, this one’s for the design nerds, Office Space devotees, and UI jokesters looking for the perfect button metaphor.🔍 What We Cover in This Episode🔴 The origin story of Milton’s beloved red stapler 🎞️ Mike Judge’s animated roots and early Office Space shorts 💻 Remote work, legacy office gear, and the evolution of workplace design 🧑💼 Font Awesome’s very own “Milton” and the logic behind the madness 🎨 How to recreate Milton’s soul in HTML with our duotone icon 🎬 The real reason Swingline started making red staplers⏰ Timestamps00:00 – Welcome to Podcast Awesome 01:25 – A new take on the old office 02:40 – Meet Milton: The patron saint of passive resistance 04:20 – Mike Judge: From Beavis and Butthead to box office satire 05:55 – The stapler becomes an icon 06:35 – Meet FA’s own Milton (Hi, Steve 👋) 07:20 – Grumpiness as UI insight 08:05 – Milton’s stapler wasn’t red... until it was 09:00 – Design challenge: Where will you use the stapler icon? 09:50 – Commission your own icon or vote one into existence 10:30 – Credits and a final plea: Return. The. Stapler.🔗 Links & Resources🖇️ Stapler Icon on Font Awesome 📽️ Office Space (1999) 🎨 Vote for an icon on the leaderboard 📝 FA Blog: The Story Behind the Icon Series🎥 Podcast Awesome on YouTube – Full uncut convo with extra music nerdiness 🎶 The Font Awesome Theme Song – Composed by Ronnie Martin 🎸 Music Interstitials by Zach Malm 🎬 Produced and edited by Matt JohnsonStay up to date on all the Font Awesomeness!
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Invisible Creature’s Don Clark on Nostalgia, Iconography, and Staying Human
Designing Joy: Don Clark of Invisible Creature on Creativity, Collectibles & CultureIn this episode of Podcast Awesome, Matt hangs out with legendary designer Don Clark of Invisible Creature to dive into the analog soul of digital design. From their punk rock roots and Grammy-nominated album covers to art directing for Seattle’s swankiest restaurant, Don and his brother Ryan have created work you’ve seen —whether you know it or not.They discuss growing up with a NASA illustrator grandpa, how nostalgia fuels creativity, the value of physical objects in a swipe-and-scroll world, and how a sibling-run design studio rides the waves of industry change. It’s a masterclass in storytelling, aesthetics, and sneaky inspiration.Plus, Don once designed a 7-story mural for Newark Airport that one construction worker told him no one would ever notice. Art, meet irony.✨ What We Cover in This Episode🚀 Grandpa drew spaceships for NASA — no big deal🎸 From hardcore zines to Grammy-nominated album art🧸 Why physical objects still matter (even in a scroll-y, swipey world)😊 Nostalgia, and the purposeful creation of joy 🏠 Turning a love of toys and typography into brand work for Target, Canlis, and more🏄🏻♂️ Creating a career by riding the wave (not controlling it)👾 How Invisible Creature got its name — and why most people don’t realize they’ve seen their work🍽️ Art direction in fine dining, and designing for iconic spaces⏱️ Timestamps[00:01:00] – Don’s creative upbringing & grandpa's NASA work [00:04:00] – From punk flyers to full-time design [00:08:00] – Physical design in a digital world [00:12:00] – Object design, collectibles, and vintage influence [00:16:00] – Tapping nostalgia the right way [00:20:00] – Album covers, influence, and desktop publishing [00:24:00] – The decline of CDs & the rise of gig posters [00:28:00] – The challenges (and joys) of working with family [00:32:00] – Canlis restaurant and entering the fine dining space [00:36:00] – Creating inspiring physical spaces [00:38:00] – Why “Invisible Creature” is the perfect name [00:42:00] – Good design as invisible, objective experience [00:44:00] – Designing stamps, murals, and children’s Bibles [00:46:00] – Streamlining creativity after 25 years in the biz [00:48:00] – Wrapping up and why riding the wave matters🔗 Links & ResourcesInvisible CreatureMind Reader Music – Album packaging by Ryan Clark & Kevin MooreCanlis – Seattle fine dining where Don is art directorArt of the Incredibles Book – Don’s favorite Pixar art bookPodcast Awesome on YouTube – Full uncut convo with extra music nerdinessThe Font Awesome Theme Song – Composed by Ronnie MartinMusic Interstitials by Zach MalmAudio mastering by Chris Enns at Lemon ProductionsProduced and edited by Matt JohnsonStay up to date on all the Font Awesomeness!
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Behind the Icon: Cowbell-Circle-Plus
💥 A Podcast Awesome Deep CutEpisode Description:🛎️ Guess what? We got a fever … and the only prescription is … well, you know. In this very special episode of Podcast Awesome, we hit pause on our usual tech-and-icon-nerdery to unleash a full-throttle ode to one of the wackiest icons in our set: Cowbell Circle Plus.What starts as a nod to the legendary SNL sketch featuring Will Ferrell and Christopher Walken (The Bruce Dickinson, thank you very much), quickly turns into a globetrotting, time-hopping, cultural deep dive through the unexpected history of the humble cowbell. From medieval Irish cow raids 🐄⚔️ to German cowbell zoning laws 📏🔔 to the altars of rock and roll 🥁🎸, we unpack how this sonic sidekick moo-ved (hehe) from pasture to punchline.Plus: Icon Designer extraordinaire Jory Rafael stops by to share how we brought the Cowbell icon to life (spoiler: it did not involve raiding any farms).🧀 What We Cover in This Episode:🐄 Cowbell as medieval emergency alert system🏴☠️ Cattle raids and why your cow needed anti-theft bells in 12th century Ireland🛠️ The surprising craftsmanship behind cowbells (hello, zoning laws!)🌍 How cowbells show up in global rituals🎶 The greatest cowbell moments in music — from Foghat to KISS to the Beastie Boys😂 The SNL sketch that made “More Cowbell” the rallying cry for comedy nerds everywhere🔤 Behind-the-scenes with the FA team: how we turned “More Cowbell” into an icon🤘 A lightning round of underappreciated cowbell bangers⏱️ Timestamps:00:00 – Welcome to the Weird World of Cowbell 01:15 – SNL Meets SVG: The Inspiration Behind the Icon 02:30 – History Lesson: Cowbells as Analog GPS 04:20 – Cattle Raids, Irish Wars, and Why Your Cow Needed Protection 06:10 – Cowbell Zoning Laws? Yep, That Was a Thing 07:00 – Superstition, Spirit-Banishing & Ceremonial Bells 08:15 – Enter: The Iconic More Cowbell Sketch (2000, SNL) 09:00 – Icon Deep Dive with Jory Rafael 10:20 – Musical Cowbell Moments You Didn’t Know You Needed 11:30 – Wrap-up & Credits Roll Like a Cow in a Parade🔗 Links & Resources:Cowbell Circle Plus Icon on Font AwesomeMore Cowbell SNL Sketch (NBC)Cattle Raid of Cooley (Wikipedia)Alex Poiry makes an appearance as the medieval town council. Music shoutouts: Foghat, Beastie Boys, KISS, Judas Priest, Queen, Thin Lizzy, and moreCredits: Matt Johnson (host + producer), Ronnie Martin (theme song), Zach Malm (music interstitials), Chris Enns @ Lemon Productions (mastering), Isaac Chase (video edit magic)Stay up to date on all the Font Awesomeness!
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The GI Joe PSAs and the Birth of Internet Weird
Pork chop sandwiches!! 🫡 🏃♂️➡️Gather round the interwebs young Gen Xers and Elder Millennials ... In this oddball solo episode of Podcast Awesome, Matt rewinds to the early 2000s and dives deep into the glitchy, glorious chaos of Fensler Film’s GI Joe PSA remixes — a series of bootleg web videos that helped shape meme culture as we know it.These gloriously low-res VHS-rip remixes mashed up 1980s GI Joe cartoon PSAs with absurdist humor, surreal voice dubbing, and non sequiturs that burned themselves into our collective consciousness.Before TikTok. Before YouTube. Before broadband was normal … we had burned DVDs, word-of-mouth weirdness, and lines like:“Pork chop sandwiches!”“Hey kid, I’m a computer!”“Stop all the downloading!”"It's the body message machine-GO!" In this episode, we explore:🧠 The origin story of the GI Joe PSAs📼 Why they were viral gold in a pre-social internet💥 The art of deliberate absurdity and proto-memes📺 Their influence on shows like Robot Chicken and Tim & Eric🌀 Why chaotic creative energy still beats algorithmic contentSo gather 'round, old-school internet nerds. This one’s for you. And knowing? Well… you know the rest.🔗 Links & Credits🎵 Theme by Ronnie Martin 🎛️ Audio mastering by Chris Enns (Lemon Productions) 🎹 Interstitial music by Zach Malm 🎥 Video support by Isaac Chase#PodcastAwesome #GIJoePSAs #InternetHistory #MemeCulture #FenslerFilm #DesignNerdery #TimAndEric #PorkChopSandwiches #AbsurdistComedyStay up to date on all the Font Awesomeness!
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Set Us Up the Meme: The Strange Tale of All Your Base
Where did the “All Your Base Are Belong to Us” meme come from — and why did it break the early internet?In this nostalgic deep dive, Matt explores the wackadoodle origin of one of the internet’s most gloriously awkward memes. Before “going viral” was even a phrase, this phrase from the 1992 Sega Genesis game Zero Wing somehow made its way from mistranslation to mass internet hysteria — with techno remixes, Flash videos, Photoshopped street signs, and even a nod from AOC herself.Yes, this was real. And it was spectacular.Whether you're an old-school web nerd or just want to understand why your coworker keeps saying “Set up us the bomb,” this one's for you.🔹 What We Cover in This Episode:🕹️ A breakdown of Zero Wing’s hilariously mistranslated intro🎶 The techno remix and Flash video that made the meme explode🧠 Why “All Your Base” became the blueprint for internet weird📡 How meme culture has evolved from delightful chaos to... whatever’s happening now🧑🚀 AOC’s legendary tweet that brought it all full circle⏱️ Timestamps:0:00 – Intro + Barry White podcast voice 1:31 – What is the Ballmer Peak of memes? 3:00 – The original Zero Wing translation trainwreck4:32 – “Set up us the bomb”: the remix and Flash frenzy6:15 – AOC, memes in politics, and nostalgia rebooted8:00 – Final thoughts on the beauty of shared digital nonsense🔗 Links & Resources:🕹️ Original Zero Wing meme history: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_your_base_are_belong_to_us#:~:text=%22All%20your%20base%20are%20belong,the%201989%20Japanese%20arcade%20game.👾 The remix that started it all: Invasion of the GABA Robots: https://archive.org/details/invasion_of_the_gabber_rob🧠 AOC’s legendary tweet: https://x.com/aoc/status/1086483485668319233🛠️ Credits:🎙️ Hosted, produced, and edited by Matt Johnson🎵 Theme music by Ronnie Martin🎧 Music interstitials by Zach Malm🎛️ Audio mastering by Chris Enns at Lemon Productions📣 Like the show?Subscribe so you never miss an episode!Rate + review to help more nerds discover us.Or just shout “ALL YOUR BASE ARE BELONG TO US” in public. (We’ll know what it means.)Stay up to date on all the Font Awesomeness!
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.
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