The Accidental Podcast
Every week in 2017, Olivia and I would meet to curate The Weekly Typographic newsletter. We'd debate for hours about which links deserved to make the cut, why certain articles mattered, what our community actually needed to learn.
One day it hit me: "We're already having these conversations. Why not just record them?"
From Newsletter to Audio Empire
What started as a simple idea exploded into something neither of us expected:
- 141 episodes over 6 years
- 215,000+ listens from designers worldwide
- Every continent except Antarctica (still working on that)
- Dozens of countries, from major design hubs to places we'd never imagined
We got better at it over time. What began as two friends chatting about typography evolved into structured seasons, themed episodes, guest interviews with type designers we admired.
The Magic Format
Each episode followed our newsletter curation process:
- We'd review 20-30 links we'd found that week
- Debate which ones were truly valuable (sometimes heatedly)
- Explain WHY something mattered, not just what it was
- Share the design context and history our listeners might not know
The secret sauce: We weren't trying to sound professional. We were just two type nerds genuinely excited about sharing what we'd learned. That authenticity resonated.
Impact Beyond Numbers
The podcast became the heartbeat of The League community. Listeners would email saying they'd listen during their commute, while working late on projects, even at the gym (typography at the gym!).
It transformed The Weekly Typographic from just another newsletter into a multi-channel education platform. The newsletter provided the links; the podcast provided the context and conversation.
The Evolution
The podcast went through several phases:
- 2017-2018: Raw, unedited conversations
- 2019-2020: More structured with segments and themes
- 2021-2022: Guest interviews and deep dives
- 2022: Final season before our hiatus
While the podcast is on pause now (Olivia and I both needed to focus on other projects), its DNA lives on in everything The League creates — including how I trained our AI to write newsletter descriptions that sound like our conversations.
The Weekly Typographic Podcast proved that education doesn't need to be formal. Sometimes the best learning happens when you're just listening to two friends geek out about what they love.
