Spotlight: Does this work as a description for "Open + Curious"?

Workbench
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This might be helpful…

I’ve entirely abandoned working [on podcasts] on a schedule. The only thing a strict schedule—publish every week, every two weeks, etc—ever did for me is stress me out.

For my daily podcast (1,000+ episodes) I work in batches. I prepare, record and schedule them, working at a time that works for me. “Some time in the next week, I want to do the batch…” and then I find a time that feels fun.

For my conversation podcasts, the hardest part by far, is coordinating guests. And coordinating guests is important—when I publish is not. So rather than stress out over “next week’s episode” (choose any schedule, cue stress), episodes appear when they are ready. Since each episode is for those few special listeners who will find it, I don’t care about large listener numbers. Since I care about creating a space for the guest, and creating better conversation, I do that by publishing.

On Sunday’s Forward Podcasters call, @steveh was talking about windows… about how physical-world windows constrain your view. Years ago I realized that trying to publish on a schedule was constraining my work.

I need help with…

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I’m building a new show call “Open + Curious”. I’m knee-deep in the description, the trailer, the little hello-intro-script for the beginning of each episode, web site copy, etc. Below is a general description of the show, from which I’ll draw to create all those things I need.

The podcast will be free. It’s part of a larger project—regular writing about conversation, and a for-pay product where one gets the takeaways from each of this podcast’s episode…

  • Free to: Read all you want of my writing about conversation.
  • Free to: Listen all you want to this podcast about conversation.
  • Pay to: Just get the juicy takeaways from the episodes in a short email.

My ask today is…

Read the below. If you don’t make it to the end before losing interesting, please tell me exactly where you lost interest and why.

Open + Curious

My mission is creating better conversation to spread understanding and compassion. I want people to realize that they are on the hook for the quality of the conversations they create.

I want people to change from simply having conversations, to actively working to improve their conversations.

I’m looking to help independent podcasters who have guests, or cohosts, on their episodes. Independent podcasters are creating their podcasts as a passion–project, or as a part of a larger venture. The people I seek to reach are already at maximum capacity. They are already doing everything necessary to support their personal why for creating their podcast. Their challenge is not that they lack options or ideas for improvement. They are already inundated with ideas and pitches.

I promise that you will discover what “better” means for your conversations.

I promise to illuminate the art of conversation without overwhelming you with information.

I promise to encourage you to reflect, so you can learn what works for you.

I promise to remain open-minded, to listen to your ideas and your challenges, and to let curiosity be our guide.

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Looking forward to your new show. Love the premise & believe listening will prove useful to many of us. Best of luck.

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Cool new idea, @Craig! I will say that this phraseology (phrase?) may draw some sexually open and curious traffic. If you’re comfortable with that. Add a disambiguation sentence like on Wiki lol.

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@craigconstantine
Dude, I stopped at the word ‘mission’.

a) over-used to the point of it has lost meaning
b) listeners don’t care what you want and do, they want you to tell them how you are going to fix a problem they have

AnnieP

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I’m intrigued, and read till the end!

I have turned off many a podcast episode because I’ve found that I’ve wanted to ask questions that I’m not hearing the host ask. I’ve become annoyed while listening to a full episode, waiting for the folks to get to the “juicy” stuff only to have them not and then I don’t go back to listen to the podcast again.

So I think your podcast idea will certainly add to the podcasting community!

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Your title “Open + Curious” is interesting enough for me, @craigconstantine. I did read your general description, and it did not add any to my interest in the topic/the goal/the life & learning skill of “Open & Curious.” Your description sounds like you are offering yourself and the podcast up to be a ‘teacher’ of how to improve one’s skill at conversation.

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Here’s the artwork for the entire Open + Curious project…

open + curious 500

@here

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Like everything but the white head, dude

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I am with Annie. I love the cover vibe, colors and font. But I feel like I’ve seen that white head image before. More importantly, I wish the cover worked harder to explain that the show was going to be ‘conversation’ focused. That explanation could be dropped into the lower left-hand section where your name currently resides.

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Thanks, @Hoagie
Agree with all you said, Mark, plus the fact that the white head is a-a-well, not inclusive. if you added more than one head it might get too busy, but it would pick up on Mark’s idea that it was an exchange of ideas among a group of equals, not a pedagogical hierarchy–you know top down as in I talk and you listen.

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Would love to hear as much input on this as possible… Any other @supporters have thoughts/suggestions?

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@craigconstantine To me, excellent comments from @AnnieP and @Hoagie. So a suggestion as a gradient is already employed in the background, maybe another could be used within the head as well, perhaps even with that same blue, possibly angled rather than centered. Congratulations to the artist!

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Love love love the artwork . . . compellingly inviting for me to be Open + Curious what you and your podcast are all about.

Tom

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My two thoughts are (Im not your audience though so what does my thought matter really?)

  • AND or similar symbol instead of +?
    or just two words Open Curious?
  • dimishing the head?,
    its the symbols and brain that matter not the head if Im getting this picture right?
    The head is only there to understand the inner parts. Perhaps making it more similar color than background perhaps to make the symbols stand out more

I might be totally wrong in above assertions, just my thoughts

I would love to hear your thoughts what the “plus” resonate with you?
Can we really be open without at least a minimum of curiosity?
Or is the intentional act of looking for our own inner reasons to be curious and that makes us open as an intentional action the meaning of this show and its listeners?

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@Craig - adding a mouth component, even if minimal/subtle, could address the “it’s conversational” issue.
I like that Constantine and Curious are the same color.
The plus sign looks a bit “medical” to me. Helipad, Red Cross-ish. I think maybe it’s a tad “thick” or heavy and that leads to the impression it makes. “Lightening” it (weight, not color - maybe via no outline) and centering it (top to bottom) in line with the horizontal center of the word open might accomplish this.
The colors are great (perhaps if the head were maybe a very very subtle ombre’d gray it could connote “gray matter”).
The layout, balance, font, and overall simplicity are really nice. It feels clean and crisp and it appeals to the viewer’s curiosity. I like it.

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Thank you so much @here for your input on the logo! It’s impossible for me to see something with a truly fresh perspective and everyone’s comments are invaluable to me. There are a lot of individual things… too many to dig into every one. Hit reply if you’ve a burning item you feel needs addressing.

I’m working with the artist on changes to this.

In my mind, people are supposed to see the head and self-identify with it, “yeah, that’s me. I have questions and complexities in my head like that…” If the iconography reads as racial/racism, that defeats my reason for the head being in the logo.

This was something I wavered on. Open + Curious is primarily my writing about conversation. A podcast will be a small part of the project, so I started this Workbench topic specifically about the podcast. I’ll be using one logo on everything (Substack publishing platform, podcast, emails) to keep the branding as simple as possible.

I like the look of “+” rather than “and”. The domain name does have “and” in it though, ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Some minimum amount of one, is needed for the other, sure. Real people though can be open, without being meaningfully curious. And people can be curious while being completely prejudiced against any new ideas they encounter. Open + Curious is where the magic is.

The point of the Open + Curious project is to get independent podcasters who have guests, to change from simply having conversations (and hoping those will be good, or hoping to “fix it in post”) to actively working to create better conversations.

I’m not expecting the people I’m serving to listen to the podcast—independent podcasters are overwhelmed and don’t have time to listen to another podcast. Rather, I’m expecting people to read a few minutes and get the best, actionable parts.

I’m building the project on Substack so people can reply to emails, or engage in discussion on the platform. Only some of the writing will be based on podcast episodes; think of the podcast episodes as me showing my source material for some particular thought in a written piece. And of course, if that small piece is really interesting to you, then you might want to do the 1-hour deep dive to hear the conversation where it came from.

ɕ

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First to reiterate: @here, really appreciate everyone’s comments above. Lots of discussion and a few more iterations has lead me to this…

open + curious 600
open + curious 600600×600 96 KB

Cheers!

ɕ

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@craigconstantine THAT’s IT! :heart_eyes: :star_struck: :smiley: illicites a deeply satisfying understanding with a
ZING! :+1:

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Hey, dude!
Better.
Suggestions:

  • change the plus to an ampersand
  • switch the lower balloon with the “with Craig Constantine” and let’s see the balance

BTW is this going to be a call in ? what’s the format? If its discussion you might shift the graphic to the first balloon containing the title “Open & Curious” and make that larger, then the second balloon saying “Let’s talk…” with the Craig Constantine outside balloons in lower right corner
AP

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Thanks for the continued suggestions, but the logo is complete and shipped at this point. Weekly publishing of the subscription-based publication resumes this week. :slight_smile:

The podcast is simply my usual style of two-person conversations.

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