Podcast Awesome

Look Awesome: Solving Color Once and for All

Locking in the color palette for your project is one of those things that seems simple until you're actually doing it. Pick the wrong shade and your text is unreadable. Pick the right shade and it only works in Figma, not in your codebase, not in Tailwind, not anywhere that matters.

Dave Gandy — Font Awesome founder, Kickstarter legend, self-described Nantucket color enthusiast — has been quietly building a tool to fix this mess. It's called Look Awesome, and it tackles color from three angles at once: the technical side (WCAG contrast math), the artistic side (palettes that actually look good), and yes, the genetic side (turns out not everyone sees color the same way, and there's a 100-dot test to prove it).

This episode is an audio cut of a live demo Dave gave during the Build Awesome Kickstarter stream. He walks through how Look Awesome works, why he built it in under three weeks using modern AI tooling, and why he thinks this might be the most fun thing he's ever made. You'll also hear about NASA's brand guidelines, the color laws of Nantucket, and a binary search algorithm that finds the exact one shade of blue that satisfies both dark and light text contrast requirements.

Fair warning: this is a color tool, so if you want to actually see the thing, head over to the YouTube channel. The link is in the show notes.

What We Cover

• What Look Awesome is and why it exists
• The three challenges of color: technical, artistic, and genetic
• The Farnsworth-Munsell 100 hue test and what it means for working with color
• How the palette-building math actually works (including that binary search)
• Theming once and getting it everywhere — Tailwind, Web Awesome, Claude's design.md, wherever
• How Look Awesome fits into the Build Awesome workflow
• Why Dave built this in under three weeks and what AI-assisted Build Week looked like
• The Nantucket color palette demo (10 seconds, one URL)

Try It Look Awesome is live now at look.awesome.me. Dave wants to hear what's working — not just the bugs. Drop him a note at [email protected].

Want to support the broader project? The Build Awesome Kickstarter is still running at build.awesome.me.

Watch the full demo from the livestream! youtube.com/live/XBMSvupE7Bc?si=3Ow2B1I4pOAYnsb 

Credits

• Hosted, produced and edited by Matt Johnson
• Featuring Dave Gandy and Zach (from the Build Awesome livestream)
• Theme song by Ronnie Martin
• Music interstitials by Zach Malm
• Video editing by Isaac Chase

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AI makes it easier to build almost anything. So why does that make the job harder?

In this episode, Matt sits down with Font Awesome founder Dave Gandy and engineer Travis Chase to get past the hype and into the real day-to-day of building with AI. The conversation covers what's actually changing on the team, where AI falls short, and what human skills matter more now than they did before.

If you're a designer, developer, or anyone trying to figure out where you fit in a world where your output can suddenly go 10x — this one's worth your time. Dave and Travis don't pretend the answers are simple. They also don't pretend the concerns aren't real.

Fair warning: Dave also makes a case for revisiting waterfall development. It's more convincing than it has any right to be.

What We Cover

• Why producing more means your quality bar has to get sharper, not looser
• The discernment problem — when you can build anything, how do you decide what's worth building?
• Why saying no is now a more important skill than ever
• The strongest AI concerns Dave and Travis actually take seriously (energy, training data ethics, governance)
• Why AI seems to help people become more of who they already are
• How to stay curious and useful during a major technology transition without chasing every squirrel

Timestamps

• 0:00 Cold open — from low-level to strategy
• 0:38 Intro
• 1:30 Where AI falls short right now
• 2:00 Quality control when output explodes
• 2:30 Taste, responsibility, and Jory's point at the snuggle
• 3:00 The discernment problem and snacktivities
• 4:20 Simplicity means saying no more than yes
• 5:30 Chasing waterfalls — does waterfall development make a comeback?
• 6:00 The strongest anti-AI arguments worth taking seriously
• 6:45 Energy, ethics, and training data consent
• 8:00 Technology's evolution and the genie that's out of the bottle
• 9:00 The Industrial Revolution farmer analogy
• 9:45 Superheroes, supervillains, and hiring for character first
• 10:20 Two ditches: navigating between idealism and cynicism
• 11:10 Rev share and what the world should look like
• 11:45 Governance, compromise, and garbage design
• 13:30 Washing machines and making more clean water
• 14:00 Guiding principles for using AI internally
• 15:00 Company behaviors as an AI framework: curious, humble, adventurous
• 16:00 AI helps people become more of who they are
• 16:45 AI will ask people to operate at a higher level
• 18:00 Refusing to engage is the riskiest move of all
• 19:00 We need critical voices — and we need them in the room
• 20:00 Echo chambers, bad data, and the water story
• 21:30 The world is hopeful — spend your life in wonder
• 22:30 Home prices, colonizing planets, and the leap to the real world
• 23:00 Outro

Credits

• Hosted by Matt Johnson
• Featuring Dave Gandy and Travis Chase
• Produced and edited by Matt Johnson
• Theme song by Ronnie Martin
• Music interstitials by Zach Malm
• Video editing by Isaac Chase

🔗 Font Awesome: https://fontawesome.com 

🔗 Check out episode one of the conversation! https://www.podcastawesome.com/2092855/episodes/19065993-build-week-what-we-made-part-1-with-dave-travis

🔗 Podcast Awesome: https://podcastawesome.com

#PodcastAwesome #FontAwesome #AI #DesignAndDevelopment #TechEthics #SoftwareDevelopment

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💻 AI side quests, but make it Snuggle. 🤖✨

In this episode, we’re fresh off the Snuggle (our company retreat) and talking about what happens when you give a curious team some time, space… and a bunch of AI tools. Travis and Dave join us to share how experimenting with tools like G-Stack, Spec-Kit, and Claude helped us explore ideas, prototype faster, and take on projects we normally wouldn’t have time for.

We get into the practical side of it all—what worked, what didn’t, and where AI actually fits into a creative workflow (without the hype). It’s part experiment recap, part philosophy, and part “what if we just tried it?”

Whether you're building products, designing systems, or just curious how AI can fit into your process, this one’s for you.

🎙️ What we cover in this episode:

• 🧑‍🚀 Why we dedicated Snuggle time to AI exploration
• 🧩 How tools like G-Stack, Spec-Kit, and Claude fit into real workflows
• 💻 Using AI to prototype and pressure-test ideas quickly
• ⚖️ The balance between human creativity and machine assistance
• 🧠 What surprised us (and what didn’t)

⏱️ Timestamps:
00:00:00 – Welcome & Intro
00:01:59 – What are Snacktivites?
00:02:57 – Company Behaviors Framework
00:04:16 – Build Week Explained
00:05:00 – Travis's Thoughts on AI Shift
00:08:05 – Ethics Over Slop
00:08:31 – Education and Intent
00:11:47 – Using AI as a Force Multiplier
00:14:50 – Skills Files and Standards
00:21:10 – Tooling Roundup: G-Stack, Spec-Kit, and more
00:25:46 – Color Awesome Finale
00:27:45 – Wrap Up ... To Be Continued in Part 2

🔗 Links & resources:
Font Awesome: https://fontawesome.com/
Browse icons: https://fontawesome.com/icons
Kits: https://fontawesome.com/kits
Web Awesome: https://webawesome.com/

Credits:
🎵 Theme music by Ronnie Martin
🎶 Interstitials by Zach Malm

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Job interviews aren’t just about proving you’re a fit — they’re about figuring out whether the company deserves you, too. 👀

In this episode, Matt chats with Font Awesome founder Dave Gandy about why hiring is a two-way street. They unpack the red flags candidates should watch for, what healthy companies actually look like, and how the interview process can reveal way more than a polished mission statement ever will.

Dave shares practical advice for job seekers on asking better questions, spotting dysfunctional hiring practices, and approaching the search with intention instead of desperation. They also dig into trust, team health, and why the best workplaces tend to value character just as much as capability.

Whether you’re job hunting, hiring, or just trying to avoid ending up in a workplace that feels like a corporate escape room, this episode has plenty to chew on. 😅

What we cover:
Why hiring should be a two-way evaluation
The biggest red flags in interview processes
What healthy organizations prioritize
Why trust matters more than pure talent
How to ask smarter interview questions
Why job seekers need a strategy, not just a stack of resumes
How to identify companies that are actually worth your time

Timestamps:
00:00 – Why hiring is a two-way street
02:00 – HR screenings, weird assessments, and early red flags
05:10 – Desperation in job hunting and why standards still matter
07:00 – What healthy companies really look like
09:20 – How to flip the script and interview the company
12:00 – Big companies, bad filters, and missing great candidates
16:00 – Why knowing yourself matters before you start looking
19:00 – Why spray-and-pray applications usually fall flat
21:00 – The value of being “double T-shaped” in your career
24:00 – Why the best opportunities often come through side doors
25:00 – Building relationships before you need a job
27:00 – How companies communicate values in the hiring process
29:00 – The one thing a company needs to do differently
30:00 – Wrap-up and outro

Credits:
Hosted by Matt Johnson
Featuring Dave Gandy
Produced and edited by Matt Johnson
Theme song by Ronnie Martin
Music interstitials by Zach Malm
Video editing by Isaac Chase

Watch this episode on YouTube

#Hiring #InterviewTips #JobSearch #CareerAdvice #Leadership #CompanyCulture #WorkplaceCulture #TechCareers #PodcastAwesome #FontAwesome 🚀

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In this episode of Podcast Awesome, Matt sits down with Ed and Francis to talk through three newly shipped Font Awesome features that are small, practical, and just the right amount of fun. They dig into individual PNG downloads, a new global color picker for previewing icons in brand colors, and the wonderfully playful User Blender, which lets you mix and match heads, bodies, and styles to create custom user icons for your kit.

Along the way, they unpack the thinking behind each feature, how these updates connect to Icon Wizard and the broader Font Awesome 7.2 release, and why shaving off a few annoying workflow steps can make life noticeably better for designers and developers. There’s also an unexpected side quest into Ed’s cameo in his son’s YouTube channel, because apparently every product update deserves a B-plot. 🎬

If you want to actually see these features in action, there’s also an extended video version on YouTube with demos. But this audio-only episode still gives you the full behind-the-scenes story, the practical use cases, and all the delightful nerdery you’d expect from the Awesomeverse.

What We Cover in This Episode

• 🎨 How the new global color picker makes previewing icon colors much easier
• 🖼️ Why individual PNG downloads are a handy addition for quick icon grabs
• 🧑‍🚀 How User Blender lets you create custom user icons with random and manual combinations
• 🧩 How these features build on ideas from Icon Wizard
• 💻 Why small workflow improvements can have a big impact for teams
• 🧪 How playful side projects sometimes turn into genuinely useful features
• 🎬 Ed’s surprise side quest into low-budget cinematic glory

Timestamps

00:00 Welcome to Podcast Awesome
 00:20 Introducing the episode and today’s guests
 00:45 The three new features: PNG downloads, color picker, and User Blender
 01:10 Francis makes a Podcast Awesome debut
 01:40 Looking back at Ed’s previous appearances and Icon Wizard history
 02:10 Why individual PNG downloads were added
 03:00 When and why someone might want PNG instead of SVG
 04:10 The idea behind the new global color picker
 05:00 Previewing brand colors across icon search results
 05:40 Using the color picker on category pages and kits
 06:10 Duotone controls, secondary colors, opacity, reset, and swatches
 07:10 Reusing Web Awesome tools inside Font Awesome
 07:50 How color settings carry over across different areas
 08:20 How the color picker affects code snippets and icon styling
 08:55 Meet User Blender
 09:20 How randomizing and mixing custom user icons works
 10:00 Available styles and future expansion plans
 10:40 Why User Blender is both useful and toy-like in the best possible way
 11:15 How the feature grew out of a snuggle and Icon Wizard success
 12:00 A call for community creations and creative icon mashups
 12:40 How these features fit into the Font Awesome 7.2 release
 13:10 Ed’s unexpected acting career and his son’s YouTube side quest
 14:00 Wrap-up and where to share your creations

YouTube episode with visual examples: https://youtu.be/NDsqZozkn3A 

Font Awesome: https://fontawesome.com/
Browse Font Awesome Icons: https://fontawesome.com/icons
Learn about Kits: https://fontawesome.com/kits
Explore Web Awesome: https://webawesome.com/
Contact the team: [email protected]
Theme music by Ronnie Martin: https://ronniemartin.org/
Interstitial music by Zach Malm: https://muzach.bandcamp.com/

BowziTV: https://www.youtube.com/@BowziTV

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Eleventy is becoming Build Awesome — and Zach Leatherman is here to explain what that actually means.

In this episode of Podcast Awesome, Matt has a chat with Zach about the Build Awesome Kickstarter, why this rebrand is part of building a sustainable future for the open source project, and what changes (and what doesn’t) for people already running Eleventy sites.

You’ll hear Zach break down the backwards compatibility promise, the Eleventy v3 → Build Awesome v4 upgrade path, and what Build Awesome Pro adds—especially for teams who want an easier publishing workflow and a smoother way for non-technical collaborators to edit content.

Plus: behind-the-scenes stories from filming the Kickstarter video in LA, including the cast/crew magic, a hot dog cake, and the origin story of the Awesome 'Possum.

🗒️ What We Cover in This Episode

🚀 Eleventy is becoming Build Awesome (and why Zach says this is the sustainable future of the project)
🧩 What changes vs. what stays the same (and the “no panic” promise)
🔁 Backwards compatibility: your existing Eleventy sites still work
⬆️ Upgrade path: what moving from Eleventy v3 → Build Awesome v4 looks like
🧰 What Build Awesome is (website generation that can be simple or powerful)
🧑‍🤝‍🧑 Build Awesome Pro: one-stop publishing + collab for non-technical editors
✍️ In-browser editing: fixing content directly on page w/o a separate CMS feel)
💸 Funding open source without burnout (+ why the “Font Awesome formula” works)
🎬 Kickstarter fun: filming in LA, cast/crew magic, and the cake/hot dog metaphor
🦝 Meet the Awesome 'Possum (mascot origins + brand homage)
🎁 How to support: tiers, swag, and where to go next

⏱️ Timestamps

0:00 - Cold Open: Build Awesome Kickstarter Announcement
 0:08 - Eleventy → Build Awesome (What This Episode Covers)
 0:40 - The Big News (Zach’s Announcement)
 1:25 - Joining the Awesomeverse (and why it matters)
 2:50 - Funding Open Source Without Burnout
 4:20 - What Build Awesome Is (and who it’s for)
 6:05 - Build Awesome Pro: Publishing + Collaboration Tools
 7:20 - Backwards Compatibility: Your Eleventy Sites Still Work
 8:10 - Upgrade Path: Eleventy v3 → Build Awesome v4
 10:05 - Why Pro Features Make the Free Core Better
 12:10 - In-Browser Editing: The “edit right on the site” experience
 13:25 - Kickstarter Fun: Shooting the Launch Video in LA
 15:40 - Cast, Crew, and the Cake/Hot Dog Metaphor
 18:55 - Meet the Awesome Possum (Mascot Origins + Brand Homage)
 20:40 - How to Support: Where to Go + Tiers + Swag
 22:40 - Wrap-Up + What to Watch Next

Links & Resources

• Build Awesome Kickstarter
• Eleventy / Build Awesome
• Font Awesome
• Web Awesome

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In this episode, Matt and Jory sit down with UK-based icon designer + illustrator Vic Bell to talk about the brand-new Font Awesome icon pack, Graphite — a loose, hand-drawn set that brings texture, depth, and a whole lot of human personality to iconography.

If you’ve ever tried to balance clarity vs. creativity, or wondered how icons can feel more like typefaces with different “voices”, this one’s for you. 🎧

🗒️ What We Cover in This Episode

👋 How Vic and Jory connected
✏️ Designing Font Awesome Pro Plus packs and how “Small Batch” became a thing
🧠 Vic’s creative journey: trends, taste, and identity
🏠 Why icons are storytelling at micro-scale
⚖️ The tension between clarity and creativity
🧰 Illustrator vs. Figma for icon design
📲 Custom brushes and iPad sidecar workflows

🕒 Timestamps
0:00 - Introduction and Welcome
0:46 - How Vic and Jory Connected
2:48 - Font Awesome Icon Packs Overview
5:42 - Vic's Creative Journey and Evolution
7:45 - The Hand-Drawn "Graphite" Icon Style
10:17 - Reflections on Icon Design as a Career
13:41 - Childhood Influences and the Magic of Small Things
17:18 - Creative Process and Personalization
22:19 - Trusting the Creative Process
23:32 - Project Validation and Creative Freedom
25:15 - Technical Challenges and Implementation
26:23 - Future of Font Awesome Icon Packs
30:52 - Illustrator vs. Figma for Icon Design
31:28 - Creating Custom Brushes and Using iPad
38:38 - Balancing Clarity and Creativity in Icon Design
47:37 - Releasing Icon Packs and Delayed Gratification

🔗 Links & Resources

Vic Bell: / vic_bell
Font Awesome: https://fontawesome.com/
Web Awesome: https://webawesome.com/
Theme music by Ronnie Martin
Interstitial music by Zach Malm

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Eleventy started as a side project. Now it’s a critical infrastructure for thousands of websites.

TL;DR: Open source isn’t broken. But the way we fund it often is. Let’s talk about what actually works.

In this episode, we sit down with Zach Leatherman, creator of Eleventy (11ty), to talk honestly about what happens after open source succeeds. From nap-time coding and nights-and-weekends maintenance to venture capital pressure, burnout risk, and the reality of funding long-lived developer tools, this conversation digs into the cultural and financial tradeoffs behind modern open source.

We cover sustainability, community expectations, funding models that don’t rely on hockey-stick growth, and why “free forever” only works if the people behind the project can stay whole humans.

🎙️ What We Cover in This Episode

• 🧠 How Eleventy grew from a side project into a widely depended-on tool
• ⚖️ The maintainer’s dilemma: growth, responsibility, and personal sustainability
• 💸 Why venture capital and hockey-stick growth often fail dev tools
• 🔥 Burnout, boundaries, and being accountable to a global user base
• 🏡 Balancing family life with open source maintenance
• 🔁 Different funding models: donations, sponsorships, Pro tools, and tradeoffs
• 🌱 What sustainable open source can look like long-term
• 🔮 What’s ahead for Eleventy and its next chapter

⏱️ Timestamps
00:00 – Introductions and why open source sustainability matters
01:47 – Eleventy’s early days and unexpected adoption
04:32 – When a “side project” becomes critical infrastructure
06:42 – Corporate usage, expectations, and hidden pressure
10:08 – Family life, burnout risk, and personal boundaries
14:17 – Funding models: donations vs. sustainability
18:45 – Venture capital, acquisitions, and hockey-stick growth myths
23:33 – Lessons from Gatsby, Astro, and the dev tools ecosystem
26:25 – Why sustainable open source must tie to real value
30:26 – A healthier path forward for maintainers and communities
33:20 – What’s next for Eleventy

🔗 Links & Resources

• Eleventy (11ty)
• Font Awesome
• Web Awesome

🎵 Theme music by Ronnie Martin
🎹 Interstitial music by Zach Malm
🎥 Video support by Isaac Chase

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Happy New Year from the Awesomeverse! In this episode, Matt and Jory kick off 2026 by recapping all the wild, weird, and wonderful things that happened across Font Awesome and Web Awesome in 2025. From the launch of FA7 and small-batch icon packs to a possum puppet mascot (yes, really), they reflect on the big (and small batch) wins, behind-the-scenes hilarity, and creative experiments that made the year unforgettable. Oh, and if you're wondering what it's like to direct a hot dog-eating scene at a Kickstarter video shoot? We’ve got that covered too.

TL;DR: New icons, big upgrades, hilarious videos, brainy guests, possum puppets, and one heck of a year. 

🧠 What We Cover in This Episode

• 🎉 Reflecting on FA7 upgrades
• 🧪 The rise of Pro Plus and its small batch icon packs (Etch! Jelly! Not Dog!)
• 🎥 Behind-the-scenes on the F.A.C.U. cinematic universe and the FA7 shoot (hot dog suit included)
• 🧩 How the newsletter icon puzzle took on a life of its own
• 🧰 The official Web Awesome launch and what’s next
• 🧠 Brainy takes on icon cognition from Dr. Brian Glenny
• 🐾 The birth of Awesome Possum, our unofficial but fully fabulous mascot
• 📦 Teasers for what’s coming in 2026: More icons, more components, and more fun

⏱️ Timestamps

00:00 – Post-holiday haze & back in the podcast saddle
02:00 – FA7 highlights: Pro Plus packs + icon design overhaul
04:30 – Icon Pack breakdown: Etch, Jelly, Not Dog, and beyond
06:00 – Behind-the-scenes filming stories from the FA7 Kickstarter video
10:00 – Web Awesome officially launches!
12:30 – How the Awesome Possum was born
16:00 – The rise of the icon puzzle & newsletter hijinks
24:00 – Standout guests from the past season + the philosophy of icon design
28:00 – Accessibility icons, graffiti activism, and symbol cognition
30:00 – What’s coming in 2026: New icon packs, new components, and new surprises
32:00 – The Awesome Possum signs us off (kinda)

🔗 Links & Resources

• Check out the FA7 Launch Video
• Learn more about Pro Plus
• Build with Web Awesome
• Subscribe to our Newsletter (get the puzzle!)
• Jory’s Puzzle Book: “Goes Without Saying”
• Behind-the-scenes of the FA7 Shoot
• The Accessibility Icon Project 

🎵 Theme music by Ronnie Martin
🎹 Interstitial music by Zach Malm
🎥 Video support by Isaac Chase

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What is nerdery, really? 🤓 In this episode of Podcast Awesome, we dig into the heart of Font Awesome’s culture — inclusive nerdery. It's not about lone geniuses or command line gatekeepers. It’s about heart, curiosity, humility, and building awesome things with other people. 💛

👾 You'll hear from FA team members Dave and Travis, plus a few snippets from topics we've covered on our blog and internal convos, all woven together to show how we:

🎯 Hire for character over cleverness
🔍 Celebrate deep curiosity (hello, nutrition nerds and D&D geeks!)
🎉 Create space for serious play through our legendary team "Snuggles"
🧠 Foster creativity through snack-sized projects like the Icon Wizard and Space Awesome game

This episode is for anyone building company culture, or just trying to figure out how to lead with humanity in a techy world.

✨ Icons may not change the world, but good people just might.

🔍 What You’ll Hear in This Episode:
00:00 – Welcome to Nerdery™
02:00 – Defining what "nerd" means to us
04:00 – Why we hire adults, not rockstars
06:00 – Our 3-step hiring philosophy
08:00 – Why we host company “Snuggles” (not summits!)
10:00 – FARTS, the Icon Wizard & how fun leads to innovation
12:00 – Space Awesome: building games on company time (and learning VueJS to boot!)
14:00 – Why forced culture doesn’t work
16:00 – A culture that’s built to last

🔗 Mentioned in the Episode:
🧙‍♂️ Space Awesome – FA dev project
https://spaceawesome.io/
🛠 Our Hiring Philosophy
https://blog.fontawesome.com/company-...
✨ The Icon Wizard
https://blog.fontawesome.com/icon-wiz...
💼 More About FA Company Culture
https://blog.fontawesome.com/nerdery/

🎵 Theme music by Ronnie Martin
🎹 Interstitial music by Zach Malm
🎥 Video support by Isaac Chase

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