S02/E26 - Marta Cerdà Alimbau: Vogue, Nike, Bats in the House & Why Design Is Worth Fighting For
07/04/2026 | 1 h 1 min
She designed a Vogue cover during COVID while riding her motorcycle through Barcelona without a helmet. She made over 300 logos before landing on the one for a Nike Haaland campaign. She survived a pandemic across two countries paying two rents simultaneously — and ended up in a farmhouse with bats, eagles, and rats for four months. Marta Cerdà Alimbau is a Catalan graphic designer, AGI member, and author of Surviving Design. This is one of the most honest, funny, and deeply personal conversations of the season. What we cover: Studying psychology before design — and what it gave her The Vogue Spain cover created from chaos and a deep need for resilience Designing Barcelona's Christmas street lights from the iconic panot tile Over 300 logos for a Nike Haaland campaign — and the hidden arrow COVID across two countries, two rents, and four months in a farmhouse with bats Surviving Design — what the book is really about and why it's actually optimistic Comic Sans, context, and what Vincent Connare taught her in 2004 The tobacco brief, karma, and the projects she wishes she hadn't taken What she'd say to her 10-year-old self
Connect with Marta Cerdà Alimbau: Website: https://martacerda.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/martacerda/
Listen and subscribe: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/captn-offscript/id1837469433 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7nJ5dKTP2dQN5OwICKjTY5
More from Captn OffScript: Website: https://captnoffscript.com/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CAPTNOffScript Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/captnoffscript Newsletter: https://captn.myflodesk.com/newsletter
If you liked this episode, listen to: Sophia Yeshi (S02/E22) — another deeply personal conversation about identity, building a creative career against the odds, and staying true to yourself through everything.
S02/E25 - Elliot Jay Stocks on Books, Newsletters & Why Human Connection Is Everything
31/03/2026 | 58 min
He's back. And this time we accidentally planned a Madrid book event live on air. Elliot Jay Stocks is a designer, writer, editor, and the person behind Fine Specimens — a brand new book showcasing contemporary type design from 69 foundries, including three of mine. We talked about the book, the five-stop tour, joining Adobe after 18.5 years of freelancing, the love-hate relationship with Instagram every creative recognises, and why newsletters and human connection might be the most important things a creative can invest in right now. What we cover: Fine Specimens — from failed Kickstarter to published book with 69 foundries How typefaces were curated and the challenge of classifying type The love-hate relationship with Instagram and why the algorithm is broken for creators Why he prefers newsletters — and the pop-up newsletter concept you need to know about Joining Adobe full-time after 18.5 years of freelancing The 5-stop book tour — and the accidental Madrid plan that happened live on air Music on hold, guitar is back, and a new book idea on the horizon Why human connection in creative industries matters more now than ever
Connect with Elliot Jay Stocks: Website: https://elliotjaystocks.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elliotjaystocks/ Newsletter: https://elliotjaystocks.com/newsletter Fine Specimens: https://elliotjaystocks.com/books#fine-specimens Listen and subscribe: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/captn-offscript/id1837469433 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7nJ5dKTP2dQN5OwICKjTY5
More from Captn OffScript: Website: https://captnoffscript.com/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CAPTNOffScript Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/captnoffscript Newsletter: https://captn.myflodesk.com/newsletter If you liked this episode, listen to: Jessica Hische (S02/E21) — on serial entrepreneurship, creative reinvention, and building a life entirely on your own terms.
Cover photo by Norman Posselt: https://normanposselt.com/
S02/E24 - Philipp Louven: From Print Design to AI-First & Why Fundamentals Matter More Than Ever
25/03/2026 | 54 min
He started with die cuts and packaging catalogues at a print agency. He co-authored typography books with Slanted. He moved to Istanbul on a creative whim. And now he's the lead designer at Kittl — one of Europe's fastest-growing AI-powered design platforms. The through-line? A deep belief that no tool matters if you don't have the fundamentals first.
Philipp Louven on the journey from print to AI-first, what's actually changing in the design industry, and why the shift from execution to direction might be the most important move a designer can make right now.
What we cover: Starting in print — die cuts, packaging, catalogues, and editorial books with Slanted Moving to Istanbul just out of curiosity — and what it taught him about pace and creativity The hard switch to AI-first design at Kittl and how he worked through it Why fundamentals in composition, layout and typography matter more with AI, not less Typography trends in 2026 — human, imperfect, bold and loud Whether AI can ever be more creative than a human What Kittl does that no other design tool does Advice for young designers entering a shifting industry
Connect with Philipp Louven: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/philipp-louven-8a1251192/ Kittl: https://kittl.com
Listen and subscribe: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/captn-offscript/id1837469433 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7nJ5dKTP2dQN5OwICKjTY5
More from Captn OffScript: Website: https://captnoffscript.com/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CAPTNOffScript Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/captnoffscript Newsletter: https://captn.myflodesk.com/newsletter
If you liked this episode, listen to: Sergio del Puerto (S02/E23) — on AI, creative reinvention, and finding a new way of working after decades in the industry.
S02/E23 - Sergio del Puerto: From Serial Cut to ZAGALE & Why He's More Excited Than Ever
18/03/2026 | 1 h 1 min
He founded Serial Cut in Madrid in 1999. For nearly 30 years it became one of the most recognised creative studios in the world. And then he let it go — not because he failed, but because something new had already taken hold of him completely.
Sergio del Puerto is an art director, image maker, and one of the most influential creatives in the Spanish design industry. This is the story of Serial Cut, ZAGALE, AI, and what it feels like to be 30 years into a career and wake up genuinely excited again.
What we cover: Growing up in Toledo and arriving in Madrid as a club kid in 1999 Building Serial Cut across five techniques over nearly three decades Why he dissolved the studio — and why it felt liberating Training custom AI models on his own work with LORA ZAGALE — the new alter ego, the covered face, and the custom helmet Why AI is the best creative companion when you feel stuck Action figures, composition, and why his childhood is always in his work His advice for young designers on portfolios and exploring new mediums
Connect with Sergio del Puerto: Instagram (ZAGALE): https://www.instagram.com/_zagale_/ Serial Cut: https://serialcut.com
Listen and subscribe: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/captn-offscript/id1837469433 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7nJ5dKTP2dQN5OwICKjTY5
More from Captn OffScript: Website: https://captnoffscript.com/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CAPTNOffScript nstagram: https://www.instagram.com/captnoffscript Newsletter: https://captn.myflodesk.com/newsletter
If you liked this episode, listen to: Jessica Hische (S02/E21) — on serial entrepreneurship, creative reinvention, and building a life entirely on your own terms.
S02/E22 - Sophia Yeshi: Self-Taught, Underfunded & the First Artist on a UPS Box
11/03/2026 | 57 min
She learned Photoshop at 12 on multiple 30-day trials. She got into five art schools and couldn't afford a single one. She moved to New York with no job, no safety net, and no plan B. And then her artwork went around the world on a UPS box.
Sophia Yeshi is a New York-based illustrator whose bold, colourful, inclusive work has appeared in campaigns for Google, Spotify, Adobe, Instagram, and UPS. But this conversation is about the person behind all of it — the mixed-race kid from Baltimore who grew up too fast, taught herself everything, and built a career entirely on her own terms.
What we cover: Growing up across multiple identities and being othered from birth Teaching herself Photoshop at 12 on repeated 30-day free trials Getting into five art schools and not being able to afford any of them Moving to New York with no freelance safety net — and figuring it out anyway The UPS box campaign that went around the world Why she's calling this year "rejection therapy" Advice for young illustrators in a shifting industry What she'd write in a letter to her eight-year-old self
Connect with Sophia Yeshi: Website: https://www.yeshidesigns.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sophiayeshi/
Listen and subscribe: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/captn-offscript/id1837469433 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7nJ5dKTP2dQN5OwICKjTY5
More from Captn OffScript: Website: https://captnoffscript.com/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CAPTNOffScript Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/captnoffscript Newsletter: https://captn.myflodesk.com/newsletter
There's a version of the creative career conversation that almost never gets recorded.
Not the award acceptance. Not the process breakdown. Not the polished origin story where every setback was secretly a setup. That version exists everywhere. This isn't that.
CAPTN OffScript is where designers, founders, illustrators, and makers sit down and talk about what's actually going on — the fear before the pivot, the year where the work dried up, the identity crisis that came with success, the moment they almost stopped, and what kept them moving. The messy, honest, deeply human side of building a creative life.
I'm Alen. I run a one-person type foundry called SilverStag Type, and I've been working in and around the design industry long enough to know what gets edited out of most interviews. I started this show because I was tired of highlight reels dressed up as conversations. I wanted to hear what creative people actually think — about money and meaning, about burnout and reinvention, about imposter syndrome and identity and the thousand invisible decisions that quietly add up to a career.
So that's what we do here. We go long. We go deep. We don't rush to the takeaway. And because I'm not just a host — I'm a working designer who's navigated a lot of the same terrain — the conversations tend to go places most interviews don't reach.
Guests have included Jessica Hische, Elliot Jay Stocks, Sophia Yeshi, Kieron Anthony Lewis, Philipp Louven, and Sergio del Puerto. What they share isn't a follower count or a famous client list. It's that they showed up willing to say something real — something I hadn't heard them say before, in any interview, anywhere. That's the bar.
The show runs in two formats. The long-form Conversations are the main event — unscripted, one-on-one, unhurried. The kind of interview where we're still discovering things an hour in. Then there are the Monday Break(Through) episodes: shorter solo pieces from me, working through ideas and observations as a creative founder. Less polished. More honest.
No five-step frameworks. No sponsor reads dressed up as advice. No artificial urgency. Just two people taking creativity seriously, and seeing where that leads.
CAPTN OffScript started as The Type Convo — a typography-focused show — and evolved into something bigger when I realised the conversations I most needed to hear weren't about fonts. They were about what it actually costs to build something on your own terms, and what it means to keep going when the path stops being clear.
If the "official" version of a creative career has never quite matched the one you're actually living — the doubt, the detours, the days when you're not sure what you're building or why — this show was made for you.
New episodes drop regularly. Come in anywhere. Stay for the honesty.