so there's this...

7 Episodes

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Bathroom

2022-12-2937:15

We are finally doing our design critic doodies and getting to the bottom of: bathrooms. What makes good bathroom design? Answering that question would require a whole separate podcast. (Bidet all the way, baby!) For this episode, we plunge into a couple specific icks that really make us scrunch our nose in disgust. Cornelia may ruffle some feathers with this one, bravely sharing her harsh critique on toothbrushes being stored in the bathroom. We will keep coming back to her weird thing with p...

Joy

2022-12-1540:12

JOYYY to the world… or not? Is joy actually destroying our world? In this episode, we reflect on the definition of joy—a fleeting moment of intense pleasure and elation experienced in the present—and exchange purportedly joyful designs that disappoint us and also Mother Nature. Brooke comes out as an ice queen and unleashes bold anti-glitter vitriol over the airwaves, backed with jaw-dropping facts about the secretive Glitter industry that may or may not be manufacturing weapons. Cornelia unw...

Candy

2022-12-0835:43

Is candy advertising encouraging cannibalism? Is your sweet tooth the reason for the Great Pacific Garbage Patch? In this episode, we share some not-so-sweet thoughts on candy design. We had to restrain ourselves from just having a complaining sesh on all the candy we straight up do not like (looking at you, nougat-dominant chocolate) to instead focus on the reason we’re here in the first place: #designthatdisappoints. Cornelia kicks off the convo with the type of candy packaging markete...

Vacation

2022-12-0138:15

Vacation is a respite, a period of leisure away from the doldrums of quotidian life. An adventure anywhere but home. It should be fun! And relaxing! But vacation can sometimes feel like a burden—the planning involved, the travel to and from places, the coordination of people and prices and comfort. In this episode, we look at vacation through two different lenses: paid time off as a flawed design practice, and highway rest stops—one in particular—whose design can make or break a family vacay....

Water

2022-11-2434:50

What better way to kick off this season than with a discussion centered around the very essence of our being, the inescapable substance that rules our lives? Designs for, of, with, and about water are endless. The world is overflowing with bad water-related designs. In this episode, Cornelia condemns the reusable water bottle industry for its apparent love of hard-to-clean vessels (people are gonna hate this!), while Brooke talks Super Slurpers, absorbent shape-shifting playthings, and the pe...

What is Design?

2022-11-1731:23

Well well well…here we are. Welcome!!! We are thrilled you’re joining us here on “so there’s this…”, a show in which we share our thoughts and opinions on everyday design that disappoints.So…what does it even mean for something to be “design-related”? Why does that matter? Who are we to talk about design? For Episode Zero, we talk through these questions and valiantly attempt to define design–in our own words. Come explore the origins of STT, who we are, and why you should like/rate/subscribe...

so there's this... the preview!

2022-10-1001:21

so there’s this… is your friendly neighborhood podcast about design that disappoints. As design critics, co-hosts Brooke Viegut and Cornelia Smith couldn’t help but wonder about those minor inconveniences in the world that can ruin your day — those little everyday designs that just make you think “ick.” Chances are, that “ick” is a design flaw. On “so there’s this…” we explore our own icks through a design lens to figure out how they ended up like… that. From rest stops to inspirational ...

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