Economist Tyler Cowen interviews some of the world’s best thinkers. While the podcast was widely applicable to a mass audience, it boasted a niche core of economists, academics and Silicon Valley knowledge workers.

How can we expand the reach and broaden the appeal?

What is the change CWT wants to see made in the world?

Instead of dumbing it down, we doubled-down on the devoted fans. We leaned into discovering the reason why Tyler and his team worked so hard to research and produce such in-depth interviews. From those workshops and interviews, we articulated the podcast’s mission and tagline: Listening Produces Knowledge.

We then designed a top-notch brand experience from that mission outward. The messaging was distilled in order to be easily shareable. That ethos of “humility in literacy” became holistic from strategy and messaging to logo and stage design for live events.

Inspiration for the logo:

Unlike a maze, a labyrinth holds no dead ends. It is not a puzzle, but a tool for contemplation. When walking a labyrinth, one follows a meandering path where steps and thoughts are tread and retread. 

The form reflects the motion of amplification and the acoustic nature of waves of sound and wisdom that bounce and rebound. It simultaneously expands, contracts and acts to distill its content.

Just like economics, this art references the identification of patterns in both the natural and man-made world. The golden section and Fibonacci’s sequence inspire our symbol of the conversations that lead to learning.

Because Listening Produces Knowledge. 

A production function is the relationship between quantities of inputs and outputs. Most of the time we want to collect disproportionate returns from inputs to outcomes.

Listening is often seen as a passive activity. But Tyler is on a mission to prove that learning is as much or even more about learning how-to-learn. Listening is a key feature of knowledge, which is more akin to a production than an acquisition.

Bold color represents diversity and celebration of different points of view. CWT is not ‘gotcha journalism’. Each episode is a transparent process filled with insightful questions that spur honest sharing. The goal is to invite different perspectives to allow for a change of perspective. We don’t have to be right all the time. There is time to change your POV and our minds. 

The textures and layers speak to the Socratic Method Tyler employs. There are layers to people, thoughts and conversations.

Tyler’s interview style is influenced by his youth playing competitive chess. He seeks to think ahead and guide the participants, as well as the audience. His goal is to always make the guest shine. 

He often reminds his audience. This is the conversation he wants to have, not necessarily the conversation we think he should have.

A good conversation has a tension at the center– a give-and-take with the negative space remaining as important as the subject. Listening is an equal (if silent) partner in the learning process.

Graphically, negative space is often achieved through asymmetry. But it is also framed with a graphic frame that represents the intentionality and focus that makes a podcast a unique form of conversation.

Bold typography is symbolic of the straight forward and honest dialogue.

Visually, the tagline rarely appears straight and simple. Sometimes the conversation can turn an unexpected corner. Similar to conversation, the lines are often broken and interrupted. There are two sides to every conversation.

 Deliverables

• Brand Strategy

• Campaign Strategy

• Creative Direction

• Messaging & Copy

• Art Direction

• Brand Design

• Key Visuals

• Brand Experience

Special Thanks To:

Jeff Holmes
Director of Creative & Product, Mercatus Center

Dallas Floer
Production Manager, Mercatus Center

Hana Higinbotham
Design Director, Mercatus Center

Ben Brophy
Director of Digital Strategy, Mercatus Center

Cantilever
Web Design Partner