Not Easily Squished

When you take that voice and try to sound like someone else -- that's a whole new world! In audio drama, professional voice-over actors -- or just voice actors -- use their voice as a tool. Many of them can sound like 3-5 different people. They're so good at changing their voice that you probably didn't even know the voice of two different characters was the same person.

I started thinking if I could make myself sound like different people. As a child, I used to play G.I. Joe in the backyard. Each of the Joes battling the evil forces of COBRA had their own voices. Stands to reason that if I could do it as a kid, I could still do it as an adult. This left me with a challenge -- could I be multiple characters in my own audio drama experiment? Turns out. You Can! I became the voice of several of my own characters. And now I'm here to tell you what happened and what I learned in Part 2 of my 13 part mini-series. Learn more at NotEasilySquished.com.

Welcome to Part 2 of 13 parts in my Between the Pauses mini-series that explores my thoughts while making my first audio drama: PAUSE for Dramatic Effect! If you're interested in the complete first season of Pause for Dramatic Effect you can download and listen to it for free at PAUSEforDramaticEffect.com or wherever you find your podcasts.

Value 4 Value funding models help your voice actors get paid for their performances. Learn more at value4value.info or jump right in with a new Podcasting 2.0 app!

I would love for you to tell me how you think the story of Pause for Dramatic Effect turned out but giving it a rating and review or sending a Boost using one of the latest Podcast 2.0 app. If you don't have a Podcast 2.0 app, I would highly recommend Podverse.fm or Truefans.fm to get all the new podcast features you didn't know you were missing!

Meanwhile, I'm now the founder of a new podcasting education and technology company called Oncetold. If you're ready to tell your story and start your own podcast then you need Oncetold at oncetold.us.

Not Easily Squished podcast episode #008 was originally published by Oncetold on May 16th, 2024. What Are You Waiting For by NoiseWorld licensed via AudioJungle.net. Copyright © 2024. Not Easily Squished and Oncetold. All Rights Reserved.

To design, create, produce, and promote a daily podcast, you have to have your ducks in a row. It requires planning -- lots of planning -- a solid format that you can use as a template. But what happens when you decide to make that podcast a scripted, fictional audio drama with voice actors, sound effects, and music? Does THAT work? Can THAT work as a daily podcast? Well, you don't have to wonder because I did just that and now I'm here to tell you what happened and what I learned. Learn more at NotEasilySquished.com.

Introducing Part 1 of 13 parts in my Between the Pauses mini-series that explores my thoughts while making my first audio drama: PAUSE for Dramatic Effect! If you're interested in the complete first season of Pause for Dramatic Effect you can download and listen to it for free at PAUSEforDramaticEffect.com or wherever you find your podcasts.

I would love for you to tell me how you think the story of Pause for Dramatic Effect turned out but giving it a rating and review or sending a Boost using one of the latest Podcast 2.0 app. If you don't have a Podcast 2.0 app, I would highly recommend Podverse.fm or Truefans.fm to get all the new podcast features you didn't know you were missing!

Meanwhile, I'm now the founder of a new podcasting education and technology company called Oncetold. If you're ready to tell your story and start your own podcast then you need Oncetold at oncetold.us.

Not Easily Squished podcast episode #007 was originally published by Oncetold on May 08th, 2024. What Are You Waiting For by NoiseWorld licensed via AudioJungle.net. Copyright © 2024. Not Easily Squished and Oncetold. All Rights Reserved.

To become an Audio Experience (AX) designer, you need to exercise your creativity. One idea is to use a game I created called the Podcast Design Builder (working title) to play with other creatives. The idea is to create a podcast idea in 30 minutes after being given only a few randomly determined design constraints. Can you do it?

How to Play the Game

• The host invites 2-4 guests to create 10 design requirements (5-10 minutes).

• Each of the players spends some time creating a rough podcast idea (5-10 minutes).

• Everyone shares their rough podcast idea with the host asking clarifying questions.

• Everyone then explores each other’s creation (Pros/Cons, Open Forum).

• If there needs to be a winner, the host, the guests, or the audience decides.

Download the Rules

Podcast Design Builder is free to play and free to download. If you do try this game out, come up with your own house rules, or even put this into a podcast episode, please let me know!

• Podcast Design Builder Rules [PDF]

Notable Quotes

"Designing a podcast is hard."

-- Kyle M. Bondo

"If you exercise your creative muscle then your next idea will not be easily squished."

-- Kyle M. Bondo

Podcast design is an act of communication. However, a common mistake made by most podcasters is thinking of ourselves as only audio communicators. We’re fortunate to speak the audio language fluently, but we need to be able to translate that thinking into visual and performance mediums as well. In other words, we need to be bilingual but not in the way you would expect.

Notable Quotes

"Think about the way the same two lines can be spoken, but have very different meanings: 1. [EXCITED] Let’s Eat Grandpa!! 2. [SOFT] Let’s Eat, Grandpa. The first way makes it sound like your Grandpa IS the meal -- while the second way is an invitation for your Grandpa to join you for a nice meal. The same spoken words just performed very differently. This is what I mean about being bilingual."
-- Kyle M. Bondo

You may have thought about everything that goes into enticing someone to press play, but have you ever thought about the design decisions that have led up to the play button itself? There is a whole world of cooperation between people, far apart and personally unbeknownst to each other, that allows your podcast episode to reach your listener. This podcast industry is a marketplace that performs miracles almost every moment of every day.

Today, you and I are going to take a journey. I am going to walk you through the day in the life of a podcast episode -- from ideation to listener. There are three major segments all acting in concert with each other to form what I see as the reference model to the current layout of what we CALL the Podcast Industry. These three smaller industries consist of Production, Distribution, and Consumption. If these three smaller industries did not act in coordination with each other, podcasting would not exist.

Podcast Industry Reference Model

I've created a Podcast Industry Reference Model [PDF] to help conceptualize it as you follow along with this podcast.

NES Design Master: Leonard E. Read

Today's Master is Leonard E. Read. Mr. Read (who lived from 1898--1983) established the Foundation for Economic Education (FEE) in 1946 and served as FEE's president for 37 years. He was a strong defender of American liberty with a specific focus on individual freedom and private property rights. This is what led him to author 29 books and hundreds of essays.

However, his powerful yet simple essay titled, I, Pencil: My Family Tree, published back in 1958, is his most famous work. For over 60 years hundreds of thousands of Americans of all ages have read (or heard) this simple and beautiful explanation of the miracle of the “invisible hand” by following the production of an ordinary pencil.

Foundation for Economic Education (FEE) Downloads

• I, Pencil Audio [MP3]

• I, Pencil Essay [PDF]

Notable Quotes

"Leave all creative energies uninhibited."

-- Leonard E. Read

"[Markets are a] configuration of creative human energies. [Thousands] of tiny know-hows, configuring naturally and spontaneously in response to human necessity and desire. And in the absence of any human masterminding."

-- Leonard E. Read

"We are perishing for want of wonder, not for want of wonders."

-- GK Chesterton

When considering the creation of a new podcast there are generally two options available to you: Copy an existing format, or create your own special format. But how do you create a format that is unique enough to be different but not too unique that it scares listeners away? The answer is in understanding what existing formats are in your niche and how bespoke design thinking can make you stand out.

Notable Quotes

"The concept is to create something that no other podcast has anywhere in your niche. That means you need to know who is in your niche."

-- Kyle M. Bondo

Podcast Mentions

Here's to Joe Saul-Sehy and The Stacking Benjamins Show which takes talking about money while in your Mom's basement and shows you how being different then everyone else in your space works.

Every design student at some point in their career has encountered Ten Principles for Good Design by Dieter Rams. Rams was an infamous German industrial designer and the Chief Design Officer at Braun for over 30 years.

Many of the consumer products Rams created for Brauns are still used today. He was also well known for his “Less but Better” minimalist aesthetic and for being one of the first designers who strived to be environmentally friendly before it was cool. Rams know design. However, is his design philosophy -- created almost half a century ago -- a relevant tool for podcast creative engineers to use even today?


Ten Principles of Good Design (6-10)

Kyle explores the last 5 principles of the Ten Principles of Good Design in Part 2 of this two-part series:

1. Good design is honest

2. Good design is long-lasting

3. Good design is thorough down to the last detail

4. Good design is environmentally-friendly

5. Good design is as little design as possible

Notable Quotes:

"Less is Better"

-- Dieter Rams

Every design student at some point in their career has encountered Ten Principles for Good Design by Dieter Rams. Rams was an infamous German industrial designer and the Chief Design Officer at Braun for over 30 years.

Many of the consumer products Rams created for Brauns are still used today. He was also well known for his “Less but Better” minimalist aesthetic and for being one of the first designers who strived to be environmentally friendly before it was cool. Rams' knows design. However, is his design philosophy -- created almost half a century ago -- a relevant tool for podcast creative engineers to use even today?


Ten Principles of Good Design (1-5)
Kyle explores the first 5 principles of the Ten Principles of Good Design in Part 1 of this two-part series:

1. Good design is innovative

2. Good design makes a product useful

3. Good design is aesthetic

4. Good design makes a product understandable

5. Good design is unobtrusive

Notable Quotes:
"Less is Better"
-- Dieter Rams

Where do podcast ideas come from? Kyle explains how the influences of two brilliant designers -- Sir Jony Ive and Hillman Curtis -- helped form his design philosophy foundation.

Lessons from Sir Jony Ive:

• Encouraged informal questioning and inquiry, tolerated mistakes, and promoted innovation.

• Make your studio into an "ideas factory" with brainstorming sessions at least two times a week -- No exceptions!

• Create a space that allows ideas to not be so easily squished.

• Constantly simplify and do away with as much as possible (Less is Better).

• Make things that express your appreciation for people you will probably never meet.

Lessons from Hillman Curtis:

• You need to make 100 bad designs before you discover a good one.

• Take the ideas that are in your head and do something with them.

• Keep your mind fertile with personal interests, experiences, and curiosity.

• Ideas originate from a mind free from distractions.

• Your job as a designer is to make the invisible visible.

Notable Quotes:

"While ideas ultimately can be so powerful, they begin as fragile, barely formed thoughts, so easily missed, so easily compromised, so easily squished."

-- Jony Ive (Apple)

"The goal of a designer is to listen, observe, understand, sympathize, empathize, synthesize, and glean insights that enable him or her to 'make the invisible visible'."

-- Hillman Curtis

"Be prepared to reinvent yourself. Be prepared to go out on a limb occasionally, and be prepared to do things that you feel strongly about."

-- Hillman Curtis

Kyle introduces the Podcast Design Builder Game that can be played to strengthen your creativity by forcing you to come up with a podcast idea based on established constraints.

Podcast Design Builder Game v0.3 [PDF]

• The host invites 2-4 guests to create 10 design requirements (5-10 minutes).
• Each of the guests spends some time creating a rough podcast idea (5-10 minutes).
• Everyone shares their rough podcast idea with the host asking clarifying questions.
• Everyone then explores each other’s creation (Pros/Cons, Open Forum).
• If there needs to be a winner, the host, the guests, or the audience decides.

#1 – Roll dice to determine their TEN Podcast Design Requirements

• The Host rolls (1D20, 1D10, 1D6) to determine the 10 podcast design requirements.

#2 – With the Requirements, take 5-10 minutes to develop a PODCAST PROTOTYPE:

• Provide Detail to each Requirement
• Define Their Topic
• Define Their Target Listener

#3 – Give your Podcast a NAME:

• This podcast is called...

#4 – Guests present their PODCAST PROTOTYPE high-level WHY Statement/Synopsis:

• What is this show about (high-level)?
• Who’s it for (target audience)?
• Why should we care (hook)?

#5 – Guests present what their very first episode and season would be:

• Episode #1 is called...
• After a full season you will know

• One of the hosts is the judge and the winner is decided at the end.
• Everyone on the show decides who wins and the winner is decided at the end.
• The audience decides which podcast prototype is the winner based on Social Media and Email feedback with the winner announced on Bonus Content

"Crispy WHY! Now with a third less calories!"
-- Timothy Kimo Brien

To get your art muscles strong enough to start designing podcasts, you need to listen to the Create Art Podcast. If you're like me and crave creativity, art, and learning how to find your artistic muse, then you need to join my good friend Timothy Kimo Brien as he takes a deep dive into the world of creativity with the Create Art Podcast.

Not Easily Squished, hosted by Kyle M. Bondo, talks about Audio Experience (AX) Design and the emerging discipline of Podcast Design. Learn how to take your fragile podcast concept and transform it into a fierce audio experience that is Not Easily Squished!

• NES Website: noteasilysquished.com
• NES Theme Music "What Are You Waiting For" by NoiseWorld
• NES Libsyn Episode Library
• NES Podcast Industry Model [PDF]

Thank you for listening! Be sure to check out the other Gagglepod Studios shows including Podwrecked, PAUSE for Dramatic Effect, and Create Art Podcast -- you can find all of these and more at Gagglepod.com