Typeradio has been on air for the better part of three years, since 2004. Liza Enebeis and Donald Beekman have interviewed more than 300 designers from across the world. They’ve brought us provocative, enlightening, and sometimes downright hilarious conversations about the world of design and the people that participate in it.
AIGA: For those people who are not familiar with Typeradio or you, could you give us the quick backstory on how Typeradio came to be and you both became involved with it?
Liza Enebeis: Type (and design) is speech on paper; Typeradio is speech on type (and design). Typeradio is an organization which is thinking, discussing, teaching, and publishing about design in a non-visual way. The Typeradio core and initiating team consists of five designers: Akiem Helmling, Bas Jacobs, Sami Kortemaki (Akiem, Bas and Sami are Underware, Donald Beekman, Liza Enebeis).
Donald Beekman: Early 2004 Akiem of Underware invited Liza and myself to start a project with them. The project was uniquely and especially for that year’s TypoBerlin conference and involved putting type on the radio. Both being completely unexperienced in making radio and doing interviews we said yes immediately. And started worrying later. The initial idea was to run a radio station during the coarse of the conference, which lasted three days. After the conference we received so many requests to re-listen to the interviews, that we decided to put them online as podcasts and make them available for free to the world. The rest is history!
AIGA: The format of the show follows a consistent format starting with the infamous 30 questions. Often they catch your interviewees off guard. Do you enjoy it the most when they are?
LE: No, we do not especially enjoy putting our guests off guard. On the other hand we don’t mind if it happens, because a lot of times it leads to interesting viewpoints and answers. But it is not the putting off guard that made us decide to ask those questions. We are very aware that we want to ask our guests things that transcend the limits of the world of design and type. People have a tendency to sit back and lean on their own professional attitude, their way of answering questions. By asking different questions, you make your guests more open and intuitive in their answers.
AIGA: You’ve been on the air for the better part of almost four years; in that time, you’ve spoken to 318 designers or design advocates. Whose interview has been the most memorable?
DB: It will differ for each of us. My choice would be the following three:
Stefan Sagmeister, mainly because he was the first one we ever interviewed and he was really nice. We were so nervous that we had forgotten to start recording and had to do the first 15 minutes of the interview again. Which he did joyfully without complaining.
Aaron Marcus at Atypi in Helsinki, because it was unexpected and very interesting.
Also Kenya Hara, after a first attempt at AGI in Amsterdam we interviewed him again upon his own request last September in Eindhoven. Impressive.
LE: I agree with Donald but I would also like to add Petr van Blokland, his approach to design is away of designing that I do not consider and hence it made me rethink, relook, redesign.
Massimo Vignelli at Atypi in Lisbon was also brilliant, I wish we had the whole day with him!
AIGA: Is there anyone that you haven’t spoken to yet that you’d like to and if you only had one question for him or her what would it be?
DB: Neville Brody. My question for him would be: Neville, why have you been avoiding me?
LE: Dick Bruna. My question for him would be: When you pass away, is there someone to continue the Miffy book legacy, or is the last book published the last one.
AIGA: Lastly as it some times appears on your 30-question list, what provoked the legendary penis question?
LE: The card for the launch of Stefan Sagmeister’s New York studio had two pictures of him naked. It made us wonder. I should also add that before the interview Akiem kept saying, “Don’t be afraid. Ask everything.”
AIGA then asked Typeradio to answer their own infamous 30 questions.
AIGA: Are you religious?
Donald Beekman: No
LizaLove: Yes
AIGA: Does your neighbor know you?
DB: Yes
LE: No
AIGA: Are you jealous?
DB: Not anymore
LE: Yes
AIGA: Do you know what the capitol of Estonia is?
DB: Yes, Riga
LE: Yes
AIGA: Do you have siblings?
DB: No
LE: No
AIGA: Do you like the color purple?
DB: Yes
LE: No
AIGA: Are you witty?
DB: Sometimes
LE: No
AIGA: Do you own a bicycle?
DB: Yes
LE: No
AIGA: Do you drink?
DB: Yes
LE: Yes
AIGA: What is your drink of preference?
DB: Coffee
LE: Proseco
AIGA: Do you remember your last vacation?
DB: Yes, Champagne, France
LE: Yes
AIGA: Do you like music?
DB: No, liking is not strong enough; music is a neccessity for living
LE: Yes
AIGA: Does money make the world go round?
DB: Unfortunately
LE: Yes
AIGA: Do you read?
DB: Yes
LE: Yes
AIGA: Are you rich?
DB: Yes
LE: No
AIGA: Are you famous?
DB: Yes
LE: No
AIGA: Are you important?
DB: Sometimes
LE: No
AIGA: Do you like socks?
DB: Yes
LE: No
AIGA: Do you use drugs?
DB: Yes
LL: No
AIGA: Do you hate some one?
DB: Sometimes
LL: Yes
AIGA: Do you like pornography?
DB: No
LE: Yes
AIGA: Do you listen to the radio?
DB: Yes
LE: Yes
AIGA: Can you type?
DB: Yes
LE: No
AIGA: Have you been embarrassed?
DB: Yes
LE: Yes
AIGA: Are you bored?
DB: Yes, easily
LL: No
AIGA: Have you been ripped off?
DB: Yes
LL: Yes
AIGA: Do you vote?
DB: Yes
LE: No
AIGA: Do you use public transportation?
DB: Not a lot
LE: Yes
AIGA: Do you have rituals?
DB: Yes
LE: Yes
AIGA: How do you relax?
DB: I use drugs
LE: I drink
AIGA: Do you cook?
DB: I can cook, but I will never beat my wife Ariane who is a superior cook; I enjoy her cooking very much, though
LE: Yes