Podcast Awesome

Latest Episodes:

Build Week: What we Made with AI [Part 2] with Dave + Travis May 05, 2026

Show notes

AI makes it easier to build almost anything. So why does that make the job harder?

In this episode, Matt sits down with Font Awesome founder Dave Gandy and engineer Travis Chase to get past the hype and into the real day-to-day of building with AI. The conversation covers what's actually changing on the team, where AI falls short, and what human skills matter more now than they did before.

If you're a designer, developer, or anyone trying to figure out where you fit in a world where your output can suddenly go 10x — this one's worth your time. Dave and Travis don't pretend the answers are simple. They also don't pretend the concerns aren't real.

Fair warning: Dave also makes a case for revisiting waterfall development. It's more convincing than it has any right to be.

What We Cover

Why producing more means your quality bar has to get sharper, not looser
The discernment problem — when you can build anything, how do you decide what's worth building?
Why saying no is now a more important skill than ever
The strongest AI concerns Dave and Travis actually take seriously (energy, training data ethics, governance)
Why AI seems to help people become more of who they already are
How to stay curious and useful during a major technology transition without chasing every squirrel

Timestamps

0:00 Cold open — from low-level to strategy
0:38 Intro
1:30 Where AI falls short right now
2:00 Quality control when output explodes
2:30 Taste, responsibility, and Jory's point at the snuggle
3:00 The discernment problem and snacktivities
4:20 Simplicity means saying no more than yes
5:30 Chasing waterfalls — does waterfall development make a comeback?
6:00 The strongest anti-AI arguments worth taking seriously
6:45 Energy, ethics, and training data consent
8:00 Technology's evolution and the genie that's out of the bottle
9:00 The Industrial Revolution farmer analogy
9:45 Superheroes, supervillains, and hiring for character first
10:20 Two ditches: navigating between idealism and cynicism
11:10 Rev share and what the world should look like
11:45 Governance, compromise, and garbage design
13:30 Washing machines and making more clean water
14:00 Guiding principles for using AI internally
15:00 Company behaviors as an AI framework: curious, humble, adventurous
16:00 AI helps people become more of who they are
16:45 AI will ask people to operate at a higher level
18:00 Refusing to engage is the riskiest move of all
19:00 We need critical voices — and we need them in the room
20:00 Echo chambers, bad data, and the water story
21:30 The world is hopeful — spend your life in wonder
22:30 Home prices, colonizing planets, and the leap to the real world
23:00 Outro

Credits

Hosted by Matt Johnson
Featuring Dave Gandy and Travis Chase
Produced and edited by Matt Johnson
Theme song by Ronnie Martin
Music interstitials by Zach Malm
Video editing by Isaac Chase

🔗 Font Awesome: https://fontawesome.com

🔗 Check out episode one of the conversation! https://www.podcastawesome.com/2092855/episodes/19065993-build-week-what-we-made-part-1-with-dave-travis

🔗 Podcast Awesome: https://podcastawesome.com

#PodcastAwesome #FontAwesome #AI #DesignAndDevelopment #TechEthics #SoftwareDevelopment

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Build Week: What we Made with AI [Part 1] with Dave + Travis Apr 23, 2026

Show notes

💻 AI side quests, but make it Snuggle. 🤖✨
In this episode, we’re fresh off the Snuggle (our company retreat) and talking about what happens when you give a curious team some time, space… and a bunch of AI tools. Travis and Dave join us to share how experimenting with tools like G-Stack, Spec-Kit, and Claude helped us explore ideas, prototype faster, and take on projects we normally wouldn’t have time for.
We get into the practical side of it all—what worked, what didn’t, and where AI actually fits into a creative workflow (without the hype). It’s part experiment recap, part philosophy, and part “what if we just tried it?”
Whether you're building products, designing systems, or just curious how AI can fit into your process, this one’s for you.
🎙️ What we cover in this episode:

🧑‍🚀 Why we dedicated Snuggle time to AI exploration
🧩 How tools like G-Stack, Spec-Kit, and Claude fit into real workflows
💻 Using AI to prototype and pressure-test ideas quickly
⚖️ The balance between human creativity and machine assistance
🧠 What surprised us (and what didn’t)

⏱️ Timestamps:
00:00:00 – Welcome & Intro
00:01:59 – What are Snacktivites?
00:02:57 – Company Behaviors Framework
00:04:16 – Build Week Explained
00:05:00 – Travis's Thoughts on AI Shift
00:08:05 – Ethics Over Slop
00:08:31 – Education and Intent
00:11:47 – Using AI as a Force Multiplier
00:14:50 – Skills Files and Standards
00:21:10 – Tooling Roundup: G-Stack, Spec-Kit, and more
00:25:46 – Color Awesome Finale
00:27:45 – Wrap Up ... To Be Continued in Part 2
🔗 Links & resources:
Font Awesome: https://fontawesome.com/
Browse icons: https://fontawesome.com/icons
Kits: https://fontawesome.com/kits
Web Awesome: https://webawesome.com/
Credits:
🎵 Theme music by Ronnie Martin
🎶 Interstitials by Zach Malm

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Hiring Is a Two-Way Street — Here’s What Most People Miss Apr 07, 2026

Show notes

Job interviews aren’t just about proving you’re a fit — they’re about figuring out whether the company deserves you, too. 👀
In this episode, Matt chats with Font Awesome founder Dave Gandy about why hiring is a two-way street. They unpack the red flags candidates should watch for, what healthy companies actually look like, and how the interview process can reveal way more than a polished mission statement ever will.
Dave shares practical advice for job seekers on asking better questions, spotting dysfunctional hiring practices, and approaching the search with intention instead of desperation. They also dig into trust, team health, and why the best workplaces tend to value character just as much as capability.
Whether you’re job hunting, hiring, or just trying to avoid ending up in a workplace that feels like a corporate escape room, this episode has plenty to chew on. 😅
What we cover:
Why hiring should be a two-way evaluation
The biggest red flags in interview processes
What healthy organizations prioritize
Why trust matters more than pure talent
How to ask smarter interview questions
Why job seekers need a strategy, not just a stack of resumes
How to identify companies that are actually worth your time
Timestamps:
00:00 – Why hiring is a two-way street
02:00 – HR screenings, weird assessments, and early red flags
05:10 – Desperation in job hunting and why standards still matter
07:00 – What healthy companies really look like
09:20 – How to flip the script and interview the company
12:00 – Big companies, bad filters, and missing great candidates
16:00 – Why knowing yourself matters before you start looking
19:00 – Why spray-and-pray applications usually fall flat
21:00 – The value of being “double T-shaped” in your career
24:00 – Why the best opportunities often come through side doors
25:00 – Building relationships before you need a job
27:00 – How companies communicate values in the hiring process
29:00 – The one thing a company needs to do differently
30:00 – Wrap-up and outro
Credits:
Hosted by Matt Johnson
Featuring Dave Gandy
Produced and edited by Matt Johnson
Theme song by Ronnie Martin
Music interstitials by Zach Malm
Video editing by Isaac Chase

Watch this episode on YouTube

#Hiring #InterviewTips #JobSearch #CareerAdvice #Leadership #CompanyCulture #WorkplaceCulture #TechCareers #PodcastAwesome #FontAwesome 🚀

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New Font Awesome Features: PNG Downloads, Color Picker, and User Blender Mar 24, 2026

Show notes

In this episode of Podcast Awesome, Matt sits down with Ed and Francis to talk through three newly shipped Font Awesome features that are small, practical, and just the right amount of fun. They dig into individual PNG downloads, a new global color picker for previewing icons in brand colors, and the wonderfully playful User Blender, which lets you mix and match heads, bodies, and styles to create custom user icons for your kit.

Along the way, they unpack the thinking behind each feature, how these updates connect to Icon Wizard and the broader Font Awesome 7.2 release, and why shaving off a few annoying workflow steps can make life noticeably better for designers and developers. There’s also an unexpected side quest into Ed’s cameo in his son’s YouTube channel, because apparently every product update deserves a B-plot. 🎬

If you want to actually see these features in action, there’s also an extended video version on YouTube with demos. But this audio-only episode still gives you the full behind-the-scenes story, the practical use cases, and all the delightful nerdery you’d expect from the Awesomeverse.

What We Cover in This Episode

🎨 How the new global color picker makes previewing icon colors much easier
🖼️ Why individual PNG downloads are a handy addition for quick icon grabs
🧑‍🚀 How User Blender lets you create custom user icons with random and manual combinations
🧩 How these features build on ideas from Icon Wizard
💻 Why small workflow improvements can have a big impact for teams
🧪 How playful side projects sometimes turn into genuinely useful features
🎬 Ed’s surprise side quest into low-budget cinematic glory

Timestamps

00:00 Welcome to Podcast Awesome
00:20 Introducing the episode and today’s guests
00:45 The three new features: PNG downloads, color picker, and User Blender
01:10 Francis makes a Podcast Awesome debut
01:40 Looking back at Ed’s previous appearances and Icon Wizard history
02:10 Why individual PNG downloads were added
03:00 When and why someone might want PNG instead of SVG
04:10 The idea behind the new global color picker
05:00 Previewing brand colors across icon search results
05:40 Using the color picker on category pages and kits
06:10 Duotone controls, secondary colors, opacity, reset, and swatches
07:10 Reusing Web Awesome tools inside Font Awesome
07:50 How color settings carry over across different areas
08:20 How the color picker affects code snippets and icon styling
08:55 Meet User Blender
09:20 How randomizing and mixing custom user icons works
10:00 Available styles and future expansion plans
10:40 Why User Blender is both useful and toy-like in the best possible way
11:15 How the feature grew out of a snuggle and Icon Wizard success
12:00 A call for community creations and creative icon mashups
12:40 How these features fit into the Font Awesome 7.2 release
13:10 Ed’s unexpected acting career and his son’s YouTube side quest
14:00 Wrap-up and where to share your creations

YouTube episode with visual examples: https://youtu.be/NDsqZozkn3A

Font Awesome: https://fontawesome.com/
Browse Font Awesome Icons: https://fontawesome.com/icons
Learn about Kits: https://fontawesome.com/kits
Explore Web Awesome: https://webawesome.com/
Contact the team: hello@fontawesome.com
Theme music by Ronnie Martin: https://ronniemartin.org/
Interstitial music by Zach Malm: https://muzach.bandcamp.com/

BowziTV: https://www.youtube.com/@BowziTV

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Eleventy Is Rebranding to Build Awesome: What Changes (and What Doesn’t) Mar 09, 2026

Show notes

Eleventy is becoming Build Awesome — and Zach Leatherman is here to explain what that actually means.

In this episode of Podcast Awesome, Matt has a chat with Zach about the Build Awesome Kickstarter, why this rebrand is part of building a sustainable future for the open source project, and what changes (and what doesn’t) for people already running Eleventy sites.

You’ll hear Zach break down the backwards compatibility promise, the Eleventy v3 → Build Awesome v4 upgrade path, and what Build Awesome Pro adds—especially for teams who want an easier publishing workflow and a smoother way for non-technical collaborators to edit content.

Plus: behind-the-scenes stories from filming the Kickstarter video in LA, including the cast/crew magic, a hot dog cake, and the origin story of the Awesome 'Possum.

🗒️ What We Cover in This Episode

🚀 Eleventy is becoming Build Awesome (and why Zach says this is the sustainable future of the project)
🧩 What changes vs. what stays the same (and the “no panic” promise)
🔁 Backwards compatibility: your existing Eleventy sites still work
⬆️ Upgrade path: what moving from Eleventy v3 → Build Awesome v4 looks like
🧰 What Build Awesome is (website generation that can be simple or powerful)
🧑‍🤝‍🧑 Build Awesome Pro: one-stop publishing + collab for non-technical editors
✍️ In-browser editing: fixing content directly on page w/o a separate CMS feel)
💸 Funding open source without burnout (+ why the “Font Awesome formula” works)
🎬 Kickstarter fun: filming in LA, cast/crew magic, and the cake/hot dog metaphor
🦝 Meet the Awesome 'Possum (mascot origins + brand homage)
🎁 How to support: tiers, swag, and where to go next

⏱️ Timestamps

0:00 - Cold Open: Build Awesome Kickstarter Announcement
0:08 - Eleventy → Build Awesome (What This Episode Covers)
0:40 - The Big News (Zach’s Announcement)
1:25 - Joining the Awesomeverse (and why it matters)
2:50 - Funding Open Source Without Burnout
4:20 - What Build Awesome Is (and who it’s for)
6:05 - Build Awesome Pro: Publishing + Collaboration Tools
7:20 - Backwards Compatibility: Your Eleventy Sites Still Work
8:10 - Upgrade Path: Eleventy v3 → Build Awesome v4
10:05 - Why Pro Features Make the Free Core Better
12:10 - In-Browser Editing: The “edit right on the site” experience
13:25 - Kickstarter Fun: Shooting the Launch Video in LA
15:40 - Cast, Crew, and the Cake/Hot Dog Metaphor
18:55 - Meet the Awesome Possum (Mascot Origins + Brand Homage)
20:40 - How to Support: Where to Go + Tiers + Swag
22:40 - Wrap-Up + What to Watch Next

Links & Resources

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Vic Bell on Designing Graphite: Hand-Drawn Icons for Font Awesome Feb 19, 2026

Show notes

In this episode, Matt and Jory sit down with UK-based icon designer + illustrator Vic Bell to talk about the brand-new Font Awesome icon pack, Graphite — a loose, hand-drawn set that brings texture, depth, and a whole lot of human personality to iconography.

If you’ve ever tried to balance clarity vs. creativity, or wondered how icons can feel more like typefaces with different “voices”, this one’s for you. 🎧

🗒️ What We Cover in This Episode

👋 How Vic and Jory connected
✏️ Designing Font Awesome Pro Plus packs and how “Small Batch” became a thing
🧠 Vic’s creative journey: trends, taste, and identity
🏠 Why icons are storytelling at micro-scale
⚖️ The tension between clarity and creativity
🧰 Illustrator vs. Figma for icon design
📲 Custom brushes and iPad sidecar workflows

🕒 Timestamps
0:00 - Introduction and Welcome
0:46 - How Vic and Jory Connected
2:48 - Font Awesome Icon Packs Overview
5:42 - Vic's Creative Journey and Evolution
7:45 - The Hand-Drawn "Graphite" Icon Style
10:17 - Reflections on Icon Design as a Career
13:41 - Childhood Influences and the Magic of Small Things
17:18 - Creative Process and Personalization
22:19 - Trusting the Creative Process
23:32 - Project Validation and Creative Freedom
25:15 - Technical Challenges and Implementation
26:23 - Future of Font Awesome Icon Packs
30:52 - Illustrator vs. Figma for Icon Design
31:28 - Creating Custom Brushes and Using iPad
38:38 - Balancing Clarity and Creativity in Icon Design
47:37 - Releasing Icon Packs and Delayed Gratification

🔗 Links & Resources

Vic Bell: / vic_bell
Font Awesome: https://fontawesome.com/
Web Awesome: https://webawesome.com/
Theme music by Ronnie Martin
Interstitial music by Zach Malm

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How Eleventy Survived: Funding, Growth, and Open Source Reality Feb 03, 2026

Show notes

Eleventy started as a side project. Now it’s a critical infrastructure for thousands of websites.
TL;DR: Open source isn’t broken. But the way we fund it often is. Let’s talk about what actually works.
In this episode, we sit down with Zach Leatherman, creator of Eleventy (11ty), to talk honestly about what happens after open source succeeds. From nap-time coding and nights-and-weekends maintenance to venture capital pressure, burnout risk, and the reality of funding long-lived developer tools, this conversation digs into the cultural and financial tradeoffs behind modern open source.
We cover sustainability, community expectations, funding models that don’t rely on hockey-stick growth, and why “free forever” only works if the people behind the project can stay whole humans.
🎙️ What We Cover in This Episode

🧠 How Eleventy grew from a side project into a widely depended-on tool
⚖️ The maintainer’s dilemma: growth, responsibility, and personal sustainability
💸 Why venture capital and hockey-stick growth often fail dev tools
🔥 Burnout, boundaries, and being accountable to a global user base
🏡 Balancing family life with open source maintenance
🔁 Different funding models: donations, sponsorships, Pro tools, and tradeoffs
🌱 What sustainable open source can look like long-term
🔮 What’s ahead for Eleventy and its next chapter

⏱️ Timestamps
00:00 – Introductions and why open source sustainability matters
01:47 – Eleventy’s early days and unexpected adoption
04:32 – When a “side project” becomes critical infrastructure
06:42 – Corporate usage, expectations, and hidden pressure
10:08 – Family life, burnout risk, and personal boundaries
14:17 – Funding models: donations vs. sustainability
18:45 – Venture capital, acquisitions, and hockey-stick growth myths
23:33 – Lessons from Gatsby, Astro, and the dev tools ecosystem
26:25 – Why sustainable open source must tie to real value
30:26 – A healthier path forward for maintainers and communities
33:20 – What’s next for Eleventy
🔗 Links & Resources

🎵 Theme music by Ronnie Martin
🎹 Interstitial music by Zach Malm
🎥 Video support by Isaac Chase

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2025 Awesomeverse Recap with Matt and Jory Jan 22, 2026

Show notes

Happy New Year from the Awesomeverse! In this episode, Matt and Jory kick off 2026 by recapping all the wild, weird, and wonderful things that happened across Font Awesome and Web Awesome in 2025. From the launch of FA7 and small-batch icon packs to a possum puppet mascot (yes, really), they reflect on the big (and small batch) wins, behind-the-scenes hilarity, and creative experiments that made the year unforgettable. Oh, and if you're wondering what it's like to direct a hot dog-eating scene at a Kickstarter video shoot? We’ve got that covered too.

TL;DR: New icons, big upgrades, hilarious videos, brainy guests, possum puppets, and one heck of a year.

🧠 What We Cover in This Episode

🎉 Reflecting on FA7 upgrades
🧪 The rise of Pro Plus and its small batch icon packs (Etch! Jelly! Not Dog!)
🎥 Behind-the-scenes on the F.A.C.U. cinematic universe and the FA7 shoot (hot dog suit included)
🧩 How the newsletter icon puzzle took on a life of its own
🧰 The official Web Awesome launch and what’s next
🧠 Brainy takes on icon cognition from Dr. Brian Glenny
🐾 The birth of Awesome Possum, our unofficial but fully fabulous mascot
📦 Teasers for what’s coming in 2026: More icons, more components, and more fun

⏱️ Timestamps

00:00 – Post-holiday haze & back in the podcast saddle
02:00 – FA7 highlights: Pro Plus packs + icon design overhaul
04:30 – Icon Pack breakdown: Etch, Jelly, Not Dog, and beyond
06:00 – Behind-the-scenes filming stories from the FA7 Kickstarter video
10:00 – Web Awesome officially launches!
12:30 – How the Awesome Possum was born
16:00 – The rise of the icon puzzle & newsletter hijinks
24:00 – Standout guests from the past season + the philosophy of icon design
28:00 – Accessibility icons, graffiti activism, and symbol cognition
30:00 – What’s coming in 2026: New icon packs, new components, and new surprises
32:00 – The Awesome Possum signs us off (kinda)

🔗 Links & Resources

Check out the FA7 Launch Video
Learn more about Pro Plus
Build with Web Awesome
Subscribe to our Newsletter (get the puzzle!)
Jory’s Puzzle Book: “Goes Without Saying”
Behind-the-scenes of the FA7 Shoot
The Accessibility Icon Project

🎵 Theme music by Ronnie Martin
🎹 Interstitial music by Zach Malm
🎥 Video support by Isaac Chase

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Inclusive Nerdery: The Secret Sauce of Great Teams | Podcast Awesome Dec 09, 2025

Show notes

What is nerdery, really? 🤓 In this episode of Podcast Awesome, we dig into the heart of Font Awesome’s culture — inclusive nerdery. It's not about lone geniuses or command line gatekeepers. It’s about heart, curiosity, humility, and building awesome things with other people. 💛
👾 You'll hear from FA team members Dave and Travis, plus a few snippets from topics we've covered on our blog and internal convos, all woven together to show how we:
🎯 Hire for character over cleverness
🔍 Celebrate deep curiosity (hello, nutrition nerds and D&D geeks!)
🎉 Create space for serious play through our legendary team "Snuggles"
🧠 Foster creativity through snack-sized projects like the Icon Wizard and Space Awesome game
This episode is for anyone building company culture, or just trying to figure out how to lead with humanity in a techy world.
✨ Icons may not change the world, but good people just might.
🔍 What You’ll Hear in This Episode:
00:00 – Welcome to Nerdery™
02:00 – Defining what "nerd" means to us
04:00 – Why we hire adults, not rockstars
06:00 – Our 3-step hiring philosophy
08:00 – Why we host company “Snuggles” (not summits!)
10:00 – FARTS, the Icon Wizard & how fun leads to innovation
12:00 – Space Awesome: building games on company time (and learning VueJS to boot!)
14:00 – Why forced culture doesn’t work
16:00 – A culture that’s built to last
🔗 Mentioned in the Episode:
🧙‍♂️ Space Awesome – FA dev project
https://spaceawesome.io/
🛠 Our Hiring Philosophy
https://blog.fontawesome.com/company-...
✨ The Icon Wizard
https://blog.fontawesome.com/icon-wiz...
💼 More About FA Company Culture
https://blog.fontawesome.com/nerdery/
🎵 Theme music by Ronnie Martin
🎹 Interstitial music by Zach Malm
🎥 Video support by Isaac Chase

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Andy Maier on Curiosity, Creativity, and the Force That Binds It All Nov 25, 2025

Show notes

🎬 What do Star Wars, oil painting, and storytelling have in common?
Turns out: everything. In this curiosity-fueled episode, filmmaker and multi-hyphenate creative Andy Maier (Soon Agency) joins host Matt Johnson to talk about building a life powered by relentless learning, visual storytelling, and the kind of curiosity that launches careers 🚀.
From working with Apple, SpaceX, and Microsoft to touring in his metal band Opponent and picking up oil painting during a creative pivot — Andy is the living embodiment of “just figure it out.” 💥🎨🧠
If you've ever felt like the underdog creative, this one’s for you. Andy drops storytelling gems faster than Yoda lifts an X-Wing.
🎸 Fun fact: Andy composed the metal version of the Font Awesome theme song in a single day. That’s some serious Jedi speed 🤘.
🎙️ What We Cover in This Episode
🤖 Why being curious is better than being talented
🎥 How oil painting made Andy a better compositor
🧱 The concept of “armature” and why your story collapses without one
🌱 Why telling the truth is the best brand strategy
🤝 The power of surrounding yourself with curious people
✨ Building "wells, not fences" in your creative career
⚔️ Star Wars, Iron Giant, and the real meaning of “The Force”
⏱️ Timestamps
00:00 – Welcome to Podcast Awesome
01:00 – Meet Andy Maier: Creative Jedi & Founder of Soon
02:30 – Early creative career and figuring it out on the fly
05:15 – The underestimated power of curiosity
08:20 – From DIY music videos to working with Apple and SpaceX
10:45 – Why storytelling is better than trends
13:30 – Building a creative life around community and friendships
16:00 – How oil painting made Andy better at... everything
19:00 – The merch moment: painting turned t-shirt design
22:00 – What’s real? How to build grounded storytelling
26:30 – Invisible Ink, Brian McDonald, and story armature 101
32:00 – Why Marvel’s Phase 4 struggles (and what X-Men got right)
34:00 – Star Wars, Joseph Campbell, and unlocking “the Force”
37:45 – Where to find Andy and his work
38:30 – Bonus: The origin of the metal FA theme song 🤘
🔗 Links & Resources
🔥 Andy’s work – https://www.soon.agency
🎶 Andy’s band Opponent – https://www.solidstaterecords.com/opponent
📖 Invisible Ink by Brian McDonald – https://shorturl.at/E9101
🖖 Font Awesome’s Heavy Metal Icon Episode – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FlsrtKCI1Y
🎧 More Podcast Awesome episodes – https://podcastawesome.com
#PodcastAwesome #StorytellingMatters #CreativeJedi #VisualStorytelling #FilmmakerLife #MotionGraphicsArtist #DesignNerds #FontAwesome #CuriosityWins #InvisibleInk #CreativeProcess #OilPaintingForDesigners #BuildWellsNotFences #NerdCulture #MetalVibesOnly #StarWarsStorytelling #MakeSomethingAwesome

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