Did I Do That?

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 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 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 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 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, 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 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, 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 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, 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 notentirelydead.org or on LinkedIn at 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 tiny.cc/thatsurvey! Hosted on Acast. See 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 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 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 tiny.cc/thatsurvey! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Canadian/Australian illustrator and designer Mariah Barnaby-Norris joins Sean to talk about her design mistakes… as well as school photo backdrops, choosing graphic design over a promising career as a rural road work flagger, and THE DID I DO THAT? 2026 TREND REPORT (based entirely on the out-of-date trade and specialty magazines available in downtown Los Angeles’ Central Library).You can keep up with Mariah’s work on Instagram at @mariah_bn, or see her portfolio over at her website, mariahbn.com. As I mentioned in the show, prints of Mariah’s piece from the recent A Sometimes Gallery exhibition “DOG” are available at asometimesgallery.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Fast X your seatbelts! The only graphic designer in Los Angeles, Andrei Dominiq (better known as James Junk), sits down with Sean to talk about his design mistakes… as well as inspirational Photoshop tools, getting trapped in a box of your own creation, and Los Angeles’ angels and demons.You can find Andrei’s work all over Instagram, where the James Junk account originated, at @jamesjunk.co. The James Junk account started with writing about mental health, and I was particularly taken with Andrei’s recent visual essay from early September, “Is It Too Late to Reclaim the Internet?”—give it a read here if you want to read more about the complications of making stuff that doesn’t happen to have the algorithm in mind. You can also see his larger portfolio of work, and get linked out to some of the other stuff he does online, from his website jamesjunk.co!If you want to follow Westin Luca, you can follow them on Instagram as @westinthemascot. Though the Meatball Man is always seeking out followers, it is imperative that you resist his siren call.This episode was recorded in Los Angeles, California, during AIGA Design Conference 2025. Special thanks to Lee-Sean Huang and AIGA for inviting me to attend, and to all the new folks I met there. An even more special thanks to Andrei for being generous enough to host me at his home for this recording—this literally wouldn’t have been possible without you! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ron Bronson (Former Head of Design at 18F, the federal government’s digital services office, as well as champion tennis coach, professor of practice at University of Michigan, radio host, and accidental footwear entrepreneur) joins Sean to talk about his design mistakes, as well as the magical land of Wisconsin, Apple’s thinnest new product, and the dangerous allure of ribbon cuttings.You can find Ron online by searching his name (in your engine of choice) or by going the direct route: visiting ronbronson.com. There, you can find links to Ron’s podcast with Joel Goodman Future Perfect Book Club, as well as many other projects he’s been involved in.The set of design principles and guides the team at 18F developed about how to ship and deliver in the government do indeed live on, and can be freely found at 18f.org; they’re must-read resources for those wanting to do good in public service anywhere and at all levels. Whether you’re in public service or not, though, getting involved in a thing that can help your community is more important and necessary in this time.DID I DO THAT? AT AIGA DESIGN CONFERENCE 2025As of this publication, I am out in Los Angeles at AIGA Design Conference—I'll (hopefully) be recording episodes, but mostly just experiencing the event! See you out there, or follow @dididothat.design on Instagram for updates! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It’s our season 7 premiere! Illustrator, cartoonist, and author Gemma Correll joins Sean to talk about her design mistakes, as well as Beano’s "Attitude" era, copying the Old Masters, and Patience & Fortitude.You can find all of Gemma’s work, including her books and other merch, on the web at gemmacorrell.com! The Worrier’s Guide to Life is the perfect companion to this episode, and a great gift for any Starfleet officers in your life who also happen to be Klingon. You can also follow Gemma as @gemmacorrell on Instagram, Facebook, and tons more platforms to see her comics!This is our seventh season premiere, and if you’re new to the show, this is a great time to get on board! We’ll have new episodes through mid-December, so stick around wherever you heard it, or visit dididothat.design to see more options. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

First Steps is turning 3?! Where does the time go? Gabe and Sean are joined by our favorite Texan, Mycah Brandley, to talk through where emo meets oil, Taco Bell pastels, and prosciutto posters. Plus: Gabe’s Gauntlet and Design Student Confessions!You can find Mycah Brandley on Instagram as @_imagine.nation for his design and @mycahdevin.pdf for his memes. You can also watch Mycah’s Rodeo Roundtable series, which unpacks a little bit more about the class that birthed this project and many others, on the Rodeo Instagram, as @psugdrodeo.You can find about Gabe Bidney as @gabe_bidney on Instagram, or as Gabriel Bidney on LinkedIn. Gabe leads PSUGD Design Club, which you can find about on Instagram as @psudesignclub.Show art by Joel Williams. Music by Nica Mork, with additional compositions by Albert Marlowe/S.I. Publishing and others (licensed through Pond5). Production support by Mycah Brandley.Did I Do That?: First Steps is produced with students from DES 425 Rodeo, part of the Portland State University Graphic Design program. To learn more about PSUGD, visit psu.gd. You can learn more about Rodeo, the class this project was borne from, at psu.gd/rodeo or @psugdrodeo. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Co-hosts Gabe and Sean take their first steps into Did I Do That?: First Steps to talk through Airbnb’s Frutiger Aero, the BREATHTAKING geometry behind the Pepsi Smile, and Prince’s font floppies. Plus: Gabe’s Gauntlet and Design Student Confessions!You can find about Gabe Bidney as @gabe_bidney on Instagram, or on LinkedIn as Gabriel Bidney. Gabe leads PSUGD Design Club, which you can find about on Instagram as @psudesignclub. You can also find Gabe here all throughout summer as co-host of Did I Do That?: First Steps, so check back in this feed or the Did I Do That? website for each episode! New episodes will drop every other Thursday.Show art by Joel Williams. Music by Nica Mork, with additional compositions by Albert Marlowe/S.I. Publishing (licensed from Pond5). Production support by Mycah Brandley.Did I Do That?: First Steps is produced with students from DES 425 Rodeo, part of the Portland State University Graphic Design program. To learn more about PSUGD, visit psu.gd. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.