Episodes

As Pepsi kicks their last logo to the curb, we go back in time to discuss how they became saddled with this burdensome brand look in the first place.

Today we take a step back from our typical episodes to answer questions submitted by you, our listeners.

Turns out we’re not quite ready to let The Beats go! Sticking with our topic of separating myth from reality, we wrap-up our dive into mainstream interpretations with a quick conversation about the movie “The Man with the Golden Arm” which centers on a jazz drummer played by none other than Frank Sinatra. The film’s soundtrack from Elmer Bernstein along with the Saul Bass-designed poster and opening titles helped make this film iconic. - - - - - Visit our full episode page for show notes, the ...

For our final episode about The Beats, we touch on the TV debut of The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis and the introduction of character Maynard G. Krebs. We jump into berets, bongos, sunglasses, sandals and the slang. Where did this popular notion – The Beatnik – come from? While some of it was rooted in reality, this caricature came from a combination of hangers-on and mainstream culture’s response to not understanding The Beats. - - - - - Visit our full episode page for show notes, the visual ex...

For our final illustration episode, we wrap-up our jazz album conversation by sharing the story and work of Jim Flora. His cartoonish style “betrayed a diabolic humor and uninhibited sense of outrageousness” that evolved over the years to go from borderline obscene to children’s books. We also name names of a couple contemporary artists directly influenced by Flora’s manic work and highlight his album art from “Mambo for Cats.” - - - - - Visit our full episode page for show notes, the visual e...

Building on our last episode, we continue talking illustrators and jazz albums by sharing the story of S. Neil Fujita. Jump in with us as we recap how pop culture arrived at a “look” for artifacts from the era of The Beats through the work of Fujita, another artist whose work influenced our cultural landscape and help explain why those jazz-themed Pinterest boards you follow look the way they do. - - - - - Visit our full episode page for show notes, the visual examples we discuss, additional l...

Records have always featured mood-setting illustrations in addition to more standard photographs. In this episode we share the story of the fun and idiosyncratic illustrator David Stone Martin finding jazz music. We then shift into discussing how pop culture arrived at a “look” for artifacts from the era of The Beats being influenced by the atomic age, the space race and jazz, and what that meant for the later work from Martin. - - - - - Visit our full episode page for show notes, the visual e...

Any conversation about art will involve Andy Warhol sooner or later. Today we jump in and discuss album illustration from early in his career for Count Basie, a group called Trombone By Three and a duet with Thelonious Monk and Sonny Rollins. We also discuss the phenomenon of different layouts for album issues and reissues, especially in jazz. - - - - - Visit our full episode page for show notes, the visual examples we discuss, additional links and more! https://www.twodesignerswalkintoabar.c...

The jazz label Blue Note Records existed before Reid Miles was hired, so we talk about the guy who set the stage for him: John Hermansader. Once we’ve set the scene, we jaw about a couple of our favorite albums from artists Horace Parlan and Jackie McLean. Who was in charge of designing them? Why did they make the creative choices they did? And, perhaps most importantly, does each album’s look do a good job of translating sound into visuals? - - - - - Visit our full episode page for show notes...

This episode begins with the founding of iconic Blue Note Records. Albums from the golden age of jazz—the same ones The Beats listened to—have a distinct look and feel, largely thanks to a single label. We drop into the coffee houses, jazz clubs and record label offices of New York to talk about the late-night, rebellious music people were listening to and some of the personalities behind that work. We then conclude by discussing the design of Lee Morgan’s 1961 album “Leeway.” - - - - - Visit ...

Our conversation about The Beats continues by revisiting when Jackson Pollock revolutionized art in America and how the media brought that revolution to Middle America. We discuss different spots in the U.S. where The Beats found themselves and name some of their wider influences including the abstract expressionist painters and jazz musicians they shared creative and social spaces with. - - - - - Visit our full episode page for show notes, the visual examples we discuss, additional links and ...

We start our collection of episodes about The Beat era with the release of Jack Kerouac’s iconic book On the Road in 1957. We discuss who The Beats were beyond Kerouac (Ginsberg, Burroughs and more), the conformity and consumerism they were questioning and rebelling against, and their impact on pop culture for future generations (including the one you’re in). - - - - - Visit our full episode page for show notes, the visual examples we discuss, additional links and more! https://www.twodesigne...

Hi, it’s Todd and Elliot here with a quick announcement about Season 3. We’re going to be mixing it up a little bit from our first two seasons. Think themes. Think mini-series. We heard streaming services like Netflix make crazy money with these things so we thought, Why not? (We have a rather large bar tab we need to pay.) Anyway… We’re still talking design and pop culture, but how certain people in specific eras left lasting impressions on our culture. The Beats. Studio 54, 80s modern and...