The Soof and Flo Show

Welcome to Soof and Flo's third series, centred around the tarot. The idea? Choose a card from the major arcana each episode, and record our discussion as we each design our own version of that card. We are both avid tarot fans, not to mention keen illustrators and designers, so this felt like the perfect meeting point of those passions. This week, we are discussing the first card in the Major Arcana, The Fool. The starting point of the journey, the leaping-off point, recklessness and confidence and excitement despite knowing that there may be dangers ahead, and our third episode. Find our versions of the tarot card on our Wordpres site at https://soofandflo.wordpress.com/2021/04/06/the-fool-series-3-episode-3/

We're back! After a long pandemic winter, we have decided to theme our third series around the tarot. The idea? Choose a card from the major arcana each episode, and record our discussion as we each design our own version of that card. We are both avid tarot fans, not to mention keen illustrators and designers, so this felt like the perfect meeting point of those passions. The tarot is a pack of playing cards used from the 15th Century, but popularised around the turn of the century by the publication of the Rider-Waite deck, illustrated by Pamela Colman Smith. Originally a method of divination, its popularity in recent years has taken a more therapeutic, self-exploratory format. The major arcana takes the narrative of the Fool's Journey, starting with the Fool, card 0, and ending with the World, card 21. We will be mapping the Fool's Journey onto the design and artistic process as we design each of the 22 cards per week, and discussing the way we relate to the layers of meanings of each card, and the visuals that different artists have used to signify these ideas. We would love for you to design your own version of the card as you listen along! This week, our card is The World. Listen along for discussion of time as a circle, perspectives on your life story, endings and beginnings, and the joy of beautiful stationary. Check out our designs at soofandflo.wordpress.com/

We're back! After a long pandemic winter, we have decided to theme our third series around the tarot. The idea? Choose a card from the major arcana each episode, and record our discussion as we each design our own version of that card. We are both avid tarot fans, not to mention keen illustrators and designers, so this felt like the perfect meeting point of those passions. The tarot is a pack of playing cards used from the 15th Century, but popularised around the turn of the century by the publication of the Rider-Waite deck, illustrated by Pamela Colman Smith. Originally a method of divination, its popularity in recent years has taken a more therapeutic, self-exploratory format. The major arcana takes the narrative of the Fool's Journey, starting with the Fool, card 0, and ending with the World, card 21. We will be mapping the Fool's Journey onto the design and artistic process as we design each of the 22 cards per week, and discussing the way we relate to the layers of meanings of each card, and the visuals that different artists have used to signify these ideas. We would love for you to design your own version of the card as you listen along! Our first card was Strength, card 8, however Zoom lost our recording, and so we will return to this card at the end of the series. Our second card, but first episode, is card 17: The Star. You can check out our designs on our blog here!

This episode, we're digging into media! Graphic design has a lot of space for multi-disciplinary practices, and we love experimenting with different media and teaching ourselves new skills. Something old: we both choose a medium that we have revisited in lockdown. Something new: during quarantine, what new skill are we loving digging into? Something borrowed: we love working in cultural eco-systems, and sharing media and skills is an important part of that. Something blue: we each choose an object in a colour that we love exploring.  Thank you for listening. We are Soofiya (@soofiya) and Florence (@boy.florence). You can email us with any thoughts or questions at [email protected]. 

This episode we are delving into the world of populist design: think Live Laugh Love, think Notes to Strangers, think Keep Calm and Carry On, think clapping for the NHS whilst voting Tory. We cover our definition of populist design and how it relates to the political term “populism”, and how we can borrow terms from art theory such as kitsch to deepen our understanding of populist design. A contextual discussion shows us that populist design has emerged at a specific meeting point of social media, mass marketing and late capitalism. Nationalism is also an important aspect, as we can see in Shepard Fairey’s “We the People” designs and the sheer popularity of “Keep Calm and Carry On”, and how then often people of colour and especially women of colour are used as props to drive nationalist narratives that seem radical through populist design. Recent news about celebrities hopping on the “clap for NHS” bandwagon reveal how the framework of populist design can be used to understand trends in mass media, and not even astrological memes are safe from our scathing review of populist design (but also, we all have loved these designs, we have to admit). Don't forget, you can find visuals to accompany our episodes at soofandflo.wordpress.com

Welcome to the The Soof and Flo Show, a podcast which unpacks a new theme each season with 2020 vision, complete with trivia, intersectional critique and candid discussions. This season, we’re "designing in-house": we’re exploring the design industry, movements and ways of working. From episodes on Memphis to our own design processes join Soof and Flo as they design in isolation during an age of lock-down. This episode, we delve into design processes: why they’re important to  have, how they differ from designer to designer, how they can be adapted  for any creative project or problem-solving process, how to lean into  your creative flow whilst still sticking to a structure and a timetable,  and other designers’ processes. Don't forget, you can find visuals to accompany our episodes at soofandflo.wordpress.com

Welcome to the The Soof and Flo Show, a podcast which unpacks a new theme each season with 2020 vision, complete with trivia, intersectional critique and candid discussions. This season, we’re "designing in-house": we’re exploring the design industry, movements and ways of working. From episodes on Memphis to our own design processes join Soof and Flo as they design in isolation during an age of lock-down. This week we’re looking at the design studio Memphis Group, which inspired the 80s pop pattern aesthetic with its avant-garde furniture, fabric, ceramics and metal design. We cover the inception and end of the studio, its members, and its legacy, and ask what design lessons and inspiration we can learn from the Memphis Group during COVID lock-down.  We cover its origins in Italian radical architecture of the 60s, the drunken sketch-book evenings that saw its creation, its chaotic visual style and joyful ethos, and look at our favourite designs and designers in the movement. We ask, where are the designers of colour in the Memphis movement? Where is the line between influence and appropriation? And why were such impractical things so expensive? You can find visuals to accompany our episodes at soofandflo.wordpress.com

For our fourth episode, we’re digging into the masculinities in the TARDIS through the lens of discussing our favourite and least favourite Doctors. We kick off with yet another rigged Buzzfeed quiz about which Doctor we are. We both got Matt Smith despite choosing very different answers. An exploration of our favourite Doctors! The BBC covered up Christopher Eccleston’s reasons for leaving (toxicity) by claiming he didn’t want to be typecast. Did we fancy David Tennant, or did we want to be him? The Doctor and themes of romance and domesticity. The Doctor can’t have a dull, homely life. The relationship between the Doctor and humans, the way he interacts with them, parent and child relationship. The impact of the age of the actor playing the Doctor on the dynamic with his companions and the ‘alienness’ of the Doctors Returning actors who play small characters then return to companions (Romana is the Time Lady Florence is trying to think of). Which Doctors we didn’t connect with as well Ad Break: we have fake sponsorships. Please give us money so we can have proper sponsorships. Also stay hydrated! Florence is a bit lecherous and wants to introduce a segment called Florence’s Thirst Trap Corner Jodie Whittaker as the Doctor brought Soof back into the fold as a fan. They enjoyed the dynamic with the three companions. Mates trying to save the world. Gender in the TARDIS: masculinity as reflected in alienness of the Doctor, the companions as embodying feminised empathy. Captain Jack as bringing a flirtatious fun energy compared to the usual jealousy that other male companions bring. Soof and Florence share stories of dressing up as the Doctor The Master as embodying madness and anger. The clever easter egg of the pocket watch - Russell T Davies was good at weaving in small easter eggs in a way that Steven Moffat wasn’t. Theme music was Blur and Coalesce by Podington Bear, from Free Music Archive. Send us your problems!! Find the form in the website link. All information will be kept anonymous.

For our third episode, we’re digging into the politics of monsters and the themes of sacrifice in Doctor Who through the lens of discussing specific episodes. We discuss the Ood as spiritual monsters, selective empathy and fatphobia. The ood as a Sufi sect  The episode Father’s Day as a moralistic conundrum and an exploration of the paradox of time travel. If you could go back in time and stop personal trauma from happening, would you? Death as a running theme of Doctor Who, and avoidance of death as a moral issue as explored through the characters of Cassandra and Lazarus.  Steven Moffat’s episodes are probably the scariest. You have two shadows.  Doctor Who as an exploration of the anxieties and limitations of technology, the anxiety of not being ‘pure’.  If you wear AirPods, you’re definitely being converted into a cyberman in the invasion Doctor Who was worrying about fake news even back in 2005 Russel T Davies was excellent at hiding easter eggs in plain site Soof and Flo are going to fight over the episode Love and Monsters, a rare view at those left behind by the companions. Fatness is used as a lazy shorthand to signify someone bad - the Abzorbaloff, the Slitheen - but the medicalisation of fat loss is also condemned through the Adipose. JK Rowling uses the same shorthand. Doctor Who usually tries to give his enemies a chance but also selective empathy is definitely at play. The ways we both relate to Vincent and the Doctor as artists (essentially, we both want to be able to time-travel and see the retrospectives they do about our work). Steven Moffat loved his one-liners. Florence remembers hating Journey's End. Soof had a lovely fact about being given a piece of TARDIS coral but Florence is just too mad about it all. Themes of female sacrifice crop up again and again in Series 1 - Jabe, Gwyneth, Rose on multiple occasions, Lynda with a Y. A lot of women die who don’t need to die. The Sontaran depiction as ableist. The Emojibots were great. Theme music was Blur and Coalesce by Podington Bear, from Free Music Archive. Send us your problems!! Fill out the form here. All information will be kept anonymous.

For our second episode, we’re digging into the feminist and queer politics of Doctor Who by exploring the companions: the best, the worst, the blandest, the weirdest. We discuss misogyny in Doctor Who through the lens of the portrayals of the (usually female) companions, gender dynamics in the TARDIS, and the exploration of body manipulation and transness through Cassandra, masculinities through Micky, and queerness through Captain Jack. We delve straight in and discuss our favourite companions. Justice for Martha. Before Billie Piper played Rose, she was a popstar, Florence was a fan as a child. We decide that Because We Want To with its alien themes was Billie Piper’s unofficial Doctor Who audition tape. Captain Jack as a foil and morally ambiguous contrast to the Doctor. River Song was a fascinating (and hot) companion. Moffat as a single-episode writer compared to him as a show-runner. Gender dynamics: why is the TARDIS a woman? Steven Moffat’s bananas series story arcs Before the episode started, Soof and Flo found out which Doctor Who companion they are but unfortunately the quiz was written by an ardent fan of Matt Smith / Karen Gillan and despite their different answers they both got Amy Pond and are mad about it, and are going to pen an open letter Soof would be Martha, Florence would be Captain Jack. Which companion would you be? Ignore what Buzzfeed tells you! Let us know. Steven Moffat cannot write women, and female companions often turn into cardboard cutout plot devices. There are plenty of articles on the internet about this. But we agree that Bill Potts is an excellent character and excellent gay representation. Cassandra: issues of surgery and misogyny and transphobia. Moral issues around body manipulation explored through Cassandra, Adam and Trinny and Susannah. Exploration of concept of ‘purity’. The character development of Micky and exploration of masculinities, and what kind of masculinity is necessary and gains respect from the Doctor. Micky represents domesticity and mundanity and grief of those left behind, but we only see him in a celebratory light when he hardens up and suffers trauma. Care, and its role in the Doctor Who universe, and who exhibits it. They were considering a spin-off show for a companion other than Sarah-Jane and Captain Jack, but it wasn’t Rodrick, who only wanted his winnings from the Weakest Link Be the companion and the protagonist of your own life. If you could have dinner with any character, which would it be? Would you travel backwards or forwards on your first day in the TARDIS? Theme music was Blur and Coalesce by Podington Bear, from Free Music Archive.