It turns out that when you design something to fit everyone, it doesn't really fit anyone. At least according to Kay Sargent. She serves as the Director of Thought Leadership, Interiors at the global design firm HOK. Maybe that seems obvious, but if you look around, you see a lot of things that seem designed without any single person in mind. The office is a great place to start. The same lighting, the same desks, the same noise levels. A lot of sameness.
That is something Sargent thinks a lot about. She came to Bloomington as part of Eskenazi School of Art, Architecture+ Design’s Design Speaker Series in the fall of 2025. She says that creating more flexibility is a big part of neuroinclusive design. but it ends up benefiting everyone.
Granfalloon 2026
A granfalloon, according to Kurt Vonnegut – he invented the term, so he should know – is an association of people who feel a sense of shared identity but based on meaningless or arbitrary factors. Vonnegut suggested you think of quote the Communist Party, the Daughters of the American Revolution, the General Electric Company—and any nation, anytime, anywhere. Vonnegut, a Hoosier himself, pointed out that Hoosiers also fall into this category.
Here in Bloomington, Indiana, a granfalloon is a festival of literature, art, music, and ideas. It’s put on by the IU Arts and Humanities Council, and they collaborate with various other groups. Granfalloon has been going – and growing – since 2017. This year it’s undergoing a transformation. We brought in a couple of the main granfallooners to talk about the changes. Adrian Starnes, Associate Director of the IU Arts and Humanities Council, and Natalia Almanza, the Council’s Program and Operations Coordinator, spoke with Nice Work host Alex Chambers.
Check 'Em Out If You Want
Nice Work hosts Kayte Young, Alex Chambers, and Tyler Lake make the perilous journey down to their slightly stuffy podcast studio to get on the mics and talk about some things they really like and that they suspect other people might like as well. Kayte brought in a copy of the Paul Lynch novel Prophet Song. Alex Chambers showed off a hardback of Mo Willems I Really Like Slop, and Tyler tried to bring in a life size cutout of Peter Faulk as Frank Columbo, but he strapped it to the back of his bike and, unfortunately, cardboard Columbo meandered off the back of the bike somewhere between College Avenue and Grant Street. Keep your eyes peeled for older man, frightfully thin from some angles, with a brown trenchcoat and a little cigar wandering around downtown Bloomington asking seemingly stupid questions.
Kayte loves the tight focus on the life of a single character navigation a dystopian near future Ireland in Prophet Song. Alex enjoys the humor and nuanced messaging of I Really Like Slop. Tyler enjoys the self-effacing and ultimately disarming tactics that always help Frank catch the baddie on Columbo.
CREDITS
This episode was produced and edited by Kayte Young and Alex Chambers. We get production help from Danny William, Karl Templeton, Jillian Blackburn and Jonah Ballard.
Our theme music was composed and performed by Alan Davis. Additional music from Universal Production Music. The executive producer is Eric Bolstridge.