Honestly, Honesty — Podcast Design

Brand Strategy | Editorial Thinking | Narrative Design

Client: Honestly, Honesty is a female-led podcast segment within The Funsize Show—Funsize's platform for conversations about design, creativity, and the people behind the work.

Problem: Most creative interviews focus on titles, outputs, and polished success stories. We wanted to create a space for honest conversations about creativity that centered the human experience—not just the work.

Goal: Define a distinct editorial point of view, a repeatable conversational format, and a visual identity that felt expressive but aligned with the existing show ecosystem.

Role: I co-created and co-host the segment alongside Brooke (Senior Designer) and Natalie (Creative Director and Funsize owner). My contributions included co-developing the editorial thesis, co-leading brand exploration and visual direction, translating brand into show visuals and assets, and co-producing episodes from scripting through final edits.

Approach: We treated the segment as a design problem—defining structure, tone principles, and visual identity before jumping into production.

Outcome: Launched as a recurring segment with a defined editorial voice, repeatable conversational structure, cohesive visual identity, and a growing audience.

This wasn't a standalone show—it was a segment within an existing platform, so the identity needed to feel distinct while staying ecosystem-aligned. We were also three creative perspectives working together, which meant balancing divergent ideas while maintaining a cohesive direction. And the goal wasn't production polish—it was psychological safety and trust, which are harder to design for.

concept

Key decisions

Treated the segment as a system rather than just content—defining structure, tone principles, and guardrails before production

Designed a prompt-based conversational format instead of traditional interviews to protect authenticity

Kept episodes audio-first and 30–45 minutes—long enough for depth, short enough to stay accessible

Ran independent brand explorations before converging, which surfaced what felt authentic versus forced

Chose a visual identity that felt approachable and human rather than high-gloss polish

Before brand, we focused on structure. We defined the core thesis and purpose, clarified who the conversations were for, and established tone principles: candid, grounded, human. Rather than traditional interviews, we designed a prompt-based format that gave conversations shape without making them feel scripted.

We also set guardrails to protect authenticity—episodes were intentionally audio-first and 30–45 minutes, long enough for depth but short enough to stay accessible. The goal wasn't production polish. It was psychological safety and honesty.

strategy

Brand exploration & visual direction

We treated this as both an editorial and brand design problem. The point of view we'd defined—honesty, warmth, ease—guided the visual work.

Each host explored directions independently before we came together to critique, compare, and converge. This surfaced what felt authentic and what felt forced before committing to a direction. We landed on a visual identity that felt approachable, expressive, and human—matching the tone of the conversations themselves.

brand workshop

Brand execution

From that exploration, we translated the brand into podcast cover art, YouTube thumbnails, social assets, and a visual language that could evolve over time. The goal wasn't a rigid system—it was something flexible that could grow with the conversations and the people behind them.

brand

Episodes to date

We've produced and released four episodes that established the tone and validated the format:

Meet the Hosts — Setting the intention and purpose of the segment

Dawn Okoro, Visual Artist — On identity, expression, and risk

Lydia Froncek, Musician — On improvisation, self-trust, and joy

Jennifer Aue, VP of AI Design at SAP — On leadership, purpose, and humanizing technology

Listen here

episodes

Outcome

Honestly, Honesty launched as a recurring segment with a defined editorial voice, a repeatable conversational structure, a cohesive visual identity, and a growing audience.

This work demonstrates how brand design, editorial thinking, and facilitation can work together—using design to shape tone, trust, and connection rather than just artifacts.

show

Reflection

This project reinforced that brand design isn't just about aesthetics. It's about aligning voice, visuals, and intent so people immediately understand how something is meant to feel—and feel invited into it.

Learnings

Designing a conversational format is systems work—structure enables authenticity rather than constraining it

Brand exploration benefits from divergence before convergence

Psychological safety is a design outcome, not just a production concern

Challenges

Balancing three creative perspectives while maintaining a cohesive direction

Creating a distinct identity within an existing show ecosystem

Designing for intimacy and trust rather than polish

Wins

Co-created a format that's repeatable and scalable

Launched four episodes that validated the editorial approach

Built a visual identity that feels human and inviting