🧠 What do LEGO logos, hand-puppet dreams, citrus gadgets, and naming things "Turbo" have in common? They're all part of Dan Cederholm’s design universe — and part of this wide-ranging, joy-filled second half of our conversation.
In this episode, Dan returns to talk about:
• Embracing constraints as a creative fuel source
• Naming fonts after misspelled words (because ... domains)
• The delightful hellscape of naming anything in tech
• Why imposter syndrome might actually be useful
• And how a puppet changed everything at Font Awesome 🧡
🎧 It’s a show-and-tell episode full of unexpected design wisdom, warm fuzzies, and orange peelers.
What We Cover in This Episode:
• 🧠 Dan’s creative process: one font at a time
• 🚫 Naming things is still the hardest problem in tech
• 🐀 The birth of the Font Possum Puppet
• 🧃 The power of a really good citrus squeezer
• 🤖 Why AI can’t fake taste (yet)
• 💌 Why Dan's newsletter works (and yours could too)
• 😵💫 Making peace with imposter syndrome
• 🧩 Why being weird is a superpower
⏱️ Timestamps
00:00 – Intro
01:15 – The creative process of typeface design
04:04 – Naming fonts is a nightmare
06:05 – The importance of naming & branding
12:25 – Imposter syndrome in the creative industry
18:15 – A puppet changed everything
22:31 – Why a newsletter is like old-school blogging
29:03 – Orange peelers, joy, and the power of small specificity
37:17 – The impact of creativity
38:14 – Building community through creativity
41:16 – Wrap up with Dan Cederholm
42:24 – Final Thoughts & Credits
📌 Links & Resources
• Dan Cederholm → https://simplebits.com
• Dan's newsletter → https://simplebits.com/newsletter
• Turbo Typeface → https://simplebits.com/fonts
• Font Possum cameo → [FontAwesome YouTube Channel]
• BrickLink Studio (Lego design app) → https://www.bricklink.com/v3/studio
Stay up to date on all the Font Awesomeness!
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