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Join host, Diana Varma, as she explores the wonderful world of design and printing, typography and branding, books and publishing. Diana loves nothing more than getting creative with Creatives about all things creative. Ready to have some fun? Let's Talk Paper Scissors!
291 Episodes
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Send a text Lights! Microphone! Podcast -- Episode 2 What goes into creating a piece of music that defines a cultural moment? Nick Thorburn, the composer behind Serial's unforgettable theme, sits down with host Shana to tell the story. Spoiler: it all happened in a weekend, and he had no idea the show would become a global phenomenon. Nick walks through his creative process: how he approached the project as a straightforward freelance job, why he drew inspiration from Twin Peaks,...
Send a text Lights! Microphone! Podcast -- Episode 1 Ever wondered what goes wrong behind the scenes of a podcast? The production team from "Ctrl Alt Narrate" is here to tell you everything. Sneesha (creative lead), Alisha (logistics and marketing), and Victoria (design) join host Alex to talk about the reality of collaborative podcasting: the good, the messy, and the lessons that came from nearly derailing the whole thing. This episode is packed with practical advice for anyone making conten...
Send a text Introducing: Lights Microphone Podcast In Fall 2025, a group of graduate students set out to learn about podcasting from the ground up and Lights Microphone Podcast is the result. Created inside a podcasting special topics course within the Master of Digital Media program at The Creative School at Toronto Metropolitan University, this six-part series explores what it really takes to start and grow a podcast. The series features conversations with composers, producers, video ...
Send a text Down the rabbit hole we go! Each conversation in this series connects in unexpected ways. Every new episode spurring a new line of inquiry, like tunnels turning off in different directions, each with an origin that’s traced back to episodes 273, 276, and 280. This episode features net.art pioneer, Olia Lialina. She is credited with founding one of the earliest web galleries, Art Teleportacia. She is cofounder and keeper of One Terabyte of Kilobyte Age archive and a professor at Me...
Send a text Happy Winter Olympic Games in Milano Cortina 2026! Graphic designer and illustrator, Paul Twa, is here and he’s full of insights and passion for Olympic design joy! In this conversation, we talk all things design systems at Milano Cortina 2026. Paul shares the importance of human gesture, energy, and motion to this system, the unique public vote that took place for the games’ emblem, as well as AI use and its implications. Paul helps us understand what works beautifully and what w...
Send a text This is the third episode in a 3-part guest lecture series, speaking with a diverse range of design and typography pros from across North America! This episode features the owner of foundry Type Du Nord, Libbie Bischoff. In this conversation, you’ll hear how Libbie got started in type professionally and what a typical day looks like as a foundry of one. You’ll hear about the way Libbie’s signature may actually be your signature, now or in the future and the storytellin...
Send a text This is the second episode in a 3-part guest lecture series, speaking with a diverse range of design and typography pros from across North America! This episode features a Creative Director dedicated to social change and inclusive city building, Jay Wall. In this conversation you’ll hear about Jay’s origin story as a designer and the evolution of his path towards designing for social change. You’ll hear about the Design Justice Network (DJN) and learn a less naïve way ...
Send a text This is the first episode in a 3-part guest lecture series in GCM 230 Typography, speaking with design typography pros from across North America! This episode features type designer and educator at Emily Carr University of Art + Design in Vancouver, Leo Vicenti. In this conversation, you’ll hear how Leo believes typography can support Indigenous language and culture, the ways in which typography isn’t always necessary, Indigenization of digital spaces, and why fixed sy...
Send a text Today’s episode features two authors with two new books on two interrelated topics: David Berry (How Artists Make Money & How Money Makes Artists) and Raymond Biesinger (9 Times My Work Has Been Ripped Off: An Informal Self-Defence Guide for Independent Creatives). In this conversation you’ll hear the macro and the micro of economics and art; David and Raymond share history’s most interesting examples, alongside personal examples of the ways in which art and money are intertwi...
Send a text Allow me to point something out… From Medieval manuscripts to 19th-century advertising, modern interfaces, and emoji culture, this episode follows the curious history of the iconic pointing hand, commonly referred to as the “manicule”. Inspired by a letterpress project created for the Canadian Letterpress Alliance, I step back in time to print postcards on a 170-year-old press at Mackenzie House Toronto, using historic wood type found in a cabinet of typographic curiosities....
Send a text Down the rabbit hole we go! Each conversation in this series connects in unexpected ways. Every new episode spurring a new line of inquiry, like tunnels turning off in different directions, each with an origin that’s traced back to episode 273. This episode features Jill Blackmore Evans who created GeoCities Memory, a personal and scholarly project designed to capture some of the most interesting examples of websites in Web 1.0. In this conversation, you’ll hear well as what Jill ...
Send a text Today’s conversation is with Alanna Munro of Arcane Type Foundry. She is a certified letter nerd, designer, and educator. In this conversation you’ll hear about Alanna’s creative process for designing type, the importance of squinting, and common misconceptions about independent foundries. You’ll also hear helpful, actionable advice about font licensing. And for all students here: listen up! Alanna lets type design students know how they can get professional critique on your type ...
Send a text Today I’m joined by Andrew Huot, who is book making royalty: a book artist, bookbinder, printer, and conservator whose artists’ books are in collections across the US, from the Art Institute of Chicago to Yale University. In this conversation, you’ll hear what the term “book arts” means. You’ll learn what a typical day in Andrew’s studio looks like, including his most necessary tools: from bone, to surgical scalpels, to teflon. Andrew shares how he repairs paper (my mind is blown!...
Send a text Meet emerging typeface designers, Ivana Vukmirovic and Mahrukh Saeed! Ivana designed a typeface called Lindworm and Mahrukh designed a typeface called Khabartoon. In the following conversation, you'll get to hear about each typeface, their perfect type pairings, sensory descriptions of each, as well as what each of these emerging typeface designers plans to do next in the world of letterforms. Let the type geekery begin! I'm all about interesting projects with interesting people...
Send a text Down the rabbit hole we go! Each conversation in this series connects in unexpected ways. Every new episode spurring a new line of inquiry, like tunnels turning off in different directions, each with an origin that’s traced back to episode 273. This episode features George Wylesol who is an artist and author based in Baltimore, Maryland. In this conversation, you’ll hear about George’s grown-up choose-your-own-adventure book, 2120, that forces the reader to question who is in cont...
Send a text Today’s guest and her team’s most recent book project is truly emotional and inspiring. In this conversation, you’ll hear from Rachel Arthur, Founder and Editor of boom saloon, “an independent publisher dedicated to democratizing creativity for good”. You’ll hear about their most recent publication (and deeply personal project) that humanizes the experiences of dementia, called “4,4,4&2”. You’ll hear about the process of co-creation central to the making of the publication, th...
Send a text This episode features Maria Bowler, author of ‘Making Time: A New Vision for Crafting a Life Beyond Productivity’. In this conversation, Maria clarifies the way we orient to the world, either as “the producer” or “the maker”. She dives deep into the problematic ideas around productivity, the ways in which these ideas reinforce colonial systems, and how to re-imagine time, questioning the typical options laid out before us. I'm all about interesting projects with interesting peop...
Send a text In this conversation, you’ll hear from Amanda Breeze, a cannabis writer based out of Toronto, Canada, who documents international cannabis culture and explores new smells. This year she launched Tripper Magazine, an adventure travel guide to the world’s cannabis friendly destinations. In this conversation, you’ll learn about the process of making a magazine from the seedling of an idea, through to distribution all around town. Amanda shares so much invaluable info for new ma...
Send a text Julian Brown is an independent motion designer and augmented-reality artist. In this conversation, you'll hear how Julian and his wife, Amy Shackleton, work together to merge the worlds of fine art and digital media to create interactive installations. You'll also hear how the design space and the fine art space differ in terms of how and when creatives are compensated for their work. You'll hear Julian’s thoughts on AI and all the ways in which it is both deeply problematic, as w...
Send a text Welcome to the Brave Creative Humans series! This is the final episodes in the series featuring some of the many past Talk Paper Scissors guests who exemplify brave creative living: Allison MacKenzie, Kevin Shaw, Vincent Wanga, Meg Lewis, Emad Saedi, and Justine Abigail Yu. In this episode, the 6 answer this question: “In your opinion, what does living life as a ‘Brave Creative Human’ mean to you?” This series is inspired by Diana’s recently published book, Brave Creative Hu...
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