Happy summer everyone! This marks the final episode of Talk Paper Scissors before I head on my summer/social media sabbatical until September. Today’s episode contains a compilation of voices from DesignThinkers Vancouver from May 2026. The theme of this year’s DesignThinkers conferences is ‘Out of Office’ and I asked conference attendees their favourite out off office reset, as well as their favourite places to disappear when they’re out of office. Voices featured in today’s

Welcome back Magazine Makers! We’re having conversations with magazine-makers— big and small, new and seasoned, independent and commercial—from all over the world, who are sharing what they do and how they do it. This year’s line up includes folks making magazines for kids, art and culture, as well as luxury lifestyle magazines, and a massive global publisher who covers all of this and more. There’s something for everyone in these 4 episodes. This fourth and final episode fe

Welcome back Magazine Makers! We’re having conversations with magazine-makers— big and small, new and seasoned, independent and commercial—from all over the world, who are sharing what they do and how they do it. This year’s line up includes folks making magazines for kids, art and culture, as well as luxury lifestyle magazines, and a massive global publisher who covers all of this and more. There’s something for everyone in these 4 episodes. This episode features Ojus Jain,

Welcome back Magazine Makers! We’re having conversations with magazine-makers— big and small, new and seasoned, independent and commercial—from all over the world, who are sharing what they do and how they do it. This year’s line up includes folks making magazines for kids, art and culture, as well as luxury lifestyle magazines, and a massive global publisher who covers all of this and more. There’s something for everyone in these 4 episodes. This episode features Krupa Pate

It’s magazine time! I’m currently teaching a magazine production and publishing course, as well as a digital publishing course, and it’s always a delight to connect students with magazine makers of all kinds at this time of year. Welcome to conversations with magazine-makers— big and small, new and seasoned, independent and commercial—from all over the world sharing what they do and how they do it. This year’s line up includes folks making magazines for kids, art and culture,

Design students and design educators — this episode is for YOU! We have Mitch Goldstein, educator and author of How to Be a Design Student (and How to Teach Them), here to share some powerful thoughts and actionable advice. Mitch is based in upstate New York and he is an associate professor at Rochester Institute of Technology, where he teaches in the College of Art and Design. Over the past twenty years, he has taught at Rhode Island School of Design, Virginia Commonwealth U

Today I have for you an extra special, extra ordinary, out of this world conversation (literally) about Moon Joy and the digital strategy that surrounds it. Our guest today is Thalia Patrinos, who seeks to make science accessible for everyone through storytelling. Thalia has worked for NASA Headquarters in Washington, DC, as a contractor since 2018. Today, she is the Artemis Digital Lead within the Office of Communications. She leads and strategizes all digital communication

Welcome, dear friends, to the library. Each episode finds me loitering in a library with a special guest in a location of their choosing. We comb the stacks and have a chat about passions, practices, and possibilities, letting the story unfold as it will. You’re encouraged to read between the lines because it’s going to be a real page turner… Welcome to The Library Loiterers. --- Ahhhhh, today we find ourselves at Canada’s largest reference library and home to over 4 millio

It has become a Talk Paper Scissors tradition to feature the incredible work of up-and-coming typeface designers in this space (check out Episode 026 with Veronika & Mary-Anne, Episode 113 with Nate & Sarah and Episode 146 with Nicole & Cameron, Episode 191 With Max & Cecilia, Episode 258 with Paulina & Darrab, and Episode 277 with Ivana & Mahrukh). This work was born in the Advanced Typography course I teach at Toronto Metropolitan University. After reviewing many submission

This is the final episode in a 4-part guest lecture series, speaking with an incredible range of design and typography pros from across North America! Today’s conversation is with Sara Soskolne of Monotype, sharing her 20-year history of working on one of the world’s most recognizable typefaces: Gotham. Sara is a typeface designer and Executive Creative Director at Monotype. As a reformed bookworm her deepest inspiration as a designer is the experience of reading, and her ab

I love a beautiful book about typography (who doesn’t?!) and this one, that we’re about to get into, is a BEAUT! Our guest today is Elliot Jay Stocks and I am obsessed with his other book (Universal Principles of Typography) and use it as the textbook in my intro to typography class (it’s really, really good) and I couldn’t wait to chat with him about his new book, available around the world now! Elliot is a designer and author, known in typographic circles for his work as th

Welcome back, type lovers! This episode is especially for you. ;) In this eye opening look into the history of typography, signage, protest, and personal stories, Tré Seals thoughtfully explains the ways in which type has caused a lot of harm to various communities, but the ways in which it’s also a hopeful gateway to make meaningful change. Tré Seals has been on a lifelong path when it comes to design: he's been practicing writing in cursive since he was in kindergarten; so

The First Things First manifesto was originally published in 1964 by designer Ken Garland and signed by 21 other designers, photographers, and students who believed in the ethos of his message. While I won’t read the entire manifesto (as it’s protected by copyright) I will read a passage that will help you gain an understanding of what it’s all about: “We do not advocate the abolition of high pressure consumer advertising: this is not feasible. Nor do we want to take any of t

Welcome back - I’m so glad you’re here. Today I’m serving up a brand new 4-part guest lecture series, featuring an incredible line up of type and design folks from across North America! This first episode features highly sought-after type designer, James Edmondson. James is a type designer based in San Jose, California. He studied graphic design at California College of the Arts, and graduated from the Royal Academy of Art's TypeMedia program in The Hague, Netherlands. With

Welcome, dear friends, to the library. Each episode finds me loitering in a library with a special guest in a location of their choosing. We comb the stacks and have a chat about passions, practices, and possibilities, letting the story unfold as it will. You’re encouraged to read between the lines because it’s going to be a real page turner… Welcome to The Library Loiterers. --- Our story begins in the early days of the 21st century. I, Diana Varma, was a young teen and em

Please close your eyes. Now think back to a typical day in high school. That might have been in the distant past or perhaps more recently. What was it like? What did you spend your days doing and learning about? What did your classrooms look like and what did the system look like? Feel like? For most of us in traditional high school environments, the structure of school—whether a mostly positive or negative experience—probably looked pretty similar. A teacher at the front of

I’m really, really excited for you to hear today’s conversation with author, Kate Robson, about the magic of using metaphor. This is episode 301, and as I’ve been inching closer towards the 300 episode mark, I’ve been thinking a lot about how this podcast has evolved and how I might describe it using metaphor. Here’s my best try… This podcast has become a space not unlike a community garden . I collect the necessary components, tend to space, plant seeds that allow for great

From the middle ages to the Middle East, From Futura to Freight, join us on a journey across the type universe and go where no designer has gone before...Welcome to An Incomplete History of Type . Name: Clarendon Release Date: 1845 Designer: Robert Besley Classification: Slab Serif (Egyptian) Owned By: Today its multiple versions are owned by multiple foundries. Claim to Fame: This is the first first-ever registered and patented typeface. About Our Guest: Jordan Grey is a th

From the middle ages to the Middle East, From Futura to Freight, join us on a journey across the type universe and go where no designer has gone before...Welcome to An Incomplete History of Type . Name: San Francisco Release Date: 2014 Designer: Apple’s Team (based on Helvetica and FF DIN) Classification: Neo-Grotesque Sans Serif Owned By: Apple Claim to Fame: This is the first new typeface designed by Apple in nearly 20 years, it’s the UI font for Apple’s software. In this e

From the middle ages to the Middle East, From Futura to Freight, join us on a journey across the type universe and go where no designer has gone before...Welcome to An Incomplete History of Type . Name: Verdana Release Date: 1996 Designer: Matthew Carter and Thomas Rickner Classification: Humanist Sans Serif Owned By: Microsoft Claim to Fame: A typeface that was designed not for print, but for the screen, changing the way digital text looked and felt. In this episode of An In