Front and Center

For the first time in Front and Center history… We’ve got a Grammy winner on the show! Brent David Freaney is a NYC-based Art Director and Designer who founded the award-winning creative tech company Special Offer.

Special Offer is a team of nine designers, directors, and producers. They do creative direction, art direction, campaign identity, visual identity systems, website design and development, album artwork, exhibition design, titles for film and television, and much more.

They did the design and Art Direction for Charli xcx’s Brat, Rosalía’s Lux, and Madonna’s Confessions II, plus a...

Alex and Kevin are back with a topic show! They talk about Kelly Clarkson vs. Art of Play, the $60 loaf, Cute AI agents, the new passport, Wendy’s emo album, Dunkin’ x L.L.Bean, Hidden Valley Spooky Ranch, Subway’s Lunchtime Horrors, Butterfingers Pizza, Bush's Chili Magic, the Taco Bell Ultramarathon, and more!

WE GOT MOUTHWASH STUDIO IN THE HOUSE! We are thrilled to welcome Strategy Director & Partner Alex Tan and Creative Director & Partner Abraham Campillo to the program! Mouthwash is a design studio centered on new ideas and defining experiences, partnering with this generation’s leading brands and innovators to influence culture. Their approach challenges industry standards, adopts new technologies, and strives for a lasting positive impact. Over time, their work has naturally led them towards industry leaders across art, architecture, fashion, sustainability, technology, and beyond. They’ve worked with brands like Apple, Bonnie Clyde, Fender, Google, Lululemon, Nike, The North Face...

This week on Front and Center… Alex and Kevin bring the heat. They talk about Hyrox athlete Joanna Wietrzyk, Sydney Sweeney’s new Novig campaign, Jessica Hische’s Muse logo controversy, Trump ‘rebranding’ AI, the new foldable iPhone, the Streetfighter popcorn bucket, big Capri Sun, the rotisserie chicken bag, the Betty Crocker slice of cake bag, Merriam-Webster’s new words, Buzzball x Poptarts, and more!

This week we are (were) live from Montreal! Our first-ever live podcast, here for your ears. In this episode, we close out a stacked day of incredible creatives speaking at Forum, the Annual Design Assembly in Montreal. Andrea Trabucco introduces us before we talk about the hot, delicious, yet unschmeared bagels we had and how much we like the city so far. We then bring out Ariane Leblanc, co-founder of Martha, and Bryan-K. Lamonde, co-founder and Creative Director of Principal Studio, to discuss Montreal, its design scene, and what makes it exceptionally good; working in two languages, being a...

This week we have Arthur Foliard on the pod! Arthur is the Executive Creative Director at Koto New York, where he leads a team and shapes brands through bold ideas, clear systems, and distinct visual worlds.

Though we do not talk about Instagram (we recorded this in May), Arthur describes the deliberate slow build of Koto New York into what it is today: a branding powerhouse (my words, not his). He tells us about their work for Bolt, Lyft, Tripadvisor, and Amazon. Their work is alive and distinct on a massive scale. They work on some of...

Alex and Kevin are back from California, and due to a scheduling (production) error, the fellas recorded a quick one just a few hours ago! Better late than never! Anyway, they talk about Instagram's new wordmark, Good Good x Callaway, Liquid Death x Garage Beer, JIF, and more!

Alex and Kevin are live from Brooklyn with a solo episode! The two tan dudes talk about the Allan Peters A$AP Rocky debacle, Hall Pass, Wemby’s new logo, The Cleveland Sirens Identity, Pepsi trying to troll Coke over their rebrand, Buc-ee's suing everyone, and more!

This week we are so fired up to have Max Ottignon on the show! Max is the co-founder of Ragged Edge, a London-based branding agency building brands globally since 2007. Max created Ragged Edge to do the most impactful work. Not the most work. When they commit, they go all-in. They’ve worked for brands like Wise, Granola, Monzo, Zoe, Papier, Mindful Chef, and Grey Goose to redefine their industries. Ragged Edge pushes the boundaries to make work that demands attention and stands out. Max is a fountain of knowledge and insight. He is one of the most profound minds in...

Cole Poska, aka @spaceboycole, makes cool shit. He is a Partner and Creative Director at Beyond Studios, and the man behind the viral series Cool Sh*t, where he reimagines what brand merchandise can be by creating bold, culture-driven concepts for both legacy brands to internet favorites. The series has evolved from personal experiments into real-world collaborations, leading to actual projects with Tubi, T-Mobile, BuzzBallz, Welch's, and more. Cole’s energy is positively relentless. He is clever, sharp, and prolific, a true lightning rod for ideas. We had a great time chopping it up with him; he’s a fant...

Alex and Kevin break it down classic Front and Center style. They talk about the Jay Z concert, the World Cup, Ali-G at Wimbledon, Taylor and Travis’ wedding, Chet Hanks x Julie, the Pirate’s Booty rebrand, Pringles buns, the SpaceXAI logo, and more!

We got Emily Oberman on the program! 

She is a Partner at Pentagram and perhaps best known for her work in the entertainment industry. Emily has designed the titles for Saturday Night Live for the past 27 years—one of many long-standing relationships with iconic entertainment brands like NBC, Warner Bros, Warner Music Group, DC, and Amazon Prime Video. 

Her work goes beyond brand identity to touch many of the shows and movies that have become part of the fabric of our culture, including The Tonight Show, the Harry Potter Wizarding World and Fantastic Beasts franchises, Read...

Alex and Kevin are back from Cannes (a studio offsite to Upstate), and Kevin is reminded that he won 2 Lions several years ago, lol. They go on to talk about Philly Poopgate, the Knicks Parade and the great trash can heist, Ben Stiller’s arms, World Cup Fever, the Messi Statue, more FIFA-mandated logo cover-ups, Rick Ruben x Polymarket, the new Meta Glasses, Specs, and more!

Alex is back. The Knicks are World Champions! The World Cup is here, and so are many people from all over the world discovering American delicacies like BBQ, Costco, and complimentary chips and salsa. Zorhan was at the finals and the World Cup, and had time to drop the hottest RFP for NYC Groceries, with all of New York’s best studios chomping at the bit for the job. Coke launches collectible World Cup cans. Coors launches a super tallboy (not filled with beer, yet). Stadiums debrand at FIFA's request. JKR rebrands KFC. Tom Brady launches Good Nut. This an...

Thomas Pokorn is an Austrian-born Creative Strategist and Copywriter. He specializes in creative concepts and verbal identity for branding and advertising, always finding ways to express distinct personalities and connect with audiences through narrative. He’s worked with brands including Google, Red Bull, New Balance, Dove, Porsche, Herman Miller, Unilever, Pernod Ricard, Coinbase, and many more. Thomas worked with us on AYOH!, Quip, and a few other brands that are yet to launch. 

Thomas Pokorn is a beast. Prolific, thoughtful, funny, efficient, giant, quick wit it, lightning rod for ideas; are just a few words I could say...

Alex and Kevin are back in the studio to talk about the hottest topics in design and branding (the New York Knicks). We circle back many times on the Knicks, as Alex is very excited (AS HE SHOULD BE!) about his favorite team advancing to the finals for the first time this millennium! Alex recaps his time in London, judging the D&AD awards before going into Iceman, Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift, The Enhanced Games, David’s Tinned Fish and Ice Cream, Spotify’s disco ball ‘blunder’, Threads’ new logo, Bush’s summer beans, and more!

Today, we welcome Jason Liebig to the show! Jason is a brand historian, packaging archivist, and former marketing exec at DC Comics and Warner Bros, and story exec at Marvel. He’s the founder of CollectingCandy.com, an insane archive of vintage candy and snack packaging, which has led him to serve as the behind-the-scenes consultant for shows like Stranger Things, Mad Men, The Queen’s Gambit, and The Goldbergs, making sure every prop is era-perfect. You may have seen him on the History Channel on The Food That Built America and The Mega-Brands That Built America, and now on H...

This week on Front and Center… Alex and Kevin are back together in the studio! They talk about the Onion taking over Infowars, Adidas (Sabastian Sawe and Tigist Assefa) winning the London Marathon, Nike’s Boston Marathon blunder, Bronny’s rejected trademark, The Rams uniform updates, the Falcons uniform updates, the Ravens uniform updates, the Falcons uniform updates, Mr. 57, 67 chicken nuggets, Bud Light mini, Allbirds pivots to AI, Drake’s Album release date release, and more!

Today, we are fired up to have Jessica Dimcevski on the show! Jess is the Founder and Creative Director of Blurr Bureau, a Design and Venture Studio that builds brands connected through purpose and profit. They work with ambitious founders, marketers, and creators to help define their brands at key moments in their businesses. The Bureau believes that the brands that change the world are those built on a tension between ideas. 

Jess and her worldwide team work with brands of all shapes and sizes. You may have seen some of their most recent work. Flings, Yes A...

We're talking about Practice! Today, we are thrilled to welcome Michelle Mattar to the program! She’s the founder of Practice, a creative brand-building house launching brands from zero to existence. Before launching Practice, she worked at Red Antler and Ritual, blending strategy, design, and creative direction. At Practice, she’s built a number of awesome, successful new-to-world brands like Allkinds, Glowbar, and Remedy. She’s also trying to save our burning planet with the launch of a platform called Waste Not, which is a simple way to search an open-source database of sustainable suppliers. 

We had a great...

Alex and Kevin are back in the studio, together again! The two celebrate their favorite brand holiday: April Fools! Just Kidding! They talk about Wasted’s canned Pasta Water, the Shohei cup debacle, the Tennessee Titans Rebrand, the Sprite Refresh, George Clooney’s Crazy Mountain NA Beer, Apple’s new lil Finder guy, Starbies, The Fit Bagel, and more!

Today, we are excited to have Chris Nott and Frankie Guzi of Studio DRAMA on the program! They crossed the pond to record the pod! 

​Studio DRAMA designs type that sharpens identities, scales across systems, solves real business challenges, and makes every word unmistakably yours. They believe typography is one of the most powerful yet under-appreciated tools in branding. They are on a mission to change that through thoughtfully crafted custom typefaces that give brands a distinct look, making them recognizable beyond the logo. Studio DRAMA has worked with Heinz, D&AD, Mozilla, Body Armor, Vogue, New Bal...

Alex and Kevin are together again on opposite sides of the Country. Kevin, live from SF, gives an honest review of his first Waymo ride, shares about his recent travels, and his surprising adoption of the Oakley Meta Glasses gifted to him by Alex. The two go on to discuss Zuck’s Miami mansion, looksmaxxing, burger mogging, the new Snapple Rebrand, The Update Update, David’s new protein ice cream, World’s First Music-Streaming Urn, and more!

Today, we are stoked to welcome Chad Hogan to the program! Alex’s mentor, first boss, and only creative director ever, Chad, hired Alex as a Junior Designer at vitaminwater, where they both flourished.

Chad tells us about his journey. Inspired as a kid discovering skateboarding and hip-hop at their early stages, inspiring him to make zines. He was a part of the club scene in NYC as a teen and was on the forefront of the Rave culture when he moved to the city in the 90’s. Chad’s design career started at the New York office...

Krista Schultz is a Multidisciplinary Leader, Holistic Innovator, and the Creative Director at Tractor Beverage Co. Tractor, a client of ours, is the first and only Certified Organic and non-GMO full-line beverage in the foodservice industry. They are now expanding into retail. Tractor is committed to sustainability, tracking the environmental benefits of its organic sourcing and partnering with restaurants like Chipotle to support farming initiatives. We had a great conversation with Krista; she shared her journey from owning a gym to becoming a Creative Director and told us about the cool initiatives Tractor is taking to support farmers.

Today, we welcome Jackie DeJesu Center to the show for our 5th annual Valentine’s Day Super Bowl Spectacular! She needs no introduction, but regardless, here it is: Jackie is the Founder and CEO of DEEJAYZOO, the Inventor of SHHHOWERCAP, a former award-winning advertising Art Director at some of the top Agencies in the world, and Alex’s beloved wife! as an expert in both advertising and love, she joins us today to break down some Super Bowl ads before we run through what brands are doing for Valentine’s Day. 

We got some Cali boys in the house! Nikolos Killian and Tanner Woodbury are Founders and Creative Directors at Forth+Back, the Los Angeles-based cross-disciplinary creative studio. Their work spans from creative direction and identity design, art direction and photography, to all levels of print and digital design. They’ve worked with Apple, The Athletic, Chipotle, Netflix, NFL, Nike, Sotheby's, and many others. They’ve launched some of our favorite personal projects, like the book Dreams of New York and the Football zine Spiral. Nik and Tanner are leading awesome, thoughtful, and beautiful work in a variety of different indu...

Alex and Kevin are here with a BANGER. Coming off the long weekend, refreshed and reenergized, the fellas discuss everything going on, which is dominated by fitness and nutrition stories in a sort of new year, new me energy. They talk about the new food pyramid by the National Design Studio, The Sweetgreen Function Menu, Equinox’s question everything but yourself campaign, David’s Bronze campaign, the Prime Protein Shake, The Beyond Protein Drink, Graza's mayo launch, Honda’s updated logo, and more! 

Today, we are thrilled to welcome Leland Maschmeyer to the show! Leland is the Co-Founder and CEO of COLLINS, the globally renowned design firm. He was formerly the Chief Creative and Brand Officer at Chobani, where he led its brand relaunch, portfolio expansion, and marketing transformation. He was named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum alongside many other impressive people. Leland is also a podcaster, co-hosting Hitmakers with Ana Andjelic.

We had an enlightening conversation with Leland. We talk about the future of creativity and commerce, the Collins origin story, designing Spotify's brand, leaving...

Hello and Happy New Year! 2026 is going to be our year! Let’s go! Excuse me while I break the 4th wall… We recorded this at the end of the day on the first Monday back from 2 weeks off. This was quite possibly the worst day of the year, and still, we deliver! This is going to be such a fire year. 

Alex and Kevin discuss their breaks, their resolutions, the Jake Paul fight, Marty Supreme, the Critics' Choice Awards, David Bronze, RIP to the NYC Metro Card, the McRib Class-Action Lawsuit, the 10-hour log fireplace YouTube video...

It’s the best time of the year to celebrate the worst of the year! The Annual Backies are here once again! This year was quite the doozie! We had stiff competition for many of the awards, and many brands and stories didn't make the cut. SAD! This year we dole out: Brand of the Year, Recession Indicator of the Year, Stunt of the Year, Zuck of the Year, QSR TikTok Trend, Rebrand of the Yea, Infidelity of the Year, Fake Ah of the Year, Back it Backie, Lowest Hanging Fruit, Clanker of the Year, Flop of the Year, Re...

IT’S HERE! THE 2025 FRONTIES! TODAY WE CELEBRATE THE BEST OF THE YEAR, AND BOY WAS IT A GOOD ONE! Today we award Story of the Year, Brand of the Year, Person of the Year, Rebrand of the Year, Brand Moment of the Year, Cream of the Crop Collab, New Brand of the Year, Soooo Back Award, Good Job Thumbs Up You Tried, Clanker of the Year, Qsr Tik Tok Trend, Man of the Year, The Protein Champ, Zuck of the Year, Innovation That Excites Award, and The Refreshing Refresh! What a year!

This week, we are thrilled to welcome Brennan McGrath and Kapono Chung to the show! They are Partners at Combo, a strategic creative agency that uses strategy and design to unlock what's next. Their work spans from deep research and thorough strategy to design and beyond. They've worked with brands like Away, Target, Nike, Aldo, GAP, Instagram, Bed Bath & Beyond, Street Easy, and more! We talk about all things Combo: how they came to be, and how they chose the name when their two companies merged, their aspirations, and the state of design present and future. We had a...

GOBBLE GOBBLE BITCHES! IT'S A TRADITION LIKE NO OTHER - THE FRONT AND CENTER THANKSGIVING EXTRAVAGANZA. WE ARE THANKFUL TO YOU, THE LISTENER, ESPECIALLY IF YOU ARE READING THIS!  SO THANKFUL, THAT I WILL NOT BE USING ANY LOWER CASE LETTERS FOR THIS FIRST PART! We're coming at you this Wednesday with gratitude in our hearts and food on the brain! Alex and Kevin discuss their Thanksgiving plans and talk about the tastiest dishes, hottest brand stories, and releases. They talk about the OreoId Thanksgiving Dinner Cookie, Kraft Apple Pie Mac & Cheese featuring Jason Biggs, Butterball's Turkey Day Uniform, I...

THE MCRIB IS BACK AND SO ARE ALEX AND KEVIN! The two McRib truthers discuss Bubbagate, The Eddie Murphy Doc, Ridiculousness being canceled, Streaming platforms’ greed, Purple Mattresses, REI Soho getting replaced by an Open Ai Office, Beastland opens in Saudi Arabia, the Marty Supreme Zoom call promo, the Starbuck Bearista, Doritos Simply NKD, the Baja Blast Pie, Graza launches a wine, still G.I.N adds a new partner, and more!

Alex ran the New York City Marathon! Everyone, go tell him congratulations! Alex breaks down his experience of his beastly feat, and we break down the current state of branding! Alex and Kevin discuss Erewhon’s new smoothie, Billy McFarland's new venture PHNX, Kim Kardashian's use of Chat GPT, Liquid Death x Feastables, the Mr. Pibb rebrand, the Domino's rebrand, Apple TV dropping the plus, NEO, the Graeters' rebrand, and more!

We have a legend on the program!! She needs no introduction, but here is one anyways… 

Natasha Jen is an award-winning designer, educator, and partner at Pentagram. Born in Taipei, Taiwan, she joined Pentagram’s New York office in 2012. A six-time National Design Award nominee, Natasha’s work is recognized for its innovative use of graphic, verbal, digital,  and spatial interventions that challenge conventional notions of media and cultural contexts. Her work is immediately recognizable, encompassing brand identity systems, packaging, exhibition design, digital interfaces, signage and wayfinding systems, print, and architecture.

Working at the intersection of techn...

Alex Adam (3 first names*) is the Founder & Creative Director at Boredom Kills Creative. The studio (not agency) is based in the UK and operates worldwide with the mission to build community and connection through world-class brand identities and storytelling that get products on shelves and butts in seats. 

You may have seen their work for brands like Churn, New Brew, or Prince St. Pizza. Or you may have seen him talking to you on Reels or TikTok. This dude is a content king, spreading the good word of branding. You can see him on the feed showcasing c...

Everyone wish Alex a Happy Birthday! On this episode of Front and Center, Kevin compiled a 26-page document featuring stories from the world of design, branding, and other cultural touchpoints (things he came across online on Monday). The two fellas spend the time chatting about Lebron’s Decision 2, The Bird of the Year, a little bit of sports, Guy Fieri getting scammed, Gigantic’s rebrand, Starburst’s rebrand, Pizza Hut’s new logo, Taco Bell x Salt & Straw, Arizona Rizzler berry Iced Tear, Chat GPT’s new ads, Claude’s thinking cap, Friend, Toilet surveillance, and more!

Robyn Kanner is a creative director with a passion for telling urgent human stories. She was the creative director for the Biden-Harris 2020 campaign (shout-out to the infamous fly swatter). After the victory, she went on to collaborate with clients such as Spotify, Showtime, Governor Josh Shapiro, the ACLU,  and led the Democratic National Committee’s first major brand refresh. She has also recently redesigned the Pennsylvania license plate. Robyn is incredibly talented, as she reminds us of Sean McVay, the way she tactically approaches design sets people up for success. One of the great minds in the game, she is...