Creative Characters
We live in a world awash in typography - whether we realize it or not. From the road signs that lead us home to the phones in our pockets, typography is front and center in nearly every waking moment of our day. Come meet the people and hear the stories behind the letters that shape our world.
- Update frequency
- every 13 days
- Average duration
- 45 minutes
- Episodes
- 96
- Years Active
- 2021 - 2025
Craig Ward: From metal type to the digital unknown.
From big brands to lego bricks, Craig Ward has left his mark all over the world of typography. This week, host Charles Nix sits down with Craig to talk about his career, his myriad side projects and …
Annie Atkins: Building worlds in film through graphic props and typography.
Today we're welcoming Annie Atkins, a creative in the film industry. She's known for her graphic props and set pieces for Wes Anderson's The Grand Budapest Hotel and Isle of Dogs. She's also done des…
Holly Fraser – Winning Oscars and attention with a purpose-driven brand.
Today we're welcoming Holly Fraser, editor-in-chief at WePresent, WeTransfer's digital arts platform that works with 1,000+ creatives from over 100 countries. Holly was part of the team that commissi…
Mindy Seu - Gathering 30 years of cyberfeminism.
Today we're welcoming Mindy Seu, a New York-based designer, researcher, and assistant professor at Rutgers. Seu recently completed the Cyberfeminism Index, a book documenting more than 700 short entr…
Jason Debiak - Let's start a design agency from scratch.
Today we welcome Jason Debiak, an old friend of our co-host, Carl, and co-founder of Paper Tiger, a family-owned design agency in New Jersey. Jason runs the agency alongside his brother, creating des…
Ximena Amaya – A recent graduate on the role of design in communication, architecture, and protest.
This week we speak with Ximena Amaya, recent graduate of ArtCenter in Pasadena, California by way of Mexico City. Ximena talks about what led her to study graphic design and her passion for using it …
Sarah Boris – On the power of defining yourself as a creative.
Today, we're welcoming Sarah Boris, a London-based artist who runs her own creative studio. Creativity seems to be in her DNA. Tune in as Marie Boulanger, Brand Designer at Monotype talks to Sarah ab…
Nathan Lance - How to build an (authentic) sustainable brand.
This week’s guest is passionate about designing for change. We're welcoming Nathan Lance, creative director at Leap, a B Corp certified design agency in Truro, England. Nathan is here to spill the te…
Andrew Krivine and Michael Worthington - How punk and new wave turned design on its head.
Get ready for a dive into punk rock history! This week’s we're welcoming Andrew Krivine, author and punk rock collector, alongside Michael Worthington, faculty at CalArts and co-founder of Counterspa…
Cristina Pandol - A creative's road to 'Bel-Air.'
This week we're joined by award-winning creative Cristina Pandol, VP Creative at Westbrook Media, an entertainment company founded by Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith. Tune in as our own Bill Connol…
Juan Villanueva - Cultivating a global community through type.
This week’s episode features the first ever guest from Monotype, our very own Juan Villanueva, a senior type designer on the studio team. Outside of the work he does designing typefaces for clients l…
Jennifer Sagalyn & JoAnn Becker - On building an accessible, inclusive digital world.
This week’s guests are Jennifer Sagalyn, Director of Strategic Partnerships, and JoAnn Becker, Assistive Technology Support, Training and Testing Specialist at Perkins Access. Perkins Access is an or…
David Sheldon-Hicks - The designs behind blockbuster moviemaking magic.
Dune. Blade Runner 2049. Spider-Man: Far from Home. Avengers: Endgame. Ready Player One. If you’ve seen any of these big-name blockbusters (along with many others), then you’ve seen the work of this …
Greg Lutze - The power of creative community.
In this week’s episode, our host Bill Connolly chats with all-around creative, Greg Lutze.
Greg is a founder, advisor and artist based out of California. His company, VSCO, started as an app for phot…
Dewey Saunders - Career collage, or: Flip your aesthetic.
In this episode, Senior Content Strategist at Monotype, Kadley Gosselin, is joined by Dewey Bryan Saunders, the mastermind behind album covers for artists like Anderson .Paak, Future, and Turnstile. …
Andrew van der Merwe - Ephemeral calligraphy from the beaches of South Africa.
In the first episode of Season 2, Carl Unger sits down with calligrapher, lettering artist and beach calligrapher. Andrew van der Merwe from Cape Town, South Africa. They discuss the ephemeral nature…
Adam Weiler - Rethinking design thinking for a changed world.
In this week’s episode, Monotype Creative Type Director, Terrance Weinzierl has an inspiring conversation with designer, educator and design thinker, Adam Weiler, who currently leads the social innov…
Chelsea Goldwell - Hard-won lessons on balance, health, and nurturing creativity.
In this episode, our own Bill Connolly is joined by Chelsea Goldwell, partner and creative director at Zero Studios, a digitally-native branding studio. Goldwell shares her experience designing for t…
Dave Addey - Classic sci-fi films and the typography that brought them to life.
Pew pew! Our eighteenth episode goes deep into the world of science fiction films, with a decidedly typographic twist.
Terrance Weinzierl, Creative Type Director at Monotype, talks with Dave Addey, …
Ellen Lupton - On mentorship, relationships of equality, and representation in design.
This week’s guest, Ellen Lupton, has built a prolific career as a writer, educator, and designer. She serves as a senior curator at Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum in New York City, and the …