Two Designers Walk Into a Bar

Hooray for Hollywood(land)! In our first bonus episode (there was simply too much goodness to pack into our movie logo stories), we wrap-up our logo conversation and Todd shares a trivia nugget about Ghostbusters and goes deeper on The Rocketeer. We then shift into talking about the most iconic of movie icons: The Hollywood Sign.

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Visit our full episode page for show notes, the visual examples we discuss, additional links and more!

https://www.twodesignerswalkintoabar.com/episodes/episode-08-movie-logos

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Have a question or idea for Todd and Elliot? Send a note to [email protected] and we promise to read it. After that it’s anyone’s guess.

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Visit https://www.twodesignerswalkintoabar.com/merch to have a look at stuff we’ve made for listeners just like you.

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Today we’re telling a couple of stories you won’t find in Tobin’s Spirit Guide or any World War II history book: the logos for the movies Ghostbusters and The Rocketeer. We connect dots between National Lampoon and Ghostbusters and talk about how amazing Art Deco marketing materials from Disney didn’t deliver the box office success The Rocketeer rightly deserves. Proton pack, rocket pack... Doesn’t matter to us as long as your gear includes quality headphones.

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Visit our full episode page for show notes, the visual examples we discuss, additional links and more!

https://www.twodesignerswalkintoabar.com/episodes/episode-08-movie-logos

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Have a question or idea for Todd and Elliot? Send a note to [email protected] and we promise to read it. After that it’s anyone’s guess.

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Visit https://www.twodesignerswalkintoabar.com/merch to have a look at stuff we’ve made for listeners just like you.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today we bring our listeners all sorts of candy, both literally and figuratively. We’re talking about a couple of sweet typefaces — Hobo and Cooper Black — that you have definitely seen throughout your life. Ever watched The Dukes of Hazzard? Hobo. Ever enjoy a Tootsie Pop? Cooper Black. Learn about the origins of both typefaces, why you see them everywhere and pick a side as Todd and Elliot duke it out to determine a winner.

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Visit our full episode page for show notes, the visual examples we discuss, additional links and more!

https://www.twodesignerswalkintoabar.com/episodes/episode-07-first-impressions

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Have a question or idea for Todd and Elliot? Send a note to [email protected] and we promise to read it. After that it’s anyone’s guess.

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Visit https://www.twodesignerswalkintoabar.com/merch to have a look at stuff we’ve made for listeners just like you.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What do a coffee drinking lion, a few black cats, a grasshopper, a penguin and a voodoo priest have in common? Aside from being the set-up for a great joke, they represent regional or lesser-known companies we’ve stumbled upon with logos we really like. We talk food (Royal Cup and Voodoo Doughnuts), shipping (Yamato Transport), clothing (The Original Penguin), and explosive stuff like fireworks (Black Cat) and gasoline (Gashopper).

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Visit our full episode page for show notes, the visual examples we discuss, additional links and more!

https://www.twodesignerswalkintoabar.com/episodes/episode-06-unsung-logos

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Have a question or idea for Todd and Elliot? Send a note to [email protected] and we promise to read it. After that it’s anyone’s guess.

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Visit https://www.twodesignerswalkintoabar.com/merch to have a look at stuff we’ve made for listeners just like you.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For this episode, our bar is firmly planted in California and we’re talking illustration and rebellion. We start in the southern part of the state talking about hot rods, music, Ed “Big Daddy” Roth and his famous creation Rat Fink. We then travel up the coast to the town of Santa Cruz to talk skate culture, punk music, Jim Phillips and his equally famous Screaming Hand. We then wrap-up by talking about tribes, language and what these two iconic characters have in common.

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Visit our full episode page for show notes, the visual examples we discuss, additional links and more!

https://www.twodesignerswalkintoabar.com/episodes/episode-05-street-culture

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Have a question or idea for Todd and Elliot? Send a note to [email protected] and we promise to read it. After that it’s anyone’s guess.

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Visit https://www.twodesignerswalkintoabar.com/merch to have a look at stuff we’ve made for listeners just like you.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You may think this episode is shocking. You may claim it has sizzle. That means our chosen characters are working their magic. Long before the Energizer Bunny or the GEICO Gecko, advertising icons Reddy Kilowatt and Big Boy rose from humble beginnings to popularity stretching from coast-to-coast (and beyond). We discuss how electricity became humanized, a portly youth inspired a diner owner, and those two characters grew to be embraced by multiple generations (including movie director David Lynch).

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Visit our full episode page for show notes, the visual examples we discuss, additional links and more!

https://www.twodesignerswalkintoabar.com/episodes/episode-04-advertising-mascots

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Have a question or idea for Todd and Elliot? Send a note to [email protected] and we promise to read it. After that it’s anyone’s guess.

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Visit https://www.twodesignerswalkintoabar.com/merch to have a look at stuff we’ve made for listeners just like you.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We went so “red, white and blue” in our 1976 episode that we just had to keep the train rolling with two amazing poster designs. We examine bringing electricity to rural parts of the United States 80 years later and inspiring a nation to rally behind an unknown presidential candidate named Barack Obama, along with how Lester Beall and Shepard Fairey made these big ideas easy to understand. And since Todd loves controversy, he shares the story of how Mr. Fairey found himself in a legal entanglement over his poster work.

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Visit our full episode page for show notes, the visual examples we discuss, additional links and more!

https://www.twodesignerswalkintoabar.com/episodes/episode-03-civic-posters

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Have a question or idea for Todd and Elliot? Send a note to [email protected] and we promise to read it. After that it’s anyone’s guess.

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Visit https://www.twodesignerswalkintoabar.com/merch to have a look at stuff we’ve made for listeners just like you.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Why 1976? Plenty of reasons. We discuss each of our ages in this, the banner year our nation was turning 200 and everything in sight had bunting and was painted red, white and blue. KISS was at the height of their powers as Michael Doret’s amazing album art from “Rock and Roll Over” was gracing turntables from coast to coast and the timeless bicentennial star logo from designer Bruce Blackburn was on everything from postage stamps to NASA equipment. And last but not least, Richard Nixon enters the conversation (but not the bar).

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Visit our full episode page for show notes, the visual examples we discuss, additional links and more!

https://www.twodesignerswalkintoabar.com/episodes/episode-02-1976

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Have a question or idea for Todd and Elliot? Send a note to [email protected] and we promise to read it. After that it’s anyone’s guess.

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Visit https://www.twodesignerswalkintoabar.com/merch to have a look at stuff we’ve made for listeners just like you.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In our first episode, we discuss our podcast’s humble beginnings including a conversation about illustrator Mort Drucker that got the ball rolling, meeting William Shatner and why MAD Magazine and the movie Airplane! are important parts of our creative sensibilities, and how our show got its name. We consider why all creative people are pack rats and how collecting PEZ dispensers is not a waste of Todd’s time, money or shelf space. And we answer the all-important questions about what “corn pone” means and why a visual medium like design needs an audio medium like a podcast.

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Visit our full episode page for show notes, the visual examples we discuss, additional links and more!

https://www.twodesignerswalkintoabar.com/episodes/episode-01-teaser

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Have a question or idea for Todd and Elliot? Send a note to [email protected] and we promise to read it. After that it’s anyone’s guess.

- - - - -

Visit https://www.twodesignerswalkintoabar.com/merch to have a look at stuff we’ve made for listeners just like you.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Todd and Elliot welcome you to the bar. Just like a quick tickle of the taste buds before pulling a full pint of the newest microbrew, this preview provides a taste of what our podcast is all about, except for your ear buds. Design. Pop culture. High art. Low art. Comedy. Tragedy. Enjoy.

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