Avsnitt
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Haraldur "Halli" Thorleifsson built the design agency Ueno from nothing, sold it to Twitter in 2021, and made a decision almost nobody makes: he structured the sale so he'd pay as much tax as possible, in Iceland, on purpose. Because Iceland is the country that gave a kid from a poor family with muscular dystrophy the chance to build something in the first place.
Then he started Ramp Up, which has put almost 2,000 wheelchair ramps across Iceland and is now expanding to Ukraine and Panama. And six or eight months ago, he rebooted Ueno to work on design in the AI era, because, in his words, he was bored, and his brain needs a problem to chew on. This was not the lightest conversation I've had on the show. It might be one of the most worth your time.
In this episode:
Why he chose to pay the tax everyone told him to avoidGrowing up poor with muscular dystrophySeeing the world as decisions people made, or didn't makeRamp Up: from 100 ramps in Reykjavik to almost 2,000 across IcelandThe Musk moment, and what it taught him about perception vs realityBuilding Ueno twice, and designing beyond the text box in the AI eraGetting humbled by users again and again, and going again anywayWhat AI means for young designers entering the industryThe decision to stop drinking that changed everythingKids, independence, and the sweater he can't unravelTimestamps: 00:00 Meeting Halli Thorleifsson 00:40 Choosing to pay the tax in Iceland 06:40 Growing up poor with muscular dystrophy 09:29 Starting Ramp Up, and the world as decisions 12:06 Progress, and the case for impatience 14:52 The Musk moment, and perception vs reality 16:30 What he's building now, and getting humbled by users 18:59 Why he rebooted Ueno 24:05 What AI means for young designers 27:47 Sharing a studio with his artist wife 31:19 Getting sober, the decision that changed everything 33:13 New York, Tokyo and the cities that shaped him 35:03 What children force you to become 41:56 Creativity as building his own world 43:18 The sweater he can't unravel 45:54 What people should know about Iceland 49:15 Advice to eight-year-old Halli
Find Halli here:
Website: https://www.haraldurthorleifsson.com/Ueno: https://www.ueno.co/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/haraldurthorleifsson/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/haraldur-thorleifsson-359aaa5b/Find me here:
Website: https://captnoffscript.comInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/captnoffscriptThis week's Friday bonus: Halli and I go deeper into the rebuilding: rebuilding yourself brick by brick, the boxes he packed away as a kid and never looked into, and what surfaced when the numbness lifted after 20 years. It goes to newsletter subscribers first, a week before it's public. Subscribe at https://captn.myflodesk.com/newsletter.
If you enjoyed this episode, leaving a 5-star rating on Apple Podcasts or Spotify takes less than a minute and helps more people find the show. I'd be incredibly grateful.
If you liked this episode, listen to: Radim Malinic (S02/E34) — Halli says creativity let him build a world he wanted to live in; Radim's episode is the other side of that same coin.
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Some people walk a straight line into design. Teresa Ferreira dug her way in, through archaeology. She was born in Lisbon, spent part of her childhood in Macau, has lived in London for nineteen years, ran design at the Financial Times, and now runs her own studio, Ferrgood. When I said she felt like the whole world in one person, I wasn't exaggerating.
What I didn't expect was how much of this conversation would be about slowing down and letting go. Teresa was talked out of art as a kid, found her way back through archaeological illustration, burned out twice, and eventually learned to release the idea of a perfect day that had been quietly setting her up to fail every single evening.
In this episode:
Growing up between Lisbon, Macau and LondonBeing talked out of art, and finding design through archaeologyFrom museum graphics to head of design at the Financial TimesBuilding brands that last, and why she thinks in centuriesLeaving the safety of a big brand, and the self-doubt that came with itBurning out twice, and what finally made her leaveThe "perfect day" she chased that set her up to failChoosing a slower life, and getting good at saying noThe one drawing she'd keep if she had to delete everything elseTimestamps: 00:00 Meeting Teresa Ferreira 01:25 Growing up between Lisbon, Macau and London 04:04 The unlikely path from archaeology to design 10:35 Moving into graphic design and the Financial Times 13:00 Building brands that last 16:50 Self-doubt, and leaving the safety of big brands 19:28 Burning out, twice 25:03 The perfect balanced day 29:48 Letting go of perfectionism 33:43 Choosing a slower life 40:24 Journaling and daily practice 46:13 The drawing she'd keep, and advice to young Teresa
Find Teresa here:
Website: https://www.ferrgoodstudio.com/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/teresaferrgoodstudio/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ferreirateresa/Find me here:
Website: https://captnoffscript.comInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/captnoffscriptThis week's Friday bonus: Teresa and I go deep on imposter syndrome, why it never goes away, how to catch it by asking "whose voice is that?", and why the numbers have nothing to do with your worth. It goes to newsletter subscribers first, a week before it's public. Subscribe at https://captn.myflodesk.com/newsletter.
If you enjoyed this episode, leaving a 5-star rating on Apple Podcasts or Spotify takes less than a minute and helps more people find the show. I'd be incredibly grateful.
If you liked this episode, listen to: Kristof Devos (S02/E31) — another conversation about slowing down, resisting the hustle, and building a calmer creative life.
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Saknas det avsnitt?
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This is the fourth bonus episode of Captn OffScript. When Gemma O'Brien and I recorded her main episode, we got into burnout and flow, and I held that part back for this.
It went to newsletter subscribers first as a private YouTube link. Today it's available here too.
Gemma has talked about burnout in a lot of other interviews, so I didn't want to rehash it. What I wanted, as someone who leans towards overworking, was the thing underneath it: how she sees it coming, and what she actually does about it now. Her answer was calmer than I expected. She's made peace with burnout by treating it as information about her process rather than a catastrophe. She talks about a sweet spot, too much work and you burn out, too little and you're bored and understimulated, and about looking after the foundations: sleep, rest, human connection, nature. Then we got into flow, which she's now studying formally, reading neuroscience papers on the very thing she's spent her life inside. Her line on it: she's like a chef who cooks an incredible meal for someone else, then comes home and eats McDonald's.
In this conversation we talked about:
Why she's made peace with burnoutThe sweet spot between overworking and being understimulatedThe foundations that make high-level work sustainableStudying flow state from the outside, and why that's trickyWhy flow matters more as AI makes everything convenientTimestamps: [Awaiting confirmation]
The main episode this bonus extends: S02/E35 — Gemma O'Brien on Getting Bored of Herself & Refusing to Pick One Thing https://captnoffscript.com/s02-e35-gemma-obrien-bored-of-herself
Find Gemma here:
Website: https://www.gemmaobrien.com/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mrseaves101LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/studiogemmaobrien/Find me here:
captnoffscript.com@captnoffscriptIf this resonated, listen to: Radim Malinic (S02/E34) — another conversation about overwork, the cost of doing too much, and learning to look after yourself.
This was the fourth Captn OffScript bonus episode. Newsletter subscribers get future bonuses on YouTube a week before they reach the podcast feeds. Subscribe at https://captn.myflodesk.com/newsletter.
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This is the third bonus episode of Captn OffScript. When Radim Malinic and I recorded his main episode, the conversation about fear came near the end, and it was good enough that I kept it back for this.
It went to newsletter subscribers first as a private YouTube link. Today it's available here too.
It's short, and it's the most reassuring thing I've put out in a while. Radim used to think you could unlearn fear, get rid of it entirely, and then realised you can't. Fear isn't a fault in the system. It's the system doing what it was built to do. We've been wired by evolution to look out for things that could kill us, and that wiring hasn't changed even though the threats have. So when you think about sharing your work with a thousand strangers, your body runs the exact same programme it would run for a sabre-tooth tiger in the bushes. Same mechanism, same flood of fear. The line I'd want you to keep: when you freeze, ask whether the tiger is actually coming. Most of the time, it isn't.
In this conversation we talked about:
Why fear can't be unlearned, only understoodWhy your brain treats sharing your work like a sabre-tooth tigerHow we're wired for survival but live in an era of pleasureWhy the reward only comes after the difficult partReal risk versus the risk your body inventsFear as a sensation you can work withThe question to ask when you freezeThe main episode this bonus extends: S02/E34 — Radim Malinic on Creativity as Escape & Becoming More of Who You Already Are https://captnoffscript.com/s02-e34-radim-malinic-creativity-as-escape
Find Radim here:
Website: https://radimmalinic.co.uk/Podcast: https://radimmalinic.co.uk/podcast/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/radim.malinic/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brandnu/Find me here:
captnoffscript.com@captnoffscriptIf this resonated, listen to: CJ Cawley (S02/E32) — another conversation about doing the work and putting yourself out there even when everything tells you not to.
This was the third Captn OffScript bonus episode. Newsletter subscribers get future bonuses on YouTube a week before they reach the podcast feeds. Subscribe at https://captn.myflodesk.com/newsletter.
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Gemma O'Brien is a lettering artist, a fine artist, a muralist, and most recently a student of neuroaesthetics. She's painted a billboard in Times Square, had work acquired by a museum, and she has a public Strava profile on her website, because running is as much a part of her as the lettering is. I'd been trying to get her on the show for a long time, and the hardest part was knowing where to start.
So we talked about how someone ends up doing this many things at once, and why she has no intention of narrowing it down. The line that stayed with me: after ticking off every career goal she'd ever dreamed of, she went back to university because she'd grown "almost bored of myself."
In this episode:
Her intuitive path from law to lettering to neuroscienceWhy she has Strava on her website, and runs to galleriesThe 2008 video she uploaded by accident that launched her careerGoing back to school after a Times Square billboard and a museum acquisitionGetting bored of herself, and wanting to feel fresh on stage againWhere her love of lettering really came fromRefusing to pick one thing, and making peace with the boring partsStill feeling imposter syndrome, and forgetting her own achievementsThe one word she'd keep if she had to destroy everything elseFind Gemma here:
Website: https://www.gemmaobrien.com/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mrseaves101LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/studiogemmaobrien/Find me here:
captnoffscript.com@captnoffscriptThis week's Friday bonus: Gemma and I go deeper into burnout and the flow state, the hidden cost of doing this much, and what it takes to protect your focus. It goes to newsletter subscribers first, a week before it's public. Subscribe at https://captn.myflodesk.com/newsletter.
If you enjoyed this episode, leaving a 5-star rating on Apple Podcasts or Spotify takes less than a minute and helps more people find the show. I'd be incredibly grateful.
If you liked this episode, listen to: Jessica Hische (S02/E21) — another lettering artist on building a creative life on her own terms, and why imposter syndrome never fully goes away.
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This is the second bonus episode of Captn OffScript. When Martyna Wędzicka and I recorded her main episode, we spent most of it on the past and the present. But right at the end, I asked her where she's heading next, and the answer was so warm and so hopeful that I held it back for this.
It went to newsletter subscribers first as a private YouTube link. Today it's available here too.
It's a short one, and a lovely one. Martyna noticed a pattern in her own career: roughly every four to five years, she rediscovers herself and her style. She thinks she's at the edge of one of those cycles right now, and the next thing turns out to be knitting. Her husband calls what she makes "her posters, made of yarn." She talks about fabric as another canvas, the same design thinking carried out in a different material, and about choosing the handmade on purpose as a counterweight to AI. And then the line I can't stop thinking about: graphic designers don't retire.
In this conversation we talked about:
The four-to-five-year pattern of reinventing herselfKnitting, and why her husband calls it "posters made of yarn"Fabric as another canvas for the same design thinkingMaking things by hand as a counter to AIHow she actually uses AI, and where she won'tWhy graphic designers don't retireMaybe becoming a fashion designer in ten yearsThe main episode this bonus extends: S02/E33 — Martyna Wędzicka on Being Weird, Polish Design & Why You Can't Rush Your Style https://captnoffscript.com/s02-e33-martyna-wedzicka-being-weird-style
Find Martyna here:
Website: https://www.wedzicka.com/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wedzicka_com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/martyna-w%C4%99dzicka-obuchowicz-69343252/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wedzickaFind me here:
captnoffscript.com@captnoffscriptThis was the second Captn OffScript bonus episode. Newsletter subscribers get future bonuses on YouTube a week before they reach the podcast feeds. Subscribe at https://captn.myflodesk.com/newsletter.
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Radim Malinic has been a role model of mine for years. He's a designer, a writer, a speaker, he runs the agency Brand Nu, he hosts his own podcast, and he's built a whole philosophy around the idea of daring creativity. I expected this conversation to be about all of that output. Instead it became one of the most honest talks I've had on the show, about the cost of the work and the years he spent hiding inside it.
He told me he once thought he was the happiest person in the world while crying into his birthday cake from overwork. We talked about creativity as escape, growing up in Czechoslovakia and wanting to blend in as an immigrant, reaching therapy at forty, and the philosophy he built out of all of it: become more of who you already are, because everyone else is taken.
In this episode:
What daring creativity actually meansBecoming "singular" and refusing to compare yourselfDoing things before he knew how, an agency before he'd ever worked in oneThe immigrant who wanted to be called John SmithLooking like the happiest person in the world while burning outCreativity as a way to hide from himselfReaching therapy at forty, and unlearning the stigma he grew up withRadical accountability and the anger he didn't know he hadWhy he'd happily delete all his work and start the next mountainFind Radim here:
Website: https://radimmalinic.co.uk/Podcast: https://radimmalinic.co.uk/podcast/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/radim.malinic/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brandnu/Find me here:
captnoffscript.com@captnoffscriptThis week's Friday bonus: Radim and I go deep on fear, why you can't unlearn it, and why your brain treats sharing your work with strangers like a sabre-tooth tiger in the bushes. It goes to newsletter subscribers first, a week before it's public. Subscribe at https://captn.myflodesk.com/newsletter.
If you enjoyed this episode, leaving a 5-star rating on Apple Podcasts or Spotify takes less than a minute and helps more people find the show. I'd be incredibly grateful.
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his is the first-ever bonus episode of Captn OffScript. CJ Cawley and I recorded the main S02/E32 conversation for over an hour and twenty minutes, and somewhere around the hour mark it took a turn that didn't belong in the main episode and didn't deserve to be cut either.
So we held it back. It went to newsletter subscribers first as a private YouTube link. Today it's available here too.
This is the more personal part of our conversation. CJ talks openly about growing up on a council estate in London, leaving home at 16, and cutting ties with his family two to three years ago. I share my own parallel story for the first time in public — Bosnia, a relationship with my mum that I'm grateful for, and most of the rest of the family almost non-existent.
It's a conversation about the scripts we were given as kids, the partners who helped us rewrite them, and finding home far from where we started.
If this is one you needed to hear, I hope it does for you what it did for us when we were having it.
In this conversation we talked about:
The script you're given by your parents as a childLeaving home at 16 and living above a pubCutting ties with family after years of tryingThe partners who saw the good part firstFinding home far from where we startedWhy we wouldn't change it, even if we couldThe main episode this bonus extends: S02/E32 — CJ Cawley: Getting Cloned, Getting Married & Showing Up Anyway https://captnoffscript.com/s02-e32-cj-cawley-showing-up-anyway
Find CJ here:
Website: https://www.cjcawley.com/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@cjcawleydesignSticky Notes podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@WeAreStickyNotesInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/cj.cawley.design/Find me here:
captnoffscript.com@captnoffscriptThis was the first-ever Captn OffScript bonus episode. Newsletter subscribers get future bonuses on YouTube a week before they reach the podcast feeds. Subscribe at https://captn.myflodesk.com/newsletter.
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Martyna Wędzicka is a Polish graphic designer from Gdańsk with one of the most distinctive styles working today. She's a member of Alliance Graphique Internationale, a two-time winner of the Polish Graphic Design Awards, and she built her entire body of work on something most designers are taught to avoid: mistakes.
"I really wanted to destroy something," she told me. "That was my main goal."
We talked about what that actually means, why finding your style takes ten years and not ten hours, and what it's like to be a designer from a part of Europe the rest of the world keeps overlooking.
In this conversation we got into:
Why she builds her style out of chance, error, and "organising mistakes"The truth she tells students about how long style really takesLeaving her own studio because she'd become a project manager, not a designerWhy being "not Western enough" turned into her biggest strengthKeeping a Polish name on purpose, and her mission to make Polish design visibleBeing the weird kid in a Polish village, and why that's where style is born🎙️ This week's Friday bonus: Martyna shares where she's heading next — the reinvention pattern she's spotted in her career, why she's knitting now, what she's making with her hands in an AI-driven world, and why graphic designers don't retire. Newsletter subscribers get it first, as a private link. Subscribe at https://captn.myflodesk.com/newsletter.
Timestamps:
00:00 Introduction04:35 A Polish name, and making Polish design visible07:33 Leaving the studio to design again10:41 Why her style never stops shifting13:38 What recognition actually took16:37 Turning mistakes into a style19:34 Why style takes years, not hours22:27 Breaking into the global design world32:27 Visual identity through an art-history lens35:14 Finding what makes you different39:55 Weirdness as the source of style43:31 What nine years of art school did to her47:04 Teaching, and how to give good feedback50:24 Why she'd rather open minds than teach softwareFind Martyna here:
Website: https://www.wedzicka.com/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wedzicka_com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/martyna-w%C4%99dzicka-obuchowicz-69343252/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wedzickaFind me here:
captnoffscript.com@captnoffscriptIf you enjoyed this episode, leaving a 5-star rating on Apple Podcasts or Spotify takes less than a minute and helps more people find the show. I'd be incredibly grateful. 🙏
If you liked this episode, listen to: Marta Cerdà Alimbau (S02/E26) — another European designer with an unmistakable, art-led personal style and a deep relationship with craft.
For the conversations behind the episodes, including the occasional Friday bonus, subscribe at https://captn.myflodesk.com/newsletter.
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CJ Cawley is having the strangest year of his career. Someone built a pixel-for-pixel clone of his website and replaced his face with theirs. A parody video of him triggered a wave of hate inside the design community. He's getting married this weekend. And through all of it, he keeps showing up on camera.
This is one of the episodes I've been most looking forward to publishing all season. We recorded for over an hour and twenty minutes, and the conversation went so deep that the most personal part is going out as a separate bonus episode. The main one is here.
The bonus drops Friday as the first-ever exclusive bonus episode of Captn OffScript, available only to newsletter subscribers for the first 7 days. Subscribe at https://captn.myflodesk.com/newsletter.
In this episode we talked about:
The website clone called Delwox and his perfect retaliationThe parody video and the pile-on inside the design communityGetting married this weekend with a surf simulator and an aerial hoopPsoriasis, the camera, and why no one cares what you look likeSticky Notes and four years of private calls with Jack before pressing recordThe McDonald's theory of AIKnob head tax and interviewing clients before saying yesThe loneliness of going freelance, and the friend who pulled him through itWhat he's most grateful for in the year before his wedding🎙️ The bonus episode on Friday: CJ and I share the most personal part of our conversation, about childhood, family, and rewriting the script you were given as a kid. Newsletter subscribers only for the first 7 days. Subscribe at https://captn.myflodesk.com/newsletter.
Timestamps: [Awaiting confirmation]
Find CJ here:
Website: https://www.cjcawley.com/Studio (Seeside Studio): https://www.seesidestudio.com/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@cjcawleydesignSticky Notes podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@WeAreStickyNotesInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/cj.cawley.design/Find me here:
https://captnoffscript.com/https://www.instagram.com/captnoffscriptIf you liked this episode, listen to... Andy J. Pizza (S02/E30) — another deeply personal conversation about showing up on camera, working with what you've got, and cultivating yourself instead of trying to fix yourself.
If you enjoyed this episode, leaving a 5-star rating on Apple Podcasts or Spotify takes less than a minute and helps more people find the show. I'd be incredibly grateful. 🙏
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Kristof Devos answered the call from his studio in a small town in rural Belgium, with a cat wandering in and out and his daughter's eighth birthday party happening that same afternoon. It felt like the right way to start a conversation about slowing down.
Kristof Devos is an illustrator, a children's book author, a watch designer for the cult London brand Mr Jones Watches, and an art teacher in Bruges. For tax purposes he has two jobs. For himself, it's all one job.
This one stays gentle the whole way through and still lands somewhere deep. We talked about a watch that tells you to slow down, a car crash that reshaped his entire idea of a life worth living, and why he'd rather write a long newsletter that takes fifteen minutes to read than chase likes on a platform he's come to distrust.
In this episode we talked about:
"A Perfectly Useless Afternoon" and the watch about doing nothingHow a ten-minute window of confidence led to Mr Jones WatchesLeaving art direction for a slower life in rural BelgiumThe car crash that changed everything, and the book that came from itWhy he takes two years on twelve spreadsHis new book, Big Brother and Little SisterQuitting Instagram and building through newslettersWhy AI might be a gift to human-made artWhat he hopes survives him in a hundred yearsFind Kristof here:
Website: https://kristofdevos.com/Newsletter (Brief uit het Atelier): https://kristofdevos.com/brief-uit-het-atelier/Podcast (Podlood, in Dutch): https://kristofdevos.com/podlood/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kristoftekent/Find me here:
https://captnoffscript.com/https://www.instagram.com/captnoffscript/If you liked this episode, listen to... Luis Mendo (S02/E29) — Luis appeared on Kristof's podcast, and they share the same instinct: leaving social media behind, building through direct connection, and choosing a slower, more deliberate creative life.
If you enjoyed this episode, leaving a 5-star rating on Apple Podcasts or Spotify takes less than a minute and helps more people find the show. I'd be incredibly grateful. 🙏
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Episode 30 of Season 2. The 80th episode I've recorded since starting this show. And honestly, I couldn't have picked a better guest to mark a milestone like that.
Andy J. Pizza is the host of Creative Pep Talk, an illustrator, a children's book author, and one of the people who has quietly shaped how thousands of designers think about their own creativity. He's also the guy who chose to call himself "Pizza" because his real name made for an ugly URL.
We started this conversation talking about goat cheese pizza in the UK. We ended it somewhere very different — talking about the cave you fear to enter inside yourself, about why his ADHD diagnosis at 25 first devastated him before it freed him, and about a line from his second podcast Right Side Out that I haven't been able to stop thinking about since.
At the end of the recording, Andy told me this was the most personal interview he had ever done.
In this episode we talked about:
Choosing his own name and disobeying YodaADHD as a lens, not a deficitCultivating yourself instead of overcoming yourselfRight Side Out and the line that stops youThe cave you fear to enter, Joseph Campbell, and self-acceptanceTaste as the palette of your soulWhy AI is ending the era of perfect — and why that's a giftWorking with his wife Sophie, the Beatles, and why fighting makes the work betterHis dad's lesson: hard and bad are not the same thingThe most personal closing of the seasonTimestamps:
00:00 Introduction & Three Illustrators in a Row03:12 How Andy J. Miller Became Andy J. Pizza05:53 Pizza Toppings, Goat Cheese & the Best Fries in the World08:36 ADHD, Mental Health & Creative Work09:44 Moving Around as a Kid & the Identity Crisis It Caused15:30 The Seventh Grade Friend Who Loved Boy Bands22:00 On Popularity, Connection & Being Less Cool27:45 Taste as the Palette of Your Soul32:29 Why Follower Count Doesn't Equal Success33:33 Why Instagram Doesn't Taste Good Anymore36:36 How Taste Changes Over Time39:25 Collaborating with His Wife Sophie & the Beatles47:20 Perfectionism, ADHD & the Case for Doing Things Imperfectly58:51 AI, Human Creativity & Why Perfect Is Dead01:01:49 Cultivating Yourself Instead of Fixing YourselfFind Andy here:
Website: https://www.andyjpizza.com/Creative Pep Talk: https://www.creativepeptalk.com/Right Side Out: https://www.andyjpizza.com/rsoInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/andyjpizza/Substack: https://andyjpizza.substack.com/Find me here:
captnoffscript.com@captnoffscriptIf you liked this episode, listen to... Sophia Yeshi (S02/E22) — another deeply honest conversation about self-acceptance, rejection therapy, and unlearning the fear of not being good enough.
If you enjoyed this episode, leaving a 5-star rating on Apple Podcasts or Spotify takes less than a minute and helps more people find the show. I'd be incredibly grateful. 🙏
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He grew up in Salamanca. Spent 20 years as an art director in Amsterdam. His father died. He boarded a plane to Japan for a sabbatical — and 14 years later, he's still there.
Luis Mendo is a Spanish illustrator and the founder of Mundo Mendo — a personal membership project built on illustrated stories, shipped directly to readers with no algorithm in between. This is a conversation about finding your value, choosing happiness, and refusing to make salami for Zuckerberg.
What we cover:
His father's death and why it led him to Japan20 years in Amsterdam — and why he finally chose to leaveAlmost Perfect — six years of welcoming artists into his Tokyo homeWhy social media is dry disgusting bread — and the salami analogyBuilding Mundo Mendo on Ghost, the anti-Substack platformBiking numbered, signed books to the post office himselfWhy he's building something that survives himFinding the value in your work — advice for young illustratorsJapan's exploding independent print and zine sceneAI is for laundry — and what he actually uses it forWhat he wrote in a letter to his daughter growing up in JapanConnect with Luis Mendo:
Website: https://www.luismendo.com/
Mundo Mendo: https://www.mundomendo.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/luismendo
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/luismendo/
Listen and subscribe:
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/captn-offscript/id1837469433
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7nJ5dKTP2dQN5OwICKjTY5
More from Captn OffScript:
Website: https://captnoffscript.com/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CAPTNOffScript
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/captnoffscript
Newsletter: https://captn.myflodesk.com/newsletter
If you liked this episode, listen to: Elliot Jay Stocks (S02/E25) — on building a direct relationship with your audience through newsletters, why human connection matters more than algorithms, and creating work that lasts.
If you enjoyed this episode, leaving a 5-star rating on Apple Podcasts or Spotify takes less than a minute and helps more people find the show. I'd be incredibly grateful. 🙏
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He wakes up at 4:30am. Two kids under two. Three hours of work before the house comes alive. This is how one of the most sought-after artists in America currently operates.
Temi Coker is a Nigerian-American artist and creative director based in Dallas, Texas. His work has appeared in campaigns for Adobe, Apple, ESPN, AT&T, and the Oscars. He launched a home collection with Walmart in 2025. And he will tell you, clearly and without drama, that none of it happened by accident — it happened because he kept making the work he wanted to be hired for, long before anyone asked him to.
What we cover:
Growing up in Lagos — limitations, bottle-cap football, and a love of colourMoving to Canada and then Texas at 12, navigating two Black identities at onceLeaving biomedical engineering to pursue design — and why he doesn't regret eitherSeven years of head-down work before the Adobe Creative Residency changed everythingHow a pillow he made for fun led to the Walmart home collectionApple said no four or five times — he now has 20+ collaborations with themFinancial literacy for creatives — the conversation nobody is havingRunning a photography studio, a clothing brand, and raising two kids under twoLearning to actually accept a complimentConnect with Temi Coker:
Website: https://temicoker.co
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/temi.coker
Listen and subscribe:
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/captn-offscript/id1837469433
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7nJ5dKTP2dQN5OwICKjTY5
More from Captn OffScript:
Website: https://captnoffscript.com/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CAPTNOffScript
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/captnoffscript
Newsletter: https://captn.myflodesk.com/newsletter
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She chose graphic design over photography because she couldn't afford a camera. She chose it over philosophy because her teacher said get work first, study ideas later. Now she runs a studio of exactly three people, plays guitar in an all-women punk band with no expectations, writes articles on the bus, and has just started her philosophy degree.
Ingrid Picanyol is a Catalan graphic designer based in Barcelona — and one of the most quietly profound conversations of the season.
What we cover:
Growing up in the "Catalan Liverpool" — small town, punk band, leaving home at 16$12 a day in New York, sleeping on couches, investing in a careerWhy she keeps her studio to exactly three people — and why that mattersHow a developer noticed her design process is basically poetryWriting articles on the bus — and the Set Margins book coming from itWhy design can't satisfy every creative need — and what to do about itSending voice messages to ChatGPT asking what Plato thinks about difficult clientsStudying philosophy in her forties — and why now is finally the right momentWhat she'd say to her 8-year-old self, who always felt like a strangerConnect with Ingrid Picanyol:
Website: https://ingridpicanyol.com/
Instagram (personal): https://www.instagram.com/ingridpicanyol
Instagram (studio): https://www.instagram.com/ingridpicanyolstudio/
Listen and subscribe:
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/captn-offscript/id1837469433
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7nJ5dKTP2dQN5OwICKjTY5
More from Captn OffScript:
Website: https://captnoffscript.com/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CAPTNOffScript
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/captnoffscript
Newsletter: https://captn.myflodesk.com/newsletter
If you liked this episode, listen to: Marta Cerdà Alimbau (S02/E26) — another deeply personal conversation with a Catalan designer about creative identity, surviving the hard years, and why the work is worth fighting for.
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She designed a Vogue cover during COVID while riding her motorcycle through Barcelona without a helmet. She made over 300 logos before landing on the one for a Nike Haaland campaign. She survived a pandemic across two countries paying two rents simultaneously — and ended up in a farmhouse with bats, eagles, and rats for four months.
Marta Cerdà Alimbau is a Catalan graphic designer, AGI member, and author of Surviving Design. This is one of the most honest, funny, and deeply personal conversations of the season.
What we cover:
Studying psychology before design — and what it gave herThe Vogue Spain cover created from chaos and a deep need for resilienceDesigning Barcelona's Christmas street lights from the iconic panot tileOver 300 logos for a Nike Haaland campaign — and the hidden arrowCOVID across two countries, two rents, and four months in a farmhouse with batsSurviving Design — what the book is really about and why it's actually optimisticComic Sans, context, and what Vincent Connare taught her in 2004The tobacco brief, karma, and the projects she wishes she hadn't takenWhat she'd say to her 10-year-old selfConnect with Marta Cerdà Alimbau:
Website: https://martacerda.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/martacerda/
Listen and subscribe:
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/captn-offscript/id1837469433
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7nJ5dKTP2dQN5OwICKjTY5
More from Captn OffScript:
Website: https://captnoffscript.com/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CAPTNOffScript
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/captnoffscript
Newsletter: https://captn.myflodesk.com/newsletter
If you liked this episode, listen to: Sophia Yeshi (S02/E22) — another deeply personal conversation about identity, building a creative career against the odds, and staying true to yourself through everything.
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He's back. And this time we accidentally planned a Madrid book event live on air.
Elliot Jay Stocks is a designer, writer, editor, and the person behind Fine Specimens — a brand new book showcasing contemporary type design from 69 foundries, including three of mine. We talked about the book, the five-stop tour, joining Adobe after 18.5 years of freelancing, the love-hate relationship with Instagram every creative recognises, and why newsletters and human connection might be the most important things a creative can invest in right now.
What we cover:
Fine Specimens — from failed Kickstarter to published book with 69 foundriesHow typefaces were curated and the challenge of classifying typeThe love-hate relationship with Instagram and why the algorithm is broken for creatorsWhy he prefers newsletters — and the pop-up newsletter concept you need to know aboutJoining Adobe full-time after 18.5 years of freelancingThe 5-stop book tour — and the accidental Madrid plan that happened live on airMusic on hold, guitar is back, and a new book idea on the horizonWhy human connection in creative industries matters more now than everConnect with Elliot Jay Stocks:
Website: https://elliotjaystocks.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elliotjaystocks/
Newsletter: https://elliotjaystocks.com/newsletter
Fine Specimens: https://elliotjaystocks.com/books#fine-specimens
Listen and subscribe:
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/captn-offscript/id1837469433
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7nJ5dKTP2dQN5OwICKjTY5
More from Captn OffScript:
Website: https://captnoffscript.com/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CAPTNOffScript
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/captnoffscript
Newsletter: https://captn.myflodesk.com/newsletter
If you liked this episode, listen to: Jessica Hische (S02/E21) — on serial entrepreneurship, creative reinvention, and building a life entirely on your own terms.
Cover photo by Norman Posselt: https://normanposselt.com/
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He founded Serial Cut in Madrid in 1999. For nearly 30 years it became one of the most recognised creative studios in the world. And then he let it go — not because he failed, but because something new had already taken hold of him completely.
Sergio del Puerto is an art director, image maker, and one of the most influential creatives in the Spanish design industry. This is the story of Serial Cut, ZAGALE, AI, and what it feels like to be 30 years into a career and wake up genuinely excited again.
What we cover:
Growing up in Toledo and arriving in Madrid as a club kid in 1999Building Serial Cut across five techniques over nearly three decadesWhy he dissolved the studio — and why it felt liberatingTraining custom AI models on his own work with LORAZAGALE — the new alter ego, the covered face, and the custom helmetWhy AI is the best creative companion when you feel stuckAction figures, composition, and why his childhood is always in his workHis advice for young designers on portfolios and exploring new mediumsConnect with Sergio del Puerto:
Instagram (ZAGALE): https://www.instagram.com/_zagale_/
Serial Cut: https://serialcut.com
Listen and subscribe:
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/captn-offscript/id1837469433
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7nJ5dKTP2dQN5OwICKjTY5
More from Captn OffScript:
Website: https://captnoffscript.com/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CAPTNOffScript
nstagram: https://www.instagram.com/captnoffscript
Newsletter: https://captn.myflodesk.com/newsletter
If you liked this episode, listen to: Jessica Hische (S02/E21) — on serial entrepreneurship, creative reinvention, and building a life entirely on your own terms.
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She learned Photoshop at 12 on multiple 30-day trials. She got into five art schools and couldn't afford a single one. She moved to New York with no job, no safety net, and no plan B. And then her artwork went around the world on a UPS box.
Sophia Yeshi is a New York-based illustrator whose bold, colourful, inclusive work has appeared in campaigns for Google, Spotify, Adobe, Instagram, and UPS. But this conversation is about the person behind all of it — the mixed-race kid from Baltimore who grew up too fast, taught herself everything, and built a career entirely on her own terms.
What we cover:
Growing up across multiple identities and being othered from birthTeaching herself Photoshop at 12 on repeated 30-day free trialsGetting into five art schools and not being able to afford any of themMoving to New York with no freelance safety net — and figuring it out anywayThe UPS box campaign that went around the worldWhy she's calling this year "rejection therapy"Advice for young illustrators in a shifting industryWhat she'd write in a letter to her eight-year-old selfConnect with Sophia Yeshi:
Website: https://www.yeshidesigns.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sophiayeshi/
Listen and subscribe:
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/captn-offscript/id1837469433
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7nJ5dKTP2dQN5OwICKjTY5
More from Captn OffScript:
Website: https://captnoffscript.com/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CAPTNOffScript
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/captnoffscript
Newsletter: https://captn.myflodesk.com/newsletter
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Lettering legend Jessica Hische sat in a room full of ultra-successful entrepreneurs — and realised they all dreamed of doing exactly what she was already doing. Drums, stained glass, creative hobbies, time with their kids, work they actually love. Her life, right now.
In this episode, we go well beyond the portfolio. Jessica opens up about imposter syndrome, building a creative life entirely on her own terms, co-founding StudioWorks, running two retail stores, writing children's books, and why "happy to be here" might be the most powerful career philosophy there is.
What we cover:
The kindergarten coloring contest that started it allMeeting her husband on Match.com before it was socially acceptableHow she became the Fairy Font Mother at Canva CreateDrums, stained glass, and giving strangers tattoos from her studioWhy she released free tools this week — and why you should careImposter syndrome at every stage of success (and why to worry about people who don't have it)Parenting as curling — the most accurate analogy we've ever heardThe one thing she'd tell her younger selfConnect with Jessica Hische:
Website: https://jessicahische.is
StudioWorks: https://studiowork.app
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jessicahische/
Listen and subscribe:
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/captn-offscript/id1837469433
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7nJ5dKTP2dQN5OwICKjTY5
More from Captn OffScript:
Website: https://captnoffscript.com/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CAPTNOffScript
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/captnoffscript
Newsletter: https://captn.myflodesk.com/newsletter
- Visa fler
