Front and Center

WE GOT MOUTHWASH STUDIO IN THE HOUSE! We are thrilled to welcome Strategy Director & Partner Alex Tan and Creative Director & Partner Abraham Campillo to the program! Mouthwash is a design studio centered on new ideas and defining experiences, partnering with this generation’s leading brands and innovators to influence culture. Their approach challenges industry standards, adopts new technologies, and strives for a lasting positive impact. Over time, their work has naturally led them towards industry leaders across art, architecture, fashion, sustainability, technology, and beyond. They’ve worked with brands like Apple, Bonnie Clyde, Fender, Google, Lululemon, Nike, The North Face, OpenAI, Rimowa, Seed, and the Utah Jazz to name a few. They recently opened an all-day café in Los Angeles: Café Tondo. They also write Findings, a newsletter on the influences and trends that are quietly shaping our culture. And they make a successful magazine: Mouthwash Magazine, an exhibition in print for contemporary culture, art, and photography. Mouthwash is a creative powerhouse, a studio started by friends who met on Instagram and just liked working together, and they haven’t looked back since, and they never will. Enjoy!

This week on Front and Center… Alex and Kevin bring the heat. They talk about Hyrox athlete Joanna Wietrzyk, Sydney Sweeney’s new Novig campaign, Jessica Hische’s Muse logo controversy, Trump ‘rebranding’ AI, the new foldable iPhone, the Streetfighter popcorn bucket, big Capri Sun, the rotisserie chicken bag, the Betty Crocker slice of cake bag, Merriam-Webster’s new words, Buzzball x Poptarts, and more!

This week we are (were) live from Montreal! Our first-ever live podcast, here for your ears. In this episode, we close out a stacked day of incredible creatives speaking at Forum, the Annual Design Assembly in Montreal. Andrea Trabucco introduces us before we talk about the hot, delicious, yet unschmeared bagels we had and how much we like the city so far. We then bring out Ariane Leblanc, co-founder of Martha, and Bryan-K. Lamonde, co-founder and Creative Director of Principal Studio, to discuss Montreal, its design scene, and what makes it exceptionally good; working in two languages, being a good lover, our guilty pleasures, chaos, and more! 

This week we have Arthur Foliard on the pod! Arthur is the Executive Creative Director at Koto New York, where he leads a team and shapes brands through bold ideas, clear systems, and distinct visual worlds.

Though we do not talk about Instagram (we recorded this in May), Arthur describes the deliberate slow build of Koto New York into what it is today: a branding powerhouse (my words, not his). He tells us about their work for Bolt, Lyft, Tripadvisor, and Amazon. Their work is alive and distinct on a massive scale. They work on some of the biggest and best projects in the industry, and it is impressive what they’re able to do.

Welcome Arthur!

Alex and Kevin are back from California, and due to a scheduling (production) error, the fellas recorded a quick one just a few hours ago! Better late than never! Anyway, they talk about Instagram's new wordmark, Good Good x Callaway, Liquid Death x Garage Beer, JIF, and more!

Alex and Kevin are live from Brooklyn with a solo episode! The two tan dudes talk about the Allan Peters A$AP Rocky debacle, Hall Pass, Wemby’s new logo, The Cleveland Sirens Identity, Pepsi trying to troll Coke over their rebrand, Buc-ee's suing everyone, and more!

This week we are so fired up to have Max Ottignon on the show! Max is the co-founder of Ragged Edge, a London-based branding agency building brands globally since 2007. Max created Ragged Edge to do the most impactful work. Not the most work. When they commit, they go all-in. They’ve worked for brands like Wise, Granola, Monzo, Zoe, Papier, Mindful Chef, and Grey Goose to redefine their industries. Ragged Edge pushes the boundaries to make work that demands attention and stands out. Max is a fountain of knowledge and insight. He is one of the most profound minds in the industry, and we had a great conversation with him. Enjoy!

Cole Poska, aka @spaceboycole, makes cool shit. He is a Partner and Creative Director at Beyond Studios, and the man behind the viral series Cool Sh*t, where he reimagines what brand merchandise can be by creating bold, culture-driven concepts for both legacy brands to internet favorites. The series has evolved from personal experiments into real-world collaborations, leading to actual projects with Tubi, T-Mobile, BuzzBallz, Welch's, and more. Cole’s energy is positively relentless. He is clever, sharp, and prolific, a true lightning rod for ideas. We had a great time chopping it up with him; he’s a fantastic hang! Enjoy!

Alex and Kevin break it down classic Front and Center style. They talk about the Jay Z concert, the World Cup, Ali-G at Wimbledon, Taylor and Travis’ wedding, Chet Hanks x Julie, the Pirate’s Booty rebrand, Pringles buns, the SpaceXAI logo, and more!

We got Emily Oberman on the program! 

She is a Partner at Pentagram and perhaps best known for her work in the entertainment industry. Emily has designed the titles for Saturday Night Live for the past 27 years—one of many long-standing relationships with iconic entertainment brands like NBC, Warner Bros, Warner Music Group, DC, and Amazon Prime Video. 

Her work goes beyond brand identity to touch many of the shows and movies that have become part of the fabric of our culture, including The Tonight Show, the Harry Potter Wizarding World and Fantastic Beasts franchises, Ready Player One, and Justice League. More recently, her work has been featured in critically acclaimed Netflix series like Cheer and Last Chance U.

Since joining Pentagram in 2012, Emily’s work has spanned a wide array of industries, from expanding further into entertainment (Kevin Hart’s production company Hartbeat and the Russo brothers’ AGBO) to motion graphics (nine years of campaigns for the Film Independent Spirit Awards) to restaurants and hospitality (the Michelin-starred Cote Korean Steak House) to culture and non-profit (social justice organization Dream.org) to health and wellness (the menopause care startup Phenology) to products and retail (the rebrand of American Girl). Her work has even ventured beyond Earth with the space flight company Virgin Galactic.

Emily is the best, she is  talented, humble, and down to earth. We are honored to have her as our guest on the program, and lucky to call her our new friend!  Enjoy the show!