The Typecast
Welcome to The Typecast, a podcast hosted by Katie Johnson and Ilana Griffo of Goodtype. Listen as we geek out over anchor points, our favorite typefaces, and how to grow an art business. For more of this duo, follow us on Instagram @goodtype.
SAYING WORDS ABOUT DRAWING WORDS
We’re two self-employed lettering artists who met by sliding into each other’s DM’s.
Now…we’re sliding into your headphones.
About
Dear hand letterers, designers, and artists of all sorts—despite what your grandma thinks, we know there’s a whole lot more to what you do than just “drawing pretty pictures.” This podcast, hosted by Katie Johnson and Ilana Griffo of Goodtype, is about what it *really* means to be a working creative. From finding clients to pricing your work and nerding the heck out about kerning, we’re covering everything that goes into building a successful and sustainable business around your passion.
And we’re not just doing it alone! We’ll be tapping some of your current (and soon-to-be) favorite artists for inspiration, insight, and laughs. We’re big on giving takeaways that you can actually put into action, and we’re even bigger on having a good time while we do it. Tune into the Typecast twice a month for a tittle-ating time (yep, we’re gonna type-pun your face off), and don’t forget to subscribe and leave a review so we can show our moms how famous we are!
Want to be on an episode of The Typecast?
We’re always looking for guests who want to help our audience of artists grow their creative careers (while sharing a few laughs, of course). Submit yourself, a friend, or a topic you want us to cover on an upcoming episode!
Want to get your brand in front of our listeners?
We’re focused on creating long-term partnerships that go beyond a quick feature during an ad break. We’re looking for brands that will stick with us, form deep relationships with our community, and help our artists take real, actionable steps towards their goals.
Because our partnership philosophy is different, our sponsor opportunities look different as well, including touch-points across all of Goodtype’s content. Interested in talking about what a partnership with us could look like? We’d love to chat.
Tune into the latest episodes…
What If You Built a Creative Studio Around Nature & Illustration with Brad Woodard | The Typecast Episode 75
This week we’re joined by illustrator, studio owner, and self-described “friendly dad” Brad Woodard of Brave the Woods (and the massively popular kids’ channel Brave Kids Club). We get into how a pandemic side project turned into a YouTube channel with hundreds of thousands of subscribers, what happened when a nature short went unexpectedly viral, and why Brad dropped “art” from the channel name.
What If You Quit Your Job for a One-Month Freelance Gig with Christina Kwiek | The Typecast Episode 74
Christina walks us through her path from a childhood spent training as a ballerina to a last-minute pivot into art school, and how she’s found her way back to ballet as an adult, just for the joy of it. We get into the reality of freelancing for the last 8 years: the moment she quit a full-time job for a one-month freelance gig, the ebbs and flows that never fully go away, and how her slow seasons have actually led to some of her biggest projects.
What If Your Subtitles Could Express Emotion? With Frederik Merkel | The Typecast Episode 73
In this episode, we dig into the full story: how Freddi went from finishing a master’s thesis in type design to co-founding a startup with no business experience and what it really takes to go from concept to product. We also get deep into the neuroscience side of things: synesthesia, aphantasia, the Ira Glass gap, and how understanding different brains perceive the world shaped Freddi’s research from the very beginning.
What If You Built a Design Studio With No Rules? with Lope Gutiérrez-Ruiz | The Typecast Episode 67
What happens when a journalist from Venezuela becomes a self-taught designer, typeface foundry founder, and curator of one of the most ambitious graphic design exhibitions in recent memory? You get Lope Gutiérrez-Ruiz, and our conversation with him does not disappoint.
Lope is a partner and project lead at In-House International, a design studio and typeface foundry. He’s also a TED Fellow, a Knight Fellow at Stanford, and the curator behind One Hundred Points.
In this episode, we dig into what it actually looks like to build a creative practice rooted in curiosity and systems–not just style. Lope shares his take on design rules (and whether you should bother learning them) and how his journalism background still shapes every creative decision he makes. We also get into the realities of working with nonprofits, font piracy, and how he pulled off a massive exhibition without taking a sabbatical.
What If Making Videos Helped You Make Better Art? with Chris Piascik | The Typecast Episode 64
In this episode, we’re joined by illustrator, letterer, and YouTuber Chris Piascik for a wide-ranging conversation about building a creative career without a grid master plan and why showing up consistently can change everything.
Chris shares how a daily challenge that started as a way to reconnect with drawing quietly became the foundation of his entire career. We talk about what it means to play the long game as a creative, how personal work can naturally lead to apid opportunities, and why focusing on making matters more than chasing the perfect strategy.
What If Taking On One Project Could Change Your Whole Career with Amber Asay | The Typecast Episode 58
What does it look like running your own design studio that works with names like Rosie Huntington-Whiteley and Kourtney Kardashian? In this episode, we sit down with Amber Asay of Nice People to discuss the winding path that led her from scrapbooking experiments and show choirs to launching a successful design agency and a creative podcast.