99% Invisible - My favourite (design) podcast

 As you know, I love listening to audiobooks.  I "read" non-fiction during the day to stimulate my brain as I do the dishes, and I like a good story to help me unclench my brain so I can go to sleep.  Since COVID though, I find myself listening to podcasts more and more.  My favourite right now is Roman Mars' 99% Invisible.

99% Invisible talks about the untold design stories about everyday things including household items, flags, architecture, and even some big ideas such as social design.  This is right up my alley!  I am always thinking about how design works in my classroom and society as a whole.  There are so many other things to like about this podcast: the way they create an interesting audio narrative; Mars' voice which is warm and whimsical; the sheer amount of content (close to 400 40ish minute episodes), etc.

The way I got into 99% Invisible is kind of meta meta.  I found out about it by listening to the audiobook The 99% Invisible City (A field guide to the hidden world of everyday design) which was a reading of a text-based book of the same name whose material came out of the podcast.  So I was listening to a spoken version of a text based on audio, (for those of you playing at home, that was audio-text-audio), reporting on something primarily visual: design.  

I have learned so much by listening to this podcast.  It is kind of like a master class in design.  Most of my favourite episodes are mostly about architecture (such as the ones about Frank Lloyd Wright's Usonia, airport design, bubble houses, and structural integrity), and there are others that will not let you look at ______________ in the same way again (e.g., rock paper scissors, NYC sculptures, bad smells, sound effects, etc.).    There are even a few school/education/child related design episodes (Froebel's Gifts, Noguchi's Play Mountain).  

My hope is the 99PI does an episode or two on classroom or school design.  Maybe they have and I haven't heard it yet.  

Now, like the unofficial motto of 99% Invisible, I always read the plaque.  (Unless, of course, I can find a podcast or an audiobook of someone who will read the plaque to me.)