This American Life is a nationally-renowned radio show in the United States, whose long-form format and firsthand storytelling style into a much-imitated formula across its industry, essentially kickstarting the podcast industry altogether. The show is known for being journalistically rigorous and literary in its quality, while being experimental in the types of stories and people it profiles.

The typography reflects the feeling of listening to the show, and visualizes the way that individual stories have woven together in their own unique shapes over 25 years to show us, quite literally, what This American Life is. The typography, Mercury, is the show's brand typeface, and it appropriately reflects the prestige and seriousness with which the radio show's team has approached their work. The nonlinear format of the ragged quotes attempts to embody both the unpredictability of the listening experience and the experimental spirit of the show that has challenged the format of radio for the last quarter-century. The underlines, playhead icons, and annotation-level text attempt to create a feeling of linked clickability as the piece drives the viewer to a digital archive of audio pieces to explore.