Hi-Res

What does it mean to be a “creative technologist?” For Anthony Howard, it means believing design and technology can change the world, and he puts it into practice with his work. Anthony shares with us his altruistic passion Creative Tech Works, a STEM program that supports urban students through design and code. We also delve into Anthony’s comic book alter ego Hopalong Camanshii – an ongoing graphic novel series that explores the relationship that artists have with society and how they affect culture – on the eve of the publication of his second book. All of this plus striking a work/life balance, why rivalry is important and the rituals in Saturday morning cartoons. Follow Anthony on Twitter @atharts2022 and visit his website anthonytyronehoward.me. This episode is sponsored by Old City Coffee, Mighty Bread Co. and PHLDesign.co.

Kathy Mueller joins the show for a chat about

hand-lettering, seeking out meaningful projects and how to make

your work glow. Literally. Kathy is an Assistant Professor of

Advertising Art Direction at Temple University and a freelance

designer with a natural understanding of branding as well as a

talent for hand-lettering and intricately detailed design. Her

enthusiasm for design is infectious, and she recounts her early

design experiences and what ultimately led her to pursue a Master

of Fine Arts in Graphic & Interactive Design at Tyler School of

Art, where she created smart projects that were both

entrepreneurial as well as empowering — all while she continued

teaching.  Visit www.kmuellerdesign.com to see more

of Kathy’s work and follow her on Twitter @kmuellerdesign. This

episode is sponsored by Old City Coffee, Mighty Bread Co., and

PHLDesign.co.

This episode will keep you up at night. To quote a recent tweet from Gabrielle Shirdan, "How long can a person go without sleep? Oh, shit. wait. I'm not a person. I'm an advertiser." Gabrielle puts her sleepless nights to good use, creating advertising and branding that is both visually and emotionally striking. She brings a focused point-of-view to each project, be it portraying the struggles of a small business owner in her work for Provident Bank or a patient who wants to be heard in her work for Kennedy Health Alliance. We also discuss her award-winning work for Raise a Community as well as her new work developing a bold new identity for the African American Museum of Philadelphia. All of this plus why Kanye would make a good copywriter. Check out her work at gabrielleshirdan.com and follow her on Twitter @gabrielleshirdn and on Instagram @gabrielleshirdan.

Dan Gneiding joins the show for a conversation on creating typefaces, doodling and the origins of Grayhood. Dan was a recommended guest of Steve Decusatis and has done work for shows with past guests Patrick Macomber and Kevin Jackson. He got his start at Anthropologie when they were just starting out as a brand and was thrown into the fire immediately. From there he shifted to Urban Outfitters, constantly reinventing Urban’s typographic identity to reflect ever-shifting trends. He started working on more clean typography on his own as a release from his more experimental explorations at work. From there, he created his first typeface for Lost Type: Ribbon, a full display face with an alternate alphabet. Based on the positive experience of creating Ribbon, Dan immersed himself in country music and created Dude, a reverse contrast cowboy font with twelve different serif styles inspired by country music legends, including three lower-case weights and a catchword font with over 30 catchwords and 14 Manicules. If that wasn’t enough, Dan created a font specimen book that captured the frontier spirit and grit of the font, and he invited local artists and designers to contribute to the book. We discuss all of this plus our mutual love of Tom Waits, the “letting go” in a pay-what-you-wish model and evil mascots. Plus, stay tuned at the end of the show for exciting news about a future episode of the show! Follow Dan on Twitter @gray_hood and check out more of his work at www.grayhood.com. This episode is sponsored by Old City Coffee, Mighty Bread Co. and PHLDesign.co

Kevin Jackson stops by the Submarine for a discussion on Periscope, neon and scary stories to tell in the dark. Kevin, the UX Director at RJ Metrics and one of the founding members of PHLDesign.co, was one of the earliest recommendations for the show from previous guest Johnny Bilotta. Kevin got his start in the early days of the web, when he sent a sketch for the home page of the company he was working for to the webmaster. From those beginnings he has gone on to become an accomplished multi-disciplinary designer — responsible for web apps, wireframing and mobile design as well as icons, logos and illustrations. On this episode we discuss some of his favorite projects, including Streamalong.tv, a “TV Guide for streaming video” that he developed with Chris Baglieri when Periscope was in its infancy. Faced with a quick turnaround in order to capitalize on the initial burst of interest in Periscope, Kevin developed the iconic logo for Streamalong in less than a week. Kevin also chats about developing the branding and web presence for Lovejoy Studios, a boutique art studio in Portland, Oregon. Finally, Kevin tells us about his contribution to the Locals Only show and the unique experience of working with neon. All of this, plus the challenges of home ownership and true confessions of the HiRes podcast. Follow Kevin on Twitter @chuise and visit his website, www.chuise.com. This episode is sponsored by Old City Coffee and PHLDesign.co

Greg Puglese is not one to shy away from a creative challenge. He is an illustrator, a designer, a musician with his band Mock Suns, as well as a music video director. Currently an art director at 160/90, he graduated from Tyler in the economic turbulence of 2008 and quickly started forging his career with long-term freelance gigs, eventually leading him to One Trick Pony. He created whimsical illustrations for clients like RadioLab as well as iconic website design for TCM. Greg has gone on to do editorial illustration work as well as gallery shows. In both instances, Greg’s love for rich, colorful textures and depth comes through. We discuss all of this plus his love for the tactile, the role that videos play in the current media landscape and what it’s like to meet someone you just illustrated. Visit gregpuglese.com to see more of his work, and check out Mock Suns website to preorder their new album. This episode is sponsored by Old City Coffee and PHLDesign.co

Don’t "podcastinate" on this one, people. There’s plenty to talk about with Andrew Panebianco. He’s a skilled storyteller, participating in storyslam competitions. He writes intelligent, provocative editorial pieces. He had an entire career as a professor at St. Joseph’s University before he became an award-winning copywriter, working alongside past guests Chris Fernandez and James Olstein at Brownstein Group. And he’s also the mind behind wordsthatarent.com, a website dedicated to “invented terms, neologisms, and portmanteaus for words that aren't, but should be.” Andrew celebrates language with his word inventions, striking a balance between hilariously absurdist and morally conscious. He crafts intriguing definitions to accompany words like Romneyvore, Chequemate, Prepaw and Interruptdate. Sometimes he invites illustrators such as Chris, Justin Spinozzi, Libby Reindl and Kaitlyn Angstadt to create visuals to accompany them. We talk about all this plus writing as time travel and questioning your invite to the party. Visit wordsthatarent.com and follow Andrew on Twitter @fancywhitebread. This episode is sponsored by PHLDesign.co

Patrick Macomber is interested in finding the right articulation of an idea. He is constantly pursuing creative outlets, be it his illustrations on Dribbble or writing projects on Medium.com. On this episode of HiRes, though, he tells us about different kind of project: his first foray into app development while he was working at One Trick Pony. He was challenged with creating an app for the public radio podcast Radiolab, a show that is part science, part entertainment. The mandate of the project was to create an app that evoked the listening experience of the show. The resulting design has the depth and uniqueness of the program itself, but it didn’t come easily, fraught with both external challenges—like working with a development house and huge personalities—as well as more internal ones, like how to deal with the anonymous feedback from the internet masses once the app launched. Patrick was intrigued by the immediacy of the feedback, be it good or bad, and how the public can play a role in the design process. All of this, plus why it’s important to be the best salesman for your own ideas. Visit Patrick’s website at heymacomber.com, follow him on Twitter @heymacomber and check out 160over90.com, where Patrick is currently a creative director. This episode is sponsored by PHLDesign.co

Exploding toads, ghost armies, space lightening and Illustrations that will make you say, "Whaaaa…?" On today's episode of HiRes we sit down with illustrator James Olstein, the inventive mind behind Illustrated Science, a series of quirky and inventive drawings depicting amazing and sometimes unbelievable science facts. Art always came first for James, but he was marrying art and science even at an early age with science projects in school. When he decided he wanted to take on a passion project that would help him hone his illustrative style, science seemed like the perfect fit. James walked us through some of his illustrations and even created one just for this episode. Check it out here along with some of his more recent work for the Boston Globe and Mental Floss magazine. Visit illustratedscience.tumblr.com, follow James on Twitter at both @jamesolstein and @illustratedsci, visit his website jamesolstein.com and follow him on Instagram at jamesolsteinillustration. This episode is sponsored by PHLDesign.co.

Anthony Smyrski brings his passion for world travel and human experiences to his work. A Port Richmond native, he is drawn to clients with stories to tell and strives to add even more depth to those stories with his design work. He has a rich experience with publications; he started creating zines early in his career and is the co-founder of Megawords, an experimental media project that takes the form of an independently published photography magazine, related installation projects and public events. He established Random Embassy as a delineation between his art and his work, which includes the identity and promotional collateral for Philadelphia Jazz Appreciation Month. The work is an energetic blend of nostalgia and modern design, making use of big, bold imagery and clean typography. He was also integral in evolving the publication Next City to a digital platform, using the opportunity to help reconceptualize the way their stories are told. Anthony also talks with Ryan about his work with Innovative Americas, a compelling interactive exhibit and much more. Visit randomembassy.com to see more of Anthony's work and follow him on Twitter @random_embassy. This episode is sponsored by PHLDesign.co.