A while back I posted Random observations - Part 1. This is a follow-up. As noted earlier, these are personal ruminations on patterns I’ve uncovered through my professional practice. Some are topical, while others may feel rather disconnected. That being said, they all circle around the same things in my mind.

Readers of ideasonideas are well aware of my bullish stance on digital and how I often reference large agencies as rather out of touch. This doesn’t mean I’m against the big guys (heck, I’d love to work in those neat offices with great views). I just feel as though we’re in the midst of a change that is completely rearranging this space and will result in extinction for a few.

Few designers haven’t tuned-in to Design Matters, Debbie Millman’s podcast that engages the brightest design minds in discussion. She’s a partner at Sterling Brands in New York, and recently released her first book “How to Think Like a Great Graphic Designer.” Today Debbie’s on the other side of the table, and it’s my great pleasure to have her here for a brief talk about her work and thoughts on branding.

Erik Spiekermann has a remarkable CV. His design insights are respected, his typefaces have become standards and he has developed design systems for global brands. In addition he is a founder of MetaDesign and the driving force behind SpiekermannPartners. For ideasonideas’ first interview I’m going to ask Erik how he manages the challenges found in running a design business.

Get me on the topic of type, and I can go on for hours. I can’t entirely account for my love of letterforms but it makes it no less real. I get rather emotional about typography. This morning I showered, staring at a bottle of overpriced shampoo, actually irritated by the awkwardly varied stem-weights that made its wordmark seem sickly.

Last night, ideasonideas was the recipient of a Merit award at Vancouver’s Lotus Awards. This was a nice surprise for us, and certainly made us happy. Frankly, it’s a blog—the idea of it even winning an award seemed pretty unlikely. Regardless, we sat, met some people, enjoyed a little conversation, and watched the show. It was pretty cool too. The voice-overs were very MTV awards-esque, and the presenter said “fuck” in a darned funny way. There was, however, a bit of a stink that arose through the evening.