Did I Do That?

Adam JK (AKA Adam J. Kurtz) sits down with Sean to talk about his design mistakes… as well as parking scams, bootleg Barts, and Advanced Macaroni. It’s the episode that will make you ask, “is this for the podcast?” over and over as someone tries and fails to describe the plot of Back to the Future to you (and somehow the answer remains yes).

ABOUT THE GUEST: Adam J. Kurtz ("Adam JK") is a Toronto-born, Honolulu-based artist whose illustrative work is rooted in honesty, humor, and a little bit of darkness. His books and journals including Things Are What You Make of Them have sold over a million copies in twenty languages. Obsessed with aphorisms and ephemera, Kurtz's work seeks to craft new reminders from familiar sources, offering his brand of "back-handed optimism" as a token of encouragement and camaraderie for other creative, emotional, and deeply human people. In 2024, Kurtz and his husband opened a shop called SMALL KINE GIFT.

You can find Adam’s latest journal, Now What: A Creative Companion for Whatever Comes Next, is available for preorder now from just about any bookseller, online or otherwise—including in a signed edition directly from his site.

This episode was recorded Thursday, October 15, 2026.

Hosted on Acast. See https://acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to the Port Authority Bus Terminal! Would you like a hot towel? AIGA Portland President and NBC ArtWorks Studio Creative Director Ventura Castro sits down with Sean to talk about his design mistakes… as well as Bleeding Cowboys, the many attractions of Secaucus, New Jersey, and Moby’s failed fact checking career.

As Ventura mentioned, Portland Design Month is indeed happening now, and if you’re listening from the Portland area, you still have the rest of October to see all there is to see, including lectures tonight (as this goes out) at PSU with Spotify’s Tina Snow Le. Shout out to past guest Emy Su for doing the lovely graphics this year, and past co-host Gabe Bidney for serving as AIGA Portland’s new Programming Director, helping to pull the whole thing off! Check out our bi-weekly newsletter on Substack for a full guide of event recommendations from past guests and friends of the show!

ABOUT THE GUEST: Equal parts executive producer and creative director, Ventura Castro has been a force behind the scenes of the motion graphics industry for the last 15+ years. As Creative Director for NBC ArtWorks Studio, he leads the in-house agency for brand and package design across all news/documentary properties for on-air and streaming platforms. An avid cinephile, Ventura has taught at the EPFC and given talks at SCAD, SVA, and NYU. He currently serves as President of AIGA Portland, where he leads the organization’s strategic direction and community initiatives, expanding cross-disciplinary programming — and positioning design as both cultural force and civic infrastructure.

Ventura’s work can be seen (soon!) at his website, http://venturacastro.com, but until then, you can find it on Instagram, LinkedIn, or by watching NBC News or Telemundo’s upcoming coverage of the 2026 US midterm elections.

This episode was recorded Sunday, October 4, 2026.

Hosted on Acast. See https://acast.com/privacy for more information.

Illustrator and artist Allie Yacina sits down with Sean to talk about her design mistakes… as well as Good Friends, ways to keep a cool head during a job interview, and summiting the Rockies in a Miata. It’s the episode that’ll make you do the shuffling-your-hands-back-and-forth dance that’s sweeping the nation, which is called the… uh…?

Allie Yacina is an artist, illustrator, teacher and designer residing in Portland, OR since 2016. Her work explores color and sense of place through traditional and digital media. Her paintings have been shown in local galleries and her illustrations have been published in editorials as well as limited edition poster prints for clients such as the Portland Parks Foundation and the Lower Columbia Estuary Partnership. Her work was selected for the Society of Illustrators 65th annual show in the editorial and book category. Allie teaches sketchbook classes at Ulna Studios and works full-time as an illustrator and designer for local mobile game developer Brainium Studios (PlayStudios). Allie currently lives in Portland, Oregon and spends her free-time working in her sketchbook, rock climbing, and exploring the incredible PNW.

You can find Allie’s work on Instagram as @allie.yacina or on the web at http://allieyacina.com. You can follow Allie on Substack (https://allieyacina.substack.com/) if you want to read more about the House Industries story we talked about or see some of her more recent writing. If you want to take Allie’s sketchbook class, go check out Ulna Art Studio at https://www.ulnastudio.com/! As she mentioned, a new class is planned in January 2027 stretching out over six Saturdays and it’s a great way to leave the laptop behind and connect yourself back to the joy of drawing (even if you’ve never really done it).

This episode was recorded Tuesday, September 22, 2026.

Hosted on Acast. See https://acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is not Casual Encounters! We’re trying to do design here! The great Dave Pabellon (Assistant Professor of Design at University of Notre Dame) sits down with Sean to talk about his design mistakes… as well as the Costanza Maneuver, Scantron aesthetics, and the Rivers that run through it (it being multiple Chicago neighborhoods in very different parts of town).

ABOUT THE GUEST: Dave Pabellon is a design educator, researcher, and practitioner under the moniker It Is Just Dave LLC, with over 25 years of experience. Pabellon’s studio work has been recognized by Sappi’s Ideas That Matter, the STA 100, the Chicago Design Archive, the Typeforce Annual, and Communication Arts. Pabellon’s research centers on the history and practice of graphic design labor as a means of building solidarity among communities of color and activist spaces. Specifically, he studies and researches how BIPOC designers have worked with and alongside liberation movements in the past and explores/experiments with contemporary models. In addition to his professional and academic practice, Pabellon is a Core Organizer for the Design As Protest (DAP) Collective, a Mobile Makers Chicago board member, and is an active member of the Dark Matter U. roster. You can find Dave’s work on the web (https://itisjustdave.com/), Instagram (@it_is_just_dave), or by going to Notre Dame’s website (https://artdept.nd.edu/people/dave-pabellon/).

You can find the Anti-Racist Design Justice Index, a tool for architects, designers, planners, policymakers, and community activists committed to taking action towards identifying and dismantling systemic racism within our practices, organizations, academic institutions, and local governments, at dapcollective.com/index. If you want to get a copy of the newspaper, you can order a copy (or 50) at https://www.dapcollective.com/newspaper.

This episode was recorded Saturday, August 8, 2026 during TypeCon 2026.

Hosted on Acast. See https://acast.com/privacy for more information.

Did I Do That? is back with a new live show direct from the mainstage of Seattle Design Festival 2026! Listen as the great Colby Nichols (Art Director, Print Innovation for Magic: The Gathering at Wizards of the Coast) and Sean Bucknam (Senior Designer at Starbucks) square off with their most regrettable past work to see whose is bad enough for Seattle's favorite mythical raccoon to want to fish it out of the dumpster.

Want to see the slides (and work) we shared on stage? Check out all our images here as a slide deck, or see the full video on the SDF YouTube channel!

Colby Nichols is a creative leader who dreams big, supports others, and brings a bright spark to teams and projects. His approach to work and creative management is heart-forward with a focus on collaboration. He spent the last 12 years co-running the collaboration-focused design and illustration studio, Jolby. During that time he co-founded an award-winning space of inclusivity, put to use his unique approach to leading projects and solving big problems, directed projects across multiple teams for global entertainment and consumer brands with a focus on storytelling, recruited, cultivated, and inspired creative teams, led artists in commissions including the creation of artwork, voice over, music, animation, design, writing, editing, and coding, maintained meaningful client and vendor partnerships, did the hard thing, shared the spotlight, and made people smile. Currently, Colby serves as Art Director, Print Innovation for Magic: The Gathering at Wizards of the Coast.

Sean Bucknam is a designer and maker of things working in the Seattle area. Los Angeles born and raised, PNW local by choice. He can see the bigger picture in any simple brief while concepting and creating designs that stand out from the crowd. He always aims to provide an elevated, imaginative, and fresh way of thinking through pictures rather than words. He has collected a wealth of knowledge while honing his design and art direction with companies like Amazon, Starbucks, Nike, REI, and Brooks Running. A problem solver at heart, Sean is skilled in Typography, Branding and Identity Design, Illustration, and Art Direction. Currently, Sean serves as a Senior Designer at Starbucks.

Back to the Bottom of the Barrel was presented live on stage at Seattle Design Festival in Lake Union Park on Saturday, August 15, 2026. Thanks to our competitors Sean and Colby, to Seattle Design Festival for hosting us once again, and special thanks again to Adrian Pacheco and all our incredible SDF volunteers for helping to make this show happen once again!

Hosted on Acast. See https://acast.com/privacy for more information.

Did I Do That? doesn’t have a studio anymore!? Whatever! We don't need a studio, we need a tuxedo, because it might well be the last episode of season 8 as well!* Jack-of-all trades creative Scrappers sits down with Sean one last time in the Rat’s Nest to talk about his design mistakes… as well as professional papier-mâché, the Scarlett Pushpin, and knives: the perfect job interview gift. Grab a sandwich from your lifetime supply and settle in—this one is a wild ride!

Justin “Scrappers” Morrison is a creative human pocketknife. He's capable of handling all sorts of work from art direction, illustration, copy writing, creative team assembling and making dreams come to life. He’s been handy at Wieden+Kennedy, the Portland Mercury, North, and Stay Wild Magazine. Scrappers is currently the Brand Creative Director at Danner boots in Portland, Oregon. He’s worn many hats, but now he wears many boots. See his art, read his stories, and learn more about his work at https://humanpocketknife.com/. You can also follow Scrappers on Instagram at @scrappers.

This episode was recorded Saturday, April 18, 2026 in the Rat’s Nest.

* while I do hope that’s not the case, expect a bit of a programming gap either way while I get the move sorted out and take some much needed recovery time off. Sorry about that!

Hosted on Acast. See https://acast.com/privacy for more information.

Legendary educator and detail-oriented designer for good Precious Bugarin sits down with Sean to talk about her design mistakes… as well as John Cage’s call-in show, clothing tags, and the challenges of “Illustrating” a 200-page book. Plus, help fund our smash-hit sequel to Backrooms: Creepy Hallway Is The Portal (To Creativity) (And Also There’s Tiny Locked Room In The Room That Has A Sink).

Precious Burgarin comes from a family of immigrants, migrant farmers, veterans, journalists, artists and teachers. She’s a first generation Filipino American; born in San Francisco and raised in Stockton, California. Over the span of two decades, she’s been a designer and design educator. Her studio amplifies the work of nonprofits and helps businesses grow through thoughtful branding. She was a senior adjunct professor at Portland State University in the School of Art + Design (2003-2023), teaching students about type details and branding for social good. Previously, she was Art Director at Mercy Corps and currently serves as Graphic Design Manager at Toole Design Group.

This episode was recorded Saturday, April 25, 4 A.R. (AKA 2026) in the Rat’s Nest.

While this is our final episode recorded from the Rat’s Nest, it isn’t the last episode that will be published from it! Come back in two weeks for that last recording from the weekend before, and what might be our final episode of season 8 (unless I can figure out some interim recording space in the mean time—talk about a cliffhanger to end the season on!).

Hosted on Acast. See https://acast.com/privacy for more information.

While I’m busy packing up the last bits of the Rat’s Nest and closing out a busy school year, I thought I’d share a feed drop from one of my favorite podcasts, Weird Medieval Guys! It’s a great time, and folks who like a heavy dose of silly alongside their design talk will definitely enjoy it.

While it’s not normally a design-specific show, this episode covers a large swath of the evolution of western type history, starting way before the inception of modern western movable type and culminating in World War II—with ample Gothic distractions along the way. Olivia and Aran are excellent researchers and genuinely joyful to listen to. Fontroversy fans, I think you’re going to like this one!

You can find more episodes of the Weird Medieval Guys Podcast and subscribe at: Spotify / Apple Podcasts / Overcast / Castro / RSS

Subscribe to the Weird Medieval Guys Substack

Read the Weird Medieval Guys book at: Bookshop.org / Amazon / Waterstones

Come back in two weeks for the continuation of Did I Do That? Season 8—see you there!

Hosted on Acast. See https://acast.com/privacy for more information.

We can’t go too crazy, but we try to get close! Gianni Scarpino Candy (AIGA Portland Mentorship Program co-chair and Senior Visual Design Lead on the Player Experience Editorial and Loyalty Team for XBox) sits down with Sean to talk about her design mistakes… as well as cemetery parties, Shoemaker’s Lung, and Icy Hot for galas.

Gianni Scarpino Candy is a visual design leader with a passion for exploring the intersections of design, communication, and culture. Throughout her career, she has had the pleasure of working with a diverse range of clients and industries. Her objective has always been to design experiences that are interesting, have aesthetic appeal, be easy to understand, and bring impact. Bonus points if she can wiggle in humor and delight.

This episode was recorded on Saturday, April 11, 2026 in the Rat’s Nest.

Hosted on Acast. See https://acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the confusingly-named conclusion to our first-ever two parter, Jelly Helm continues sitting down with Sean to talk about his design mistakes at Wieden+Kennedy and beyond… as well as the Season 6 cast of Saturday Night Live, Zip plus-fours, and bean basements. What can we say: it’s a freaky time and we’re feeling freaky!

Miss part 1 with Jelly? This episode should be fairly self-contained, but if you want the full story on Jelly’s early career, go back and give part 1 a listen here.

Jelly Helm is a creative director, brand advisor, and educator based in Portland, Oregon. As founder of Studio Jelly, he provides thoughtful creative leadership and trusted brand partnership to organizations seeking to powerfully express who they are and what they are about. Previously, Jelly served as Executive Creative Director at Wieden+Kennedy, Group Creative Director at The Martin Agency, and Creative Director at Wieden+Kennedy Amsterdam. He was also founding faculty at VCU Brandcenter and founder/director of Wieden+Kennedy 12, the agency’s experimental in-house school.

CW: the latter part of this episode includes discussion around self-harm that some might find distressing.

This episode was also recorded on Saturday, March 28, 2026 in the Rat’s Nest.

Hosted on Acast. See https://acast.com/privacy for more information.

In our the first half of our first-ever two-parter, the legendary Jelly Helm sits down with Sean to talk about his early career design mistakes… as well as urinal content, slowly becoming the big gray bean cube, and the worst conversations you can have on a long flight. This is interesting to other people—we swear!

Since we recorded more than 3 hours together in studio, I broke our conversation in two to give you as much of the good stuff we talked about without needing to lose any of it. Listen in two weeks for part 2, where we’ll talk about his more recent career milestones including Wieden+Kennedy 12, Studio Jelly, and more. Subscribe wherever you get the show to hear that episode as soon as it drops!

Jelly Helm is a creative director, brand advisor, and educator based in Portland, Oregon. As founder of Studio Jelly, he provides thoughtful creative leadership and trusted brand partnership to organizations seeking to powerfully express who they are and what they are about.

Previously, Jelly served as Executive Creative Director at Wieden+Kennedy, Group Creative Director at The Martin Agency, and Creative Director at Wieden+Kennedy Amsterdam. He was also founding faculty at VCU Brandcenter and founder/director of Wieden+Kennedy 12, the agency’s experimental in-house school.

This episode was recorded on Saturday, March 28, 2026 in the Rat’s Nest.

Hosted on Acast. See https://acast.com/privacy for more information.

This might be the first you’re hearing of it, but we feel very strongly you should listen to a new episode of Did I Do That?! Rinee Shah (Executive Creative Director at Hatch) sits down with Sean to talk about her design mistakes… as well as chinchilla celebrations, ceremonial cream cheese tastings, and Sleepytime satanic panics.

Rinee Shah is a creative director and illustrator, based in Portland, Oregon. She is a 2023 Ad Age 40 Under 40 honoree and is currently Executive Creative Director at Hatch. In the last few years, she’s led creative for Oatly in North America, created an episodic video series for Spotify, creative directed Snapchat’s first global TV campaign, led prototype-building product design sprints for Kodak and published three illustrated books. Her illustration clients include The New York Times, NY Mag, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, Inside Hook, BuzzFeed News, O Magazine, Apple, IDEO, and Simon & Schuster.

You can find Rinee’s work online at http://rineeshah.com, and on Instagram as @rineeshah. You can get her latest book with David Roth, LOL 101: A Kid’s Guide to Writing Jokes, from Chronicle Books directly, or from tons of other booksellers including Amazon, Powells, or a local retailer near you via Bookshop.com)! You can find her previous book, The Made-Up Words Project, on her website, Amazon, and many more places!

I have given us a mission, listeners! Let’s get Justin Hager of the Partanna Mission Spicy Pepper Olive Oil his accolades: please go and review this good can design anywhere you can review the product itself and let them know that it is Sleepytime Tea hell. Maybe if we’re lucky, we can get a very weird collaboration going! A few places I’ve found it that offer reviews: Amazon; Partanna Foods’ own page for the Mission Spicy Pepper Olive Oil; Best Sicily, whatever that is; and probably others, though Zupan’s is disappointingly not among them. That said, you can probably go in there and just tell somebody you think the design is sick!

This episode was recorded Saturday, March 21, 2026 in the Rat’s Nest.

Hosted on Acast. See https://acast.com/privacy for more information.

A new Did I Do That?!? Holy cow, we don't even know how to attack it! Neven Mrgan (Creative Lead at Panic) sits down with Sean to talk about his design mistakes… as well as German dub Darth Vader, turning your company’s office into a mad scientist’s lab, and the Seinfeld Presidential Library.

Neven Mrgan is the Creative Lead at Portland very own Panic. Born in Croatia, he moved to the US in the 1990s, where he has pursued a career in design, software development, videogame design, and occasional writing and event production. His personal interests include cooking & eating, books, and psychedelic music.

You can learn more about Neven by visiting his website, mrgan.com; there, you can find links to his games, his blog, and his book, Have You Tried Sketch?. Panic’s latest game, Big Walk by House House, is coming later this year, but in the mean time, you can see their whole library of games, Mac software, and even pick up a Playdate at https://panic.com/. If you want to hear more about Panic’s history and even more on some of the stories we touched on in this episode, give a listen to The Panic Podcast (new season out now!), produced by Neven’s partner Christa Mrgan!

This episode was recorded on Saturday, March 14 2026 in The Rat’s Nest.

—

Like this episode? Subscribe wherever you found this podcast, or visit us on the web to see all the options.

Subscribe to the newsletter and get each episode delivered to your inbox.

Hosted on Acast. See https://acast.com/privacy for more information.

Put on your biggest, fuzziest Jamiroquai hat because this Did I Do That? is virtually insane! Illustrator, art director, set designer, game maker, and more Emily Suvanvej (AKA Emy Su) sits down with Sean to talk about her design mistakes… as well as comforting crustaceans, “gardening,” and The Backrooms at the mall.

Emily Suvanvej is an award-winning, Thai-American designer & illustrator who lives at the crossroads of visual mischief and lovingly-crafted imperfection. Formerly an Art Director at BUCK, she’s worked with top brands like Spotify, Nike, YouTube, and The New Yorker, and was recently a core creative force behind BUCK's first game called Let’s! Revolution!.

You can peek at Emily's work at http://emy-su.com/, or send her your favorite lost media on instagram at @emy_su. You can find the link to the many places you can get Let’s! Revolution! (including Steam, Xbox, Playstation, and Nintendo Switch) from its website, https://www.letsrevolution.com/. You can see Emily’s production design work for the Fergie’s "Love is Blind" and Zed’s Dead “Too Young” music videos on YouTube.

This episode was recorded on Saturday, January 31, 2026 in the Rat’s Nest.

📣 WANT EVEN MORE ABOUT THIS EPISODE, AND/OR A VERY WEIRD BLOG POST VAGUELY RELATED TO THE OPENING BIT? Check out the show's newsletter for my Rome Transit Report, as well as other bits and bobs from our past two episodes this season.

Hosted on Acast. See https://acast.com/privacy for more information.

Why not make a new Did I Do That? All the listeners could say is no! Katie McHugh (Group Design Director at Wieden+Kennedy) sits down with Sean to talk about her design mistakes… as well as pledge drive phone banks, magical janitors, and Spartacus’ bulk aisle.

Katie McHugh is a Design Director at Wieden and Kennedy. She has also played strategist, senior art director, 3D space and experiential designer, digital designer, stylist, painter, and sculptor. She has worked for brands including Nike, Old Spice, KFC, Coca-Cola, Weight Watchers, GoPuff, Trolli candy, Laika movies, EA Games, Velveeta, Travel Oregon, Samsung, Quibi, P&G, Fisher-Price and more. She is fiercely loyal, always looking to elevate my EQ, a risk-taker and a mediator. She believes in the power of good design, strategy, and branding.

You can find Katie’s work, including glimpses of her Dante’s Inferno, Coraline, Velveeta, and KFC projects mentioned in this episode, at https://www.mcwhatever.com/. Additional thanks to the great Macy Eiesland for just being rad.

This episode was recorded 1 February 2026 in the Rat’s Nest.

Hosted on Acast. See https://acast.com/privacy for more information.

Did I Do That? is back again, even though every time someone says that, it presages a disaster. Globetrotting art director, father, and genuine jack-of-all-trades Sam O’Leary sits down with Sean for our season 8 premiere to talk about his creative missteps… as well as the “good” stuff “kids” go for, woofing, and North America: where everybody knows your name.

Sam O’Leary is a maker, storyteller, and professional tinkerer who has been making a glorious mess since 1986 — in art, life, work, and in all the places they overlap. Whether it’s a large-scale identity system or a one-off handmade object, Sam values the same things: resonance over reach, clarity over cleverness, and good questions above all. Over the years, he's worked on brand strategy, narrative frameworks, illustration, animation, sculpture, motion design, set design and build, woodworking, hand-painted signage, murals. public installations, props, books, toys, posters, whimsy, good times — and probably many things he's forgotten. Originally from Wellington, Aotearoa, Sam is now based in Portland, Oregon, where he lives with his partner and their three wonderful, wild children.

You can find Sam’s work and more at his website, http://conduction.co.nz/! You can also find him on Instagram at @samolearypresents; there, you can check out the “Artisan Designer for Hire” box he made for OMFGCO that we talk about in the episode, as well as lots of his other work!

Special thanks to the great Sarah Hollowood for connecting Sam and I for this episode—you rock!

This episode was recorded 10 January 2026 in the Rat’s Nest.

Hosted on Acast. See https://acast.com/privacy for more information.

Season 8 is on our doorstep, with the next thing you hear here being the season 8 trailer! In the mean time, though, we've got another awesome all-timer from the archives to share—the great Eason Yang (founder and design director of NED: Not Entirely Dead, and more recently of AIGA New York's board) made the trek down from Seattle on St. Patrick’s Day 2023 to talk with Sean about looking for Lebron (in all the wrong places), working for dinosaurs, and resume hacking.

You can find Eason on his website, http://eason.design, or on LinkedIn.

Whether you’re a cancer survivor, have a resume gap, or just want to learn more, you can find out about NED and join the community at https://www.notentirelydead.org/ or on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/we-are-ned/. If you have a gap in your resume, use NED as your employer on LinkedIn to give you context for it, and tell a friend if they’re in the same boat too! NED won 365: AIGA’s Year in Design Award in the category of Social Design in 2021, and was named one of Fast Company’s 2023 World Changing Idea honorees!

This episode was recorded on Friday, March 17, 2023. One more special thanks to Eason for driving down to Portland to record this, of all things!

⭐️ HELP SHAPE THIS SHOW’S FUTURE! ⭐️

‍Please take the Did I Do That? Listener Survey at http://tiny.cc/thatsurvey!

Hosted on Acast. See https://acast.com/privacy for more information.

Season 8 is drawing closer, but in the meantime, we're sharing yet another past favorite, this time from the amazing Kristin Rogers Brown, now full Professor, Chair of Graphic Design, and Director of the Center for Design at Pacific Northwest College of Art). Way back in September 2023 as part of season 3, Kristin joined Sean to talk nightmarish mascots, the corporate handshake aesthetic, and pencils that say stuff.

You can find Kristin’s work—including some of the work at Bitch Magazine and Bear Deluxe— online at https://krbee.com/, or on Instagram @krbee! You can find even more of Kristin's academic work through the PNCA website!

—

⭐️ HELP SHAPE THIS SHOW’S FUTURE! ⭐️

Please take the Did I Do That? Listener Survey at http://tiny.cc/thatsurvey!

Hosted on Acast. See https://acast.com/privacy for more information.

It’s a new year, and to celebrate while I dive deep into prep mode for season 8, I’ve picked out one of my past favorites to share again—freelance designer, grad student, and fellow Portland Institute for Contemporary Art design alum Mallary Wilson joined me way back in June of 2023 to talk inadvertently inappropriate imagery, erasers shaped like food items, and hoarding AOL hours. It’s an episode that’s unforgivably uncool, but we can dig it!

You can find Mallary on the web at http://mallarydesigns.com or @mallarydesigns on Instagram—if you work at an agency and are looking for somebody killer to bring onto your team, reach out! If you’re wondering what the heck we’re talking about with regards to PICA and TBA and all, that, check out https://pica.org—those around Portland may know them for their annual Time-Based Art (TBA) Festival, which will be celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. It is a weird, good time, and brings parts of the artistic globe to Portland you might never see otherwise.

—

⭐️ HELP SHAPE THIS SHOW’S FUTURE! ⭐️

Please take the Did I Do That? Listener Survey at http://tiny.cc/thatsurvey!

Hosted on Acast. See https://acast.com/privacy for more information.

What’s the worst project you’ve ever made—the one you almost cringe to think about sharing with the world? It’s a feeling every designer can identity. But what if you had a chance to fish it out of the proverbial trash can and pit it toe-to-toe against some of your peers’ worst-ever work live on stage, with the hope of having it named “Worst in Show?”

Did I Do That? Scrapes the Bottom of the Barrel did just that this past summer at Seattle Design Festival with special guests Isabella Medina and Maxwell Miller—and now you can hear it to celebrate our fourth anniversary and the end of season seven!

Both Isa and Max are former students of mine now based in the greater Seattle area. You can follow Isa on Instagram as @is.medina, or as part of the community event series ¡snack time!, which also hosted an event during this year’s Seattle Design Festival! You can follow Max on Instagram as @stoned_cold_316, or near you at your local LINE ski and snowboard reseller!

Bottom of the Barrel was presented live on stage at Seattle Design Festival in Lake Union Park on Saturday, August 16, 2025. Huge thanks to our competitors, Isabella and Max, for their generosity and good humor in being so game to be part of such a bizarre idea—you absolutely rocked it! Additional thanks to Seattle Design Festival for hosting us once again, and special thanks again to Adrian Pacheco and all our incredible SDF volunteers for helping to make this show happen!

—

An audio note: This recording unfortunately has a few noticeable audio issues; while I’ve done my best to improve things, these issues were also present on stage which is most evident during my opening monologue. Luckily, this improves as the show goes on, but apologies for the more-than-occasional lost syllable here and there.

What work are they competing over? You can follow along using the slide deck with all the work our competitors brought here (PDF).

Rather watch than listen? Check out the full video of the event, along with images of the work being discussed, on the Seattle Design Festival YouTube channel.

Hosted on Acast. See https://acast.com/privacy for more information.