Podcast Awesome
On Podcast Awesome we talk to members of the Font Awesome team about icons, design, tech, business, and of course, nerdery.
🎙️ Podcast Awesome is your all-access pass into the creative engine behind Font Awesome — the web’s favorite icon toolkit. Join host Matt Johnson and the Font Awesome crew (and friends) for deep dives into icon design, front-end engineering, software development, healthy business culture, and a whole lot of lovingly-rendered nerdery.
From technical explorations of our open-source tooling, chats with web builders, icon designers, and content creators, with the occasional gleeful rants about early internet meme culture, we bring you stories and strategies from the trenches of building modern web software — with a healthy dose of 80s references and tech dad jokes.
🎧 Perfect for:
- Icon design and content-first thinking
- Creative process and collaborative design
- Work-life balance in tech
- Remote team culture and async collaboration
- Internet history, meme archaeology, and other nerd ephemera
🧠 Come for the design wisdom, stay for the deep meme cuts and beautifully crafted icons.
Podcast Awesome
Nerd Show and Tell: Meet Lea Verou
It’s finally happening! In this episode of Podcast Awesome, we sit down with Lea Verou to talk about all things usability, web standards, and her journey into tech. From childhood tinkering with imaginary product ads to shaping the future of CSS and web development, Lea has done ... a lot!
You’ll hear about her work at MIT, her time on the W3C TAG, and what led her to join Font Awesome as Product Lead. Plus, we get into the finer points of her experience as a hardcore food blogger, and why Greek food just doesn’t do it for her anymore. Oh, and did we mention she may have been the first person to use an icon font on the web?
Tune in for an insightful, nerdy, and entertaining deep dive into Lea’s world.
Timestamp Summary
🎙️ 0:01 | Welcome Lea Verou: The One We Finally Tracked Down
🤗 2:11 | Font Awesome’s Biannual Snuggle: Cozy or Creepy?
💡 3:28 | Lea’s Journey into Tech: The Love of Building Useful Things
💻 5:04 | From Visual Basic to Web Development: The Magic of the Web
🌍 8:49 | Web Standards & Lea’s Role in W3C’s TAG
🖍️ 12:31 | CSS Wizardry: The Inline If Function and Design Tokens
🛠️ 13:53 | How Font Awesome and Lea Crossed Paths
🔍 17:28 | The Truth About Font Awesome’s Licensing Model
🚀 18:18 | What Lea’s Working on at Font Awesome (Hint: Usability FTW)
👥 20:11 | Nerds Who Like People: The Importance of Human-Centric Design
🍜 25:52 | Lea’s Love for Cooking, Food Blogging, and Spicy Delights
🇬🇷 37:19 | Greek Food? Meh. Let’s Talk Global Cuisine
🥩 40:11 | The Steak That Changed Lea’s Life
🔥 42:02 | Favorite Font Awesome Icons? Dumpster Fire & Poo Storm, Obviously
🌐 43:34 | Where to Find Lea Online (Spoiler: Not on MySpace)
Font Awesome: https://fontawesome.com/
The Font Awesome theme song was composed by Ronnie Martin Audio mastering by Chris Enns and Lemon Productions
Font Awesome on the Socials
🌤️ Bluesky: @fontawesome.com
🐦 Twitter/X: @fontawesome
📸 Instagram: @font.awesome
💼 LinkedIn: /fontawesome
🖥️ Don’t forget to like, comment, and subscribe for more nerdery, tech insights, and fun!
Lea on the socials!
🐦 Twitter: https://x.com/LeaVerou
🌤️ Blue Sky: https://bsky.app/profile/lea.verou.me
Stay up to date on all the Font Awesomeness!
Stay up to date on all the Font Awesomeness!
