99% Invisible (Director's Cut)

Series produced by Roman Mars

Series image

Trying to comprehend the 99% invisible activity that shapes the design of our world.

A tiny radio show about design, architecture & the 99% invisible activity that shapes our world. From producer Roman Mars and KALW in San Francisco.

In August 2012, 99% Invisible became the highest-funded journalism project in Kickstarter history, raising over $170,000 from 5661 backers.

With over 4 million downloads online, 99% Invisible recently peaked at #2 in iTunes ranking for all podcasts in the US, and had occupied the #1 spot in both the Arts and Design categories.

"Roman Mars lights the radio. His pieces conjure other worlds, grapple with big ideas, make sound three dimensional. They are smart and funny and original. The Kitchen Sisters would like to be Presidents of his Fan Club."
-The Kitchen Sisters, Peabody Award-winning producers for NPR

"We think what he’s doing is inspiring. It has a kind of rhythm and musicality that you don’t normally find in radio or podcast storytelling."
-Jad Abumrad, Radiolab

"I love the show. It's wonderful. [It] actually reminded me of why I love radio."
-Jonathan Goldstein, CBC's WireTap

"Mars is the Ira Glass of design."
-Allison Arieff, The New York Times Opinionator design columnist

Learn more: http://99percentinvisible.org Hide full description

A tiny radio show about design, architecture & the 99% invisible activity that shapes our world. From producer Roman Mars and KALW in San Francisco.

In August 2012, 99% Invisible became the highest-funded journalism project in Kickstarter history, raising over $170,000 from 5661 backers.

With over 4 million downloads online, 99% Invisible recently peaked at #2 in iTunes ranking for all podcasts in the US, and had occupied the #1 spot in both the Arts and Design categories. "Roman Mars lights the radio. His pieces conjure other worlds, grapple with big ideas, make sound three dimensional. They are smart and funny and original. The Kitchen Sisters would like to be Presidents of his Fan Club." -The Kitchen Sisters, Peabody Award-winning producers for NPR "We think what he’s doing... Show full description


197 Pieces

Order by: Newest First | Oldest First
99% Invisible #214-Loud And Clear (Director's Cut)
From: Roman Mars
Series: 99% Invisible (Director's Cut)
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Record labels are releasing music on cassettes again, but there's a place where tapes never went out of fashion: prison.

  • Added: Dec 15, 2016
  • Length: 13:02
99% Invisible #211-The Grande Dame Of Broad Street (Director's Cut)
From: Roman Mars
Series: 99% Invisible (Director's Cut)
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A mysterious series of deaths and the beautiful hotel at the center of it all. Elana Gordon from WHYY's The Pulse brings us the story of "The Grand...

  • Added: Dec 15, 2016
  • Length: 19:35
99% Invisible #225-Photo Credit: Negatives of the Bauhaus (Director's Cut)
From: Roman Mars
Series: 99% Invisible (Director's Cut)
Piece image
Much of what people knew about the Bauhaus in the 20s and 30s was from photographs. One photographer in particular documented much of the activity ...

Bought by KALW and Canadian Broadcasting Corporation


  • Added: Dec 15, 2016
  • Length: 15:29
  • Purchases: 2
99% Invisible #210-Unseen City (Director's Cut)
From: Roman Mars
Series: 99% Invisible (Director's Cut)
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We built the cities for us and didn't really consider the feathered, the spineless, or the photosynthetic. But certain flora and fauna thrived anyw...

Bought by WRIR


  • Added: Dec 16, 2016
  • Length: 26:26
  • Purchases: 1
99% Invisible #209-Supertall 101 (Director's Cut)
From: Roman Mars
Series: 99% Invisible (Director's Cut)
Piece image
Buildings keep getting higher and higher, but Taipei 101 did more than just claim the title of "world's tallest" - it also turned a piece of usuall...

  • Added: Dec 16, 2016
  • Length: 15:52
99% Invisible #207-Soul City (Director's Cut)
From: Roman Mars
Series: 99% Invisible (Director's Cut)
Piece image
In the late 1960s, Floyd McKissick devised a plan to deal with the inequality African Americans were facing throughout the country. He would create...

Bought by XRAY.fm


  • Added: Dec 16, 2016
  • Length: 31:04
  • Purchases: 1
99% Invisible #241-Mini Stories: Volume 1 (Director's Cut)
From: Roman Mars
Series: 99% Invisible (Director's Cut)
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Host Roman Mars talks to the 99pi producers about their favorite "Mini-Stories." These are little anecdotes or seeds of a story about design and ar...

Bought by KMXT


  • Added: Jan 20, 2017
  • Length: 27:14
  • Purchases: 1
99% Invisible #242-Mini Stories: Volume 2 (Director's Cut)
From: Roman Mars
Series: 99% Invisible (Director's Cut)
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In part two of our mini stories series, Roman is back answering listener questions with producers piping in with favorite short stories. In this ro...

  • Added: Jan 20, 2017
  • Length: 29:36
99% Invisible #243-Tom Swift And His Electric Rifle (Director's Cut)
From: Roman Mars
Series: 99% Invisible (Director's Cut)
Piece image
Police in American cities started out with nightsticks and later added guns to their arsenals. By the 1970s, the LAPD was researching new and less-...

  • Added: Jan 20, 2017
  • Length: 19:35
99% Invisible #244-The Revolutionary Post (Director's Cut)
From: Roman Mars
Series: 99% Invisible (Director's Cut)
Piece image
For centuries, the post has been a driving force shaping the United States. Initially, it helped unite the colonies and spread revolutionary ideas....

  • Added: Jan 31, 2017
  • Length: 17:55
99% Invisible #248-Atom In The Garden Of Eden (Director's Cut)
From: Roman Mars
Series: 99% Invisible (Director's Cut)
Piece image
Growing out of nuclear initiatives like Atoms for Peace, atomic gardens of the 1950s and 60s used radioactive material to genetically alter plants ...

Bought by New Hampshire Public Radio and XRAY.fm


  • Added: Mar 09, 2017
  • Length: 17:55
  • Purchases: 2
99% Invisible #249-Church (Sanctuary Part 1) (Director's Cut)
From: Roman Mars
Series: 99% Invisible (Director's Cut)
Piece image
In the 1980s, a small church in Arizona helped spark a new and controversial social movement based on an ancient religious concept. In this two-par...

  • Added: Mar 09, 2017
  • Length: 26:45
99% Invisible #250-State (Sanctuary Part 2) (Director's Cut)
From: Roman Mars
Series: 99% Invisible (Director's Cut)
Piece image
In response to a mass migration across the U.S. border in the 1980s, a network of churches declared themselves “sanctuaries,” offering shelter to C...

Bought by WRIR and KALW


  • Added: Mar 09, 2017
  • Length: 27:52
  • Purchases: 2
99% Invisible #246-Usonia 1 (Director's Cut)
From: Roman Mars
Series: 99% Invisible (Director's Cut)
Piece image
Frank Lloyd Wright changed the field of architecture, and not just through his most famous buildings. Before completing Fallingwater or the Guggenh...

  • Added: Mar 27, 2017
  • Length: 24:44
99% Invisible #247-Usonia The Beautiful (Director's Cut)
From: Roman Mars
Series: 99% Invisible (Director's Cut)
Piece image
Frank Lloyd Wright believed that the buildings we live in shape the kinds of people we become, and by extension, the culture of a nation. In Usonia...

  • Added: Mar 27, 2017
  • Length: 17:54
99% Invisible #251-Negative Space (Director's Cut)
From: Roman Mars
Series: 99% Invisible (Director's Cut)
Piece image
Logo redesigns these days seem to inevitably spark controversies, whether they be for political candidates or corporate brands. Graphic designer Mi...

Bought by ABC


  • Added: Mar 27, 2017
  • Length: 41:36
  • Purchases: 1
99% Invisible #252-The Falling Of The Lenins (Director's Cut)
From: Roman Mars
Series: 99% Invisible (Director's Cut)
Piece image
Decommunization laws banning Soviet symbols have radically reshaped the built environment of Ukraine over the past few years. More than 50,000 obje...

  • Added: Mar 27, 2017
  • Length: 21:11
99% Invisible #253- Manzanar (Director's Cut)
From: Roman Mars
Series: 99% Invisible (Director's Cut)
Piece image
Manzanar was undoubtedly a prison, but the Japanese Americans inside did everything they could to turn it into a livable community. This episode's ...

  • Added: May 01, 2017
  • Length: 23:48
99% Invisible #255-The Architect Of Hollywood (Director's Cut)
From: Roman Mars
Series: 99% Invisible (Director's Cut)
Piece image
In the mid-century golden era of Hollywood, new movie industry titans flocking to L.A. could commission whatever kinds of dream homes they desired....

Bought by ABC


  • Added: May 02, 2017
  • Length: 19:43
  • Purchases: 1
99% Invisible #256-Sounds Natural (Director's Cut)
From: Roman Mars
Series: 99% Invisible (Director's Cut)
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As much as people want to believe it’s all real, nature documentaries are still movies and they need a little movie magic just like any other film....

Bought by ABC


  • Added: May 02, 2017
  • Length: 22:42
  • Purchases: 1

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