Everybody has small talk over coffee. For two Kent State master’s candidates, that small talk turned into an idea that has changed their lives.

Brian Buirge and Jason Bacher said they grab coffee every morning together. One Monday morning, about six weeks ago, the two decided to go to Starbucks instead of the Student Center.

“I credit this extra block to the site really getting its wheels,” Bacher said. During their walk, they got the idea to make a website that offered quality design advice in an unconventional way.

Inspiration from sites like whatthefuckshouldimakefordinner.com gave them the idea to add the f-bomb for humor.

Buirge and Bacher created goodfuckingdesignadvice.com that night and launched it at 5 p.m. the next day. Their Google Analytics report showed that the website had 500 hits that night. The two were excited by that number.

By the third day the website generated 70,000 hits, and the numbers continued to rise.

“We weren’t thinking long term. We didn’t consider anything, not even the f-word,” Bacher said.

When you visit goodfuckingdesignadvice.com, the first thing you’ll see is a piece of design advice with the f-bomb stamped in it somewhere. For example, “Give the client what they fucking need.” And you can click “This isn’t enough, I need more fucking advice” as many times as you like to view more pieces of advice.

Only six weeks after creating the site, it has generated about 360,000 hits. That’s a few thousand hits per day, the duo said.

“It’s easy to navigate, and it’s funny,” said Farin Blackburn, a junior visual communication design major at Kent State.

“It’s beneficial and humorous,” said Jordan Kasten- Krause, another junior visual communication design major. This may explain why the site took off so quickly.

But the f-word has offended some people. One was Buirge’s aunt.

Then there was a Twitter follower who posted one of the website’s pieces of advice. People wanted to un-follow her because she used a swear word.

The two responded to this by making a “Family Fucking Friendly” version. There you can find the advice with the f-word slashed out.

Regardless of the humor, Buirge and Bacher stick to their main goal.

“With or without the f-word, the key to the site is quality advice,” Buirge said. He said he believes the site is so helpful because he has to tell his students advice again and again in class before it sticks.

“If students click ‘I need more advice’ they are seeing the same advice that I could give in class,” Buirge said.

Whether people are visiting the site for quality advice, humor or for both, goodfuckingdesignadvice.com has people clicking. Overall, the two are just happy to help designers through their website.

“Walking around the Art Building I see laptops with our advice wallpapers. I see the impact the site has made,” Bacher said. “That’s rare to happen in someone’s life.”

Contact Britney Beaman at [email protected].