Rich Braden and Tessa Forshaw wrote a book called Innovation-ish, and that little “-ish” is doing a lot of work. Rich Braden is a design strategist who’s taught innovation at Stanford and advised companies around the world. Tessa Forshaw is a cognitive scientist whose lab studies the psychology of creativity — why we lose it, and how we get it back.

In this conversation, we talk about why most innovation doesn’t have to be a moonshot — and why chasing moonshots might actually be holding your team back. We dig into the neuroscience of what Tessa calls “innovation hesitation,” the tiny amygdala response that makes us reach for certainty instead of possibility.

Bios

Tessa Forshaw

As a co-founder of the Next Level Lab at Harvard University, Tessa specializes in using cognitive science to develop creative and innovative potential in the workforce. She draws upon her academic research as a cognitive scientist and extensive background as a former designer at IDEO CoLAb and Accenture to turn the cognitive processes involved in design, creativity and innovation into practical insights that can be applied in the flow of work. These insights are also the foundations of what she teaches as a design educator at Stanford University and now Harvard University. Recognized for her impactful design projects, Tessa is the recipient of multiple design awards: a Fast Company Design Award for General Excellence, two Core77 Industrial Design Magazine Design Awards, and the Australian American Chamber of Commerce Innovation Awards.

Rich Braden

Rich Braden is the founder of People Rocket LLC, a strategic innovation firm based in San Francisco. With over 15 years of academic experience, Rich is a recognized thought leader in design thinking, leadership, and innovation. He is a design educator at renowned institutions including Harvard University, Stanford University, and London Business School, helping shape future leaders. As CEO of People Rocket, he works with clients such as Airbnb, Google, the United Nations, Microsoft, Coca-Cola, Starbucks, and Red Cross to drive strategic innovation and responsible AI solutions. Rich holds degrees in Computer and Electrical Engineering from Purdue University and resides in the San Francisco Bay Area.

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This ad-supported episode is available to everyone. If you’d like to hear it ad-free, upgrade to our premium subscription, where you’ll get an additional 2 ad-free episodes per month (4 total). Premium subscribers also get access to the documentary Design Disruptors and our growing library of books. New premium benefit: get a behind-the-scenes pass to every episode with The Roundup, where each week we bring you insights and actionable tactics from recent episodes.

You’ll also get access to our monthly AMAs with former guests, ad-free episodes, discounts and early access to workshops, and our monthly newsletter The Brief that compiles salient insights, quotes, readings, and creative processes uncovered in the show. And subscribers at the annual level now get access to the Design Better Toolkit, which gets you major discounts and free access to tools and courses that will help you unlock new skills, make your workflow more efficient, and take your creativity further.

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There’s a hand behind every line, and you feel it. That’s not an accident. It’s a philosophy. Because as we talk about in the show, as non-human intelligence becomes cheaper, the human touch, and real, earned, interpersonal trust will become the rarest currency (to paraphrase Anu Atluru’s quote).

Luis’ path is anything but direct. After two decades as a successful art director and editorial designer in Amsterdam — building magazines, running teams, living inside meetings and inboxes — he took a sabbatical in Tokyo and never really came back. Not because the work dried up, but because he found something better: a life built around drawing, shaped by Japanese craftsmanship culture, and grounded in the shokunin ethic that says if you’re going to do a thing, you do it properly, all the way, no shortcuts.

Today Luis publishes his work through a membership site he built himself, on his own terms, on a platform he controls. He’s obsessed with making things worth keeping — including a beautifully crafted physical book he sweated every detail of, right down to standing at the press to get the colors right.

In a moment when so many of us are asking what creativity even means when machines can approximate it on demand, Luis has an answer: make things that carry your presence. Make things that could only come from you.

You can explore his work and join his community at mundomendo.com. Also, Luis has a special offer for Design Better listeners: get 20% off a membership to his site by visiting the link dbtr.co/mundomendo.

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Premium subscribers get access to the documentary Design Disruptors and our growing library of books. You’ll also get access to our monthly AMAs with former guests, ad-free episodes, discounts and early access to workshops, and our monthly newsletter The Brief that compiles salient insights, quotes, readings, and creative processes uncovered in the show.

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In this conversation, we dig into some ideas that could genuinely change how you think about your work. David talks about this concept of “storage of intelligence” — the idea that your knowledge, your meeting history, your working style could all be captured and made available as a kind of digital twin that keeps working even when you’re not in the room. And Rachana shares how Adobe is thinking about AI not as a one-shot creative output machine, but as a collaborative partner that helps teams break out of their own blind spots.

We also push them on the harder questions — the job anxiety that’s real right now in tech, the surveillance concerns that come with recording your work life, and where they each personally draw the line.

Bios

David Shim is Co-Founder and CEO of Read AI, an AI productivity platform focused on helping knowledge workers leverage the power of AI to improve how they collaborate, communicate, and get work done. The platform provides meeting insights, search, chat, and proactive recommendations for millions of professionals, integrating seamlessly with the tools teams already use. Read AI is pioneering the concept of the Digital Twin—AI that serves as a true extension of you, built on deep contextual understanding of how you work.

Today, Read AI is trusted by teams at 90% of the Fortune 500 and in the past year, was recognized as a Top 10 AI Vendor for Enterprises by Brex, a Top 50 AI App by a16z and Mercury, and named one of Inc.’s Top 16 Companies to Watch

Before founding Read AI, David served as CEO of Foursquare and previously founded Placed, which was acquired by Snap in 2017. In 2025, he was named CEO of the Year by Geekwire.

Rachana Rele

Rachana has spent 20+ years at the intersection of technology and human experience — figuring out not just what to build, but why it matters. At Adobe, she shapes the direction of new products, nurtures ideas from zero to something real, and helps early-stage businesses find their footing and grow.

She’s also a perpetual student — currently finishing an MBA at UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, with an M.Eng. in HCI from Clemson and a B.E. in Industrial Engineering from the University of Mumbai.

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Leonardo is the co-founder and Chief Design Officer of Archetype AI, a company building foundation models trained not on text or images, but on the continuous stream of sensor data flowing from the real world, like factories, power grids, and city intersections.

Before that, he spent nearly seven years at Google’s Advanced Technology and Projects group, where he led design on Project Soli — a miniature radar chip that taught devices to understand human gesture and presence — and Project Jacquard, which wove interactivity into everyday objects like Levi’s jackets and YSL bags. He holds a Ph.D. in human-computer interaction from the University of Florence and spent years as a postdoctoral researcher at MIT’s Design Lab. He’s also filed more than 30 patents (!).

What makes Leonardo’s thinking distinctive is his insistence that the metaphors we use to describe AI shape everything — how we build it, how we regulate it, and who it ends up serving. He’s skeptical of the dominant vision of AI as an autonomous agent that does things for us, and is pushing toward something different: AI as a tool we think with.

In this conversation, we get into his unusual path to design through cognitive science and robotics, what it actually means to treat emerging technology as a design material, why the chatbot is a primitive interface for the physical world, and why he believes augmenting human intelligence might be the most important design challenge of our time.

Bio

Leonardo Giusti, Ph.D., is an award-winning design and research director. With over 15 years of experience, he excels in transforming R&D projects into innovative hardware, software, and AI products.

Prior to Archetype AI, Leonardo was the Head of Design at Google’s Advanced Technology and Projects, UX Design and Product Lead at Samsung Design and R&D and interaction design lead at MIT Design Lab. Leonardo was a Post-doctoral Associate at MIT Design Labs and completed his Ph.D, in human-computer interaction at the University of Florence.

He has filed more than 30 patents, and published more than 40 scientific papers. His work has been featured in the New York Times, Washington Post, Wired, Fast Company and other recognized magazines.

Bonus content and more on our Substack: ⁠https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/brooke-hopper⁠

As Senior Principal Designer for Machine Intelligence and New Technology, she helped design the very first Firefly experiments and is now working on unreleased tools that raise fundamental questions about whether things like non-destructive editing, or even layers, still mean what they once did. If you listen carefully, you might get some clues about the products Adobe is cooking up next.

But Brooke is more than a product thinker. She’s also a design educator, leading a partnership between Adobe and Parsons called “Not Generated” — a name she chose deliberately to start a conversation, not end one.

In this episode, we get into what it actually means to use AI as a creative collaborator rather than a shortcut, why design education needs to stop teaching tools and start teaching taste, and why Brooke believes this moment might be the most exciting time in her career.

Bio

Brooke Hopper is a design leader, speaker, and champion for artists — passionate about building community through creativity and designing better experiences for some of the most talented people in the world. Her work spans platforms and products, always centered on making space for artists and creators to thrive, collaborate, and stay at the heart of the creative process. With years of experience building 0-to-1 products and leading innovation in ambiguous spaces, she turns uncertainty into opportunity — translating bold ideas into tools that empower creative expression.

***

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This ad-supported episode is available to everyone. If you’d like to hear it ad-free, upgrade to our premium subscription, where you’ll get an additional 2 ad-free episodes per month (4 total). Premium subscribers also get access to the documentary Design Disruptors and our growing library of books. New premium benefit: get a behind-the-scenes pass to every episode with The Roundup, where each week we bring you insights and actionable tactics from recent episodes.

You’ll also get access to our monthly AMAs with former guests, ad-free episodes, discounts and early access to workshops, and our monthly newsletter The Brief that compiles salient insights, quotes, readings, and creative processes uncovered in the show. And subscribers at the annual level now get access to the Design Better Toolkit, which gets you major discounts and free access to tools and courses that will help you unlock new skills, make your workflow more efficient, and take your creativity further.

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Daisy Fancourt is a Professor of Psychobiology and Epidemiology at University College London, where she heads the Social Biobehavioural Research Group and directs the World Health Organization’s Collaborating Centre on Arts and Health. She’s one of the most cited scientists in her field, and her work sits at a genuinely unusual intersection: the rigorous, data-heavy world of epidemiology and the seemingly softer world of creative practice.

Her new book, Art Cure: The Science of How the Arts Save Lives, makes a case that’s hard to dismiss: that engaging with the arts changes your gene expression, slows your biological aging, reduces your risk of dementia, depression, and chronic pain, and actually helps you live longer. She’s done the longitudinal studies across 52 countries, and she’s lived it personally, watching her premature daughter’s vitals stabilize in the NICU as she sang to her.

For designers and creative professionals, this conversation raises some genuinely thorny questions about whether creative work counts, what burnout is actually doing to your body, and why the arts budget is always the first thing to cut even when the data says it probably shouldn’t be.

Bio

Daisy Fancourt (born June 1990) is a British Professor of Psychobiology and Epidemiology at University College London (UCL) and Head of the Social Biobehavioural Research Group. She is a leading researcher on the health impacts of arts, culture, and social prescribing. Fancourt previously worked in NHS arts programs, has published over 300 papers, and directed a major study on COVID-19's mental health impacts.

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This ad-supported episode is available to everyone. If you’d like to hear it ad-free, upgrade to our premium subscription, where you’ll get an additional 2 ad-free episodes per month (4 total). Premium subscribers also get access to the documentary Design Disruptors and our growing library of books. New premium benefit: get a behind-the-scenes pass to every episode with The Roundup, where each week we bring you insights and actionable tactics from recent episodes.

You’ll also get access to our monthly AMAs with former guests, ad-free episodes, discounts and early access to workshops, and our monthly newsletter The Brief that compiles salient insights, quotes, readings, and creative processes uncovered in the show. And subscribers at the annual level now get access to the Design Better Toolkit, which gets you major discounts and free access to tools and courses that will help you unlock new skills, make your workflow more efficient, and take your creativity further.

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Our guest is the visionary production designer Fiona Crombie. You’ve seen her work in incredible films like The Favourite, and most recently, in the hauntingly beautiful Hamnet. This film is currently taking the industry by storm with eight Academy Award nominations, including a nod for Fiona herself for Best Production Design.

Trailer for Hamnet, nominated for 8 Academy Awards in including Fiona Crombie for production design

From the sprawling architecture of a Tudor estate down to the specific curve of a spoon or the texture of a tablecloth, Fiona’s job is to build a physical reality that reflects the interior lives of the characters on screen.

In our conversation, we explore how production design shapes performance, how historical accuracy balances with storytelling, how a visual “mission statement” guides an entire crew, and what it means to create environments that carry grief, love, and memory.

Bio

Fiona Crombie is an Australian production designer, twice nominated for the Academy Award for Best Production Design — for The Favourite and Hamnet. Born in Adelaide and raised in Sydney, she trained at the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) before becoming the resident designer at the Sydney Theatre Company, where she developed the deep relationship with text and storytelling that still shapes her work today.

***

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This is a premium episode on Design Better. We release two premium episodes per month, along with two free episodes for everyone. New premium benefit: get a behind-the-scenes pass to every episode with The Roundup, where each week we bring you insights and actionable tactics from recent episodes.

Premium subscribers get access to the documentary Design Disruptors and our growing library of books. You’ll also get access to our monthly AMAs with former guests, ad-free episodes, discounts and early access to workshops, and our monthly newsletter The Brief that compiles salient insights, quotes, readings, and creative processes uncovered in the show.

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This is a preview of a premium episode. Find the full interview on our Substack: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/sam-beam

Five time Grammy-nominated Sam Beam—who you know as Iron & Wine—told us his music career still feels like a bit of a fluke, even though it’s been over half his life now. Things started to come together for him when he got his hands on a 4-track recorder. Suddenly, music wasn’t about performing—it was about making something that he could develop and refine, just like a drawing.

We talk about how he balances prolific output with raising five daughters, why he used to keep “office hours” for creativity, and how a successful day can be as simple as finding one good lyric.

We also dig into collaboration—how working with other musicians and even his daughter Arden on the new record pushes him outside his comfort zone. And why he believes your art should be like a mirror reflecting something.

Sam’s new record Hen’s Teeth drops today—February 27th—and he’s heading out on tour hitting Australia, the Midwest, East Coast, and West Coast. But first, we wanted to understand how someone who came from visual art built one of the most distinctive voices in American folk music.

Bio

Sam Beam is a singer-songwriter who has been creating music as Iron & Wine for over two decades. Through the course of eight albums, numerous EPs and singles, and the initial volumes of an Archive Series - Iron & Wine has captured the emotion and imagination of listeners with distinctly cinematic songs.

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George is a cognitive scientist who’s spent years studying where great ideas actually come from, and his research reveals something surprising: creativity might be less like magic and more like archaeology. In his book How Great Ideas Happen, he argues that ideas aren’t just born in our brains—they’re discovered through a systematic process of excavation.

In our conversation, George walks us through the four stages of creative archaeology: surveying the landscape, gridding out the problem space, digging without judgment, and sifting through what you’ve found. He shares fascinating research on “hot streaks”—that pattern where creators explore widely, strike a rich vein of ideas, mine it completely, then move on.

And he challenges one of Silicon Valley’s most cherished beliefs, namely that ideas without execution are worthless, using evidence from a study done on Quirky.com showing that good ideas really are worth waiting for.

If you’ve ever felt stuck waiting for inspiration to strike, or wondered whether creativity can actually be systematized without losing its magic, this conversation offers both the science and the practical steps to help you uncover your next breakthrough.

***

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This is a premium episode on Design Better. We release two premium episodes per month, along with two free episodes for everyone. New premium benefit: get a behind-the-scenes pass to every episode with The Roundup, where each week we bring you insights and actionable tactics from recent episodes.

Premium subscribers get access to the documentary Design Disruptors and our growing library of books. You’ll also get access to our monthly AMAs with former guests, ad-free episodes, discounts and early access to workshops, and our monthly newsletter The Brief that compiles salient insights, quotes, readings, and creative processes uncovered in the show.

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In our conversation, Nate and Matt share how they developed predictive measurement tools to gauge user perception, why they pair visual updates with quality-of-life features like comment threading and improved video controls, and how their research process has evolved from measuring clicks to understanding satisfied watch time.

We also dig into one of YouTube’s most complex challenges: the algorithm. As Nate and Matt explain, what users say they want doesn’t always match what actually makes them happy on the platform. They also discuss their work exploring ways to give viewers more agency and control, including the possibility of using natural language to tune your feed.

Both guests have a genuine passion for how YouTube enables deep expertise and niche interests to find their audiences—from 3D models of the Golden Gate Bridge to forest fire education from Northern California lookouts. Behind the algorithms and design updates is a platform where, as Nate puts it, “when you give people a voice, the things they say are just inspiring.”

***

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This ad-supported episode is available to everyone. If you’d like to hear it ad-free, upgrade to our premium subscription, where you’ll get an additional 2 ad-free episodes per month (4 total). Premium subscribers also get access to the documentary Design Disruptors and our growing library of books:

You’ll also get access to our monthly AMAs with former guests, ad-free episodes, discounts and early access to workshops, and our monthly newsletter The Brief that compiles salient insights, quotes, readings, and creative processes uncovered in the show. And subscribers at the annual level now get access to the Design Better Toolkit, which gets you major discounts and free access to tools and courses that will help you unlock new skills, make your workflow more efficient, and take your creativity further.

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Over the intervening years, Bill and Dave had countless conversations with people who had—at least to some degree—”figured out” work , family, and friends, but still felt stuck. They were stuck on the question of meaning. Bill told us that asking, “What is the meaning of life?” is not the right question. Instead, we should be asking “How can I find meaning IN life?”. In their new book, How to Live a Meaningful Life, Bill and Dave aspire to give you tools and ideas to help you make a life rich with meaning and purpose.

In our conversation, we dig into the loneliness epidemic, especially among Gen Z, and why so many people look to work to provide meaning when work isn’t actually set up to do that. Bill introduces a powerful framework: Wonder, Coherence, Flow, and Community which are the four components of meaning-making and influence longevity.

If you’ve ever felt like you’re checking all the boxes but still missing something, this conversation offers a practical, design-driven way forward.

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This is a premium episode on Design Better. We release two premium episodes per month, along with two free episodes for everyone. Premium subscribers also get access to the documentary Design Disruptors and our growing library of books:

You’ll also get access to our monthly AMAs with former guests, ad-free episodes, discounts and early access to workshops, and our monthly newsletter The Brief that compiles salient insights, quotes, readings, and creative processes uncovered in the show. And subscribers at the annual level now get access to the Design Better Toolkit, which gets you major discounts and free access to tools and courses that will help you unlock new skills, make your workflow more efficient, and take your creativity further.

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But our guest today, Austin Kleon, has built a remarkable creative practice around a deceptively simple toolkit: index cards, newspapers, scissors, and glue. He’s the bestselling author of Steal Like an Artist, Show Your Work, Keep Going, and Don’t Call it Art. What makes Austin’s approach so valuable is how he’s translated these ideas into a sustainable daily practice that’s lasted over a decade.

In our conversation, Austin shares why he starts every day writing in his diary before he picks up the phone, how constraints (time, space and materials) actually unlock creativity rather than limiting it, and why the path to doing your best digital work might start with picking up a pen.

If you’ve ever struggled to maintain a creative practice, felt overwhelmed by tools and options, or wondered how to keep going when the work feels hard, this episode is for you.

Bio

Austin Kleon is the New York Times bestselling author of a trilogy of illustrated books about creativity in the digital age: Steal Like An Artist, Show Your Work!, and Keep Going. He’s also the author of Newspaper Blackout, a collection of poems made by redacting the newspaper with a permanent marker. His books have sold over two million copies and have been translated into over 30 languages. He’s been featured on NPR’s Morning Edition, PBS Newshour, and in The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. New York Magazine called his work “brilliant,” The Atlantic called him “positively one of the most interesting people on the Internet,” and The New Yorker said his poems “resurrect the newspaper when everybody else is declaring it dead.” He speaks for organizations such as Pixar, Google, Netflix, SXSW, TEDx, Dropbox, Adobe, and The Economist. In previous lives, he worked as a librarian, a web designer, and an advertising copywriter. He lives in Austin, Texas, with his wife and sons. Visit him online at www.austinkleon.com

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Raffaela Panie is the Brand, Identity and Look Director for the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games—which means she’s responsible for how billions of people will experience these games visually, from the opening ceremony to the medals, from venue designs to digital platforms. It’s a project that requires balancing tradition with innovation, local culture with global recognition, and multiple stakeholders with a singular creative vision.

In our conversation, Raffaela shares what it takes to design for one of the world’s most recognizable brands, how she’s weaving Italian design heritage into the visual language of the games, and the unique challenges of creating an identity that needs to work everywhere from mountain venues in Cortina to urban spaces in Milano—all while serving athletes, spectators, broadcasters, and digital audiences simultaneously.

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This is a premium episode on Design Better. We release two premium episodes per month, along with two free episodes for everyone. Premium subscribers also get access to the documentary Design Disruptors and our growing library of books:

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Longtime listeners will recognize these names—Irene appeared on Episode 1 of Design Better, we explored Kevin’s remarkable journey from nuclear engineer to Air Jordan designer in episode 72, and we visited James at Sequoia Capital for a live AMA last year. Together, they’ve shaped how businesses build, how design operates at scale, and how creativity thrives inside technology and venture capital.

Irene Au led the design practices at Yahoo! and Google during their formative years. Now a Design Partner at Khosla Ventures, she coaches designers, executives, and founders from seed stage through exit.

Kevin Bethune is a multidisciplinary design and innovation executive. His career spans nuclear engineering, product creation at Nike, and formal design training at ArtCenter. Kevin wrote two MIT Press books—Reimagining Design and Nonlinear. And he’s the host of the TV show, America ByDesign on CBS.

James Buckhouse is a Design Partner at Sequoia working with founders from idea to IPO to design companies, products, and cultures. His multidisciplinary career spans film (Shrek, Madagascar, The Matrix), fine art (exhibited at the Whitney Biennial and Guggenheim), ballet, and technology (Senior Experience Architect at Twitter).

Over the course of this conversation, we cover the evolution of design in technology, the value of diverse backgrounds in design, how technology is reshaping what designers do and how they work, cross-cultural design perspectives, and much more.

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This ad-supported episode is available to everyone. If you’d like to hear it ad-free, upgrade to our premium subscription, where you’ll get an additional 2 ad-free episodes per month (4 total). Premium subscribers also get access to the documentary Design Disruptors and our growing library of books:

You’ll also get access to our monthly AMAs with former guests, ad-free episodes, discounts and early access to workshops, and our monthly newsletter The Brief that compiles salient insights, quotes, readings, and creative processes uncovered in the show. And subscribers at the annual level now get access to the Design Better Toolkit, which gets you major discounts and free access to tools and courses that will help you unlock new skills, make your workflow more efficient, and take your creativity further.

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Our guest today, Mikon van Gastel, was right there in the trenches of that revolution. After a formative and intense education at the Cranbrook Academy of Art—where the only teachers were artists in residence and your toughest critics were your peers—Mikon cut his teeth at the legendary studio Imaginary Forces.

Today, Mikon is the Co-Founder and Chief Creative Officer of Sibling Rivalry, a hybrid brand studio and production company he founded with his best friend, Joe Wright. They’ve built a reputation for work that blurs the lines between branding, storytelling, and architecture.

In this episode, we explore the sheer scale of modern experience design. Mikon takes us behind the scenes of his work for the Sphere in Las Vegas—a venue he calls the “Champions League of content creation”. We discuss how to design for shared emotion, balancing the “collective gasp” of a 20,000-person audience with moments of intimate connection.

We also dig into the business of creativity. Mikon opens up about the “sleepless nights” of running an agency in a project-based economy and how he refuses to transition fully into a management role, preferring to write treatments and stay hands-on with the work on nights and weekends.

Whether you are designing software interfaces or directing films, Mikon’s philosophy on collaboration and stripping away the noise to serve the core idea is something we can all learn from.

Bio

Mikon van Gastel is Director, CEO, and Co-Founder of creative agency Sibling Rivalry, based in New York and Miami. Originally from Holland, he earned his MFA from Cranbrook Academy of Art before launching his career at Imaginary Forces, where he designed award-winning title sequences for feature films and theatrical trailers.

Van Gastel’s work spans multiple disciplines, with notable projects in architecture and experience design including MoMA’s interactive signage system, BMW World in Munich, the digital displays at Santiago Calatrava’s World Trade Center Oculus, and most recently, immersive films for the world’s first keynote inside The Sphere in Las Vegas. He also created a VR series with renowned curator Paola Antonelli.

He continues to direct commercial campaigns and product launches for major brands including Apple TV+, Ford, Google, Target, BVLGARI, and Vogue, working with high-profile talent such as Drake, Taylor Swift, Lionel Messi, and Lewis Hamilton. Van Gastel speaks internationally about design integration and emerging industry trends at cultural and educational institutions worldwide.

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This is a premium episode on Design Better. We release two premium episodes per month, along with two free episodes for everyone. Premium subscribers also get access to the documentary Design Disruptors and our growing library of books:

You’ll also get access to our monthly AMAs with former guests, ad-free episodes, discounts and early access to workshops, and our monthly newsletter The Brief that compiles salient insights, quotes, readings, and creative processes uncovered in the show. And subscribers at the annual level now get access to the Design Better Toolkit, which gets you major discounts and free access to tools and courses that will help you unlock new skills, make your workflow more efficient, and take your creativity further.

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Visit our Substack for bonus content and more: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/mark-wilson

Mark Wilson is the Global Design Editor at Fast Company, where he’s been tracking these seismic shifts, reporting on everything from the architecture of data centers to the comeback of wired headphones. He’s a journalist who straddles multiple worlds—covering the design industry, and now co-hosting the By Design podcast. He’s someone who can explain why Labuboos became an unlikely cultural phenomenon and why your kids might be more interested in building with Chompsaw than staring at a screen.

Today, we’re looking back at 2025 with Mark to understand not just what happened, but what it all means. We’ll explore the biggest moments in design and business, and tackle the uncomfortable questions about AI—are we in a bubble? Is it actually making us more productive? And what does the future hold for designers in an automated world?

We’ll also dig into the design industry’s blind spots, the problems that aren’t getting solved because they’re not sexy or VC-fundable, and why there’s a growing hunger for physical craft and working with our hands in a world increasingly mediated by screens.

—Eli & Aarron

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Cassie McDaniel, Medium’s head of design, is someone with a clear vision for how a design team should work. She believes team members should have a breadth of skills, craft should be the foundation of product design, and experimentation is important in both work and workflow. To that end, Cassie and the leadership team at Medium recently made what some might see as a controversial decision: They eliminated product management. The result? They are moving faster than ever.

We chat with Cassie about what led to this decision—and why it might not work for all teams, how she thinks about balancing Medium’s legacy of thoughtful design while moving the product forward, and how writing can help you advance your design career.

***

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This ad-supported episode is available to everyone. If you’d like to hear it ad-free, upgrade to our premium subscription, where you’ll get an additional 2 ad-free episodes per month (4 total). Premium subscribers also get access to the documentary Design Disruptors and our growing library of books:

You’ll also get access to our monthly AMAs with former guests, ad-free episodes, discounts and early access to workshops, and our monthly newsletter The Brief that compiles salient insights, quotes, readings, and creative processes uncovered in the show. And subscribers at the annual level now get access to the Design Better Toolkit, which gets you major discounts and free access to tools and courses that will help you unlock new skills, make your workflow more efficient, and take your creativity further.

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We caught up with Aaron in person at The James Brand studio in Portland, Oregon, where he walked us through an origin story that begins with a meteor in Navajo country and winds through the skate parks of Michigan in the 80s, the snowboard culture of the 90s, and eventually to one of the most recognizable voices in American graphic design.

But this isn’t just a conversation about making cool stuff—though there’s plenty of that. Aaron opens up about the work ethic he learned from his parents, and why being prolific isn’t about perfection—it’s about experimentation, and loving your work enough to show up every single day.

We talk about collecting, organizing thousands of ideas, and what it means to run a design practice where you can still work on your own terms. And throughout it all, Aaron brings the humor, the heart, and the hard-won wisdom of someone who’s never forgotten what it’s like to work a crappy job—and who reminds himself every day just how cool a life in graphic design really is.

Bio

Aaron Draplin was born in Detroit in 1973 and raised in the small village of Central Lake in Northern Michigan—population 800. After a brief stint at Northwestern Michigan Community College, he moved west to Bend, Oregon at 19 to chase the snowboarding life, and started designing graphics for Solid Snowboards. To fund his winters, he worked summers as everything from a traveling fair pizza wagon cook, to a dishwasher in Anchorage, Alaska.

He eventually returned to the Midwest to finish his design degree at Minneapolis College of Art and Design, before heading back west to become art director of Snowboarder Magazine in Southern California. In 2002, he moved to Portland to work as a senior designer at Cinco Design, where he worked on brands like Gravis, Helly Hansen, and Nixon.

In 2004, Aaron founded Draplin Design Co., working with clients ranging from Nike and Patagonia to Sub Pop Records and the Obama Administration. In 2009, he co-founded Field Notes with Jim Coudal and Coudal Partners—a collaboration that would become one of the most successful and beloved stationery brands in America. That same year, he gave his first public talk, which spiraled into a speaking career that’s now reached over 580 engagements worldwide.

His book Pretty Much Everything was published by Abrams in 2016 and is now in its 13th printing. At 51, Aaron continues to run his fiercely independent design practice from a backyard shop in Portland, Oregon.

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This is a premium episode on Design Better. We release two premium episodes per month, along with two free episodes for everyone. Premium subscribers also get access to the documentary Design Disruptors and our growing library of books:

You’ll also get access to our monthly AMAs with former guests, ad-free episodes, discounts and early access to workshops, and our monthly newsletter The Brief that compiles salient insights, quotes, readings, and creative processes uncovered in the show. And subscribers at the annual level now get access to the Design Better Toolkit, which gets you major discounts and free access to tools and courses that will help you unlock new skills, make your workflow more efficient, and take your creativity further.

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Visit our Substack for bonus content and more: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/jessica-hische-and-chris-shiflett

Jessica, known for her lettering and illustration work with clients like Wes Anderson and The New York Times, and Chris, whose career spans from the early foundations of the web to co-founding Brooklyn Beta, both experienced firsthand what happens when passionate, independent creatives come together.

Today, they’re channeling those lessons into Studioworks, a business platform built specifically for independent studios and creative professionals. They’re tackling the unglamorous but essential parts of running a creative practice—invoicing, project management, client relationships—with the same care and community spirit that defined those Brooklyn days.

In this conversation, we talk about the magic of Studiomates and Brooklyn Beta, what they learned from running their own studios for years, and why they decided to bootstrap a tool for the creative community rather than chase venture capital. It’s a story about building something sustainable, beautiful, and genuinely useful for the people who make things.

Bios

Jessica Hische is one of the most beloved and influential designers of the past two decades. She’s best known for her lettering and illustration, but equally for her generosity in sharing what she knows. Jessica was part of the original Studiomates community in Brooklyn, has worked with clients like Wes Anderson, The New York Times, and Penguin Books, and now brings her creative leadership to Studioworks, where she and Chris are building better tools for independent creatives and small studios.

Chris Shiflett is a longtime friend of the design community whose career spans the deep foundations of the early web and the heart of the creative world. His early books on HTTP and web security became unexpectedly influential at a time when the internet was still taking shape, opening the door to some extraordinary projects — including one that generated nearly half of the internet’s traffic and another responsible for a fourth of the world’s email. After years helping big internet companies solve scalability problems, he realized he was more inspired by the people creating them — the designers, founders, and builders making things people love. That shift led him to the original Studiomates community, to co-founding Brooklyn Beta, and ultimately to the work he and Jessica are doing today with Studioworks.

Premium Episodes on Design Better

This ad-supported episode is available to everyone. If you’d like to hear it ad-free, upgrade to our premium subscription, where you’ll get an additional 2 ad-free episodes per month (4 total). Premium subscribers also get access to the documentary Design Disruptors and our growing library of books:

You’ll also get access to our monthly AMAs with former guests, ad-free episodes, discounts and early access to workshops, and our monthly newsletter The Brief that compiles salient insights, quotes, readings, and creative processes uncovered in the show. And subscribers at the annual level now get access to the Design Better Toolkit, which gets you major discounts and free access to tools and courses that will help you unlock new skills, make your workflow more efficient, and take your creativity further.

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We’re starting with budget-friendly picks and moving up from there, so whether you’re filling a stocking or going big, you’ll find something here. Let’s get into it.

***

Before we get to the list, if you’re looking to give (or get) the gift of education, for the next week only you can get or gift a year of premium for 25% off, our only sale of the year. Buying a year-long subscription will get you to our ever-expanding Design Better Toolkit (with over $2K in discounts on tools and courses), as well as monthly AMAs, ad-free episodes, and our library of books. Doing this also supports anyone who can’t afford a subscription through our scholarship program.

25% off a year, expires in 1 week

***

Find the full gift list on our Substack: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/2025-holiday-gift-guide

Visit our Substack for bonus content and more: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/phil-gilbert

Phil led one of the most ambitious design transformations in corporate history, hiring over 1,000 designers, creating IBM’s design thinking framework, and embedding a new way of working across nearly 180 countries. Now, with his new book Irresistible Change, Phil is sharing the blueprint for how he did it—and more importantly, how you can apply these lessons to your own organization.

In this episode, we talk with Phil about treating change like a high-stakes product, why IBM’s transformation was opt-in rather than top-down, and what it takes to win over engineers who’ve spent decades deeply entrenched in a technical worldview. We also explore the design thinking bootcamp that became legendary within IBM, the intentional design of physical studio spaces, and what happened after Phil left the company.

Phil’s insights aren’t just for those leading massive organizations—they’re for anyone trying to spark meaningful change, build enthusiasm without mandates, and create work that actually matters to the people doing it.

Bio

Phil Gilbert is best known for leading IBM’s 21st century transformation as their General Manager of Design. After selling his third startup to IBM in 2010, Phil was asked by IBM in 2012 to use design thinking, coupled with agile, to update how IBM’s teams worked. The transformation became the subject of a Harvard Business School case study, the documentary film The Loop, and feature articles in the New York Times, Fortune Magazine, Forbes, Bloomberg, INC and many others.

Phil’s 45-year career spans startups, large corporations, and board memberships, where he has led organizations ranging from solo ventures to those with 400,000 employees. In 2018 Phil was inducted into the New York Foundation for the Arts’ Hall of Fame. In 2019, the State of Oklahoma (Phil’s native state) named him an Oklahoma Creativity Ambassador for his achievements in the world of creative thinking and innovation.

Phil left full-time operational responsibilities at IBM in 2022 in order to focus on helping the next generation of entrepreneurs, business, and military leaders understand how to impact culture at scale, to improve innovation and team performance. Phil lives in Austin, Texas.

***

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This ad-supported episode is available to everyone. If you’d like to hear it ad-free, upgrade to our premium subscription, where you’ll get an additional 2 ad-free episodes per month (4 total). Premium subscribers also get access to the documentary Design Disruptors and our growing library of books:

You’ll also get access to our monthly AMAs with former guests, ad-free episodes, discounts and early access to workshops, and our monthly newsletter The Brief that compiles salient insights, quotes, readings, and creative processes uncovered in the show. And subscribers at the annual level now get access to the Design Better Toolkit, which gets you major discounts and free access to tools and courses that will help you unlock new skills, make your workflow more efficient, and take your creativity further.

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***

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This is a preview of a premium episode, find the full episode on our Substack: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/cecilia-brenner

Design for Good mobilizes what Cecilia calls a “radical global action collective”—1,600 designers from companies like Philips, Lloyds Bank, and others—to tackle UN Sustainable Development Goals through focused, two-year cycles. Their first cycle addressed clean water and sanitation. Now they’re working on quality education. And here’s the twist: everything they create is open source.

In our conversation, Cecilia explains how Design for Good measures real impact (not estimated future impact), why they chose to focus on one SDG at a time instead of spreading resources thin, and what it means to design for “all life,” not just human life. If you’ve ever wondered how to find more meaning in your design work—or questioned whether purpose-driven projects actually move the needle—this episode offers a surprisingly practical model.

Bio

Cecilia Brenner is the Managing Director of Design for Good, a global alliance dedicated to creating lasting, measurable impact for the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Since joining in May 2024, Cecilia has successfully led the charity in mobilising hundreds of creatives to design in close collaboration with NGOs and affected communities worldwide.

With over 25 years of international experience in design and leadership, Cecilia is a catalyst for inclusion, innovation, and impact. She previously served as an Experience Design Director & Business Partner at Philips, where she spent 17 years improving people’s health and well-being through meaningful innovation, building high-performing, engaged global design teams and communities, as well as leading transformational programmes with a unique blend of network leadership, team-building excellence, and strategic insight.

***

Premium Episodes on Design Better

This is a premium episode on Design Better. We release two premium episodes per month, along with two free episodes for everyone. Premium subscribers also get access to the documentary Design Disruptors and our growing library of books:

You’ll also get access to our monthly AMAs with former guests, ad-free episodes, discounts and early access to workshops, and our monthly newsletter The Brief that compiles salient insights, quotes, readings, and creative processes uncovered in the show. And subscribers at the annual level now get access to the Design Better Toolkit, which gets you major discounts and free access to tools and courses that will help you unlock new skills, make your workflow more efficient, and take your creativity further.

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We’ve been on the road this week, recording some in-person episodes in Portland Oregon, with Ryan Coulter—co-founder of The James Brand, and the wonderfully hilarious graphic designer Aaron Draplin.

We’re excited to bring you this episodes soon, and in the meantime we’re rewinding to one of our favorite episodes this year with Prince of Persia creator Jordan Mechner. You may have heard that we’re publishing more video from our episodes, and you can now find a video version of this episode on YouTube. Enjoy!

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As a kid in the 80’s, Eli fell in love with games on computers like the Apple II, Commodore 64, and later the Amiga and Macintosh. One of the very first games he played was called Karateka, which was inspiring for the realistic movements of its digital karate antagonists, even on a black-and-green Apple II monitor.

Our guest today, Jordan Mechner, created Karateka while an undergrad at Yale University in 1984, and it went on to be a commercial success. He followed it up with the game Prince of Persia (you’ll hear a clip from the soundtrack in the introduction, which Jordan’s father composed and which Jordan invented a way to transpose onto the Apple II’s tinny speakers before game soundtracks were widespread on the machine).

Jordan documented the creation of the game in a wonderful published version of his diaries called The Making of Prince of Persia, and we spoke with him about how he taught himself the skills to build successful video games in a pre-internet era, why he journaled about his work process (and what it taught him), and about his new graphic novel Replay, a memoir recounting his own family story of war, exile and new beginnings.

Karateka on the Apple IIPrince of Persia on the Apple II (play the Mac version online here)

Find bonus content and more on our Substack: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/ben-swire-former-ideo-design-lead

Ben’s career took him from the buttoned-up world of financial marketing to IDEO—a shift he describes as going “from Kansas into Oz.” At IDEO, he discovered that world-class work could be fueled by something radically different than what he’d experienced everywhere else. That discovery led him to spend years exploring a deceptively simple question: How do you get people to fail but enjoy doing it?

The answer became the foundation of his book and his work—a concept he calls “Safe Danger,” that sweet spot where people feel safe enough to leave safety behind, but challenged enough to grow. In this conversation, we’ll explore why team building desperately needs reclaiming, how an introvert ended up running a team building company, and why the quality of your relationships at work matters way more than you think.

Get the book

Bio

Ben Swire is an award-winning designer and writer, and former Design Lead at IDEO. His work spans design thinking, philosophy, cinema, and psychoanalytic theory, driven by curiosity about the hidden factors that shape our lives.

At IDEO, Ben created Make Believe Time, a bi-weekly creative play date where colleagues learned, created, and meaningfully connected. When interest spread beyond IDEO, Make Believe Works was born—now helping organizations from Fortune 500 companies to startups build the creative and emotional muscle memory that leads to healthy, innovative, collaborative cultures.

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New tools in the Toolkit

We’ve just upgraded the Design Better Toolkit, with new tools and other perks (now worth almost $2K in total).

Here’s what’s new in the Toolkit:

• TextExpander (a wonderful productivity tool, 6 months free)

• Kittl (tools and templates to support your creative process, 6 months free)

• Subatomic: The Complete Guide to Design Tokens (20% off)

• Design Better Coffee & Tea (fuel your creativity, 15% off).

Some of these perks are very limited and will sell out quickly.

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This is a preview of a paid episode. Access the full episode on our Substack: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/jeremy-faludi

Our guest today, Jeremy Faludi, has spent a lot of time researching, writing, and thinking about environmental impact and design. He’s a researcher and author of Sustainable Design: From Vision to Action. Jeremy has spent decades helping companies move beyond good intentions to evidence-based decisions—from working with Stanley Black & Decker to pioneering biomaterial 3D printing at Delft University of Technology.

How much power do you think large language models use? The answer is surprising. We explore why a hairdryer company wasted nine months of engineering time on plastic reductions, how systems thinking reveals the true environmental impact of our designs, and the materials research going into sustainable 3D printing.

Bio

Jeremy Faludi is an assistant professor of Design for Sustainability at TU Delft’s Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering, where he focuses on sustainable design methods and additive manufacturing. He created the Whole System Mapping method and in 2004 designed the Biomimicry Institute’s first online database, now known as AskNature.org. His work spans from practical design—including a bicycle featured in the Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt Design Museum’s 2007 “Design for the Other 90%” exhibit—to developing tools for life cycle assessment, product reparability, and health hazard assessment. In green 3D printing, he’s a leading voice, having written the OECD’s policy recommendations and the Additive Manufacturer Green Trade Association’s first white paper, along with publishing the industry’s most comprehensive life cycle assessments.

Originally trained as a physicist (he helped improve LIGO’s vibration damping system to pay for design school), Jeremy worked as a sustainable designer in industry for fifteen years before returning to academia. He’s taught at Stanford, Dartmouth, and Minneapolis College of Art and Design, and has contributed to six books on sustainable design, including Worldchanging: A User’s Guide for the 21st Century. He’s also created multiple online courses for organizations like VentureWell, the Cradle to Cradle Product Innovation Institute, and Autodesk. In 2012, he created StreetNatureScore.com, which used 11 billion satellite imagery datapoints to provide nature scores for any US address.

***

Premium Episodes on Design Better

This is a premium episode on Design Better. We release two premium episodes per month, along with two free episodes for everyone. Premium subscribers also get access to the documentary Design Disruptors and our growing library of books:

You’ll also get access to our monthly AMAs with former guests, ad-free episodes, discounts and early access to workshops, and our monthly newsletter The Brief that compiles salient insights, quotes, readings, and creative processes uncovered in the show. And subscribers at the annual level now get access to the Design Better Toolkit, which gets you major discounts and free access to tools and courses that will help you unlock new skills, make your workflow more efficient, and take your creativity further.

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Alison Rand, who helped establish the discipline of design operations through roles at Hot Studio, Frog, Automattic, and SAP, explores building relationships at work in her new book Sentido—a term that encompasses both making sense of things and feeling them deeply.

In our conversation, Alison challenges the Silicon Valley orthodoxy of radical candor with her concept of radical humanity. She also explains why designops is fundamentally heart-driven work, and draws unexpected parallels between organizational dynamics and the regenerative systems of Puerto Rico’s El Yunque rainforest.

Bio

Alison Rand brings a unique perspective forged in the crucible of real experience. A native NewYorker who lost her mother at sixteen, she learned early that life rarely follows neat narratives. Her career trajectory—from navigating the male-dominated agency world to building design operations practices at scale—taught her that the skills needed to thrive professionally often mirror those learned navigating the New York subway in the 1980s. After being laid off the same week MIT Press accepted her book proposal, she retreated to the woods to write what became part memoir, part radical reimagining of design leadership.

She makes the case that organic intelligence matters as much as academic credentials, and that the future of design leadership lies not in prescriptive frameworks but in building cultures of genuine mutualism.

Whether you’re wrestling with organizational transformation or questioning the artificial boundaries between personal and professional identity, Alison offers hard-won wisdom about leading with both courage and compassion in spaces that often reward neither.

***

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This ad-supported episode is available to everyone. If you’d like to hear it ad-free, upgrade to our premium subscription, where you’ll get an additional 2 ad-free episodes per month (4 total). Premium subscribers also get access to the documentary Design Disruptors and our growing library of books:

You’ll also get access to our monthly AMAs with former guests, ad-free episodes, discounts and early access to workshops, and our monthly newsletter The Brief that compiles salient insights, quotes, readings, and creative processes uncovered in the show. And subscribers at the annual level now get access to the Design Better Toolkit, which gets you major discounts and free access to tools and courses that will help you unlock new skills, make your workflow more efficient, and take your creativity further.

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Looking back at 30 years of design

by Eli Woolery

Roughly thirty years ago, I was an undergrad, sitting in our dorm’s computer cluster —this was before the days when most students had laptops. I ran into something I hadn’t seen before. It was called Netscape Navigator, and it was one of the first commercial internet browsers (which our very first guest on Design Better, Irene Au, helped design).

I clicked on one of the buttons (probably, “What’s Cool”), and along with a nifty loading animation, the browser took me down some early internet rabbit hole.

I don’t remember where exactly I ended up, but I do remember being blown away by the experience. As a computer nerd kid in the 80’s, I had spent plenty of time with bulletin board systems (BBS’s) and things like America Online, which we could access through a dial-up modem from home.

But this was very different. It was fast—compared to what I was used to—and it felt like I could almost instantaneously access content from all around the world (even though the content online at the time was a miniscule fraction of what it is today).

I had entered school to study product design, but this was for products in the physical world…digital product design didn’t exist as we know it today. The first use of the phrase “User Experience” in a job title was Don Norman’s role a a User Experience Architect at Apple in the mid-90s.

Browsers like Netscape Navigator, and then the introduction of the iPhone in 2007, opened up a new world of opportunities and challenges for the field of design. In our conversation with Paola and Mark, we talked about four: the democratization paradox, design’s loss of innocence, the fragmentation of the design profession, and the shift from tangible to intangible design.

The Democratization Paradox

“We democratized all the tools and we democratized none of the platforms. And that gap is just in a nutshell, kind of what’s broken about the individual’s ability to communicate.”
—Mark Wilson, Fast Company

While design tools and capabilities have been democratized (everyone can now access design software, create content, etc.), the platforms and systems remain highly centralized within a few large companies—Meta, Google, TikTok, etc.

The early, messy days of the internet (Geocities, MySpace) have been largely tamed, which can make for better user experiences, but we also miss the wild creativity that came from having an infinite number of ways to express yourself online. Back then, your personal web page could be a nightmare of animated GIFs, visitor counts, and autoplay music—terrible for usability, but at least it was yours.

Today, we’re all posting in the same formats, and are subjected to the same algorithmic rules for engagement. The tools to create have never been more powerful or accessible, yet we’re increasingly creating within narrower and narrower boundaries defined by a handful of tech giants.

Visit our Substack to read the whole article: ⁠https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/the-brief-how-our-recent-past-should⁠

With the 150th official episode of Design Better, we’ve got something special for you.

For many of us, if we haven’t had creative success by our 40’s, we feel like we may have missed the boat. But Michael “Fitz” Fitzpatrick of Fitz and the Tantrums didn’t achieve pop star status until he was well into his 40’s, and now that he’s in his 50’s he feels like he’s just getting started.

Haven’t heard of Fitz and the Tantrums? Yes you have...their hit single "HandClap" has rocked stadiums at sporting events around the world.

In our conversation, Fitz reveals how the band prototypes their live performances and why constraint has been essential to their creative evolution. He talks to us about the parallels of songwriting and product design, the importance of reading the room—whether it’s 50 or 50,000 people—and why the best performances, like the best designs, create space for the audience to become co-creators.

Fitz also opens up about how even after achieving his creative dreams, there was an emptiness that he struggled with, and where he found true happiness.

Bio

Michael “Fitz” Fitzpatrick (born Michael Sean Fitzpatrick on July 21, 1970) is a French-American musician, singer, and songwriter best known as the frontman and creative force behind the indie pop and neo-soul band Fitz and the Tantrums. Born in Montluçon, France and raised in Los Angeles, Fitzpatrick studied vocal music in high school and later attended the California Institute of the Arts, where he explored experimental film. Before forming his own band, he worked behind the scenes as a sound engineer, collaborating with producer Mickey Petralia.

In 2008, Fitzpatrick bought a used church organ for fifty dollars and wrote “Breakin’ the Chains of Love” that same night — the song that would inspire the creation of Fitz and the Tantrums. As lead vocalist and keyboardist, he helped the group rise quickly with their debut album Pickin’ Up the Pieces (2010), which drew praise for its blend of Motown soul, indie pop, and modern energy. Subsequent albums such as More Than Just a Dream and their self-titled 2016 release, featuring the breakout hit “HandClap,” cemented the band’s place in the modern pop landscape.

Today we celebrate 30 years of Wert&Co.—the quiet champions of design who have shaped our field by placing the brightest designers in roles of influence at brands that impact culture, commerce, and community.

Design Better is brought to you by Wix Studio, the most powerful web design platform for entrepreneurs, agencies, and creative thinkers. Learn more →

To mark the occasion, Design Better is live in New York City with an inspiring panel. We’ll look back at how design has shaped the world over the past three decades and look ahead to the essential role design must play as technology reshapes the human experience.

Our conversation begins with Paola Antonelli, Senior Curator of Architecture and Design and Director of Research & Development at The Museum of Modern Art. Paola is one of the most influential voices in contemporary design, exploring how design shapes culture, technology, and society.

We’re also joined by Mark Wilson, Global Design Editor at Fast Company. Mark covers the intersection of design, technology, and culture, bringing a journalist’s rigor and a designer’s eye to stories that reach millions.

In the second half of our conversation, we shift our focus to the present and future of design—the teams, the individual contributors, and the leaders who are navigating this evolution in real time.

Kate Aronowitz, and Meaghan Choi, and Mike Davidson are three leaders who have different perspectives on where design is headed, and what it means to build meaningful careers in this rapidly changing landscape.

Kate Aronowitz is a Design Partner at GV, where she helps companies of all sizes build design-driven cultures.

Meaghan Choi is a Product Designer at Anthropic, focused on developer experiences for emerging technologies like AI and cloud computing, including her work on Claude Code.

Mike Davidson is VP of Design and User Research at Microsoft AI, with more than two decades leading design at companies including Twitter, Disney, and ESPN.

Design Better has been on the road recently, recording a live episode in Manhattan for design search firm Wert & Co’s 30th anniversary. Guests for the episode included Paola Antonelli (senior curator in the Department of Architecture and Design at MoMA) Mike Davidson (VP of Design and User Research at Microsoft AI), Kate Aronowitz (Design Partner at Google Ventures), Meaghan Choi (Product Designer at Anthropic), & Mark Wilson (Global Design Editor at Fast Company).

While Aarron and I are catching up from travel, and as a lead-in to the live episode airing next week, we’re rewinding to our interview with Paola Antonelli. We hope you enjoy the episode.

And if you haven’t checked it out yet, did you know you can save over $1600 on popular productivity tools and design and AI courses with the Design Better Toolkit? Just head over to dbtr.co/toolkit to learn more.

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The Museum of Modern Art brings to mind images of Van Gough’s Starry Night, Salvador Dali’s Persistence of Memory, and Andy Warhol’s Campbell Soup Cans. But thanks to Paola Antonelli, senior curator in the Department of Architecture and Design, MoMA exhibitions also encompass the role design has played in shaping culture and the human experience.

We talk with Paola about how we can look at digital design through a historic lens, some of the most important design movements in the past 100 years, and how the creative process has evolved through these different movements.

We also talk about the history of the @ symbol, why craftsmanship is necessary to experimentation, and some of the current challenges in design education.

We hope you enjoy this episode which is a part of our series on design history, with upcoming episodes on typography with Jonathan Hoefler, and the history and philosophy of design with Professor Barry Katz.

Paola Antonelli joined The Museum of Modern Art in 1994 and is the Museum’s Senior Curator in the Department of Architecture and Design, as well as MoMA’s founding Director of Research and Development. Her work investigates design in all its forms, from architecture to video games, often expanding its reach to include overlooked objects and practices.

An architect trained at the Polytechnic of Milan and a pasionaria of design, Antonelli has been named one of the 25 most incisive design visionaries in the world by TIME magazine, has earned the Design Mind Smithsonian Institution’s National Design Award, has been inducted in the US Art Directors Club Hall of Fame, and has received the AIGA (American Institute of Graphic Artists,) the London Design Medal, and the German Design Award, among other accolades.

The key to creativity isn’t about having brilliant ideas in isolation, but about cultivating our ability to observe the world around us, and make the intuitive leaps that connect disparate ideas. Keith Sawyer, a creativity researcher who spent over a decade interviewing hundreds of art and design professors and students to understand how creative professionals learn to see—and think—differently, writes about this in his new book, Learning to See.

Keith brings a unique perspective to creativity research. A jazz pianist turned MIT computer science graduate, he designed video games in the early 1980s before pivoting to study the science of creativity under the legendary Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi at the University of Chicago. His latest book challenges common myths about the creative process and reveals why the most successful artists and designers don’t start with a vision—they discover it through an iterative dialogue with their work.

In our conversation, Keith shares insights from his research on improvisational creativity, explains why ambiguity is essential to the creative process, and discusses how AI is reshaping—but not replacing—human creativity.

Bio

Dr. Keith Sawyer is the Morgan Distinguished Professor in Educational Innovations at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Dr. Sawyer is one of the world’s leading creativity researchers. He’s studied jazz ensembles, Chicago improv theater, children’s play, and creative classrooms. He’s published 20 books, including Group Genius: The Creative Power of Collaboration and Zig Zag: The Surprising Path to Greater Creativity.

Books & Links mentioned:

As designers and creatives, many of us spent years of our career looking at blank canvases and attempting to find the best place to start solving the problems in front of us. Now that AI can churn out designs and imagery, not to mention writing, video, and even music in seconds, what are we losing from the friction that is being removed from the creative process?

Our guest today, Jae Park, VP of Digital Product Design at Ford's Electric Vehicle Digital Design division, posed this question to us. Jae previously led design teams at Microsoft, Amazon, and Google—companies that epitomize the "move fast and break things" mentality of Silicon Valley. But he questions whether our obsession with speed is actually how we want to live.

We talk with Jae about the "valley" between disruptions, why Ford's pivot to affordable EVs matters for American manufacturing, how Gen Alpha will reshape our expectations of vehicles, and why the Socratic method might be more important than any design tool in the age of AI.

Jae also discusses what might be his most complex challenge yet: helping a 120-year-old automotive icon compete in an era where, as he puts it, "the phone and the car are becoming the same thing"—at least in rapidly evolving markets like China.

Bio

Jae Park is a design leader with a track record of building teams and driving innovation at the intersection of business, technology, and human needs. At Ford’s EVDD group, he leads cross-functional designers shaping the company’s digital product strategy to make mobility a fundamental right while advancing sustainability. His career includes inspiring new ways of working at Google, creating the award-winning Metro design system at Microsoft, and leading the invention of Amazon’s Echo Show, which defined a new multimodal product category.

Guided by a belief that innovation begins with people, Jae’s leadership style emphasizes curiosity, collaboration, and empowerment. He nurtures diverse teams of designers and technologists, ensuring they have the perspective and support to create products that serve humanity and improve the world at scale.

***

Visiting the links below is one of the best ways to support our show:

Saily: Saily solves the hassle of staying connected while traveling by offering affordable, data-only eSIM plans that activate seamlessly when you arrive—no physical SIM swap needed. Plus, it layers in built-in security features like ad blocking, web protection, and virtual location for safer browsing on the go.

Download their app on your phone and you can buy an eSIM before you fly so you’re connected the minute you land. And if you’re traveling between countries, you only need one eSIM. You can get a global or a regional plan and travel with the same eSIM plan.

Get an exclusive 15% discount on your first Saily data plans! Use code DESIGNBETTER at checkout. Download Saily app or go to ⁠https://saily.com/designbetter⁠

When a company talks about taking a “moonshot,” it often ends up being something trivial: a new emoji keyboard, or delivering a pizza in less than 30 minutes.

But at X, the Moonshot Factory, which is part of Google, they’re tackling some of the world’s thorniest problems: sustainably feeding the world’s population, climate change, education, and much more.

Today we’re speaking with Astro Teller, Captain of Moonshots, and Ivo Stivoric, Vice President at X. Astro has a PhD in artificial intelligence from Carnegie Mellon and wrote a prophetic 1997 novel about AI called Exegesis. He's the grandson of Edward Teller of Manhattan Project fame, but his own legacy is built on creating protected spaces where multidisciplinary teams can tackle humanity's biggest challenges—from self-driving cars to internet access delivered by balloons.

Ivo leads a portfolio focused on climate, sustainability, and social justice. A designer by training who cut his teeth in the early days of wearable computing at Carnegie Mellon's Engineering Design Research Center, Ivo brings a unique perspective on bridging human needs with breakthrough technology. Together with Astro, he co-founded BodyMedia, one of the pioneering companies in wearable health monitors, which was later acquired by Jawbone.

We chat with Astro and Ivo about how they've maintained one of tech's longest creative partnerships, why moonshots require unlearning everything you know about building products, and how they're using their "moonshot factory" push the boundaries of what's possible when you combine emerging technology with empathy for human needs.

Links

https://x.company/projects/tidal/

https://x.company/moonshotpodcast/

***

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This is a premium episode on Design Better. We release two premium episodes per month, along with two free episodes for everyone. Premium subscribers also get access to the documentary Design Disruptors and our growing library of books:

You’ll also get access to our monthly AMAs with former guests, ad-free episodes, discounts and early access to workshops, and our monthly newsletter The Brief that compiles salient insights, quotes, readings, and creative processes uncovered in the show. And subscribers at the annual level now get access to the Design Better Toolkit, which gets you major discounts and free access to tools and courses that will help you unlock new skills, make your workflow more efficient, and take your creativity further.

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Visiting the links below is one of the best ways to support our show:

Saily: Saily solves the hassle of staying connected while traveling by offering affordable, data-only eSIM plans that activate seamlessly when you arrive—no physical SIM swap needed. Plus, it layers in built-in security features like ad blocking, web protection, and virtual location for safer browsing on the go.

Download their app on your phone and you can buy an eSIM before you fly so you’re connected the minute you land. And if you’re traveling between countries, you only need one eSIM. You can get a global or a regional plan and travel with the same eSIM plan.

Get an exclusive 15% discount on your first Saily data plans! Use code DESIGNBETTER at checkout. Download Saily app or go to ⁠https://saily.com/designbetter⁠

AI isn’t just another layer in our digital toolkit—it’s reshaping the tools themselves, and in the process, transforming how we work, think, and solve problems.

Henry Modisett, VP of Design at Perplexity, is in a unique position to challenge many of the norms that have shaped tech for some time now. Perplexity just released a beautiful new browser called Comet that puts AI at the heart of the user experience. We have been thoroughly impressed with it all ready.

As a designer with a computer science background, Henry takes a unique approach to his work. Rather than designing in Figma like most of us mortals, he and his team design in React, building working versions of interfaces so they can use it while they shape it.

Henry shares how his team approaches the design of AI-native products, and why traditional UX patterns often fall short in this new landscape. We explore the role of curiosity in AI interaction, how transparency and trust are earned (not assumed), and why embracing ambiguity might just be the most human-centered design move of all.

By the way, you may have heard that we just launched the Design Better Toolkit, a collection of resources we love and use regularly. The Toolkit gets you major discounts and free access to tools and courses that will help you unlock new skills, make your workflow more efficient, and take your creativity further.

Perplexity just happens to be a part of this bundle. You’ll get 6 months free of Perplexity Pro (an $180 value), as well as credits and discounts on tools like Airtable, Read AI, and other tools, and courses like Prototyping with Cursor and more. To get access you’ll need to be a Design Better Premium member at the annual subscription level. Visit dbtr.co/toolkit to learn more.

Get an exclusive 15% discount on your first Saily data plans! Use code DESIGNBETTER at checkout. Download Saily app or go  to https://saily.com/designbetter  

Have you played around with Cursor? If not, it’s time. Designers with no coding skills are passing Cursor Figma files and getting working apps out the other side. And if you have no design, you can just prompt this AI powered development environment to get a solid prototype of your idea.

Elizabeth Lin, founder of Design is a Party, recognizes that Cursor is going to expand the capabilities of designers. She’s built a course that introduces designers to Cursor and challenges you to build while you design.

We talk with Elizabeth about how she's using AI tools like Cursor to help designers prototype faster than ever before, why she thinks now might be the perfect time to try something new in your career, and what's missing from traditional design education. Elizabeth also shares what she's learned about "vibe coding," why debugging is the hardest skill for new students to master, and how she's building a business around the idea that learning should feel more like a party than work.

By the way, you may have heard that we just launched the Design Better Toolkit, a collection of resources we love and use regularly. The Toolkit gets you major discounts and free access to tools and courses that will help you unlock new skills, make your workflow more efficient, and take your creativity further.

One of Elizabeth’s courses, Prototyping with Cursor, just happens to be a part of this bundle. You’ll get $100 off her course, as well as a $500 credit towards Airtable, discounts on Read.ai, Perplexity, Miro, and other tools, and discounts on other courses from platforms like ShiftNudge. To get access you’ll need to be a Design Better Premium member at the annual subscription level. Visit dbtr.co/toolkit to learn more.

Bio

Elizabeth is a design educator with 10 years of experience whose love for design began in the early internet days of Neopets, creating playful graphics and websites with tools like MS Paint. She went on to study computer science at UC Berkeley, where she discovered a community of design enthusiasts and began teaching her first course on Illustrator and Photoshop as a sophomore. That experience sparked a lasting passion for teaching, which she continued to pursue through workshops and courses during her time at Berkeley.

After graduating, Elizabeth worked as a product designer at education-focused companies like Khan Academy and Primer, designing tools for teachers and students while expanding her perspective on learning. In 2023, she founded Design is a Party, an alternative design school that reflects her playful yet rigorous approach to teaching. Since then, she has launched a two-course series on visual design, developed portfolio-building resources, and led workshops to help the next generation of designers grow their craft.

Today's guest has spent decades designing for the future, a space where design specs are ambiguous at best. Nick Foster led design at Google X where he worked on over 200 moonshot projects, from flying machines to nuclear fusion.

Nick has written a provocative new book that provides helpful guidance on how we might approach designing for the unknown. In Could, Should, Might, Don't: How We Think About the Future, he argues that we've fallen into predictable patterns of thinking that are actually making us worse at anticipating what's coming next.

We chat with Nick about why most futures thinking falls into one of four problematic categories, and the importance of ethics in designing for the future. We also talk about the hidden dangers of "numeric fiction" and data-driven predictions, what he learned working with PhD scientists who had never met a designer, and why Silicon Valley's obsession with KPIs is killing long-term thinking.

Bio

Nick Foster RDI is a Futures Designer based in Oakland, California.

He has spent his career exploring the future for globally renowned technology companies including Apple, Google, Nokia, Sony and Dyson. As Head of Design at Google X, he led a team of designers, researchers and prototypers developing nascent technologies such as brain-controlled computer interfaces, intelligent robotics, stratospheric internet balloons and neighborhood-scale nuclear fusion.

Despite the ambitious nature of much of Nick’s work, he’s well known for his down-to-earth and occasionally irreverent approach to the future, and in 2013 he coined the term Future Mundane. In 2018, Fortune magazine described him as ‘one of the world’s foremost leaders in speculative design’ and in 2021 he was awarded the title Royal Designer for Industry - the highest accolade for a British designer - in recognition of his significant contributions to the discipline. He’s also an accomplished writer and public speaker, producing multiple books and sharing his thinking about the future with audiences across the globe.

***

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This ad-supported episode is available to everyone. If you’d like to hear it ad-free, upgrade to our premium subscription, where you’ll get an additional 2 ad-free episodes per month (4 total). Premium subscribers also get access to the documentary Design Disruptors and our growing library of books:

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Sometimes your career takes an unexpected turn—and that pivot can lead to something bigger than you imagined.

Tim Brown, co-founder of Allbirds, has been there. After a stint as a professional soccer player, Tim found himself on a different path—one that led to creating a simple wool sneaker that would grow into a movement for sustainable fashion.

We spoke with Tim about how he and his co-founder used design thinking to tackle everything from material innovation to business strategy, the importance of being transparent about both successes and failures, and what it really takes to start a mission-driven company. Tim also shares how his athletic background shaped his approach to leadership and why having constraints can actually fuel creativity.

Bio

Tim is the co-founder of Allbirds. He is the creative vision behind the brand, with an eye for all things design. Prior to co-founding Allbirds in 2016, Tim was part of the New Zealand soccer team that reached the 2010 World Cup – a generational achievement for the nation.

***

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This is a premium episode on Design Better. We release two premium episodes per month, along with two free episodes for everyone. Premium subscribers also get access to the documentary Design Disruptors and our growing library of books:

You’ll also get access to our monthly AMAs with former guests, ad-free episodes, discounts and early access to workshops, and our monthly newsletter The Brief that compiles salient insights, quotes, readings, and creative processes uncovered in the show.

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Miro: Miro’s Innovation Workspace is an intelligent platform that brings people and AI together in a shared space to do great work. Whether your role is UX, DesignOps, product management, marketing, or anything adjacent, Miro will help you be better at your job because it makes it easier to work together. Help your teams get great done with Miro. Check out Miro.com to find out how.

Masterclass: MasterClass is the only streaming platform where you can learn and grow with over 200+ of the world's best. People like Steph Curry, Paul Krugman, Malcolm Gladwell, Dianne Von Furstenberg, Margaret Atwood, Lavar Burton and so many more inspiring thinkers share their wisdom in a format that is easy to follow and can be streamed anywhere on a smartphone, computer, smart TV, or even in audio mode. MasterClass always has great offers during the holidays, sometimes up to as much as 50% off. Head over to http://masterclass.com/designbetter for the current offer.

Matt Raw, Interim VP of Design at The New York Times, and his team have a tough job. Their work is seen by millions every day who come to the Times website and apps for information they can trust, presented clearly, across platforms, striking a stylistic balance between tradition and innovation. Somehow they approach the pressure of their work with grace.

n this episode, we talk with Matt about what it means to design for a mission-driven organization in a time of profound technological and cultural change. Matt shares how his team is navigating the tension between tradition and evolution, how they balance experimentation with editorial integrity, and why even the smallest interface details can carry the weight of institutional trust.

We also explore how the Times is adapting to new reader habits, the impact of generative AI on journalism and design, and why listening deeply to colleagues and readers remains a superpower for their team.

If you missed it earlier this month, Matt also interviewed us for an AMA at the Times’ headquarters in Manhattan.

Also, stay tuned after our conversation with Matt (or listen to the embedded audio below) for a special with the Australian design agency Noize uses Wix Studio to create amazing sites for top brands.

Bio

Matt Raw is a product design leader with over 15 years of experience creating user-centered digital products and services. As interim Vice President of Product Design Culture and Operations at The New York Times, he helps product designers thrive, runs design operations, and oversees the shared design studio. He has built and led teams of designers, managers, and leaders who deliver exceptional work spanning strategy to execution. Raw also teaches advanced UX fundamentals to MFA students at the School of Visual Arts, focusing on insight-centered problem definition and rapid validation through lightweight prototyping. His mission is empowering product designers to craft meaningful experiences for millions of users worldwide.

***

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This ad-supported episode is available to everyone. If you’d like to hear it ad-free, upgrade to our premium subscription, where you’ll get an additional 2 ad-free episodes per month (4 total). Premium subscribers also get access to the documentary Design Disruptors and our growing library of books:

You’ll also get access to our monthly AMAs with former guests, ad-free episodes, discounts and early access to workshops, and our monthly newsletter The Brief that compiles salient insights, quotes, readings, and creative processes uncovered in the show.

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By Aarron Walter

A friend and former colleague called me recently to catch up and get my perspective on an important question. He leads a product team at a major tech company and the design team had just been moved under him.

He’s an exceptional product thinker with a sharp grasp of engineering systems and shipping processes. But managing designers? That was new territory.

“Where should design really fit in our workflow?” he asked.

What struck me most was that he asked at all.

Too often, when design moves under product in a re-org, it becomes a service function. Something to be brought in after the big decisions are made—to polish the edges, add the visuals, and make things look good. That, of course, sells the value of design short, and my friend sensed it. He didn’t want design to just support the work of engineers. He wanted it to play a part in shaping the product.

So I shared what I’ve seen in organizations where engineering and design truly thrive together: it starts with recognizing that engineers and designers bring fundamentally different perspectives to the table.

***

To read the full version of The Brief, visit our Substack:

https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/the-brief-microscopes-and-telescopes

We all rely on search—sometimes dozens of times a day—to make sense of the world around us. But behind that simple white box is a vast, dynamic system that has to understand not just language, but intent, context, and trust.

In this episode, we talk with Rhiannon Bell, VP of User Experience for Google Search, about how they navigate the complexity of designing one of the most widely used products on the planet.

Rhi shares how their background in writing and storytelling shapes their approach to UX, why designing for information-seeking behavior is fundamentally different from transactional design, and how teams at Google are rethinking trust, transparency, and delight in an age of generative AI. We also dig into what it means to lead with curiosity, and how bringing a sense of play into product development can open up entirely new possibilities.

Bio

As the VP of UX for Google Search, Rhiannon Bell leads a team of talented Designers, Researchers and Content Strategists who are responsible for all of Google Search experiences. They have over 20 years experience in product development, working with diverse and global products such as NerdWallet, BBC, and Zynga.
Rhiannon's mission is to build responsibly toward an AI-powered future, using user research, creative direction, and user-centric product development. They are passionate about pushing the boundaries of technology to solve user pain points, raising the quality bar on execution, and driving home the consumer-centric view within any product organization. They are also an active investor and advisor in the design and AI space, supporting visionaries who are shaping our world.

***

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This is a premium episode on Design Better. We release two premium episodes per month, along with two free episodes for everyone. Premium subscribers also get access to the documentary Design Disruptors and our growing library of books:

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The integration of design and technology is often a challenge for companies. From the outside, it would seem that Sonos has something figured out in this department. To learn more about their approach, we spoke with Matt Benatan, Principal Research Scientist, and Naphur van Apeldoorn, Senior Manager, Hardware Development Engineering.

We chat with Naphur and Matt about how Sonos decided to invest the time and energy into a new product—Arc Ultra, and what the R&D and prototyping process looked like—as a distributed team, they “share” physical prototypes using a 3d printer.

We also talked about how they’re using onboard AI for speech enhancement, and why it seems like movie dialogue has become harder to hear over recent years (even if you don’t have kids making noise in the background while you’re trying to watch 🙄).

***

Premium Episodes on Design Better

This ad-supported episode is available to everyone. If you’d like to hear it ad-free, upgrade to our premium subscription, where you’ll get an additional 2 ad-free episodes per month (4 total). Premium subscribers also get access to the documentary Design Disruptors and our growing library of books:

You’ll also get access to our monthly AMAs with former guests, ad-free episodes, discounts and early access to workshops, and our monthly newsletter The Brief that compiles salient insights, quotes, readings, and creative processes uncovered in the show.

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Visiting the links below is one of the best ways to support our show:

Masterclass: MasterClass is the only streaming platform where you can learn and grow with over 200+ of the world's best. People like Steph Curry, Paul Krugman, Malcolm Gladwell, Dianne Von Furstenberg, Margaret Atwood, Lavar Burton and so many more inspiring thinkers share their wisdom in a format that is easy to follow and can be streamed anywhere on a smartphone, computer, smart TV, or even in audio mode. MasterClass always has great offers during the holidays, sometimes up to as much as 50% off. Head over to http://masterclass.com/designbetter for the current offer.

Dupe.com: Visual people like us feel the effects of our living and working space. To do our best work and live our best life, we need to be in a beautiful, productive space. But often our aspirations and budgets don’t quite line up. We’ve got a special hack for you that will help you design your dream living space for less. When you find a site with furnishings you love, jump into the URL bar and type Dupe.com/ in front of the product URL. You’ll be redirected to a page on Dupe.com that shows you similar products that have the look you’re after but at a fraction of the price.

Try it now! Just type dupe.com/ before any product url in your browser. It’s like magic!

Matt and the Times design team were curious about the origin story of Design Better, what we’ve learned about creativity and design after more than 200 interviews, and how we approach building a business.

If you’ve ever wanted to peek behind the curtains of the Design Better studio, here’s your chance.

Books and links mentioned:

• Creativity: A Short and Cheerful Guide by John Cleese (and watch the Design Better interview here).

• Designing for Emotion by Aarron Walter

• The Smallest Lights in the Universe: A Memoir by Sara Seager (listen to her interview here).

***

Premium Episodes on Design Better

This ad-supported episode is available to everyone. If you’d like to hear it ad-free, upgrade to our premium subscription, where you’ll get an additional 2 ad-free episodes per month (4 total). Premium subscribers also get access to the documentary Design Disruptors and our growing library of books:

You’ll also get access to our monthly AMAs with former guests, ad-free episodes, discounts and early access to workshops, and our monthly newsletter The Brief that compiles salient insights, quotes, readings, and creative processes uncovered in the show.

Upgrade to paid

***

Visiting the links below is one of the best ways to support our show:

Masterclass: MasterClass is the only streaming platform where you can learn and grow with over 200+ of the world's best. People like Steph Curry, Paul Krugman, Malcolm Gladwell, Dianne Von Furstenberg, Margaret Atwood, Lavar Burton and so many more inspiring thinkers share their wisdom in a format that is easy to follow and can be streamed anywhere on a smartphone, computer, smart TV, or even in audio mode. MasterClass always has great offers during the holidays, sometimes up to as much as 50% off. Head over to http://masterclass.com/designbetter for the current offer.

Jazz is a constantly evolving art form, offering some of the richest lessons in creative collaboration. A melody and chord progression provide the foundation, but as each musician brings their unique improvisational perspective, the music takes on unexpected, transformative shapes.

Design Better is brought to you by ⁠Wix Studio⁠, the most powerful web design platform for entrepreneurs, agencies, and creative thinkers. ⁠Learn more →⁠

If you ask any fan of the genre who’s pushing jazz into new territory, Kamasi Washington’s name will come up—likely at the very top. His 2015 album The Epic won the American Music Prize and stands, in our opinion, as one of the greatest jazz records of the 21st century. Kamasi contributed to Kendrick Lamar’s Grammy-winning To Pimp a Butterfly, scored Michelle Obama’s Netflix documentary Becoming, and has collaborated with musical legends like Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Lauryn Hill, Nas, Snoop Dogg, Chaka Khan, and many more.

In this episode, we spent an evening with Kamasi, exploring his creative process, what he’s learned from his collaborators, his philosophy on collaboration, and his latest album, ⁠Fearless Movement⁠.

• ⁠Zero Gravity, Wayne Shorter documentary on Amazon Prime⁠

• ⁠Kamasi’s newest record, ⁠⁠Fearless Movement⁠

• ⁠The Epic⁠

• ⁠Kamasi Washington’s website⁠

Kamasi Washington, born in Los Angeles in 1981, grew up surrounded by music, with a saxophonist father and a flutist mother who nurtured his musical talent from a young age. Kamasi’s journey began with drums and piano in his early years, progressing to the clarinet at age seven and finally to the tenor saxophone at twelve, mirroring his father’s path. His high school years at Hamilton High School Music Academy were pivotal; there, he joined the renowned Multi School Jazz Band and learned from jazz icons like Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter. Kamasi’s talent was quickly recognized when he won the John Coltrane Saxophone Competition, and he co-founded "The Young Jazz Giants," which marked his early step into professional music.

Kamasi's musical evolution continued at UCLA, where he studied ethnomusicology and expanded his understanding of global music traditions. This foundation supported his wide-ranging collaborations beyond jazz, where he worked with artists like Snoop Dogg, Raphael Saadiq, and Kendrick Lamar. Yet, despite his diverse influences, Kamasi remained firmly rooted in jazz, ultimately channeling these experiences into his innovative sound. His 2015 debut album, The Epic, was a monumental release—a three-disc exploration of jazz that introduced a unique blend of spiritual depth and musical complexity. The album garnered critical acclaim, broadening Kamasi's reach and establishing him as a leader in modern jazz.

***

This ad-supported episode is available to everyone. If you’d like to hear it ad-free, ⁠upgrade to our premium subscription⁠, where you’ll get an additional 2 ad-free episodes per month (4 total). Premium subscribers also get access to the documentary ⁠Design Disruptors⁠ and our ⁠growing library of books⁠, as well as ⁠our monthly AMAs with former guests⁠, ad-free episodes, ⁠discounts and early access to workshops⁠, and our monthly newsletter ⁠The Brief⁠ that compiles salient insights, quotes, readings, and creative processes uncovered in the show.

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As designers, we’re entering a new era. AI isn’t just a tool we use behind the scenes, but a collaborator we’re designing with and for. It’s a shift that challenges our assumptions, pushes us beyond static interfaces, and calls on us to rethink what it means to create experiences in an intelligent, adaptive world.

In this episode, we talk with Josh Clark and Veronika Kindred—co-authors of the upcoming book Sentient Design—about what it takes to design for this new frontier. Josh brings three decades of UX wisdom, while Veronika, a rising voice in the field (and, as it turns out, Josh’s daughter), brings fresh perspective as part of the first generation of AI-native designers. Together, they offer a framework for designing interfaces that respond to context, intent, and user agency—without falling into the trap of chatbots-as-default.

We dig into why chat interfaces might be holding us back, explore new experience patterns that go way beyond conversation, and discuss what it means to design systems where users can essentially draw their own interfaces into existence. We also tackle the thorny questions around trust, transparency, and what happens when we cede control back to users in ways that could make traditional designers uncomfortable.

Learn more about Josh and Veronika:

• Sign up for the Big Medium newsletter for fresh insights about Sentient Design, product design, and UX.

• Learn more about the Sentient Design book from Rosenfeld Media.

• Read more from Veronika and Josh at bigmedium.com.

Josh Clark is the founder and principal of Big Medium, where he leads UX design efforts that help complex organizations navigate digital transformation and design for emerging technologies. His work spans AI, connected devices, responsive design, and enterprise-scale design systems. Known for shaping future-friendly interfaces, Josh has helped organizations adapt their products and processes to meet rapidly evolving user needs.

Veronika Kindred is a designer and researcher at Big Medium, where she collaborates with leading companies to define and solve complex design challenges. She is co-author with Josh Clark of Sentient Design: AI and the New Digital Experience, a forthcoming book from Rosenfeld Media that explores how AI is reshaping user experience and digital interfaces.

***

This is a premium episode on Design Better. We release two premium episodes per month, along with two free episodes for everyone. Premium subscribers also get access to the documentary Design Disruptors and our growing library of books.

You’ll also get access to our monthly AMAs with former guests, ad-free episodes, discounts and early access to workshops, and our monthly newsletter The Brief that compiles salient insights, quotes, readings, and creative processes uncovered in the show.

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Welcome to a live episode of Design Better recorded at THiS Connect presented by UserTesting in New York. We’re talking with Shani today about how her team stays connected to users to design great products, design’s role in the new era of AI, and how IBM is evolving.

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Learn more about UserTesting

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Bio

Shani Sandy is a visionary design executive whose ethos—DESIGNING FORWARD—reflects a career dedicated to propelling businesses, communities, and cultures through intentional, people-centered innovation. With a powerful blend of strategic leadership and creative insight, Shani has led transformative initiatives for Fortune 500 companies, including pioneering roles as the first Executive Creative Director at S&P Global and the first Design Executive at IBM Systems. Her expertise lies in integrating multidisciplinary design, AI, and emerging technologies to elevate user experiences, drive measurable business outcomes, and cultivate design maturity across organizations.

Known for aligning design strategy with C-suite objectives, Shani excels at translating complexity into clarity and forging collaboration across functions to deliver lasting impact. She is a sought-after keynote speaker, having shared her insights at premier conferences including 3% Conference, AIGA National, and Adobe Creative Jam. A passionate mentor and advocate for underrepresented creatives, Shani is equally committed to shaping the future of design leadership as she is to delivering on today’s innovation. Whether guiding enterprise transformation or nurturing the next generation of designers, Shani leads with bold vision, strategic execution, and an unwavering focus on outcomes.

If there’s one thing we’ve learned from the multitude of people we’ve interviewed for Design Better, it’s that the most innovative creators of our time share an unlikely trait: they refuse to stay in their lane. While conventional wisdom pushes specialization, these polymaths build careers by following curiosity across fields—from nuclear engineering to footwear design, from video games to graphic novels.

In my own career, it took me many years to realize this, and in some ways my journey began the day after my son was born.

I remember that day as unseasonably hot. September 2015 on the Monterey Peninsula—the kind of clear, warm day that follows long stretches of coastal fog. After leaving the hospital where my wife Courtney was recovering with our newborn, I grabbed a quick (wife-sanctioned) surf. The clear horizon promised a month of record warmth ahead.

At home, I checked email before setting up my auto-responder for two weeks of paternity leave. Near the top of my inbox: a message from our startup's CEO. Not what I expected.

The gist: "We're sorry, but our co-founders had a fight, the company is splitting up, and we have to lay you off."

Panic. Losing my job right after our second child wasn't the plan, especially since we'd just moved to the Monterey Peninsula in an era before remote work was widespread.

I delivered the news to Courtney at the hospital along with her Starbucks coffee, and couldn’t find anything comforting to say. She ended up reassuring me—we were going to be OK.

And we were. It became a rare chance for me to spend real time with our newborn son, young daughter, and Courtney. Time to reflect on what came next. And I had a secret weapon—something I hadn't always considered a strength.

Continue reading this issue of The Brief on Substack at DesignBetter.com

Some careers have clear through lines: pick a college major, get a job in that industry. Others take serendipitous turns. Christopher Lyons is the latter, but with some surprising twists.

Chris started his career as a music producer with Jermaine Dupri, founder of So So Def records in Atlanta, a role that honed his eye for recognizing talent and helping them reach their potential. Then, he joined renowned venture capital team Andresen Horowitz where he helped connect talent to business opportunities by creating the Cultural Leadership Fund. Eventually, he became a general partner at the firm.

We talk to Chris about why he thinks EQ is far more important than IQ in a successful career, how he connects creative thinkers to business opportunities, and the common threads he sees across all creative disciplines.

Bio

Christopher Lyons is a visionary leader and President of Web3 Media at a16z crypto. Since joining a16z in 2013 as chief of staff to Ben Horowitz, he has helped shape the firm’s strategic direction—most notably by launching the Cultural Leadership Fund (CLF) in 2018 and co-founding a16z’s $400M Seed Fund in 2021. The CLF broke ground as Silicon Valley’s first venture fund with an all-Black LP base, bridging cultural leaders from sports, music, and entertainment with the tech world while advancing opportunities for Black builders and creators.

Lyons began his career as a sound engineer, working with Grammy-winning producer Jermaine Dupri before founding PictureMenu, a mobile menu platform. He now serves on the boards of Yuga Labs, the James Beard Foundation, the Black Economic Alliance, and New Story Charity. A Kauffman Fellow and founder of Lyons Wine, he brings a spirit of craftsmanship and mentorship to everything he does, including his continued involvement with Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc.

***

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That’s why it was so refreshing to discover the tool Capsule a little over a year ago. We use it to create motion graphics and short videos for Design Better, and the experience is a thousand times easier and more rewarding that using arcane tools like After Effects.

Today we’re chatting with Champ Bennett, CEO and co-founder of Capsule. We talk with him about his entrepreneurial journey, what motion design systems are and how they fit into more general design systems, and how motion design fits into branding.

This is a sponsored bonus episode that we’re excited to share, as Capsule is a tool that we love. They believe that video storytelling should be easy and scalable, and if your team is hoping to create more video their platform is the place to go.

If you’re interested in open design roles or in building a motion design system for your enterprise team, you can learn more at capsule.video

Bio

Champ Bennett is the co-founder and CEO of Capsule—an AI-powered video editing tool that helps enterprise content and marketing teams create more videos while staying on brand.

His background is as a software engineer, designer and musician. After running a product agency for 4 years, Champ pursued a decade-long journey as a 3x startup founder focused on creative technology.

Fascinated by creative tools since he was a child, Champ believes there’s never been a better time to be building creative tools than now. Through Capsule, he is showing the world how AI can be practically applied to augment human ability rather than replace it — solving real world challenges in creative workflows. Capsule raised $7.75M after a product demo went viral on Twitter, recently raised a $12M Series A round, and is working with some of the world’s leading B2B brands to help democratize video creation in their organizations.

Cassie McDaniel, Medium’s head of design, is someone with a clear vision for how a design team should work. She believes team members should have a breadth of skills, craft should be the foundation of product design, and experimentation is important in both work and workflow.

To that end, Cassie and the leadership team at Medium recently made what some might see as a controversial decision: They eliminated product management. The result? They are moving faster than ever.

We chat with Cassie about what led to this decision—and why it might not work for all teams, how she thinks about balancing Medium’s legacy of thoughtful design while moving the product forward, and how writing can help you advance your design career.

Bio

Cassie McDaniel brings nearly 20 years of design leadership across agencies, her own studio, nonprofits, and high-growth startups. Currently the Head of Design at Medium, in her previous role as Product Design Director at Lattice, she led Insights & Analytics and Engagement, partnering with cross-functional teams to deliver humane, impactful digital experiences that drive business results.

Cassie excels at building and mentoring teams, championing customer-centric culture, and solving complex problems at scale. She combines curiosity, empathy, and kindness with a relentless focus on execution—especially on mission-driven initiatives in creativity, environmental advocacy, and ethical product design.

***

This is a premium episode on Design Better. We release two premium episodes per month, along with two free episodes for everyone. Premium subscribers also get access to the documentary Design Disruptors and our growing library of books, as well as our monthly AMAs with former guests, ad-free episodes, discounts and early access to workshops, and our monthly newsletter The Brief that compiles salient insights, quotes, readings, and creative processes uncovered in the show.

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Visiting the links below is one of the best ways to support our show:

Masterclass: MasterClass is the only streaming platform where you can learn and grow with over 200+ of the world's best. People like Steph Curry, Paul Krugman, Malcolm Gladwell, Dianne Von Furstenberg, Margaret Atwood, Lavar Burton and so many more inspiring thinkers share their wisdom in a format that is easy to follow and can be streamed anywhere on a smartphone, computer, smart TV, or even in audio mode. MasterClass always has great offers during the holidays, sometimes up to as much as 50% off. Head over to http://masterclass.com/designbetter for the current offer.

Aquatru: We’d like to think our tap water is clean and healthy, but for so many there are impurities and chemicals that can be detrimental to our health. We’re big fans of AquaTru, makers of reverse osmosis filtration systems for your countertop or under sink. Get 20% OFF any AquaTru purifier at AquaTru.com with discount code DESIGNBETTER.

If you're interested in sponsoring the show, please contact us at: sponsors@thecuriositydepartment.com

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BioPremium Episodes on Design Better

Rarely do we get the chance to pause and reflect on the conversations we’ve been having—and to spot the red threads that run through them. But that’s exactly what we’re doing today.

We’re trying out a new format—we’re calling it The Roundup. Think of it as a prototype. We’d love your feedback.

In this episode, we’re revisiting past conversations through the lens of AI. It’s a fun new way to explore themes that have come up across episodes, highlight insights from our guests, and help you synthesize ideas you can apply in your own work.

***

This ad-supported episode is available to everyone. If you’d like to hear it ad-free, upgrade to our premium subscription, where you’ll get an additional 2 ad-free episodes per month (4 total). Premium subscribers also get access to the documentary Design Disruptors and our growing library of books, as well as our monthly AMAs with former guests, ad-free episodes, discounts and early access to workshops, and our monthly newsletter The Brief that compiles salient insights, quotes, readings, and creative processes uncovered in the show.

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• ***

  
  

  What you'll learn in this episode:

  
  

  Changing Roles & Workflows

  • Scott Belsky (Adobe’ Chief Strategy Officer) discusses "boundaryless workflows" where AI collapses the steps between ideation and execution

  • The concept of "collapsed talent stacks" where individuals can now perform multiple functions that previously required separate specialists

• Evolution of Design Jobs

  • Jenny Blackburn (design team lead for Google Gemini) shares how her team is "inventing the next version of UX jobs" as boundaries blur between roles

  • New UX jobs are emerging around defining great AI responses from a user perspective

• AI as Creative Partner

  • Marcus Bell (music producer for artists like Snoop Dogg) explains how AI has transformed music production, enabling him to do what once required five people

  • Bell predicts AI will enable "hyper-personalization" of music based on individual needs and preferences

...and more!

📍 Catch us in New York on May 29th.

Let’s connect, share ideas, and shape what’s next!

***

Amy Lokey has led design and product teams at LinkedIn, Google, and ServiceNow, where she is currently the Chief Experience Officer.

At ServiceNow, Amy’s team is helping shape how AI transforms our work—creating smart systems that can predict what we need, adapt on the fly, and make it easier to work with complex systems and connect with colleagues.

We’re excited to talk with her about how her team approaches designing for enterprise-level AI applications, including specific applications for agents—and how they can help you in your day-to-day work.

Amy joins us today for a special live episode recorded on stage in San Francisco, California, at the UserTesting THiS Connect City Tour.

Learn more about UserTesting

Bio

Amy Lokey leads Product and Customer Experience at ServiceNow, overseeing design, research, content, and more across the platform and products, with a mission to create experiences people love. She’s focused on shaping intelligent, AI-driven interfaces that adapt to how people want to work. Previously, she led UX for G Suite at Google and for LinkedIn’s consumer and enterprise products. With a background in large-scale digital design, her strengths lie in user-centered strategy and organizational leadership.

We recently surveyed our audience and learned that many of you would like to see more video. So, we’re kicking off a new run of video episodes, beginning with our interview featuring John Cleese—actor, writer, comedian, and author of Creativity: A Short and Cheerful Guide.

You can watch the interview on our Substack, or on Youtube. Enjoy!

Original intro

The Ministry of Silly Walks. The Cheese Shop. French Taunting. If you haven’t seen any of these Monty Python sketches before, do us a favor and go watch one or two of them. You’ll discover—or re-discover—why our guest for this episode is a creative comic legend. 

John Cleese starred in and co-wrote the award-winning series Fawlty Towers, was nominated for an Academy Award for the screenplay of A Fish Called Wanda, and even has a species of lemur named after him (Cleese’s wooly lemur, Avahi cleesei). He’s also an expert on the creative process, and so if you’re looking for a new framework to level-up your own workflow, his book Creativity: A Short and Cheerful Guide is a great resource.

We talk with John about his new book, and also about creative collaboration in the midst of friction, how to be comfortable with ambiguity, and creating boundaries of space and time to get in a creative mode. We also get to ask him a question that’s been bugging us ever since we first watched Monty Python and The Holy Grail.

These days, we can all use a little more laughter in our lives. We hope our interview with John sparks some joy, and leaves you with some new creative tools. Thanks for listening.

Bio

John Cleese is an English actor, comedian, writer, and film producer. He achieved success at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and as a scriptwriter and performer on The Frost Report. In the late 1960s, he co-founded Monty Python, the comedy troupe responsible for the sketch show Monty Python's Flying Circus and the four Monty Python films, And Now for Something Completely Different, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Life of Brian, and The Meaning of Life.

In the mid-1970s, Cleese and his first wife, Connie Booth, co-wrote and starred in the British sitcom Fawlty Towers. Later, he co-starred with Kevin Kline, Jamie Lee Curtis, and former Python colleague Michael Palin in A Fish Called Wanda and Fierce Creatures. He also starred in Clockwise, and has appeared in many other films, including two James Bond films, two Harry Potter films, and the last three Shrek films. He is also the author of Creativity: A Short and Cheerful Guide.

***

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It’s a tough job market out there right now for designers and other creative technologists. Many of us are wondering if there are other ways we might be able to use our skills, and some of us are considering an entrepreneurial path.

Our guest today has done just that. Marco Suarez has had an impressive career in design, but took an interesting turn into entrepreneurship. Marco started his career as a graphic designer, became an art director at Mailchimp (where I had the pleasure of working with him), was product designer at Etsy, and the design systems lead at InVision, where we both worked with him.

But in addition to design, Marco had another passion: coffee. In 2015 he started Methodical Coffee, in Greenville South Carolina. In 2019 Marco left his full time role in tech to focus on the business, and now Methodical has 3 cafes in Greenville, and ships coffee across the United States. We also partner with Methodical on our own Design Better Coffee (and as you’ll learn in this episode, we have a brand-new Design Better Tea).

We speak with Marco about the story of his transition from design to coffee entrepreneurship, how it felt to leave the world of tech, and how he applied his design skills to starting a business.

Marco Suarez is the co-founder and CEO of Methodical Coffee, a specialty coffee company based in Greenville, South Carolina. With a background in digital product design, Marco transitioned from a successful career in tech to building something tangible—spaces where people could gather and connect over great coffee. What began as a shared vision among friends evolved into a thriving business, with three cafes, a roasting operation, and a new headquarters dedicated to innovation and community.

Over the past decade, Marco has navigated the complex challenges of scaling a capital- and labor-intensive business, from hiring and HR hurdles to financial strategy. Drawing from 20 years of experience as a designer, he brings a rare blend of creative vision and business acumen to the role of founder. Passionate about creating exceptional customer experiences and sustainable business models, Marco continues to advocate for the powerful intersection of design and entrepreneurship.

Learn more about Methodical Coffee

In school, art is often positioned in curricula as an enrichment subject, not a core skill like math or language arts. But those of us who pursue the arts instinctually recognize that there is something in creative expression that is foundational to the human experience.

Susan Magsamen, executive director of the International Arts + Mind Lab at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, has spent years studying the effect art has on our mind and body. Her research is surfacing profound health and longevity benefits created through poetry, music, painting, and other arts. Susan recently collaborated with Ivy Ross, Chief Design Officer for Consumer Devices at Google, to co-author a fascinating book called Your Brain on Art: How the Arts Transform Us.

We speak with Susan and Ivy about how they found their way into collaborating on the book, why we are “wired for art,” how practicing art can actually extend your lifespan significantly, and how they bring the ideas in their book into their work to reduce stress and help teams perform at their peak.

Bios

Ivy Ross

Ivy Ross is the Vice President of Hardware Design at Google, where she led the creation of the award-winning design language for Google’s hardware products. With a background spanning executive roles at Calvin Klein, Swatch, Coach, Mattel, and Gap, Ivy blends design, science, and psychology to drive innovation. Her work has earned over 240 design awards, and she has been recognized by Fast Company, Business Insider, and Surface magazine as a creative leader. A former jewelry designer with works in major museum collections, she is also a sought-after speaker and contributor to books on creativity, leadership, and design.

Susan Magsamen

Susan Magsamen is the founder and executive director of the International Arts + Mind Lab at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and co-director of the NeuroArts Blueprint with the Aspen Institute. With over four decades of work at the intersection of the arts and neuroscience, she has developed tools and programs to support health, learning, and social equity through aesthetic experiences. A published author and entrepreneur, Susan also founded Curiosityville and Curiosity Kits, and has advised numerous organizations across public health, education, and the arts.

***

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Aarron and Eli are traveling with their families for Spring Break, so we’re bringing back one of our favorite episodes from 2023 with the band OK Go.

In the time since we recorded the interview, they’ve come out with a new album, and with several new music videos, including for the track Love, shot with no cuts…just “mirrors, robotics, and a whole lot of planning.” Enjoy!

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Not many bands hire Russian pilots to film a Zero-G video on their cosmonaut training plane, known as the “vomit comet”. But those are the kinds of extremes that OK Go will go to in the pursuit of creativity.

Tim Nordwind and Damian Kulash, the band’s founders, met at camp as pre-teens in search of a fellow creative nerd, and founded the band in 1998. Over the past 25 years, they’ve created 3 Grammy-nominated music videos, and won Best Music Video for Here It Goes Again.

From the perfectly timed explosions filmed in slow-motion for their song The One Moment, to the immensely elaborate Rube Goldberg contraption they created for This Too Shall Pass, OK Go is almost like a performance-art troupe that just happens to be a fantastic rock band.

In this episode on the creative process, we talk to Tim and Damian about how they come up with ideas, the macro and micro elements of their creativity, and achieving the impossible.

***

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As a kid in the 80’s, Eli fell in love with games on computers like the Apple II, Commodore 64, and later the Amiga and Macintosh. One of the very first games he played was called Karateka, which was inspiring for the realistic movements of its digital karate antagonists, even on a black-and-green Apple II monitor.

Our guest today, Jordan Mechner, created Karateka while an undergrad at Yale University in 1984, and it went on to be a commercial success. He followed it up with the game Prince of Persia (you’ll hear a clip from the soundtrack in the introduction, which Jordan’s father composed and which Jordan invented a way to transpose onto the Apple II’s tinny speakers before game soundtracks were widespread on the machine).

Jordan documented the creation of the game in a wonderful published version of his diaries called The Making of Prince of Persia, and we spoke with him about how he taught himself the skills to build successful video games in a pre-internet era, why he journaled about his work process (and what it taught him), and about his new graphic novel Replay, a memoir recounting his own family story of war, exile and new beginnings.

Book & links mentioned

• Journals: Steven Soderbergh, Michael Palin, Brian Eno
• Hobonichi Techo
• John August
• The World of Yesterday, Stefan Zweig

Bio

Jordan Mechner is an American author, game designer, comic book artist, and screenwriter, best known for creating the iconic video game Prince of Persia in 1989. He relaunched the series with Ubisoft in 2003 and wrote the original screenplay for the film adaptation produced by Disney in 2010, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. This work is considered a timeless classic and has spawned a global transmedia franchise, with over 20 million games sold to date.

Since 2017, Jordan has been living in France, where he made his debut as a full author with his autobiographical graphic novel Replay. Among the albums he has written are Monte-Cristo (with Mario Alberti), Liberté! (with Étienne Le Roux and Loïc Chevallier), and Templiers (with LeUyen Pham and Alex Puvilland), which appeared on the New York Times bestsellers list. His latest works were first published in French, with English editions following in 2024.

Jordan's video games, such as Karateka (1984) and The Last Express (1997), are recognized for their cinematic storytelling and innovative use of rotoscoping. In 2017, he received the Pioneer Award from the International Game Developers Association.

Jordan also wrote and directed Chavez Ravine: A Los Angeles Story, an award-winning documentary broadcast on PBS. He has published his development journals, The Making of Karateka and The Making of Prince of Persia, as well as an adaptation of the Persian tales Samak the Ayyar. A passionate artist, he keeps a sketchbook journal, regularly sharing his thoughts and drawings, a testament to his love for art and storytelling.

***

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Design systems are the foundation of nearly every piece of software we use. No one has had a greater influence on the philosophy and tactics of building design systems than Brad Frost, author of Atomic Design. After helping countless companies craft design systems, Brad has come to realize that this topic is a nexus of collaboration and conflict.

In our conversation, Brad shared why he thinks design systems are an enduring topic in design teams, the power of design tokens, and how AI is reshaping this space. Plus, Brad filled us in on his new online course on design tokens.

As a special opportunity for Design Better listeners, use code “DESIGNBETTERISAWESOME” at checkout for 20% off Brad’s upcoming design tokens course:

Pre-order design tokens course

Bio

Brad Frost is a design system consultant, front-end developer, speaker, writer, musician, and artist located in beautiful Pittsburgh, PA. He helps teams establish and evolve design systems, establish more collaborative workflows, and create better software together. He is the author of the book Atomic Design, which introduces a methodology to create and maintain effective design systems. In addition to co-hosting the Style Guides Podcast, he has also helped create several tools and resources for web designers, including Pattern Lab, Styleguides.io, Style Guide Guide, This Is Responsive, Death to Bullshit, and more.

***

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This ad-supported episode is available to everyone. If you’d like to hear it ad-free, upgrade to our premium subscription, where you’ll get an additional 2 ad-free episodes per month (4 total). Premium subscribers also get access to the documentary Design Disruptors and our growing library of books, as well as our monthly AMAs with former guests, ad-free episodes, discounts and early access to workshops, and our monthly newsletter The Brief that compiles salient insights, quotes, readings, and creative processes uncovered in the show.

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Visiting the links below is one of the best ways to support our show:

Masterclass: MasterClass is the only streaming platform where you can learn and grow with over 200+ of the world's best. People like Steph Curry, Paul Krugman, Malcolm Gladwell, Dianne Von Furstenberg, Margaret Atwood, Lavar Burton and so many more inspiring thinkers share their wisdom in a format that is easy to follow and can be streamed anywhere on a smartphone, computer, smart TV, or even in audio mode. MasterClass always has great offers during the holidays, sometimes up to as much as 50% off. Head over to http://masterclass.com/designbetter for the current offer.

Aquatru: We’d like to think our tap water is clean and healthy, but for so many there are impurities and chemicals that can be detrimental to our health. We’re big fans of AquaTru, makers of reverse osmosis filtration systems for your countertop or under sink. Get 20% OFF any AquaTru purifier at AquaTru.com with discount code DESIGNBETTER.

Designing a good security experience is hard. Every time we run into one of those security captchas that requires you to “identify all the motorcycles” in the tiled images, we want to give up and surrender to our robot overlords…or throw our laptop out the window.

Our guest today, Heidi Trost, just published a book called Human-Centered Security: How to Design Systems That Are Both Safe and Usable. In the book, Heidi aims to help people who are “tired of hearing things like ‘humans are the weakest link’ and instead want to focus on designing more secure, more resilient systems.”

In our conversation, we spoke with Heidi about the metrics we can use to measure the quality of the security experience, why the login/password recovery is so broken—even for companies that are good at UX design—and some ways to approach user testing for security.

Bio

Heidi Trost is a UX leader who helps cross-disciplinary teams improve the security user experience. With a background in UX research, Heidi does this by helping teams better understand the people they are designing for, as well as the security threats that may impact people and systems negatively. Heidi is also the host of the podcast, Human-Centered Security, where she interviews security experts and people who design for the security user experience.

***

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This ad-supported episode is available to everyone. If you’d like to hear it ad-free, upgrade to our premium subscription, where you’ll get an additional 2 ad-free episodes per month (4 total). Premium subscribers also get access to the documentary Design Disruptors and our growing library of books, as well as our monthly AMAs with former guests, ad-free episodes, discounts and early access to workshops, and our monthly newsletter The Brief that compiles salient insights, quotes, readings, and creative processes uncovered in the show.

Upgrade to paid

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Visiting the links below is one of the best ways to support our show:

Masterclass: MasterClass is the only streaming platform where you can learn and grow with over 200+ of the world's best. People like Steph Curry, Paul Krugman, Malcolm Gladwell, Dianne Von Furstenberg, Margaret Atwood, Lavar Burton and so many more inspiring thinkers share their wisdom in a format that is easy to follow and can be streamed anywhere on a smartphone, computer, smart TV, or even in audio mode. MasterClass always has great offers during the holidays, sometimes up to as much as 50% off. Head over to http://masterclass.com/designbetter for the current offer.

Thuma: We’re the sort of people who can’t help but get lost in the details of creating a beautiful living space. A well designed home is a sanctuary for creative thinking. For those who revel in crafting a beautiful living space, Thuma offers modern furniture that transforms your home into a sanctuary for creative thinking.

By Aarron Walter

The software industry is in a tough contraction phase. Teams are downsizing, and companies are prioritizing efficiency. It’s a stressful time for many.

But it’s also an opportunity—to reflect on your work, your skills, and the unique value you bring as a designer. What could you do to make yourself indispensable to your team?

In my career, I’ve worked with a number of truly irreplaceable designers, and they all share a common trait: they became more than just a designer. They bring additional skills in coding, research, or business that expand their value, make them better cross-team collaborators, and help them solve problems more effectively.

Irreplaceable designers thrive in the blurry space between disciplines. They adapt their language and perspective as they work across teams, earning respect from their peers.

These designers are rare—but they shouldn’t be. AI is making it easier for all of us to bridge the gap between disciplines. While there’s a lot of excitement about how AI can help designers improve their craft, the real opportunity lies in designers learning to build as well.

Continue reading this issue of The Brief on Substack

Aarron’s friend Trenton Doyle Hancock did something remarkable when they were both in the graduate Painting and Drawing program at the Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia—he had work in the Whitney Biennial. It was a bit like winning an Oscar while in acting school, just not something that ever happens.

Most people are thrown by early success, but not Trenton. He pressed forward in his studio where he crafted epic stories in large scale paintings that later expanded into installations, sculptures, and performance art. His creative process is unique. Piles of collected objects, receipts, food wrappers, etc find their way into his work where their color, texture and attitude unfold as the fabric of Trenton’s universe of heroes, villains, and ancient mysteries.

We spoke with Trenton about his neurodivergent approach to the world, how collecting influences his visual sensibilities, and how chaos becomes precise order in his work. At the time of our recording, Trenton had a large show at the Jewish Museum in New York exploring intersecting themes in his work and that of Philip Guston.

Bio

For nearly two decades, Trenton Doyle Hancock has created a vivid, fantastical universe where autobiographical elements blend seamlessly with references to art history, comics, superheroes, and popular culture. Through paintings, drawings, and expansive installations, Hancock crafts complex narratives exploring themes of good versus evil, infused with personal symbolism and mythology. His work draws stylistically from artists like Hieronymus Bosch, Max Ernst, Henry Darger, Philip Guston, and R. Crumb, integrating text as both narrative driver and visual element. His distinctive storytelling has extended beyond gallery walls into performances, ballet collaborations such as Cult of Color: Call to Color with Ballet Austin, and murals at prominent public spaces including Dallas Cowboys Stadium and Seattle Art Museum’s Olympic Sculpture Park.

***

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This is a premium episode on Design Better. We release two premium episodes per month, along with two free episodes for everyone. Premium subscribers also get access to the documentary Design Disruptors and our growing library of books, as well as our monthly AMAs with former guests, ad-free episodes, discounts and early access to workshops, and our monthly newsletter The Brief that compiles salient insights, quotes, readings, and creative processes uncovered in the show.

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If you were mapping out the most amazing career in industrial design, you might dream of working with George Nelson, Henry Dreyfuss, Steve Jobs, and influential companies like Frog design in the early days. It seems impossible that one person could have such a career, but Dan Harden has done all of this and more.

We spoke with Dan about what he learned from these iconic people and companies, and also about how he started his own design consultancy, Whipsaw, which has gone on to win over 300 awards over 700 patents. Dan also shared what George Nelson was up to when he disappeared into his private bathroom at the end of each workday. It’s not what you think.

Bio

Dan is CEO, Founder, and Principal Designer of Whipsaw, an acclaimed Silicon Valley product design and experience innovation firm that has introduced over 1,000 products to market for leading global companies. A highly influential figure in the design industry, Dan infuses his work with a deep passion and unique perspective shaped by his interests in art, culture, psychology, and technology. Previously, he served as VP and President at Frog, designing notable products for industry icons including Steve Jobs and Larry Ellison, and also held a leading design role at Henry Dreyfuss Associates.

Over his prolific career, Dan has created hundreds of successful products across diverse categories, from baby bottles to supercomputers, winning over 300 prestigious awards, including 41 IDEA Awards, and securing more than 700 patents. His innovative designs have been exhibited at renowned institutions such as the Smithsonian Cooper Hewitt Museum, The Henry Ford Museum, and the Chicago Athenaeum. Recognized by Fast Company as one of the "100 Most Creative People in Business," Dan's visionary contributions have been highlighted extensively in prominent publications including CNN, Fortune, Newsweek, Time, and Wired.

***

Premium Episodes on Design Better

This ad-supported episode is available to everyone. If you’d like to hear it ad-free, upgrade to our premium subscription, where you’ll get an additional 2 ad-free episodes per month (4 total). Premium subscribers also get access to the documentary Design Disruptors and our growing library of books, as well as our monthly AMAs with former guests, ad-free episodes, discounts and early access to workshops, and our monthly newsletter The Brief that compiles salient insights, quotes, readings, and creative processes uncovered in the show.

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***

Visiting the links below is one of the best ways to support our show:

Masterclass: MasterClass is the only streaming platform where you can learn and grow with over 200+ of the world's best. People like Steph Curry, Paul Krugman, Malcolm Gladwell, Dianne Von Furstenberg, Margaret Atwood, Lavar Burton and so many more inspiring thinkers share their wisdom in a format that is easy to follow and can be streamed anywhere on a smartphone, computer, smart TV, or even in audio mode. MasterClass always has great offers during the holidays, sometimes up to as much as 50% off. Head over to http://masterclass.com/designbetter for the current offer.

Many of the most successful products launched in Silicon Valley lean heavily on behavioral design to increase engagement. Former Design Better guest Nir Eyal talks about this in his books Hooked and Indistractable, and today we have another expert in this field, Kristen Berman, who co-founded Irrational Labs with professor and researcher Dan Ariely in 2013.

We chat with Kristen about how to design products that change behavior, and also about the darker side of behavioral design, which in extreme cases can create addictive products. We also learn how Kristen uses behavioral science on herself, to achieve goals and encourage positive habits.

Bio

Kristen Berman is a leading figure in applied behavioral economics and behavioral product design. In 2013, she co-founded Irrational Labs with Dan Ariely, collaborating with major organizations such as Google, PayPal, Facebook, and Netflix to enhance user health, wealth, and happiness. She was also on the founding team of the behavioral economics group at Google, a collective that supported over 26 teams within the company, and hosted the global behavioral change conference StartupOnomics. In addition, Kristen co-founded the Common Cents Lab at Duke University, where her leadership guided over 50 experiments aimed at improving the financial well-being of tens of thousands of low- to middle-income Americans.

Her expertise has been featured in outlets like The Stanford Social Innovation Review, TechCrunch, and Scientific American. As a co-author of the workbooks series Hacking Human Nature for Good alongside Dan Ariely, Kristen has provided practical guidance on changing behavior that is widely used by prominent companies—Google, Intuit, Netflix, Fidelity, and Lending Club among them—for their business strategies and product design.

***

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This is a premium episode on Design Better. We release two premium episodes per month, along with two free episodes for everyone. Premium subscribers also get access to the documentary Design Disruptors and our growing library of books, as well as our monthly AMAs with former guests, ad-free episodes, discounts and early access to workshops, and our monthly newsletter The Brief that compiles salient insights, quotes, readings, and creative processes uncovered in the show.

Upgrade to paid

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Visiting the links below is one of the best ways to support our show:

Masterclass: MasterClass is the only streaming platform where you can learn and grow with over 200+ of the world's best. People like Steph Curry, Paul Krugman, Malcolm Gladwell, Dianne Von Furstenberg, Margaret Atwood, Lavar Burton and so many more inspiring thinkers share their wisdom in a format that is easy to follow and can be streamed anywhere on a smartphone, computer, smart TV, or even in audio mode. MasterClass always has great offers during the holidays, sometimes up to as much as 50% off. Head over to http://masterclass.com/designbetter for the current offer.

To get $100 towards your first bed purchase, go to http://thuma.co/designbetter.

***

If you're interested in sponsoring the show, please contact us at: sponsors@thecuriositydepartment.com

If you'd like to submit a guest idea, please contact us at: contact@thecuriositydepartment.com

by Eli Woolery

How does Sir Jony Ive, the famed former head of design at Apple, start every project? If, like me, you guessed by sketching, you’d be wrong. I was surprised to learn when he visited the design capstone class I co-teach at Stanford that he starts all projects by writing.

But Jony gave our class a powerful example of why writing is a far more versatile conceptual tool than sketching. He spoke of working with a landscape designer on his property in the UK. The designer could have shared drawings, but instead he wrote about the night garden, and how the flagstones would radiate both the heat from the warmth of the day and the fragrance of the flowers along the pathway.

“I write because I realized at art school that you can only draw a small percentage of the attributes of an object. You know, if I were to draw this [holds up a glass], you would understand only 20 percent of its nature. You would have no sense of its weight or material or temperature. You would have no sense of the way that it reacted to its environment. Writing helps me frame the problem. A lot of mistakes are made when you frame a problem, because you could already be dismissing 60 percent, 70 percent of the potential ideas.”

—Jony Ive, in an interview with McKinsey Quarterly

Free from the constraints that even the best draftsperson would face, Jony and his team can conceptualize not only the look of products, but the touch, weight, and even the emotions they trigger.

Perhaps it shouldn’t surprise us that good design can start with writing. Good writers are adept at taking an iterative approach to creativity. They create memorable characters through empathy. Their characters evolve, and they often reimagine old stories with new, innovative approaches.

“The difference between writers and non-writers is that writers go back again and again. My old classics teacher used to say that the people who succeeded in classics were the people with the highest tolerance for failure. I think the same is true for writers.”—Madeline Miller, author of Circe and The Song of Achilles

Madeline Miller is a great example of an author who uses all of these techniques in her writing. Her book Circe takes the titular character who was a peripheral—if important—part of Homer’s Odyssey, and reimagines her as the protagonist. Her empathetic approach to the enchantress-in-exile reframes the story in a way that makes us feel a human connection to the not-quite-human character.

Professional writers also aren’t afraid to make mistakes as they go. Many have a bias toward action, creating the rough outlines (parallel to a prototype) of the work before going back to refine it.

“My husband is a master carpenter. When I asked him if master carpenters make fewer mistakes than regular carpenters, he said no–but they recognize [the mistakes] more quickly. It’s the same for writers as they gain experience.”

—Madeline Miller, author of Circe and The Song of Achilles

Former guests on the show, David Sedaris and Dan Pink, shared wisdom about writing that can teach us plenty about becoming better designers.

Continue reading this issue of The Brief on Substack

Graphic novels are experiencing something of a renaissance recently. As the medium has gained popularity, notable thinkers like Sapiens author Yuval Noah Harari and the late John Lewis have brought their stories to life beautifully in graphic novel form. Gareth Hinds has played a big role in shaping the medium. His graphic novel adaptations of The Iliad, The Odyssey, Macbeth, Beowulf, and King Lear have brought new readers and new perspectives to these classic tales. Count us in that group of his readers looking at these ancient stories differently.

We speak with Gareth about his creative and editorial workflow, and how he turns challenging works from Shakespeare, Homer, and others into a graphic novel. We also talk about how his background in video game design influences his work, and how he chooses stories that lend themselves well to his style of illustration.

Bio

Gareth Hinds is the creator of critically-acclaimed graphic novels based on literary classics, including Beowulf (which Publisher’s Weekly called a “mixed-media gem”), King Lear (which Booklist named one of the top 10 graphic novels for teens), The Merchant of Venice (which Kirkus called “the standard that all others will strive to meet” for Shakespeare adaptation), The Odyssey (which garnered four starred reviews and a spot on ten “best of 2010” lists), Romeo and Juliet (which Kirkus called “spellbinding”), and Macbeth (which the New York Times called “stellar” and “a remarkably faithful rendering”). Gareth is a recipient of the Boston Public Library’s “Literary Lights for Children” award. His books can be found in bookstores and English classrooms across the country, and his illustrations have appeared in such diverse venues as the Society of Illustrators, the New York Historical Society, and over a dozen published video games.

***

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Upgrade to paid

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Visiting the links below is one of the best ways to support our show:

Masterclass: MasterClass is the only streaming platform where you can learn and grow with over 200+ of the world's best. People like Steph Curry, Paul Krugman, Malcolm Gladwell, Dianne Von Furstenberg, Margaret Atwood, Lavar Burton and so many more inspiring thinkers share their wisdom in a format that is easy to follow and can be streamed anywhere on a smartphone, computer, smart TV, or even in audio mode. MasterClass always has great offers during the holidays, sometimes up to as much as 50% off. Head over to http://masterclass.com/designbetter for the current offer.

***

If you're interested in sponsoring the show, please contact us at: sponsors@thecuriositydepartment.com

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But inboxes are busy places—an issue might slip past you. And everyone learns differently. Some of us learn best by listening. We’re always looking for new ways to support your learning. :)

We’re now creating narrated versions of The Brief released as a podcast in your feed.

Want to check it out? We’re releasing the first episode from our most recent issue of The Brief, What do many creative people have in common? ADHD.

We hope this new feature helps you continue your educational journey into design and creativity.

One core strength that good designers cultivate is the ability to navigate ambiguity. Our guest today, Kevin Bethune, returns to the show to discuss his new book, Nonlinear: Navigating Design with Curiosity and Conviction, which emphasizes that to achieve real innovation, teams must be willing to venture into the “proverbial forest of ambiguity.”

We talked to Kevin about how we can bring non-linear thinking into our very linear workflows to shake them up to embrace ambiguity and exploration. Kevin also shared why he thinks multidisciplinary thinking is essential to innovation and creativity.

Buy the book

Bio

Kevin Bethune is a multidisciplinary design and innovation executive, entrepreneur, best-selling author, and keynote speaker based in Redondo Beach, California. His career spans mechanical engineering within nuclear power, product creation at Nike, and advanced design studies at ArtCenter, culminating in a pioneering path for servant leadership in design and innovation. As the founder of dreams • design + life—a “think tank” integrating strategic design, industrial design, and brand strategy—Kevin helps organizations uncover human-centric, holistic opportunities that bridge physical, digital, and service-oriented experiences. Over the years, he has led large-scale creative teams, guiding 30+ direct contributors and influencing global groups of more than 70 in shaping design functional excellence and innovation best practices.

***

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This is a premium episode on Design Better. We release two premium episodes per month, along with two free episodes for everyone. Premium subscribers also get access to the documentary Design Disruptors and our growing library of books, as well as our monthly AMAs with former guests, ad-free episodes, discounts and early access to workshops, and our monthly newsletter The Brief that compiles salient insights, quotes, readings, and creative processes uncovered in the show.

Upgrade to paid

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Visiting the links below is one of the best ways to support our show:

Masterclass: MasterClass is the only streaming platform where you can learn and grow with over 200+ of the world's best. People like Steph Curry, Paul Krugman, Malcolm Gladwell, Dianne Von Furstenberg, Margaret Atwood, Lavar Burton and so many more inspiring thinkers share their wisdom in a format that is easy to follow and can be streamed anywhere on a smartphone, computer, smart TV, or even in audio mode. MasterClass always has great offers during the holidays, sometimes up to as much as 50% off. Head over to http://masterclass.com/designbetter for the current offer.

Thuma: We’re the sort of people who can’t help but get lost in the details of creating a beautiful living space. A well designed home is a sanctuary for creative thinking. For those who revel in crafting a beautiful living space, Thuma offers modern furniture that transforms your home into a sanctuary for creative thinking.

Their timelessly designed beds, nightstands, dressers, and shelving are built from solid wood using Japanese joinery techniques for a silent, stable foundation, balancing form, craftsmanship, and functionality. With clean lines, subtle curves, and a minimalist style available in four signature finishes—and an upgradeable headboard—the Thuma Bed collection assembles in just about 5 minutes with a single hand-tightened screw, ensuring a durable piece backed by a lifetime warranty.

To get $100 towards your first bed purchase, go to http://thuma.co/designbetter.

***

If you're interested in sponsoring the show, please contact us at: sponsors@thecuriositydepartment.com

If you'd like to submit a guest idea, please contact us at: contact@thecuriositydepartment.co

We live in an era where it’s easy to get overwhelmed by the pace of new technology. As designers, creatives, and technologists, we have a wealth of tools at our disposal that people in our roles only a decade ago could only have dreamed of. Yet it can be daunting to know where to focus our efforts: what new skills and workflows should we be learning to stay relevant?

Scott Belsky, co-founder of Behance and Chief Strategy Officer at Adobe, calls the rapid spread of generative AI tools a “Cambrian Explosion,” referring to an evolutionary event 500 million years ago when many new animal species appeared in a relatively short time. We talk to Scott about how we might navigate this explosion, and why it might make sense to move toward a more “boundaryless” workflow. We also talk with Scott about his book The Messy Middle, and how to manage emotional turbulence during challenging parts of our career.

Bio

Scott Belsky is a builder, author, and investor who currently serves as Adobe’s Chief Strategy Officer and Executive Vice President of Design & Emerging Products. As a co-founder of Behance—a platform now used by over 50 million creatives—Scott has been instrumental in shaping Adobe’s Creative Cloud, pioneering mobile and service strategies, and later advising innovative companies like Pinterest, Uber, and Airtable. He also champions creative empowerment through initiatives such as 99U and Action Method, and his thought leadership shines in his international bestsellers, Making Ideas Happen and The Messy Middle, as well as his widely read Implications newsletter.

***

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This ad-supported episode is available to everyone. If you’d like to hear it ad-free, upgrade to our premium subscription, where you’ll get an additional 2 ad-free episodes per month (4 total). Premium subscribers also get access to the documentary Design Disruptors and our growing library of books, as well as our monthly AMAs with former guests, ad-free episodes, discounts and early access to workshops, and our monthly newsletter The Brief that compiles salient insights, quotes, readings, and creative processes uncovered in the show.

Upgrade to paid

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Visiting the links below is one of the best ways to support our show:

Masterclass: MasterClass is the only streaming platform where you can learn and grow with over 200+ of the world's best. People like Steph Curry, Paul Krugman, Malcolm Gladwell, Dianne Von Furstenberg, Margaret Atwood, Lavar Burton and so many more inspiring thinkers share their wisdom in a format that is easy to follow and can be streamed anywhere on a smartphone, computer, smart TV, or even in audio mode. MasterClass always has great offers during the holidays, sometimes up to as much as 50% off. Head over to http://masterclass.com/designbetter for the current offer.

Thuma: We’re the sort of people who can’t help but get lost in the details of creating a beautiful living space. A well designed home is a sanctuary for creative thinking. For those who revel in crafting a beautiful living space, Thuma offers modern furniture that transforms your home into a sanctuary for creative thinking.

Their timelessly designed beds, nightstands, dressers, and shelving are built from solid wood using Japanese joinery techniques for a silent, stable foundation, balancing form, craftsmanship, and functionality. With clean lines, subtle curves, and a minimalist style available in four signature finishes—and an upgradeable headboard—the Thuma Bed collection assembles in just about 5 minutes with a single hand-tightened screw, ensuring a durable piece backed by a lifetime warranty.

To get $100 towards your first bed purchase, go to http://thuma.co/designbetter.

In Berlin, there are memorials to the Holocaust called Stolpersteine, or “stumbling stones,” that memorialize some of the victims of the tragic event with small brass stones placed into the cobblestone streets outside their last-known residence. These poignant objects create moments for reflection, and awareness of the invisible history that hides behind modern city streets.

Here in the United States, we have important points of history that often go unnoticed. Our guest today, Idris Brewster, aims to change that with the Kinfolk Foundation, which uses augmented reality to shift how we learn about our history, bringing it to life in front of our eyes.

We speak with Idris about how he found his way into the realm of augmented reality technology, how cultural moments can change historical perspectives, and the power of location-based storytelling and designing for discovery.

Bio

Idris Brewster is a Brooklyn-born artist and creative technologist who challenges traditional narratives through immersive spatial experiences that merge historical archives, public spaces, and technology. As the Executive Director of Kinfolk Foundation, he empowers Black and Brown communities by turning augmented reality into a tool for monument-making and historical preservation.

***

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This is a premium episode on Design Better. We release two premium episodes per month, along with two free episodes for everyone. ✨New benefits: Premium subscribers also get access to the documentary Design Disruptors and our growing library of books, as well as our monthly AMAs with former guests, ad-free episodes, discounts and early access to workshops, and our monthly newsletter The Brief that compiles salient insights, quotes, readings, and creative processes uncovered in the show.

Upgrade to paid

***

Visiting the links below is one of the best ways to support our show:

Masterclass: MasterClass is the only streaming platform where you can learn and grow with over 200+ of the world's best. People like Steph Curry, Paul Krugman, Malcolm Gladwell, Dianne Von Furstenberg, Margaret Atwood, Lavar Burton and so many more inspiring thinkers share their wisdom in a format that is easy to follow and can be streamed anywhere on a smartphone, computer, smart TV, or even in audio mode. MasterClass always has great offers during the holidays, sometimes up to as much as 50% off. Head over to http://masterclass.com/designbetter for the current offer.

Thuma: We’re the sort of people who can’t help but get lost in the details of creating a beautiful living space. A well designed home is a sanctuary for creative thinking. For those who revel in crafting a beautiful living space, Thuma offers modern furniture that transforms your home into a sanctuary for creative thinking.

Their timelessly designed beds, nightstands, dressers, and shelving are built from solid wood using Japanese joinery techniques for a silent, stable foundation, balancing form, craftsmanship, and functionality. With clean lines, subtle curves, and a minimalist style available in four signature finishes—and an upgradeable headboard—the Thuma Bed collection assembles in just about 5 minutes with a single hand-tightened screw, ensuring a durable piece backed by a lifetime warranty.

To get $100 towards your first bed purchase, go to http://thuma.co/designbetter.

Visit our Substack for bonus content and more: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/jake-knapp-click

There is one gap that design sprints have not entirely addressed, though. What do you do if you’re starting a new product or company from scratch? That is the subject of Jake Knapp and co-author John Zeratsky’s newest book, Click: How to make what people want. Jake lays out the elements of what he calls a “foundation sprint” in this book.

We chat with Jake about what makes a foundation sprint different than a design sprint, and some examples from the book of companies that have used foundation sprints effectively. We also talk to Jake about his decision to start Character, a VC fund aimed at helping startups at seed stage with capital and sprints, and the qualities that they look for in their founders when deciding to invest.

Pre-order "Click"

Bio

Jake Knapp is a New York Times bestselling author and co-founder of Character.

Previously, Jake built products like Microsoft Encarta and Gmail, co-founded Google Meet, and invented the Design Sprint. He has coached hundreds of teams at places like Miro, Slack, LEGO, IDEO, and NASA on product strategy and time management, and is a guest instructor at Harvard Business School.

This is Jake’s third appearance on Design Better. In his first interview with us, he discusses Sprint, and in his second interview he talks about his (and John Zeratsky’s) book Make Time.

Books & links mentioned

• Ten things we know to be true
• The Making of Prince of Persia
• The rest is history podcast
• Met opera on demand
• https://jakek.medium.com/

***

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This ad-supported episode is available to everyone. If you’d like to hear it ad-free, upgrade to our premium subscription, where you’ll get an additional 2 ad-free episodes per month (4 total). ✨New benefits: Premium subscribers also get access to the documentary Design Disruptors and our growing library of books, as well as our monthly AMAs with former guests, ad-free episodes, discounts and early access to workshops, and our monthly newsletter The Brief that compiles salient insights, quotes, readings, and creative processes uncovered in the show.

Upgrade to paid

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Visiting the links below is one of the best ways to support our show:

Masterclass: MasterClass is the only streaming platform where you can learn and grow with over 200+ of the world's best. People like Steph Curry, Paul Krugman, Malcolm Gladwell, Dianne Von Furstenberg, Margaret Atwood, Lavar Burton and so many more inspiring thinkers share their wisdom in a format that is easy to follow and can be streamed anywhere on a smartphone, computer, smart TV, or even in audio mode. MasterClass always has great offers during the holidays, sometimes up to as much as 50% off. Head over to http://masterclass.com/designbetter for the current offer.

DUER: Eli and I are busy people. When we’re not in the studio producing the podcast and publishing new articles, we’re often doing something active—building, cooking, or on an adventure with family. Work and life blend together, and DU/ER makes clothing for people like us. DUER creates performance denim and lifestyle apparel that is made for doing. Check out DUER’s flagship stores in LA or Denver, or order now at shopduer.com/DESIGNBETTER. When you use our exclusive URL, you’ll get 20% off your first purchase.

If you're interested in sponsoring the show, please contact us at: sponsors@thecuriositydepartment.com

If you'd like to submit a guest idea, please contact us at: contact@thecuriositydepartment.com

Find bonus content and more on our Substack: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/jenny-blackburn

So we thought it would be fascinating to talk with Jenny Blackburn, VP of UX at Google for Gemini, about the many ways that GenAI can improve our workflows. We also speak with Jenny about how experimental tools like NotebookLM play a role in the roadmap for Gemini, how they get feedback from their users, and the skills designers need to be successful in the era of AI.

Bio

Jenny Blackburn is the Vice President of User Experience (UX) at Google for Gemini Experiences & Google Assistant, where she leads cross-functional teams in shaping engaging, intuitive products used by millions worldwide. With over two decades of experience at leading technology firms—including Apple and Amazon—she has built a reputation for championing design excellence and user-centric innovation. Jenny is known for fostering collaborative, diverse environments and delivering impactful solutions that blend creativity, accessibility, and strategic thinking to drive exceptional user experiences.

***

Premium Episodes on Design Better

This is a premium episode on Design Better. We release two premium episodes per month, along with two free episodes for everyone. ✨New benefits: Premium subscribers also get access to the documentary Design Disruptors and our growing library of books, as well as our monthly AMAs with former guests, ad-free episodes, discounts and early access to workshops, and our monthly newsletter The Brief that compiles salient insights, quotes, readings, and creative processes uncovered in the show.

Upgrade to paid

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Visiting the links below is one of the best ways to support our show:

Masterclass: MasterClass is the only streaming platform where you can learn and grow with over 200+ of the world's best. People like Steph Curry, Paul Krugman, Malcolm Gladwell, Dianne Von Furstenberg, Margaret Atwood, Lavar Burton and so many more inspiring thinkers share their wisdom in a format that is easy to follow and can be streamed anywhere on a smartphone, computer, smart TV, or even in audio mode. MasterClass always has great offers during the holidays, sometimes up to as much as 50% off. Head over to http://masterclass.com/designbetter for the current offer.

DUER: Eli and I are busy people. When we’re not in the studio producing the podcast and publishing new articles, we’re often doing something active—building, cooking, or on an adventure with family. Work and life blend together, and DU/ER makes clothing for people like us. DUER creates performance denim and lifestyle apparel that is made for doing. Check out DUER’s flagship stores in LA or Denver, or order now at shopduer.com/DESIGNBETTER. When you use our exclusive URL, you’ll get 20% off your first purchase.

***

If you're interested in sponsoring the show, please contact us at: sponsors@thecuriositydepartment.com

If you'd like to submit a guest idea, please contact us at: contact@thecuriositydepartment.com

Find full show notes and bonus content on our Substack: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/scott-berkun-why-design-is-hard

Author Scott Berkun has a new book called Why Design is Hard, which dives into why this “ego trap” limits designers' effectiveness in their roles. We welcome him back on the show to discuss this new book, and also discuss how designers can learn to navigate organizational power structures and gain more influence over decisions that affect their work, how the myth of the “design hero” shapes young designers entering the field, and why design schools often fail to prepare students for the real-world dynamics of organizational culture and power.

Bio

Scott Berkun is a bestselling author and popular speaker on UX design, innovation, leading teams, public speaking and other subjects. He’s published nine books, including How Design Makes The World, The Myths of Innovation, Confessions of a Public Speaker, and The Year Without Pants. His work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Forbes, The Wall Street Journal, The Economist, The Guardian, Wired magazine, USA Today, Fast Company, National Public Radio, CNN, NPR, MSNBC and other media. His popular blog is at scottberkun.com and he tweets at @berkun.

***

Premium Episodes on Design Better

This ad-supported episode is available to everyone. If you’d like to hear it ad-free, upgrade to our premium subscription, where you’ll get an additional 2 ad-free episodes per month (4 total). ✨New benefits: Premium subscribers also get access to the documentary Design Disruptors and our growing library of books, as well as our monthly AMAs with former guests, ad-free episodes, discounts and early access to workshops, and our monthly newsletter The Brief that compiles salient insights, quotes, readings, and creative processes uncovered in the show.

Upgrade to paid

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Visiting the links below is one of the best ways to support our show:

Masterclass: MasterClass is the only streaming platform where you can learn and grow with over 200+ of the world's best. People like Steph Curry, Paul Krugman, Malcolm Gladwell, Dianne Von Furstenberg, Margaret Atwood, Lavar Burton and so many more inspiring thinkers share their wisdom in a format that is easy to follow and can be streamed anywhere on a smartphone, computer, smart TV, or even in audio mode. MasterClass always has great offers during the holidays, sometimes up to as much as 50% off. Head over to http://masterclass.com/designbetter for the current offer.

DUER: Eli and I are busy people. When we’re not in the studio producing the podcast and publishing new articles, we’re often doing something active—building, cooking, or on an adventure with family. Work and life blend together, and DU/ER makes clothing for people like us. DUER creates performance denim and lifestyle apparel that is made for doing. Check out DUER’s flagship stores in LA or Denver, or order now at shopduer.com/DESIGNBETTER. When you use our exclusive URL, you’ll get 20% off your first purchase.

If you're interested in sponsoring the show, please contact us at: sponsors@thecuriositydepartment.com

If you'd like to submit a guest idea, please contact us at: contact@thecuriositydepartment.com

Marcus has also created one of the first AI-driven artists, fusing his own musical skills with GenAI persona Rayvn Lyte. We talk with Marcus about what inspired him to do this, as well as the ethics of AI-generated music. We also discuss his creative process, and how he manages to fit in creative time amidst raising a family and other domestic duties.

Visit our Substack for bonus episode content and more: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/marcus-bell

Bio

Marcus “Bellringer” Bell is an American music producer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and entrepreneur who has collaborated with global superstars like Nicki Minaj, Snoop Dogg, and Timbaland, and whose productions have been performed by Beyoncé. As CEO of Bellringer Productions LLC, he manages a catalog of over 30,000 songs, mentors artists, and has authored an Amazon #1 best seller on musician branding. Beyond music, he is a pioneering AI technologist and crypto investor, launching viral AI music character Ravyn Lyte and teaching communities to leverage AI and crypto through his Wealth and Impact AI course. Raised in a family that championed excellence, Bell honed his craft at Berklee College of Music before working with major labels and ultimately starting multiple ventures. He continues to give keynote speeches worldwide and remains dedicated to empowering people to unlock their fullest potential.

***

Premium Episodes on Design Better

This is a premium episode on Design Better. We release two premium episodes per month, along with two free episodes for everyone. ✨New benefits: Premium subscribers also get access to the documentary Design Disruptors and our growing library of books, as well as our monthly AMAs with former guests, ad-free episodes, discounts and early access to workshops, and our monthly newsletter The Brief that compiles salient insights, quotes, readings, and creative processes uncovered in the show.

Upgrade to paid

***

Visiting the links below is one of the best ways to support our show:

Masterclass: MasterClass is the only streaming platform where you can learn and grow with over 200+ of the world's best. People like Steph Curry, Paul Krugman, Malcolm Gladwell, Dianne Von Furstenberg, Margaret Atwood, Lavar Burton and so many more inspiring thinkers share their wisdom in a format that is easy to follow and can be streamed anywhere on a smartphone, computer, smart TV, or even in audio mode. MasterClass always has great offers during the holidays, sometimes up to as much as 50% off. Head over to http://masterclass.com/designbetter for the current offer.

DUER: Eli and I are busy people. When we’re not in the studio producing the podcast and publishing new articles, we’re often doing something active—building, cooking, or on an adventure with family. Work and life blend together, and DU/ER makes clothing for people like us. DUER creates performance denim and lifestyle apparel that is made for doing. Check out DUER’s flagship stores in LA or Denver, or order now at shopduer.com/DESIGNBETTER. When you use our exclusive URL, you’ll get 20% off your first purchase.

If you're interested in sponsoring the show, please contact us at: sponsors@thecuriositydepartment.com

If you'd like to submit a guest idea, please contact us at: contact@thecuriositydepartment.com

Though design and your work are a big part of who you are, you are so much more. Reconsidering is a show hosted by designers that aims to bring fresh eyes to the important things in life. Co-hosts Meredith Black, formerly at Pinterest and Figma, Bob Baxley, formerly at Apple and Thoughtspot, and Aarron Walter explore topics like how to build a fulfilling career, navigate big life changes like illness and death, and we talk with experts about the skills you need to cultivate to become the healthy, well adjusted adult we all want to be.

You can learn more about Reconsidering and subscribe to the show at Reconsidering.org. But to give you a taste, we’re sharing an episode here. Bob, Meredith, and Aarron talked to Brad Stuhlberg, who writes about excellence, resilience, performance, and well-being. His latest book, Mastering Change, is a New York Times best-seller and a great read as we enter the new year with big goals for ourselves. Brad’s in depth research and lucid guidance made an impression on us, and we know it will do the same for you. 

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Like it or not, change is inevitable. Your career, relationships, body, health, mood are all in constant motion. We can fight it but it’s unproductive and leads to suffering. 

Our pal Brad Stulberg is back on the show to help us look at change differently. His new book Master of Change: How To Excel When Everything Is Changing - Including You is full of deeply researched wisdom from science and philosophy that will help you become more resilient and adaptable.

About Brad Stulberg

Brad Stulberg researches, writes, and coaches on health, well-being, and sustainable excellence. He is the bestselling author of The Practice of Groundedness and co-author of Peak Performance. Stulberg regularly contributes to the New York Times, and his work has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, The New Yorker, Sports Illustrated, Outside Magazine, Forbes, and other outlets. He also serves as the co-host of The Growth Equation podcast and is on faculty at the University of Michigan’s Graduate School of Public Health. In his coaching practice, he works with executives, entrepreneurs, physicians, and athletes on their mental skills and overall well-being. He lives in Asheville, North Carolina.

We hope you’re having a wonderful holiday season, and have plenty of opportunities to relax and spend time with friends and family. This week we’re rewinding to one of our favorite episodes with Jonathan Hoefler, the legendary type designer. Enjoy the episode, and we’ll see you in the New Year!

Find the full episode and bonus content on our Substack: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/rewind-jonathan-hoefler

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It’s still not too late for a last-minute gift for the creative people in your life. Why not give the gift of education and inspiration by with a year-long subscription to Design Better Premium? We’ve even made a 🎁 handy gift card that you can send virtually, or print out and mail, or gift in person.

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Chances are you have a few fonts on your computer designed by Jonathan Hoefler. Since 1991, Apple has included Hoefler Text on every Mac. Ideal Sans, Knockout, Archer, Verlag, and Sentinel—are a few more of Hoefler’s well known typefaces —each is steeped in history and timelessly beautiful. It’s no wonder that Jonathan was featured in the Netflix series Abstract, which explores design and creativity, as he is truly a typography legend.

As part of our series on design history, we talk with Jonathan about his typographic influences, his philosophical views on the value of presentation and why he views entrepreneurship as an invitation, and some of the themes in his work like “Unfinished Business” and “Conservation and Preservation.”

Bio

Jonathan Hoefler (pronounced "HEFF-ler") is a typeface designer, typographer, writer, and inventor, and the creator of some of the world's most influential fonts such as Gotham, Knockout, Mercury, Sentinel, and Hoefler Text. He founded the distinguished type foundry Hoefler&Co in 1989, which he sold in 2021, after publishing more than eleven hundred original tyepfaces. He's currently enjoying a sabbatical, and writing about typography and visual culture on his website, JonathanHoefler.com.

Football taught him discipline and to focus on excellence, traits that transferred well into a career in design. He’s led design teams at Atlassian and today, he’s VP of Design at Dropbox.

We spoke with Alastair about how he applies design principles to parenting, the role craft plays in making great products, and creating a work environment that supports the creative process.

Visit our Substack to access the full episode: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/alastair-simpson

Bio

Alastair Simpson reports to the CEO and serves on the Executive team at Dropbox, where he leads the design team across all creative disciplines, including Brand, Product Design, Research, Content Design, and Operations. He also co-led, designed, and implemented Dropbox's transition to a Virtual-First working model. Previously, Alastair was Head of Design at Atlassian, where he played a key role in scaling the design team from 20 to over 300.

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Premium Episodes on Design Better

This is a premium episode on Design Better. We release two premium episodes per month, along with two free episodes for everyone. ✨New benefits: Premium subscribers also get access to the documentary Design Disruptors and our growing library of books, as well as our monthly AMAs with former guests, ad-free episodes, discounts and early access to workshops, and our monthly newsletter The Brief that compiles salient insights, quotes, readings, and creative processes uncovered in the show.

Upgrade to paid

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Visiting the links below is one of the best ways to support our show:

Masterclass: MasterClass is the only streaming platform where you can learn and grow with over 200+ of the world's best. People like Steph Curry, Paul Krugman, Malcolm Gladwell, Dianne Von Furstenberg, Margaret Atwook, Lavar Burton and so many more inspiring thinkers share their wisdom in a format that is easy to follow and can be streamed anywhere on a smartphone, computer, smart TV, or even in audio mode. MasterClass always has great offers during the holidays, sometimes up to as much as 50% off. Head over to http://masterclass.com/designbetter for the current offer.

Wix Studio: With Wix Studio, agencies and enterprises can create, develop and manage exceptional web projects with hyper efficiency. And if you're worried about the learning curve eating into time you don't have, don't be. Wix Studio is intuitive by design, so your entire team can hit the ground running. For your next project, check out wixstudio.com.

Wine Access: We love wine, but often feel overwhelmed by the options out there. But we recently joined Wine Access who not only ship to your door some of the world’s most inspiring wines, they also educate subscribers with full color information cards that accompany each bottle. You should totally join The Waitlist Wine Club. Just visit wineaccess.com/waitlist and use Promo Code: DESIGNBETTER for $25 off your first shipment.

If you're interested in sponsoring the show, please contact us at: sponsors@thecuriositydepartment.com

If you'd like to submit a guest idea, please contact us at: contact@thecuriositydepartment.com

We’re excited to share this sponsored bonus episode, recorded live in Austin at The Human Insight Summit (THiS)—as UserTesting helps designers and product teams gain shared insight—seeing and hearing how another person engages with the world around them and taking in their perspective.

Learn more about UserTesting

Bio

As VP of Product Design at UserTesting, Jason leads a team of designers, writers, and researchers across the US, Canada, and UK with the mission to enable real human insight and lead a movement for empathy.

Jason Giles began his professional career as a designer at Microsoft, where he effectively “grew up” alongside the UX discipline itself. Having actively participated in that evolution, Jason transitioned to design management where he has focused on building teams with great cultures that deliver awesome product experiences.

Visit our Substack to view the video of the interview: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/jason-giles

Find the full episode on our Substack: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/bishop-briggs

We spoke with Bishop about how her creative process evolved during these life-changing events, as well as how she approaches creating with consistency, connects with her audience, and the surprising results of her experiments with generative AI.

Also, a quick note for anyone who might be sensitive about the topics of depression and suicidal thoughts, Bishop does discuss these topics during the course of our interview, most notably around the 10 minute mark of the episode.

Bio

Bishop Briggs, born in London to Scottish parents, discovered her passion for music early, performing for the first time at a Tokyo karaoke bar at age four after her family relocated there. Immersed in Tokyo's karaoke culture and influenced by Motown and The Beatles at home, she began writing songs at seven. After moving to Hong Kong at 10, where she lived until 18, she pursued her dream of a music career by relocating to Los Angeles to attend the Musician’s Institute.

In Los Angeles, Bishop released her debut single, "Wild Horses," in 2015 and rose to prominence with her 2018 debut album, Church of Scars, and her 2019 follow-up, Champion. Her music has since reflected her personal journey, including profound loss, motherhood, and resilience. In 2023, she won The Masked Singer as "Medusa" and released her EP When Everything Went Dark. Her latest album, Tell My Therapist I'm Fine, debuted in October 2024, and she is currently on tour through Spring 2025.

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This is a premium episode on Design Better. We release two premium episodes per month, along with two free episodes for everyone. ✨New benefits: Premium subscribers also get access to the documentary Design Disruptors and our growing library of books, as well as our monthly AMAs with former guests, ad-free episodes, discounts and early access to workshops, and our monthly newsletter The Brief that compiles salient insights, quotes, readings, and creative processes uncovered in the show.

Upgrade to paid

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Visit our Substack for the full list: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/design-better-2024-holiday-gift-guide

***

Visiting the links below is one of the best ways to support our show:

Wix Studio: With Wix Studio, agencies and enterprises can create, develop and manage exceptional web projects with hyper efficiency. And if you're worried about the learning curve eating into time you don't have, don't be. Wix Studio is intuitive by design, so your entire team can hit the ground running. For your next project, check out wixstudio.com.

Wine Access: We love wine, but often feel overwhelmed by the options out there. But we recently joined Wine Access who not only ship to your door some of the world’s most inspiring wines, they also educate subscribers with full color information cards that accompany each bottle. You should totally join The Waitlist Wine Club. Just visit wineaccess.com/waitlist and use Promo Code: DESIGNBETTER for $25 off your first shipment.

***

If you're interested in sponsoring the show, please contact us at: sponsors@thecuriositydepartment.com

If you'd like to submit a guest idea, please contact us at: contact@thecuriositydepartment.com

And Eli, as an undergrad in product design, wasn’t sure what a career in his field even looked like. The skillset wasn’t clearly defined yet. The outdoor product companies he was eyeing wanted me to conform to a neat little box: “Are you an industrial designer, or a mechanical engineer?” He wasn’t sure how he fit in.

Did our careers unfold as we expected? Absolutely not. Life and careers rarely go according to plan. There’s so much beyond our control. But, despite the unexpected twists, there are lessons that can guide us in the right direction. And that’s what we’re here to explore today in this special live episode of Design Better, recorded right here at the Savannah College of Art and Design.

Today, we’ll be speaking with four design leaders who took a winding path but all found their way to significant work.

Bios

Kate Aronowitz is a design executive who has built her career empowering teams at some of Silicon Valley’s most iconic companies. In addition to her role leading GV’s operations team, Kate coaches GV portfolio companies on cross-functional design processes, scale, product development, and management strategy.

Kate has built world-class design teams at eBay, LinkedIn, Facebook (now Meta), and Wealthfront. She joined the first user experience team at eBay before taking her experience to LinkedIn, where she started the user research team. As Facebook’s first design executive, Kate grew the organization from 20 to 200, establishing multidisciplinary design teams in front-end engineering, user research, content strategy, and communication design.

Steve Johnson, VP of Design at Netflix, leads a diverse, multidisciplinary, Emmy-award-winning Experience Design organization. His team's commitment to discovery, product innovation, brand development, and personalization has set the standard for streaming media platforms across the world. Prior to Netflix, Steve also led design teams at LinkedIn and Adobe.

Jaime Lopez, Chief Design and Marketing Officer at Flatiron Health, Jaime Lopez is the Chief Design & Marketing Officer at Flatiron Health. She has over 15 years of startup product, design and marketing experience with a passion for creative problem solving and building and mentoring teams. In her role at Flatiron Health, Jaime uses her background to create and deliver high-quality experiences to oversee the company’s entire marketing and design suite. 

Kat Holmes is EVP and Chief Design Officer at Salesforce where she's driving the future of AI, Data, and CRM experiences. As the author of the best-selling book Mismatch: How Inclusion Shapes Design, Holmes works with multidisciplinary teams to set a foundation for why designing with excluded communities drives better solutions for everyone. Her work has been featured by NPR, BBC, Fast Company, Forbes, The Economist, and many more.

Visiting the links below is one of the best ways to support our show:

Wix Studio: With Wix Studio, agencies and enterprises can create, develop and manage exceptional web projects with hyper efficiency. And if you're worried about the learning curve eating into time you don't have, don't be. Wix Studio is intuitive by design, so your entire team can hit the ground running. For your next project, check out wixstudio.com.

Wine Access: We love wine, but often feel overwhelmed by the options out there. But we recently joined Wine Access who not only ship to your door some of the world’s most inspiring wines, they also educate subscribers with full color information cards that accompany each bottle. You should totally join The Waitlist Wine Club. Just visit wineaccess.com/waitlist and use Promo Code: DESIGNBETTER for $25 off your first shipment.

Gali Erez, Head of Wix Studio at Wix, has had quite a journey, from a background in graphic design at CalArts, through transitioning from print to digital in her early work at Warner Brothers, where she helped envision media's digital future. Along the way, she has learned some principles that helped her during her time as an individual contributor, and also guide her as a leader: sharing ideas early, giving tough feedback, and using storytelling as a leadership tool.

We speak with Gali about how AI is changing web design workflows, the research process her team uses, and what’s kept her excited to work at Wix for over 10 years.

This is a sponsored bonus episode we’re excited to share, as Wix Studio is a product that helps diverse users, from casual creators to professional web designers and developers, with a platform that balances simplicity and customization.

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Learn more about Wix Studio at https://www.wix.com/studio

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Bio

Gali Erez is the Head of Wix Studio at Wix and has been with the company for over a decade. She studied graphic design at CalArts, where she experienced the transition from print to digital design. Her early career included a product design internship at Warner Brothers, where she worked on innovative ways to bring media online.

At Wix, Erez has held various roles, starting as a UX designer on the DIY editor and later transitioning into management. She played a key role in developing Wix ADI, an AI-driven platform that simplifies website creation, and led the creation of Wix Studio, a professional-grade platform for web designers.

Erez's leadership style emphasizes transparency, incremental innovation, and adaptability to changing team dynamics and industry trends. Her work focuses on democratizing web design, balancing accessibility with professional-grade features, and leveraging AI to enhance efficiency and creativity in design processes.

If you ask any fan of the genre who’s pushing jazz into new territory, Kamasi Washington’s name will come up—likely at the very top. His 2015 album The Epic won the American Music Prize and stands, in our opinion, as one of the greatest jazz records of the 21st century. Kamasi contributed to Kendrick Lamar’s Grammy-winning To Pimp a Butterfly, scored Michelle Obama’s Netflix documentary Becoming, and has collaborated with musical legends like Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Lauryn Hill, Nas, Snoop Dogg, Chaka Khan, and many more.

In this episode, we spent an evening with Kamasi, exploring his creative process, what he’s learned from his collaborators, his philosophy on collaboration, and his latest album, Fearless Movement.

Find show notes, bonus content, and more on our Substack: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/kamasi-washington

Bio

Kamasi Washington, born in Los Angeles in 1981, grew up surrounded by music, with a saxophonist father and a flutist mother who nurtured his musical talent from a young age. Kamasi’s journey began with drums and piano in his early years, progressing to the clarinet at age seven and finally to the tenor saxophone at twelve, mirroring his father’s path. His high school years at Hamilton High School Music Academy were pivotal; there, he joined the renowned Multi School Jazz Band and learned from jazz icons like Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter. Kamasi’s talent was quickly recognized when he won the John Coltrane Saxophone Competition, and he co-founded "The Young Jazz Giants," which marked his early step into professional music.

Kamasi's musical evolution continued at UCLA, where he studied ethnomusicology and expanded his understanding of global music traditions. This foundation supported his wide-ranging collaborations beyond jazz, where he worked with artists like Snoop Dogg, Raphael Saadiq, and Kendrick Lamar. Yet, despite his diverse influences, Kamasi remained firmly rooted in jazz, ultimately channeling these experiences into his innovative sound. His 2015 debut album, The Epic, was a monumental release—a three-disc exploration of jazz that introduced a unique blend of spiritual depth and musical complexity. The album garnered critical acclaim, broadening Kamasi's reach and establishing him as a leader in modern jazz.

***

Premium Episodes on Design Better

This is a premium episode on Design Better. We release two premium episodes per month, along with two free episodes for everyone. Premium subscribers also get access to our monthly AMAs with former guests, ad-free episodes, discounts and early access to workshops, access to our (small but growing!) library of books and participation in book giveaways, and our new enhanced newsletter The Brief that compiles salient insights, quotes, readings, and creative processes uncovered in the show. 

Upgrade to paid

***

Visiting the links below is one of the best ways to support our show:

Wix Studio: With Wix Studio, agencies and enterprises can create, develop and manage exceptional web projects with hyper efficiency. And if you're worried about the learning curve eating into time you don't have, don't be. Wix Studio is intuitive by design, so your entire team can hit the ground running. For your next project, check out wixstudio.com.

Wine Access: We love wine, but often feel overwhelmed by the options out there. But we recently joined Wine Access who not only ship to your door some of the world’s most inspiring wines, they also educate subscribers with full color information cards that accompany each bottle. You should totally join The Waitlist Wine Club. Just visit wineaccess.com/waitlist and use Promo Code: DESIGNBETTER for $25 off your first shipment.

Questions about why people create—and the diversity of process across mediums—led Adam to write his book, which features interviews with a host of inspiring folks. Kara Walker, Tony Kushner, Sofia Coppola, Stephen Sondheim, Barbara Kruger, Ira Glass, Samin Nosrat, Marc Jacobs, David Simon, and many more share their approach to the work they do in the book. 

We talk with Adam about the red threads that run through such varied creative expressions, finding the right creative partners, how to feed creativity, and how his own work has been influenced by his investigation into how creativity unfolds. 

Visit our Substack for bonus content and more: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/adam-moss

Bio

Adam Moss was the editor of New York magazine, The New York Times Magazine, and 7 Days. As editor of New York, he also oversaw the creation of five digital magazines: Vulture, The Cut, Daily Intelligencer, Grub Street, and The Strategist. During his tenure, New York won forty-one National Magazine Awards, including Magazine of the Year. He was an assistant managing editor of The New York Times with oversight of the Magazine, the Book Review, and the Culture, and Style sections, as well as managing editor of Esquire. He was elected to the Magazine Editors’ Hall of Fame in 2019.

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Premium Episodes on Design Better

This ad-supported episode is available to everyone. If you’d like to hear it ad-free, upgrade to our premium subscription, where you’ll get an additional 2 ad-free episodes per month (4 total). Premium subscribers also get access to our monthly AMAs with former guests, ad-free episodes, early and discounted access to workshops, and our new enhanced newsletter The Brief that compiles salient insights, quotes, readings, and creative processes uncovered in the show.  

Upgrade to paid

***

Visiting the links below is one of the best ways to support our show:

Wix Studio: With Wix Studio, agencies and enterprises can create, develop and manage exceptional web projects with hyper efficiency. And if you're worried about the learning curve eating into time you don't have, don't be. Wix Studio is intuitive by design, so your entire team can hit the ground running. For your next project, check out wixstudio.com.

Wine Access: We love wine, but often feel overwhelmed by the options out there. But we recently joined Wine Access who not only ship to your door some of the world’s most inspiring wines, they also educate subscribers with full color information cards that accompany each bottle. You should totally join The Waitlist Wine Club. Just visit wineaccess.com/waitlist and use Promo Code: DESIGNBETTER for $25 off your first shipment.

We dive into Andrew’s journey, from his childhood dream of designing roller coasters, to creating treehouses, working at IDEO and Nike, and eventually launching a magic show in his own backyard. We also explore how he’s honed the art of engaging an audience, and we share tips on how to craft presentations that pull people in and make them feel part of the experience.

Watch the video version of this episode on our Substack: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/andrew-evans

Bio

Andrew Evans is founder and magician at The Magic Patio, a uniquely San Francisco magic experience. After entering what appears to be a strange library/candy store on Mission Street, guests discover the hidden wonders of a hand-crafted, secret magic theater with one-of-a-kind magic performances.

More than designing and performing magic, my passion is creating unexpected experiences that transport people into new worlds and shift their perspective on what they perceive to be impossible.

Think Urban Disneyland rather than David Copperfield. A trip to The Magic Patio will fill you with inspiration and wonder as you witness unexplainable feats in an intimate setting.

Buy tickets to The Magic Patio

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Premium Episodes on Design Better

This is a premium episode on Design Better. We release two premium episodes per month, along with two free episodes for everyone. Premium subscribers also get access to our monthly AMAs with former guests, ad-free episodes, discounts and early access to workshops, access to our (small but growing!) library of books and participation in book giveaways, and our new enhanced newsletter The Brief that compiles salient insights, quotes, readings, and creative processes uncovered in the show. 

Upgrade to paid

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Visiting the links below is one of the best ways to support our show:

Adobe’s In the Making: As a Design Better listener, we have another podcast we think you’ll enjoy. Adobe’s In the Making hosted by Teresa Au takes an honest look at the challenges and rewards of being part of the creator economy. Building a business around your creative pursuits ain’t easy. Wouldn’t it be great to learn from those who have done this before? Check out In the Making from Adobe to learn more about how to build a creative career and life. Subscribe on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen.

Bluehost: When you upgrade to Bluehost Cloud, you can start managing multiple sites and domains. Not only that, you also get 100% uptime, enhanced security, and priority 24/7 support to keep you online no matter what. That means no crashing from heavy traffic. Go to Bluehost.com and start building your dream website today.

Methodical Coffee: Roasted, blended, brewed, served and perfected by verified coffee nerds 🤓 : https://methodicalcoffee.com

(use code "designbetter" for 10% off of your order).

Diane and Andy have a new book called Design for a Radically Changing World, and we wanted the back story on what inspired them to write about a more sustainable approach to architecture and urban planning. We also spoke with Diane and Andy about their childhood and how they found their way into architecture, and what’s kept them excited about staying at the same company for 30-40 years (a rarity in our current era). 

Find bonus content, full show notes, and more on our Substack: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/diane-hoskins-andy-cohen

Bios

Diane Hoskins

Diane Hoskins, FAIA, is Co-Chair of Gensler, overseeing a global network of over 6,000 employees across 50 offices worldwide. An MIT-trained architect with an MBA from UCLA, her career spans architecture, design, real estate, and business. Diane founded Gensler’s Research Institute to drive innovation and improve the human experience through design. One of its groundbreaking studies, the Experience Index, demonstrated the critical role design plays in enhancing retail experiences, driving sales, and boosting consumer loyalty.

Diane is active in organizations such as the Urban Land Institute and the World Economic Forum's Global Future Council on Cities & Urbanization. Named one of Business Insider's 100 Creators, she is a frequent speaker and media contributor, sharing insights with outlets like The New York Times, Harvard Business Review, and Bloomberg TV.

Andy Cohen

Andy Cohen's core philosophy is based on shaping the future of cities. Since 2005, he has served as Co-CEO of Gensler and continues to lead the world's foremost design and architecture firm as Global Co-Chair. He is extremely proud of what their global team has accomplished. Gensler is a people- and client-centered organization, laser-focused on enhancing the human experience.

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Premium Episodes on Design Better

This ad-supported episode is available to everyone. If you’d like to hear it ad-free, upgrade to our premium subscription, where you’ll get an additional 2 ad-free episodes per month (4 total). Premium subscribers also get access to our monthly AMAs with former guests, ad-free episodes, early and discounted access to workshops, and our new enhanced newsletter The Brief that compiles salient insights, quotes, readings, and creative processes uncovered in the show.  

Upgrade to paid

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Visiting the links below is one of the best ways to support our show:

Design Thinking + AI Workshops: We’ve been continuing to run our AI + Design Thinking workshops, including for Fortune 100 companies that are developing some of these technologies. Participants love the chance to play and experiment with some of these tools, and we have an additional public session coming in mid-November.

One of our big takeaways is that many people simply don’t have time in their day-to-day workflow to explore this new technology, and this workshop provides just that—a valuable space for experimentation, discussion, and reflection on how the world and our jobs are changing with generative AI.

Register for November 13th

If you're not yet a Design Better Premium member, if you sign up for a yearly account we've got a few 50% off tickets for new yearly members. Just sign up for a new account at the yearly level and we'll share the discounted ticket code with you if you write to us at subscriptions@thecuriositydepartment.com.

So you can imagine how thrilled we were to get a chance to speak with Jason Chatfield, a New Yorker cartoonist who also happens to be a very talented illustrator, and aspiring stand-up comedian.

Jason’s also got a new Substack about his creative process called Process Junkie. We talk to him about the importance of embracing mistakes, how he collaborates with writers, the cartoon selection process at the New Yorker, and why creating a large volume of work is critical to creative success.

Get bonus content and more on our Substack: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/jason-chatfield

Bio

Jason Chatfield is an award-winning Cartoonist, Author & Comedian based in New York City. For 16 years, he has been an internationally syndicated comic strip cartoonist, writing and drawing the iconic 102-year-old strip, Ginger Meggs, published daily through Andrews McMeel Syndication.

His work has appeared in The New Yorker, MAD Magazine, Esquire, Variety, The Weekly Humorist, American Bystander, Wired, and Air Mail among others. His art has been exhibited in France, the UK, Australia, and all over the United States and in books published by Penguin Random House, Harper Collins, & Humorist Media. His latest book with Andrews McMeel Publishing will be out in Fall 2025.

Chatfield is a past President of both the National Cartoonists’ Society (Est. 1946) and Australian Cartoonists Association (Est. 1924). He is the youngest cartoonist to ever hold either of these positions.

His weekly newsletter New York Cartoons is one of Substack's Featured Publications for 2023, with thousands of weekly subscribers.

***

Premium Episodes on Design Better

This is a premium episode on Design Better. We release two premium episodes per month, along with two free episodes for everyone. Premium subscribers also get access to our monthly AMAs with former guests, ad-free episodes, discounts and early access to workshops, access to our (small but growing!) library of books and participation in book giveaways, and our new enhanced newsletter The Brief that compiles salient insights, quotes, readings, and creative processes uncovered in the show. 

Upgrade to paid

Visiting the links below is one of the best ways to support our show:

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Methodical Coffee: Join us for a coffee break with our friends at Methodical Coffee. In this segment, Methodical Coffee co-founder Will Shurtz teaches us how to select the right roast for our preferred flavor profile. Select your own preferred roast at methodicalcoffee.com, and use code "designbetter" for 10% off of your order.

LinkedIn: Design Better is supported by our pals at LinkedIn—our favorite social network. It’s hard to get your B2B marketing to land with the right audience. Let’s face it, the web can be a very noisy place! If your message isn’t targeted to the right audience—it just disappears into the noise. 

With LinkedIn Ads, you can precisely reach the professionals who are more likely to find your ad relevant. With LinkedIn's targeting capabilities, you can reach people by job title, industry, company, and more. Start converting your B2B audience into high quality leads today. To get a $100 credit on your next campaign go to LinkedIn/designbetter to claim your credit.

***

If you're interested in sponsoring the show, please contact us at: sponsors@thecuriositydepartment.com

If you'd like to submit a guest idea, please contact us at: contact@thecuriositydepartment.com

Matthias Hollwich, principal and founder of New York architecture firm HWKN Architecture, has discovered AI is a powerful addition to architectural design. He and his team are using it to imagine how buildings might fit into the existing design of a city, and take cues from local history and culture. It’s yet another way AI is unexpectedly expanding creative horizons.

Find the transcript, bonus content, and more, on our Substack: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/matthias-hollwich

Bio

Matthias Hollwich is the founder of HWKN, a NY-based collective of architects, sculptors, social strategists and innovators dedicated to use architecture to shape a better world. Matthias was born and raised in Germany where he studied architecture and brings a dual perspective to all the firm’s designs, combining German precision with American aspiration.

Matthias was honored in Fast Company’s ranking of the world’s Top 10 Most Innovative Architects and in Business Insider’s list of Top Business Visionaries. He published his first book UmBauhaus- Updating Modernism in collaboration with Rainer Weisbach and the Bauhaus Foundation in 2006. His latest book, New Aging: Live Smarter Now to Live Better Forever, suggests a new way to think about aging that could fundamentally change the way we design for it.

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Stay tuned after the interview for a special look at Wix Studio, the intuitive way for agencies and enterprises to design exceptional sites, with full-stack business solutions, multi-site management and built-in AI.]

We chat with Brad Hussey, Founder of Creative Crew—a free community for web agencies with Wix Studio—about how he uses the platform to efficiently build and refine websites by seamlessly transferring designs from Figma, saving time through its dynamic content management, customizable features, and support for custom CSS.

To learn more about Wix Studio, visit dbtr.co/wixstudio.

***

Premium Episodes on Design Better

This ad-supported episode is available to everyone. If you’d like to hear it ad-free, upgrade to our premium subscription, where you’ll get an additional 2 ad-free episodes per month (4 total). Premium subscribers also get access to our monthly AMAs with former guests, ad-free episodes, early and discounted access to workshops, and our new enhanced newsletter The Brief that compiles salient insights, quotes, readings, and creative processes uncovered in the show.  

Upgrade to paid

***

Visiting the links below is one of the best ways to support our show:

LinkedIn: Design Better is supported by our pals at LinkedIn—our favorite social network. It’s hard to get your B2B marketing to land with the right audience. Let’s face it, the web can be a very noisy place! If your message isn’t targeted to the right audience—it just disappears into the noise. 

With LinkedIn Ads, you can precisely reach the professionals who are more likely to find your ad relevant. With LinkedIn's targeting capabilities, you can reach people by job title, industry, company, and more. Start converting your B2B audience into high quality leads today. To get a $100 credit on your next campaign go to LinkedIn/designbetter to claim your credit.

Methodical Coffee: Roasted, blended, brewed, served and perfected by verified coffee nerds 🤓 : https://methodicalcoffee.com (use code "designbetter" for 10% off of your order).

If you're interested in sponsoring the show, please contact us at: sponsors@thecuriositydepartment.com

If you'd like to submit a guest idea, please contact us at: contact@thecuriositydepartment.com

Skye received a surprise ADHD diagnosis at the beginning of her Ph.D. program, which led her to research and develop strategies to help other adults with ADHD reach their potential. Now, she has an international business called the Unconventional Organisation which supports more than 800 professionals with ADHD.

We spoke with Skye about some common challenges that people with ADHD face at work, why the modern work environment does not always work for ADHD thinkers, as well as some communication strategies for collaborating with neurodiverse people in your work.

For full show notes, bonus content, and more, visit our Substack: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/skye-waterson

Bio

Skye Waterson is an academic with over seven years of experience working in adult education. She has studied in various fields, including Psychology, Sociology, and Public Health, and is now a Doctoral Candidate in Population Health.

Skye was diagnosed with ADHD at the start of her doctorate. Since then, she has dedicated time to researching and disseminating ADHD studies, focusing on supporting others with strengths-based, neurodiverse-friendly tools and systems.

***

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This is a premium episode on Design Better. We release two premium episodes per month, along with two free episodes for everyone. Premium subscribers also get access to our monthly AMAs with former guests, ad-free episodes, discounts and early access to workshops, access to our (small but growing!) library of books and participation in book giveaways, and our new enhanced newsletter The Brief that compiles salient insights, quotes, readings, and creative processes uncovered in the show. 

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On Set With: The HGTV and Max On Set With podcast explores the sets and world building of beloved films and TV shows produced by Warner Bros. Discovery through conversations with art directors and set designers. Each episode highlights a different iconic set from film or television. Through a constellation of voices (set decorators, production designers, directors, and showrunners) our audience gets a first-hand account of the creation of the environments that became a part of our collective, global iconography — and actionable tips to bring the power of scenic design into our listeners’ own spaces.

Listen to On Set With on Spotify

Listen to On Set With on Apple Podcasts

We spoke with Enrique about how they chose design as an investment lens, the changing role of design from when they started until now, why venture capital might not always be the best way to fund a startup business, and how they think about finding good partners and co-founders.

By the way, if you’re starting a design-centric company and seeking investment, Designer Fund is investing up to $1 million for pre-seed and Series A startups. To learn more and apply for funding, visit designerfund.com/partnership. Apply by October 4th.

Bio

Enrique Allen is the co-founder and managing partner at Design Fund. Previously, Enrique was a designer at venture capital firms, including 500 Startups, Facebook’s fbFund, and Venrock, where he helped invest in companies like Lyft (NASDAQ: LYFT), Wildfire (acquired by Google) and Behance (acquired by Adobe). He's a Stanford University alum, former Division 1 soccer player and senior lecturer at the Stanford d.school.

***

Stay tuned after the interview for a special look at Wix Studio, the intuitive way for agencies and enterprises to design exceptional sites, with full-stack business solutions, multi-site management and built-in AI.

We chat with Kyle Prinsloo, founder of ClientManager.io, about why he loves Wix Studio for its efficient tools like the Figma to Wix Studio plugin, and robust email marketing features, which have greatly improved his workflow and client engagement. 

To learn more about Wix Studio, visit dbtr.co/wixstudio.

***

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This ad-supported episode is available to everyone. If you’d like to hear it ad-free, upgrade to our premium subscription, where you’ll get an additional 2 ad-free episodes per month (4 total). Premium subscribers also get access to our monthly AMAs with former guests, ad-free episodes, early and discounted access to workshops, and our new enhanced newsletter The Brief that compiles salient insights, quotes, readings, and creative processes uncovered in the show.  

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Visiting the links below is one of the best ways to support our show:

Incogni: Every year, both the number and scope of data breaches worldwide are rising. According to the 2022 Annual Data Breach Report by the Identity Theft Resource Center, the number of victims has gone up nearly 41.5% from 2021. Incogni reaches out to data brokers on your behalf, requests your personal data removal, and deals with any objections from their side. Use promo code DESIGNBETTER at https://incogni.com/designbetter to get 60% off an annual plan.

Whether you’re design curious or a design pro, Design Better is guaranteed to inspire and inform. Vanity Fair calls Design Better, “sharp, to the point, and full of incredibly valuable information for anyone looking to better understand how to build a more innovative world.”

One of the best examples of this from the past decade is Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse, which used innovative techniques to pay tribute to the comic-book origins of the stories but add new depth and excitement without feeling forced. Aarron and I both loved watching the original—and the sequel— with our kids.

Visit our Substack for bonus content, transcripts, and more: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/yashar-kassai

So you can imagine how excited we were to chat with Yashar Kassai, Production Designer of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, and artist on The Mitchells vs. The Machines, Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse and more. We learned about the tools he uses, how he thinks about developing a fresh look for a familiar franchise, and what the future of visual storytelling might look like.

Bio

Yashar Kassai is a production designer and artist, who has worked on animated films like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, The Mitchells vs. The Machines, Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse, Angry Birds, Book of Life, and more. You can find his work on Artstation, Instagram, and on his personal website.

***

Premium Episodes on Design Better

This is a premium episode on Design Better. We release two premium episodes per month, along with two free episodes for everyone. Premium subscribers also get access to our monthly AMAs with former guests, ad-free episodes, discounts and early access to workshops, access to our (small but growing!) library of books and participation in book giveaways, and our new enhanced newsletter The Brief that compiles salient insights, quotes, readings, and creative processes uncovered in the show. 

Upgrade to paid

***

Visiting the links below is one of the best ways to support our show:

Incogni: Every year, both the number and scope of data breaches worldwide are rising. According to the 2022 Annual Data Breach Report by the Identity Theft Resource Center, the number of victims has gone up nearly 41.5% from 2021. Incogni reaches out to data brokers on your behalf, requests your personal data removal, and deals with any objections from their side. Use promo code DESIGNBETTER at https://incogni.com/designbetter to get 60% off an annual plan.

On Set With: The HGTV and Max On Set With podcast explores the sets and world building of beloved films and TV shows produced by Warner Bros. Discovery through conversations with art directors and set designers. Each episode highlights a different iconic set from film or television. Through a constellation of voices (set decorators, production designers, directors, and showrunners) our audience gets a first-hand account of the creation of the environments that became a part of our collective, global iconography — and actionable tips to bring the power of scenic design into our listeners’ own spaces.

Listen to On Set With on Spotify

Listen to On Set With on Apple Podcasts

LinkedIn: Design Better is supported by our pals at LinkedIn—our favorite social network. It’s hard to get your B2B marketing to land with the right audience. Let’s face it, the web can be a very noisy place! If your message isn’t targeted to the right audience—it just disappears into the noise. 

With LinkedIn Ads, you can precisely reach the professionals who are more likely to find your ad relevant. With LinkedIn's targeting capabilities, you can reach people by job title, industry, company, and more. Start converting your B2B audience into high quality leads today. To get a $100 credit on your next campaign go to LinkedIn/designbetter to claim your credit.

We speak with Mimi and Shirley about the origin story of Palace Costume, how it's organized and how costume designers use its vast collection. We also talk about how working with a limited budget inspires creativity, how costume designers think about color in their work, and how they collaborate with directors and other colleagues to execute on the vision for the film.

For bonus content and more, visit our Substack: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/shirley-kurata-and-mimi-haddon

Bios

Mimi Haddon is the author of Palace Costume, a behind-the-scenes glimpse into Palace Costume & Prop Co., an exclusive Los Angeles film-industry haven of dresses, gowns, garments, accessories, props, and jewelry featured in countless movies for more than fifty years. Acclaimed designers such as Sandy Powell (Carol, The Aviator, Shakespeare in Love), Ruth E. Carter (Black Panther, Malcolm X, Frankie and Alice), Arianne Phillips (Once upon a Time in Hollywood, A Single Man, W.E.), Shirley Kurata (Everything Everywhere All at Once), and Mary Zophres (La La Land, Babylon, True Grit) and Mark Bridges (Boogie Nights, Licorice Pizza) each share insightful anecdotes about the importance of Palace Costume as their go-to creative resource, especially for historic period films.

Shirley Kurata is an Academy Award-nominated costume designer who has worked on films like Everything Everywhere All at Once. As a stylist, Kurata's clients have included celebrities such as Billie Eilish, Lena Dunham, Pharrell Williams, Zooey Deschanel, Beck, Mindy Kaling, and Tierra Whack. 

***

Premium Episodes on Design Better

This ad-supported episode is available to everyone. If you’d like to hear it ad-free, upgrade to our premium subscription, where you’ll get an additional 2 ad-free episodes per month (4 total). Premium subscribers also get access to our monthly AMAs with former guests, ad-free episodes, early and discounted access to workshops, and our new enhanced newsletter The Brief that compiles salient insights, quotes, readings, and creative processes uncovered in the show.  

Upgrade to paid

***

Visiting the links below is one of the best ways to support our show:

Incogni: Every year, both the number and scope of data breaches worldwide are rising. According to the 2022 Annual Data Breach Report by the Identity Theft Resource Center, the number of victims has gone up nearly 41.5% from 2021. Incogni reaches out to data brokers on your behalf, requests your personal data removal, and deals with any objections from their side. Use promo code DESIGNBETTER at https://incogni.com/designbetter to get 60% off an annual plan.

Methodical Coffee: Join us for a coffee break with our friends at Methodical Coffee. In this segment, Methodical Coffee co-founder Will Shurtz discusses options for the best brewing gear, depending on your budget.

Select your own preferred roast at methodicalcoffee.com, and use code "designbetter" for 10% off of your order.

We spoke with Brendan about the importance of play in the creative process, testing new toy concepts with kids, how decoupling innovation and metrics can create judgment-free creativity, what’s wrong with LEGO today, and the eternal optimism that drives inventors.

Find bonus content, a transcript and more on our Substack: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/brendan-boyle

Bio

Brendan Boyle is a toy inventor at Fuse London, Adjunct Professor at Stanford University’s d.School, and the Founder of the IDEO Play Lab. He believes that play is the key to innovation and has spoken to creative leaders, entrepreneurs, and students about the importance of playful exploration and risk-taking.

He founded the Play Lab to uncover kid-centered solutions to the challenge of boredom. As Brendan says, "The opposite of play is boredom." Under his leadership, the Play Lab has invented and licensed hundreds of toys and apps, including the best-selling Jumperoo and Elmo Calls, respectively.

Brendan also consults with companies about redesigning their organizational behavior to include space for play, wrote (and teaches) the Design for Play at Stanford’s d.School, and co-authored the award-winning encyclopedia of never-before-seen inventions, The Klutz Book of Inventions.

***

Premium Episodes on Design Better

This is a premium episode on Design Better. We release two premium episodes per month, along with two free episodes for everyone. Premium subscribers also get access to our monthly AMAs with former guests, ad-free episodes, discounts and early access to workshops, access to our (small but growing!) library of books and participation in book giveaways, and our new enhanced newsletter The Brief that compiles salient insights, quotes, readings, and creative processes uncovered in the show. 

Upgrade to paid

***

Visiting the links below is one of the best ways to support our show:

Incogni: Every year, both the number and scope of data breaches worldwide are rising. According to the 2022 Annual Data Breach Report by the Identity Theft Resource Center, the number of victims has gone up nearly 41.5% from 2021. Incogni reaches out to data brokers on your behalf, requests your personal data removal, and deals with any objections from their side. Use promo code DESIGNBETTER at https://incogni.com/designbetter to get 60% off an annual plan.

Zeplin: Few things frustrate designers quite as much as seeing the UI they’ve meticulously designed, botched when built out. But Zeplin can help you make every design-to-dev handoff efficient and accurate so you nail every release on time and on budget. Design Better listeners can get their first month of the Basic Plan free. Just go to zeplin.io and use code DESIGNBETTER to get your first month of the Basic Plan free.

LinkedIn: Design Better is supported by our pals at LinkedIn—our favorite social network. It’s hard to get your B2B marketing to land with the right audience. Let’s face it, the web can be a very noisy place! If your message isn’t targeted to the right audience—it just disappears into the noise. 

With LinkedIn Ads, you can precisely reach the professionals who are more likely to find your ad relevant. With LinkedIn's targeting capabilities, you can reach people by job title, industry, company, and more. Start converting your B2B audience into high quality leads today. To get a $100 credit on your next campaign go to LinkedIn/designbetter to claim your credit.

Find full show notes, bonus content, and more on our Substack: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/rewind-vicki-tan

Original episode description

Vicki Tan has worked at companies that change the way we travel, think about our mental health, and access music from around the globe. To each of these roles she has brought her background in psychology, to better understand the needs of the people using these products.

We chat with Vicki about some of the things she has learned over the course of her career, from Lyft to Headspace to Spotify, how her creative process has changed over the years, and how her team does research. 

Vicki also talks about why she regularly takes a sabbatical from her work, and why “finding umami” is important to figuring out the core mission of a company. 

Bio

Vicki Tan is a Staff Product Designer at Pinterest. Earlier in her career, she was an Associate Principal Product Designer at Spotify, a senior product designer at Headspace, worked on communication and UX design at Google, and product design at Lyft. According to Frank Yoo, design director at Lyft, Vicki “is positive and thoughtful and puts as much care into people and teams as she does creating the artifacts themselves.”  

***

Premium Episodes on Design Better

This ad-supported episode is available to everyone. If you’d like to hear it ad-free, upgrade to our premium subscription, where you’ll get an additional 2 ad-free episodes per month (4 total). Premium subscribers also get access to our monthly AMAs with former guests, ad-free episodes, early and discounted access to workshops, and our new enhanced newsletter The Brief that compiles salient insights, quotes, readings, and creative processes uncovered in the show.  

Upgrade to paid

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Visiting the links below is one of the best ways to support our show:

Methodical Coffee: Join us for a coffee break with our friends at Methodical Coffee. In this segment, Methodical Coffee co-founder Will Shurtz teaches us how to select the right roast for our preferred flavor profile. Select your own preferred roast at methodicalcoffee.com, and use code "designbetter" for 10% off of your order.

Zeplin: Few things frustrate designers quite as much as seeing the UI they’ve meticulously designed, botched when built out. But Zeplin can help you make every design-to-dev handoff efficient and accurate so you nail every release on time and on budget. Design Better listeners can get their first month of the Basic Plan free. Just go to zeplin.io and use code DESIGNBETTER to get your first month of the Basic Plan free.

LinkedIn: Design Better is supported by our pals at LinkedIn—our favorite social network. It’s hard to get your B2B marketing to land with the right audience. Let’s face it, the web can be a very noisy place! If your message isn’t targeted to the right audience—it just disappears into the noise. 

With LinkedIn Ads, you can precisely reach the professionals who are more likely to find your ad relevant. With LinkedIn's targeting capabilities, you can reach people by job title, industry, company, and more. Start converting your B2B audience into high quality leads today. To get a $100 credit on your next campaign go to LinkedIn/designbetter to claim your credit.

Connor Moore has helped companies like Tesla, Uber, Peloton, and Youtube shape their brand and enhance the user experience through sound design.

We spoke with Connor about how he found a career in sound design, his creative process and the tools he uses, and how sound shapes a brand experience.

***

Premium Episodes on Design Better

This ad-supported episode is available to everyone. If you’d like to hear it ad-free, upgrade to our premium subscription, where you’ll get an additional 2 ad-free episodes per month (4 total). Premium subscribers also get access to our monthly AMAs with former guests, ad-free episodes, early and discounted access to workshops, and our new enhanced newsletter The Brief that compiles salient insights, quotes, readings, and creative processes uncovered in the show.  

We’re also hosting a monthly welcome call on Zoom, where new subscribers can say hi, meet other members, and let us know what you are most excited to learn about and be inspired by.

Upgrade to paid

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Visiting the links below is one of the best ways to support our show:

Methodical Coffee: Join us for a coffee break in this episode with our friends at Methodical Coffee. In this segment, Methodical Coffee co-founder Will Shurtz teaches us how to select the right roast for our preferred flavor profile.

Select your own preferred roast at methodicalcoffee.com, and use code "designbetter" for 10% off of your order.

Zeplin: Few things frustrate designers quite as much as seeing the UI they’ve meticulously designed, botched when built out. But Zeplin can help you make every design-to-dev handoff efficient and accurate so you nail every release on time and on budget. Design Better listeners can get their first month of the Basic Plan free. Just go to zeplin.io and use code DESIGNBETTER to get your first month of the Basic Plan free.

LinkedIn: Design Better is supported by our pals at LinkedIn—our favorite social network. It’s hard to get your B2B marketing to land with the right audience. Let’s face it, the web can be a very noisy place! If your message isn’t targeted to the right audience—it just disappears into the noise. 

With LinkedIn Ads, you can precisely reach the professionals who are more likely to find your ad relevant. With LinkedIn's targeting capabilities, you can reach people by job title, industry, company, and more. Start converting your B2B audience into high quality leads today. To get a $100 credit on your next campaign go to LinkedIn/designbetter to claim your credit.

Our guest today, Matt Abrahams, is just the guide you need to help you improve your communication skills. Matt is a leading expert in communication with decades of experience as an educator, author, podcast host, and coach. He lectures at Stanford’s Graduate School of business where he teaches popular classes in strategic communication and effective virtual presenting. 

Last year Matt wrote the book Think Faster, Talk Smarter, which aims to teach you how to speak successfully when you’re put on the spot. We talk with Matt about how to become a better presenter, how improv can help your speaking skills, and the winning formula for an impromptu toast.

Bio

Matt Abrahams is a leading communication expert with decades of experience as an educator, author, podcast host, and coach. He lectures in Organizational Behavior at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business, where he teaches strategic communication and virtual presenting. Recognized with Stanford GSB’s Alumni Teaching Award, Matt's influence extends beyond the classroom as a sought-after keynote speaker and consultant.

Matt has guided presenters for IPO road shows, Nobel Prize, TED, and World Economic Forum presentations, and consults for the United Nations’ Secretary General’s Strategic Planning and Communication Office. His popular podcast, Think Fast, Talk Smart, has garnered millions of views, and his books, Think Faster, Talk Smarter and Speaking Up without Freaking Out, provide practical techniques to help individuals communicate confidently and manage speaking anxiety.

***

Premium Episodes on Design Better

This is a premium episode on Design Better. We release two premium episodes per month, along with two free episodes for everyone. Premium subscribers also get access to our monthly AMAs with former guests, ad-free episodes, discounts and early access to workshops, access to our (small but growing!) library of books and participation in book giveaways, and our new enhanced newsletter The Brief that compiles salient insights, quotes, readings, and creative processes uncovered in the show. 

Upgrade to paid

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Visiting the links below is one of the best ways to support our show:

Zeplin: Few things frustrate designers quite as much as seeing the UI they’ve meticulously designed, botched when built out. But Zeplin can help you make every design-to-dev handoff efficient and accurate so you nail every release on time and on budget. Design Better listeners can get their first month of the Basic Plan free. Just go to zeplin.io and use code DESIGNBETTER to get your first month of the Basic Plan free.

Methodical Coffee: Roasted, blended, brewed, served and perfected by verified coffee nerds 🤓. We have our very own Design Better roast at Methodical, grab some here to fuel your creativity: https://methodicalcoffee.com/products/design-better-coffee

Paul Lambert, co-founder and CEO of Quilt, sees design as a tool to drive the adoption of climate change mitigation technologies. That’s why he’s partnered with industrial designers Maaike Evers and Mike Simonian who are helping the team at Quilt rethink how we heat and cool our homes, a major contributor to the average home’s carbon footprint.

We spoke with Maaike, Mike, and Paul about how they approached the challenge of designing a process as well as a product, bringing fresh eyes to familiar problems, and how they collaborated with engineers to create a product that is both beautiful and highly functional.

Find the full episode, transcript and bonus content on our Substack: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/quilt-mike-and-maaike

Bios

Mike & Maaike

Mike & Maaike is a progressive industrial design studio led by Mike Simonian and Maaike Evers.

Formed as a design laboratory, the San Francisco studio works both independently and with clients to create new opportunities through products, technology, furniture, environments and transportation.

Maaike Evers is Dutch, Mike Simonian, Californian. These distinct backgrounds inform a diverse body of work marked by experimentation, substance and strong conceptual narratives.

Collaborations include: Google, Sonos, Headspace, Haworth, Artifort, Incase, Belkin, Xbox, Blankblank, Council, Coalesse, Quilt, Steelcase, and the City of San Francisco.

Paul Lambert

Paul founded Quilt after committing himself to designing a company that he could spend the rest of his life on. A breakthrough came in 2022 after realizing the answer was working on whatever problem was most threatening to the next generation of humans and that the problem today is climate change. Paul built his first internet business as a teenager, founded Learndot, an education platform, and was a Partner at Google’s Area 120.

***

Premium Episodes on Design Better

This ad-supported episode is available to everyone. If you’d like to hear it ad-free, upgrade to our premium subscription, where you’ll get an additional 2 ad-free episodes per month (4 total). Premium subscribers also get access to our monthly AMAs with former guests, ad-free episodes, early and discounted access to workshops, and our new enhanced newsletter The Brief that compiles salient insights, quotes, readings, and creative processes uncovered in the show.  

Upgrade to paid

***

Visiting the links below is one of the best ways to support our show:

Methodical Coffee: Roasted, blended, brewed, served and perfected by verified coffee nerds 🤓. We have our very own Design Better roast at Methodical, grab some here to fuel your creativity: https://methodicalcoffee.com/products/design-better-coffee

Zeplin: Few things frustrate designers quite as much as seeing the UI they’ve meticulously designed, botched when built out. But Zeplin can help you make every design-to-dev handoff efficient and accurate so you nail every release on time and on budget. Design Better listeners can get their first month of the Basic Plan free. Just go to zeplin.io and use code DESIGNBETTER to get your first month of the Basic Plan free.

Greenlight: Years ago, Aarron and Eli set up their kids with Greenlight, a debit card and money app made for families. Their allowance is automatically deposited into their account and is divided into three buckets: spending, saving, and giving. With Greenlight’s investing tools, we’ve helped our kids learn how to invest in stocks and mutual funds and they can see those investments grow. Sign up for Greenlight today and get your first month free: http://greenlight.com/designbetter

We hope your summer is going well. Aarron and I are traveling and spending some time with our families this week, so we thought we’d rewind to one of our favorite episodes, with Julie Zhuo. The episode came to mind because one of our listeners asked us what episodes we’d recommend to someone who is growing their team, and Julie’s book The Making of Manager has a lot of helpful advice. 

Find the full episode, transcript, and more on our Substack: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/rewind-julie-zhuo

We also suggested Tony Fadell’s episode to our listener…the inventor of the iPhone and iPod has some great tips about hiring people who are skilled but don’t necessarily have the experience that ticks all the boxes of the posted job description.

We first aired the interview with Julie back in 2019, when she was the VP of Product Design at Facebook. Since then, she’s gone on to found her own company called Sundial, with the mission to help teams make faster, smarter decisions with data.

Original episode description

Listen as Julie Zhuo, former VP of Product Design at Facebook and author of The Making of a Manager, recalls some of her earliest professional experiences at one of the fastest growing companies on the planet. She reveals how she got her start and grew to be a highly influential design leader renowned for building top-notch teams. Julie talks about the difference between leading and managing, and shares personal examples that can help you advance your career.

Bio

Julie Zhuo started building products as employee ~100 at Facebook and went on to head up product design for the Facebook app for many years. She’s kept a blog called The Looking Glass, about design, technology and leadership for much of that time. In 2019 she wrote a bestselling leadership book called The Making of a Manager. Currently, she’s living the entrepreneurial journey with her start-up Sundial whose mission is to help teams make faster, smarter decisions with data.

***

Premium Episodes on Design Better

This ad-supported episode is available to everyone. If you’d like to hear it ad-free, upgrade to our premium subscription, where you’ll get an additional 2 ad-free episodes per month (4 total). Premium subscribers also get access to our monthly AMAs with former guests, ad-free episodes, early and discounted access to workshops, and our new enhanced newsletter The Brief that compiles salient insights, quotes, readings, and creative processes uncovered in the show.  

Upgrade to paid

***

Visiting the links below is one of the best ways to support our show:

Zeplin: Few things frustrate designers quite as much as seeing the UI they’ve meticulously designed, botched when built out. But Zeplin can help you make every design-to-dev handoff efficient and accurate so you nail every release on time and on budget. Design Better listeners can get their first month of the Basic Plan free. Just go to zeplin.io and use code DESIGNBETTER to get your first month of the Basic Plan free.

Greenlight: Years ago, Aarron and Eli set up their kids with Greenlight, a debit card and money app made for families. Their allowance is automatically deposited into their account and is divided into three buckets: spending, saving, and giving. With Greenlight’s investing tools, we’ve helped our kids learn how to invest in stocks and mutual funds and they can see those investments grow. Sign up for Greenlight today and get your first month free: http://greenlight.com/designbetter

Babbel: Babbel’s quick 10-minute lessons are hand-crafted by over 200 language experts to help you start speaking a new language in as little as 3 weeks. Here's a special, (limited time) deal for our listeners: Right now get up to 60% off your Babbel subscription by visiting http://babbel.com/designbetter. Rules and restrictions may apply.

Visit our Susbtack for the full episode, transcript, and other bonus content: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/roger-horrocks

Roger is an award-winning wildlife cinematographer with over 15 years of experience filming behavioral sequences for the BBC, Netflix, Disney and National Geographic, in addition to his work on My Octopus Teacher. There’s a lot of overlap between photographic work and what it takes to be a good designer, and we talk with Roger about how he shapes the story and collaborates with the directors and editors, cultivating patience, and how generative AI fits into his creative workflow. Plus we also ask what it was like to swim with 🦈 great white sharks and 🐊 Nile crocodiles!

Bio

Roger Horrocks has worked from the frozen poles to the tropical equator and is experienced in documenting both open-water and benthic-based stories and behaviors.

During this period he narrated and co-directed three documentaries with Craig and Damon Foster. The first of these "Into the Dragon's Lair", was nominated for an Emmy for best Cinematography in 2010, and the sequel, 'Touching the Dragon" was selected as one of the feature shows for National Geographic's 125th centenary year celebrations. Roger was also nominated for Best Narration at Jackson Hole.

***

Premium Episodes on Design Better

This is a premium episode on Design Better. We release two premium episodes per month, along with two free episodes for everyone. Premium subscribers also get access to our monthly AMAs with former guests, ad-free episodes, discounts and early access to workshops, access to our (small but growing!) library of books and participation in book giveaways, and our new enhanced newsletter The Brief that compiles salient insights, quotes, readings, and creative processes uncovered in the show. 

Upgrade to paid

***

Visiting the links below is one of the best ways to support our show:

Zeplin: Few things frustrate designers quite as much as seeing the UI they’ve meticulously designed, botched when built out. But Zeplin can help you make every design-to-dev handoff efficient and accurate so you nail every release on time and on budget. Design Better listeners can get their first month of the Basic Plan free. Just go to zeplin.io and use code DESIGNBETTER to get your first month of the Basic Plan free.

Greenlight: Years ago, Aarron and Eli set up their kids with Greenlight, a debit card and money app made for families. Their allowance is automatically deposited into their account and is divided into three buckets: spending, saving, and giving. With Greenlight’s investing tools, we’ve helped our kids learn how to invest in stocks and mutual funds and they can see those investments grow. Sign up for Greenlight today and get your first month free: http://greenlight.com/designbetter

Babbel: Babbel’s quick 10-minute lessons are hand-crafted by over 200 language experts to help you start speaking a new language in as little as 3 weeks. Here's a special, (limited time) deal for our listeners: Right now get up to 60% off your Babbel subscription by visiting http://babbel.com/designbetter. Rules and restrictions may apply.

***

If you're interested in sponsoring the show, please contact us at: sponsors@thecuriositydepartment.com

If you'd like to submit a guest idea, please contact us at: contact@thecuriositydepartment.com

Steve’s just released a second edition to his popular book, Interviewing Users, that expands upon the principles and techniques introduced in the first edition, and provides guidance for conducting user research remotely. It’s essential stuff for anyone in UX.

Find the full show notes, transcript and more on our Substack: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/steve-portigal

Bio

Steve Portigal is an experienced user researcher who helps companies harness the strategic power of insights. Steve has interviewed hundreds of people, including families eating breakfast, hotel maintenance staff, probiotic distributors, rock musicians, home-automation enthusiasts, credit-default swap traders, business school professors and radiologists.

His clients are leaders in telecommunications, banking, media, energy and eCommerce. He is the author of two books: The classic Interviewing Users: How To Uncover Compelling Insights and new, Doorbells, Danger, and Dead Batteries: User Research War Stories. He’s also the host of the Dollars to Donuts podcast, where he interviews people who lead user research in their organizations.

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Premium Episodes on Design Better

This ad-supported episode is available to everyone. If you’d like to hear it ad-free, upgrade to our premium subscription, where you’ll get an additional 2 ad-free episodes per month (4 total). Premium subscribers also get access to our monthly AMAs with former guests, ad-free episodes, early and discounted access to workshops, and our new enhanced newsletter The Brief that compiles salient insights, quotes, readings, and creative processes uncovered in the show.  

Upgrade to paid

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Visiting the links below is one of the best ways to support our show:

Zeplin: Few things frustrate designers quite as much as seeing the UI they’ve meticulously designed, botched when built out. But Zeplin can help you make every design-to-dev handoff efficient and accurate so you nail every release on time and on budget. Design Better listeners can get their first month of the Basic Plan free. Just go to zeplin.io and use code DESIGNBETTER to get your first month of the Basic Plan free.

Greenlight: Years ago, Aarron and Eli set up their kids with Greenlight, a debit card and money app made for families. Their allowance is automatically deposited into their account and is divided into three buckets: spending, saving, and giving. With Greenlight’s investing tools, we’ve helped our kids learn how to invest in stocks and mutual funds and they can see those investments grow. Sign up for Greenlight today and get your first month free: http://greenlight.com/designbetter

Babbel: Babbel’s quick 10-minute lessons are hand-crafted by over 200 language experts to help you start speaking a new language in as little as 3 weeks. Here's a special, (limited time) deal for our listeners: Right now get up to 60% off your Babbel subscription by visiting http://babbel.com/designbetter. Rules and restrictions may apply.

We spoke to Dan about his new book, Design That Scales, which dives into how to create, manage, and sustain a successful design system. And he shares where the people involved in a design system fit and how they can best collaborate. 

In case you missed it, Dan also joined us for an AMA recently. He’s a wealth of knowledge.

Find the full show notes, transcript, and more on our Substack: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/dan-mall

Bio

Dan Mall is a husband, dad, teacher, creative director, designer, founder, and entrepreneur from Philly. He shares as much as he can to create better opportunities for those who wouldn’t have them otherwise. Most recently, he ran design system consultancy SuperFriendly for over a decade. Now he’s trying to share as much of what he’s learned to help designers get the respect they deserve. Currently creating Design System University. [more via Dan’s website].

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Premium Episodes on Design Better

This is a premium episode on Design Better (learn more in the announcement here). We’ll be releasing two premium episodes per month, along with two free episodes for everyone. Premium subscribers also get access to our monthly AMAs with former guests, ad-free episodes, and our new enhanced newsletter The Brief that compiles salient insights, quotes, readings, and creative processes uncovered in the show. 

Upgrade to paid

***

Visiting the links below is one of the best ways to support our show:

Methodical Coffee: Roasted, blended, brewed, served and perfected by verified coffee nerds 🤓. We have our very own Design Better roast at Methodical, grab some here to fuel your creativity: https://methodicalcoffee.com/products/design-better-coffee

HelloFresh: At the end of a busy workday, it’s hard to muster the energy to put together a healthy meal. Cut down on time spent in the kitchen so you can get back to enjoying the summer sunshine and the people you love thanks to HelloFresh’s Quick & Easy recipes. Go to hellofresh.com/designbetterapps for FREE appetizers for life! One appetizer item per box while subscription is active.

Crashplan: You may have heard horror stories of people being locked out of their Apple or Google accounts, and losing decades worth of precious files like family photos. That’s why we’ve been using Crashplan for a decade and a half now to back up all of our important files. Visit Crashplan.com/DESIGNBETTER for 50% off your first year of CrashPlan.

Greenlight: Years ago, Aarron and Eli set up their kids with Greenlight, a debit card and money app made for families. Their allowance is automatically deposited into their account and is divided into three buckets: spending, saving, and giving. With Greenlight’s investing tools, we’ve helped our kids learn how to invest in stocks and mutual funds and they can see those investments grow. Sign up for Greenlight today and get your first month free: http://greenlight.com/designbetter

Uplift Desks: For people like us who spend countless hours at our desk, ergonomics are an essential consideration. A standing desk from Uplift Desk can help you avoid the negative effects of sitting all day by improving circulation and reducing strain. Design Better can get a special deal by visiting UPLIFTDesk.com. Use the code DESIGNBETTER5 at checkout for 5% off your order. Free shipping, free returns, and an industry-leading 15-year warranty. They’re a great company.

It’s a holiday week—happy 4th of July to those celebrating it 🎆—so we’re rewinding to one of our favorite episodes. NASA has been making a lot of headlines with the discovery of planets outside of our solar system that may harbor life, and our guest, Sara Seager, is a big part of these pioneering projects.

While we have you here, make sure to check out some of our upcoming workshops and a Design Better happy hour in August, in San Francisco. Early and discounted access goes to our premium members, and we’ll be opening up tickets next week to everyone.

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If you’re lucky enough to look up into a clear night sky and see the thousands of stars visible to the naked eye, it’s hard not to wonder, “are there other planets like ours out there?” Our guest for this episode, Professor Sara Seager, is on a mission to discover potentially habitable planets outside our solar system. 

Sara is an astrophysicist and planetary scientist at MIT, and to discover these exoplanets, she relies not only on her own brilliance—she’s the recipient of a Macarthur Fellowship, otherwise known as the “Genius Grant”—but also on some pretty extreme collaboration across different disciplines.

In the course of our conversation, we talk to Sara about how these teams push beyond initial friction, and how giving herself permission to fail has driven much of her success. Sara is also the author of a memoir titled The Smallest Lights in the Universe, and we talk to her about the book and bringing her full self to work

Bio

Sara Seager is the Class of 1941 Professor of Planetary Science, Professor of Physics, and Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Her past research is credited with laying the foundation for the field of exoplanet atmospheres, while her current research focuses on exoplanet atmospheres and the future search for signs of life by way of atmospheric biosignature gases. 

Professor Seager is involved with a number of space-based exoplanet searches including as the Deputy Science Director for the MIT-led NASA mission TESS, as the PI for the on-orbit JPL/MIT CubeSat ASTERIA, and as a lead for Starshade Rendezvous Mission (a space-based mission concept under technology development for direct imaging discovery and characterization of Earth analogs).

***

Visiting the links below is one of the best ways to support our show:

Methodical Coffee: Roasted, blended, brewed, served and perfected by verified coffee nerds 🤓. We have our very own Design Better roast at Methodical, grab some here to fuel your creativity: https://methodicalcoffee.com/products/design-better-coffee

HelloFresh: At the end of a busy workday, it’s hard to muster the energy to put together a healthy meal. Cut down on time spent in the kitchen so you can get back to enjoying the summer sunshine and the people you love thanks to HelloFresh’s Quick & Easy recipes. Go to hellofresh.com/designbetterapps for FREE appetizers for life! One appetizer item per box while subscription is active.

Crashplan: You may have heard horror stories of people being locked out of their Apple or Google accounts, and losing decades worth of precious files like family photos. That’s why we’ve been using Crashplan for a decade and a half now to back up all of our important files. Visit Crashplan.com/DESIGNBETTER for 50% off your first year of CrashPlan.

Greenlight: Years ago, Aarron and Eli set up their kids with Greenlight, a debit card and money app made for families. Their allowance is automatically deposited into their account and is divided into three buckets: spending, saving, and giving. With Greenlight’s investing tools, we’ve helped our kids learn how to invest in stocks and mutual funds and they can see those investments grow. Sign up for Greenlight today and get your first month free: http://greenlight.com/designbetter

Most of us are too busy with the present to think far into the future—work, kids, pets and other obligations can make it feel like planning for anything more than a week away is a fool’s errand.

But we also live in a time of rapid change, where technologies from biological design to artificial intelligence threaten to mold the future in ways we might have trouble imagining. So it’s comforting to know that we have bright, creative minds at work thinking about how we might change course to create a more positive future. 

Carissa Carter and Scott Doorley are the authors of Assembling Tomorrow: A Guide to Designing a Thriving Future. Both authors work at Stanford’s d.school, where Carissa is the academic director, and Scott is creative director. 

In this episode, we learn why they wrote the book, and how we might rethink our design processes in light of the rapid changes brought on by AI. We also discuss how we can shift our thinking from short-term gains to look at our moment in time from a broader perspective.

Bios

Carissa Carter is a designer, geoscientist, and the academic director at the Stanford d.school. She's the author of The Secret Language of Maps: How to Tell Visual Stories with Data, and teaches design courses on emerging technologies, climate change, and data visualization. Her work on designing with machine learning and blockchain has earned multiple design awards, including Fast Company Innovation and Core 77 awards. 

Scott Doorley is a writer, designer, and the creative director at the Stanford d.school. He has overseen everything from books to workspaces to digital products and initiatives focused on the future of learning and design. He co-wrote the book Make Space: How to Set the Stage for Creative Collaboration and teaches courses in design communication. His work has been featured in museums from San Jose to Helsinki and in publications such as Architecture + Urbanism and the New York Times. 

***

Premium Episodes on Design Better

This ad-supported episode is available to everyone. If you’d like to hear it ad-free, upgrade to our premium subscription, where you’ll get an additional 2 ad-free episodes per month (4 total). Premium subscribers also get access to our monthly AMAs with former guests, ad-free episodes, and our new enhanced newsletter The Brief that compiles salient insights, quotes, readings, and creative processes uncovered in the show.  

Upgrade to paid

***

Visiting the links below is one of the best ways to support our show:

Methodical Coffee: Roasted, blended, brewed, served and perfected by verified coffee nerds 🤓. We have our very own Design Better roast at Methodical, grab some here to fuel your creativity: https://methodicalcoffee.com/products/design-better-coffee

HelloFresh: At the end of a busy workday, it’s hard to muster the energy to put together a healthy meal. Cut down on time spent in the kitchen so you can get back to enjoying the summer sunshine and the people you love thanks to HelloFresh’s Quick & Easy recipes. Go to hellofresh.com/designbetterapps for FREE appetizers for life! One appetizer item per box while subscription is active.

Greenlight: Years ago, Aarron and Eli set up their kids with Greenlight, a debit card and money app made for families. Their allowance is automatically deposited into their account and is divided into three buckets: spending, saving, and giving. With Greenlight’s investing tools, we’ve helped our kids learn how to invest in stocks and mutual funds and they can see those investments grow. Sign up for Greenlight today and get your first month free: http://greenlight.com/designbetter

Back in 2010, Aarron visited Hatch Show Print, a small print shop with a storied history that began in 1879. Hand cut wood block type and illustrations filled the shelves around presses busy producing posters for famous bands and artists. Johnny Cash, Dolly Parton, Bob Dylan, Elvis Presley, and so many other legendary folks have used Hatch Show Print to promote their tours, and their aesthetic has been a major influence on design for more than 100 years. They’re still producing beautiful print work today and operate out of the Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum. 

We spoke with Celene Aubry, Associate Director and Manager at Hatch Show Print, about the origins of Hatch Show, the role of letterpress in the digital era and why their mantra is “preservation through production,” the challenges and joys of working with old tools, and how they are going about educating the next generation of letterpress designers.

Bio

Celene Aubry is the Associate Director and Manager at Hatch Show Print, the iconic letterpress print shop continuously operating since 1879 in Nashville, Tennessee. Aubry becomes the first woman to run the letterpress print shop in its 140-year history. Celene is also guiding the development of additional Hatch Show Print programs and activities that leverage a classroom and gallery, while still carrying on the shop’s tradition of preservation through production, making posters for the customers whenever time allows.

Premium Episodes on Design Better

This is a premium episode on Design Better (learn more in the announcement here). We’ll be releasing two premium episodes per month, along with two free episodes for everyone. Premium subscribers also get access to our monthly AMAs with former guests, ad-free episodes, and our new enhanced newsletter The Brief that compiles salient insights, quotes, readings, and creative processes uncovered in the show. 

Upgrade to paid

Visiting the links below is one of the best ways to support our show:

Methodical Coffee: Roasted, blended, brewed, served and perfected by verified coffee nerds 🤓. We have our very own Design Better roast at Methodical, grab some here to fuel your creativity: https://methodicalcoffee.com/products/design-better-coffee

HelloFresh: At the end of a busy workday, it’s hard to muster the energy to put together a healthy meal. Cut down on time spent in the kitchen so you can get back to enjoying the summer sunshine and the people you love thanks to HelloFresh’s Quick & Easy recipes. Go to hellofresh.com/designbetterapps for FREE appetizers for life! One appetizer item per box while subscription is active.

Crashplan: You may have heard horror stories of people being locked out of their Apple or Google accounts, and losing decades worth of precious files like family photos. That’s why we’ve been using Crashplan for a decade and a half now to back up all of our important files. Visit Crashplan.com/DESIGNBETTER for 50% off your first year of CrashPlan.

Greenlight: Years ago, Aarron and Eli set up their kids with Greenlight, a debit card and money app made for families. Their allowance is automatically deposited into their account and is divided into three buckets: spending, saving, and giving. With Greenlight’s investing tools, we’ve helped our kids learn how to invest in stocks and mutual funds and they can see those investments grow. Sign up for Greenlight today and get your first month free: http://greenlight.com/designbetter

This is our 100th episode of Design Better. 🥳 It’s an amazing milestone! Whether you’ve been with us for years or you’re brand new to the show, thanks for listening and supporting our work.

We saved something very special for our 100th episode: a live episode with Hillary Coe, formerly a design leader at SpaceX who is now leading design at Vast, who are building commercial space stations.

When we first learned about Hillary, we weren’t entirely sure she was a real person: currently Chief Design & Marketing Officer for Vast and working on the world’s first commercial space station, Hilary was a design leader for SpaceX and creative director for Apple and Google, a certified commercial pilot, astronaut candidate, drag racing record holder and advocate for young women and men entering STEM fields: how can so many talents and accomplishments be wrapped up in a single human being?

But Hillary is real—we’re lucky enough to have her here with us today for a very special live episode of Design Better at NYCxDesign Festival, resented in partnership with Automattic—makers of Wordpress— and Wert&Co—who have for decades connected inspiring brands and incredible talent.

Space exploration has transformed from a big government program to a global commercial enterprise. As we increase our presence among the stars, there’s a role for design to play in shaping our experience. Who better to help us understand design in space than Hillary Coe, Chief Design & Marketing Officer at Vast who are making commercial space stations.

Bio

Hillary Coe is an Emmy award-winning design leader employing bold, multi-platform innovations to solve the world’s greatest challenges. As SpaceX's first Director of Design, she defined the visual strategy and narrative for human spaceflight in the 21st century while leading efforts to conceptualize human experience for current and future spacecraft. As Chief Design & Marketing Officer at Vast her mission continues with the development of a permanent human presence in space, and the world’s first Commercial Space Station.

Outside of aerospace, her background in design leadership extends to Google mobile AR, Apple Watch fitness and ground-up product development for the high speed satellite internet service Starlink.

Outside of her career, she is a commercial pilot, astronaut candidate, drag racing record holder and advocate for young women and men entering STEM fields. More specifically, her humanitarian efforts include working with the Department Of Education on the National STEM Challenge and advising XPRIZE on new ways to incentivize radical breakthroughs that move humanity forward.

***

Premium Episodes on Design Better

The audio of this ad-supported episode is available to everyone. If you’d like to hear it ad-free, and watch video footage of our live episode, upgrade to our premium subscription, where you’ll get an additional 2 ad-free episodes per month (4 total). Premium subscribers also get access to our monthly AMAs with former guests, ad-free episodes, and our new enhanced newsletter The Brief that compiles salient insights, quotes, readings, and creative processes uncovered in the show. 

***

Aarron fell down a rabbit hole when the Apple Watch came out. He knew nothing about watches, their design history and the immense investment of human effort it’s taken to engineer accurate timepieces until he bought an Apple Watch. He loves wearing a watch, but notifications and tracking caused him to abandon it for something simpler and mechanical.

Anyone curious about watches will inevitably end up at Hodinkee.com, the premier publication about watches and the rich culture around them. Hodinkee was founded by Ben Clymer, who found his way into watches when his grandfather gave him the Omega watch right off his wrist. It sparked not only a deep passion for watches, but a company that has built a community of enthusiasts around the world.

You might be thinking, watches are a strange topic for Design Better to cover. But they represent a beautiful intersection of design and technology that has been pursued for centuries. They’re also one of the few trans-generational objects in our lives that connect us with the people we love, as Ben Clymer shared with us in our conversation.

We spoke with Ben about consulting with Jony Ive on Apple’s watch design, Jony’s deep dive into horology, how Ben went about creating such a compelling content brand, and his journey from being a founder and CEO back to being an individual contributor to the company he started.

Bio

Benjamin Clymer is widely considered to be a leading voice in the wristwatch industry. He is regularly quoted in major publications including The New York Times, Reuters, Forbes, Departures, GQ, and the Financial Times, and was dubbed “The High Priest of Horology” by The New York Times in 2013. Benjamin has acted as a consultant and guest speaker for Apple, and was named to “The Hypebeast Hundred” as one of the 100 most important influencers in global culture in both 2013 and 2014. 

***

Premium Episodes on Design Better

This is a premium episode on Design Better (learn more in the announcement here). We’ll be releasing two premium episodes per month, along with two free episodes for everyone. Premium subscribers also get access to our monthly AMAs with former guests, ad-free episodes, and our new enhanced newsletter The Brief that compiles salient insights, quotes, readings, and creative processes uncovered in the show. 

Upgraid to paid

***

Visiting the links below is one of the best ways to support our show:

Methodical Coffee: Roasted, blended, brewed, served and perfected by verified coffee nerds 🤓. We have our very own Design Better roast at Methodical, grab some here to fuel your creativity: https://methodicalcoffee.com/products/design-better-coffee

Crashplan: You may have heard horror stories of people being locked out of their Apple or Google accounts, and losing decades worth of precious files like family photos. That’s why we’ve been using Crashplan for a decade and a half now to back up all of our important files. Visit Crashplan.com/DESIGNBETTER for 50% off your first year of CrashPlan.

Greenlight: Years ago, Aarron and Eli set up their kids with Greenlight, a debit card and money app made for families. Their allowance is automatically deposited into their account and is divided into three buckets: spending, saving, and giving. With Greenlight’s investing tools, we’ve helped our kids learn how to invest in stocks and mutual funds and they can see those investments grow. Sign up for Greenlight today and get your first month free: http://greenlight.com/designbetter

Steve Jobs perfectly described the creative process when he said, “Creativity is just connecting the dots”. Innovation and new ideas are often found by combining the familiar in new ways. Natsai Audrey Chieza, founder of Faber Futures, is doing just that. 

Natsai started her education as an architect, became fascinated by materials and transferred into biology, and today is designing new textiles, design processes, and manufacturing methods by harnessing biological technology. She’s a rare individual who can hop between disciplines to design in new ways.

We talk with Natsai about the work she and her team at Faber Futures are doing to help governments and large organizations design more sustainable products using bacteria, fungi, and algae as building tools, and how biophilic design technology could help us address climate change.

Bio

Natsai Audrey Chieza is a visionary designer and thought leader. She is the founder and CEO of Faber Futures and a co-founder of Normal Phenomena of Life (NPOL). Launched in 2018, Faber Futures is a pioneering design agency that melds consumer biotechnology advancements with real-world applications. In 2023, Chieza co-founded NPOL, a consumer brand offering biotech products online. NPOL makes tangible how biotechnology can generate new materials that can be beautifully designed to support climate goals and the cultivation of resilient bioeconomy value chains.

​Chieza's approach involves broad-ranging partnerships across biotech, consumer sectors, and cultural institutions. It uses collaborative, story-driven strategies to catalyse engagement and concrete action on critical issues. Notable clients and commissioning bodies include Ginkgo Bioworks, adidas, the Design Museum, MIT Media Lab, and the World Economic Forum (WEF). 

​As a member of the WEF's Global Futures Council on Synthetic Biology, Chieza advocates the integration of design and culture in policy development for bioeconomies powered by biotechnology. Her insights and leadership are sought after on various stages, including as a speaker at SxSW, TED, and Design Indaba. Chieza's contributions to biophilic design have earned her significant media coverage and accolades, including the 2019 INDEX award, known as the Nobel Prize for design.

Premium Episodes on Design Better

This ad-supported episode is available to everyone. If you’d like to hear it ad-free, upgrade to our premium subscription, where you’ll get an additional 2 ad-free episodes per month (4 total). Premium subscribers also get access to our monthly AMAs with former guests, ad-free episodes, and our new enhanced newsletter The Brief that compiles salient insights, quotes, readings, and creative processes uncovered in the show. 

Upgraid to paid

Visiting the links below is one of the best ways to support our show:

Methodical Coffee: Roasted, blended, brewed, served and perfected by verified coffee nerds 🤓. We have our very own Design Better roast at Methodical, grab some here to fuel your creativity: https://methodicalcoffee.com/products/design-better-coffee

BetterHelp: This show is sponsored by BetterHelp. Therapy can give you the self-awareness to build a social life that doesn't drain your battery. If you’re thinking of starting therapy, give BetterHelp a try. It’s entirely online, and designed to be convenient, flexible, and to work with your schedule. Find your social sweet spot, with BetterHelp. Visit BetterHelp.com/DESIGNBETTER today to get 10% off your first month.

Crashplan: You may have heard horror stories of people being locked out of their Apple or Google accounts, and losing decades worth of precious files like family photos. That’s why we’ve been using Crashplan for a decade and a half now to back up all of our important files. Visit Crashplan.com/DESIGNBETTER for 50% off your first year of CrashPlan.

Pablo Stanley’s creativity seemingly knows no bounds. Constant doodling is a key to his creative process, and has spawned countless projects including web comics like The Design Team and Stanley and Rupert, an illustration generation platform called Blush, and most recently Bueno, a platform that lets people build virtual worlds. Pablo makes us all feel like slackers!

We spoke with Pablo about his childhood in Mexico and how it influences his creativity, the wide array of creative projects he’s working on, and the importance of persistence and hustle when you’re earning a creative living independently.

Bio

Pablo Stanley is a Co-founder at Musho—AI Designer, Blush, and Lummi—tools to unlock people's creativity. He’s also working on Bueno, and previously made Robotos, Humankind, Transhumans, Humaaans, Open Peeps, etc . Previously he was was a Lead at InVision, a Staff Designer at Lyft, and co-founder of Carbon Health. He gives design workshops and shares design tutorials on YouTube. He also writes a comic- The Design Team.

Premium Episodes on Design Better

This is a premium episode on Design Better (learn more in the announcement here). We’ll be releasing two premium episodes per month, along with two free episodes for everyone. Premium subscribers also get access to our monthly AMAs with former guests, ad-free episodes, and our new enhanced newsletter The Brief that compiles salient insights, quotes, readings, and creative processes uncovered in the show. 

Upgraid to paid

Visiting the links below is one of the best ways to support our show:

Methodical Coffee: Roasted, blended, brewed, served and perfected by verified coffee nerds 🤓. We have our very own Design Better roast at Methodical, grab some here to fuel your creativity: https://methodicalcoffee.com/products/design-better-coffee

Crashplan: You may have heard horror stories of people being locked out of their Apple or Google accounts, and losing decades worth of precious files like family photos. That’s why we’ve been using Crashplan for a decade and a half now to back up all of our important files. Visit Crashplan.com/DESIGNBETTER for 50% off your first year of CrashPlan.

Uplift Desks: For people like us who spend countless hours at our desk, ergonomics are an essential consideration. A standing desk from Uplift Desk can help you avoid the negative effects of sitting all day by improving circulation and reducing strain. Design Better can get a special deal by visiting UPLIFTDesk.com. Use the code DESIGNBETTER5 at checkout for 5% off your order. Free shipping, free returns, and an industry-leading 15-year warranty. They’re a great company.

Gusto: We’re big fans of Gusto, who make it easy to run payroll, set up healthcare and other benefits for your business. They’ve made setting up the HR infrastructure for Design Better a breeze. Gusto is also one of the best designed SaaS tools out there.

Design Better listeners get 3 months free once they run their first payroll - Go to gusto.com/designbetter to sign up.

If you're interested in sponsoring the show, please contact us at: sponsors@thecuriositydepartment.com

If you'd like to submit a guest idea, please contact us at: contact@thecuriositydepartment.com

As designers and creatives, we often find our work to be meaningful and fulfilling. But creativity can also come at a price. There can be a danger of burning out when we pursue creativity with passion, and our guest today, Tasha Golden, has experienced this herself. She lost her music career as a touring songwriter due to severe burnout and depression, and now researches well-being, how it’s affected by creativity, and how to use this knowledge to drive real change.

We speak with Tasha about her work on Project Uncaged, a trauma-informed creative writing program for incarcerated girls, as well as the The Arts on Prescription program: a model of care that’s gaining traction in the US—in which health- and social care providers can refer patients to community arts, culture, and nature experiences to support their health.

We also also discuss how creatives can better support mental health—for themselves and others.

Bio

Learn more about Tasha here on her site.

Tasha Golden, PhD is a singer/songwriter turned public health scientist, and a leading expert in Creativity and Wellbeing. Holding a PhD in Public Health, Dr. Golden has published extensively on the impacts of creativity, aesthetics, and the arts on health and well-being. She leads research at the International Arts + Mind Lab at Johns Hopkins University, serves as adjunct faculty for the University of Florida’s Center for Arts in Medicine, and is lead author of “Arts on Prescription: A Field Guide for US Communities.” [Find Tasha's full bio, and ways to connect with her, here: https://www.tashagolden.com/designbetter]

Premium Episodes on Design Better

This ad-supported episode is available to everyone. If you’d like to hear it ad-free, upgrade to our premium subscription, where you’ll get an additional 2 ad-free episodes per month (4 total). Premium subscribers also get access to our monthly AMAs with former guests, ad-free episodes, and our new enhanced newsletter The Brief that compiles salient insights, quotes, readings, and creative processes uncovered in the show. 

Upgraid to paid

***

Visiting the links below is one of the best ways to support our show:

Methodical Coffee: Roasted, blended, brewed, served and perfected by verified coffee nerds 🤓. We have our very own Design Better roast at Methodical, grab some here to fuel your creativity: https://methodicalcoffee.com/products/design-better-coffee

BetterHelp: This show is sponsored by BetterHelp. Therapy can give you the self-awareness to build a social life that doesn't drain your battery. If you’re thinking of starting therapy, give BetterHelp a try. It’s entirely online, and designed to be convenient, flexible, and to work with your schedule. Find your social sweet spot, with BetterHelp. Visit BetterHelp.com/DESIGNBETTER today to get 10% off your first month.

Crashplan: You may have heard horror stories of people being locked out of their Apple or Google accounts, and losing decades worth of precious files like family photos. That’s why we’ve been using Crashplan for a decade and a half now to back up all of our important files. Visit Crashplan.com/DESIGNBETTER for 50% off your first year of CrashPlan.

Uplift Desks: For people like us who spend countless hours at our desk, ergonomics are an essential consideration. A standing desk from Uplift Desk can help you avoid the negative effects of sitting all day by improving circulation and reducing strain. Design Better can get a special deal by visiting UPLIFTDesk.com. Use the code DESIGNBETTER5 at checkout for 5% off your order. Free shipping, free returns, and an industry-leading 15-year warranty. They’re a great company.

We’ve admired Jonathan Adler’s work for a long time. Though he started his career as a potter, today he designs sumptuous furnishings and interiors that inject energy and joy into everyday life. His work is decadent but not frumpy and always delivered with a winking sense of humor. If anyone truly knows how to bring creativity into all aspects of life, it’s Jonathan Adler.

We speak with Jonathan about why every creative person needs a naysayer to rebel against, how he surrounds himself with things that make him happy, and how he balances the tension between creating objects that have a lot of color and contrast, while making sure everything works together.

By the way, Eli’s wife Courtney has listened to many (though not all!) of our episodes, and this one happens to be her favorite so far—so you’re in for a treat. 

Brace yourself for some adult language. 🙂

Bio

Potter, designer and author Jonathan Adler launched his namesake brand after leaving his day job to pursue his first love: pottery. In 1993, Barneys bought his collection of pots, and five years later, he opened his first store in Soho.

Today, Jonathan Adler is a design company with retail locations worldwide, a thriving e-commerce site, a full slate of residential and commercial projects, and a global wholesale business. They strive to create luxe and livable interiors that are seriously designed, but don’t take themselves too seriously.

New Premium Episodes on Design Better

This is our very first premium episode for Design Better (learn more in the announcement here). We’ll be releasing two premium episodes per month, along with two free episodes for everyone. Premium subscribers also get access to our monthly AMAs with former guests, ad-free episodes, and our new enhanced newsletter The Brief that compiles salient insights, quotes, readings, and creative processes uncovered in the show. 

Upgraid to paid

Visiting the links below is one of the best ways to support our show:

Methodical Coffee: Roasted, blended, brewed, served and perfected by verified coffee nerds 🤓. We have our very own Design Better roast at Methodical, grab some here to fuel your creativity: https://methodicalcoffee.com/products/design-better-coffee

American Giant: Makers of the best hoodie on the planet, their clothing is American-made, ethically produced, and built to last. What more could you ask for? Save 20% off your first order with American Giant using our promo code DESIGNBETTER at checkout. dbtr.co/americangiant

Crashplan: You may have heard horror stories of people being locked out of their Apple or Google accounts, and losing decades worth of precious files like family photos. That’s why we’ve been using Crashplan for a decade and a half now to back up all of our important files. Visit Crashplan.com/DESIGNBETTER for 50% off your first year of CrashPlan.

Uplift Desks: For people like us who spend countless hours at our desk, ergonomics are an essential consideration. A standing desk from Uplift Desk can help you avoid the negative effects of sitting all day by improving circulation and reducing strain. Design Better can get a special deal by visiting UPLIFTDesk.com. Use the code DESIGNBETTER5 at checkout for 5% off your order. Free shipping, free returns, and an industry-leading 15-year warranty. They’re a great company.

Gusto: We’re big fans of Gusto, who make it easy to run payroll, set up healthcare and other benefits for your business. They’ve made setting up the HR infrastructure for Design Better a breeze. Gusto is also one of the best designed SaaS tools out there.

Design Better listeners get 3 months free once they run their first payroll - Go to gusto.com/designbetter to sign up.

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Our conversation today takes us further into the creative process across different mediums.

If you’re a fan of Yellowstone, Crazy Rich Asians, Iron Man 3, or the recent Mario Brothers movie, then chances are good that one of the soundtrack clips in the trailer below is familiar to you. And today on Design Better we speak with the person behind them all: Emmy-award nominated composer Brian Tyler.

We talk to Brian about his childhood influences, growing up in an artistic family, and how he finds the starting threads of a score.

Bio

Brian Tyler is a multiple BAFTA and Emmy Award nominee, platinum-selling recording artist, and has been a composer and conductor on over 100 feature films. Tyler’s scoring credits include Joss Whedon's Avengers: Age of Ultron, James Wan’s Furious 7 and F. Gary Gray’s Fate of the Furious as well as others in the Fast and the Furious franchise, Shane Black’s Iron Man 3, Alan Taylor’s Thor: The Dark World, Jon Chu’s Crazy Rich Asians, for which he was voted to the 2019 Oscar shortlist for Best Original Score.

Brian also tours as a successful electronic artist and producer, playing major festivals such as EDC and Hardfest, and he recently launched "Are We Dreaming", a completely immersive audio-visual experience created by Tyler himself, which debuted in October 2021 on the 400-foot Main Stage at Lost Lands Music Festival; an epic two-hour midnight performance for a crowd of 30,000 people. 

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Visiting the links below is one of the best ways to support our show:

Methodical Coffee: Roasted, blended, brewed, served and perfected by verified coffee nerds 🤓. We have our very own Design Better roast at Methodical, grab some here to fuel your creativity: https://methodicalcoffee.com/products/design-better-coffee

American Giant: Makers of the best hoodie on the planet, their clothing is American-made, ethically produced, and built to last. What more could you ask for? Save 20% off your first order with American Giant using our promo code DESIGNBETTER at checkout. dbtr.co/americangiant

Crashplan: You may have heard horror stories of people being locked out of their Apple or Google accounts, and losing decades worth of precious files like family photos. That’s why we’ve been using Crashplan for a decade and a half now to back up all of our important files. Visit Crashplan.com/DESIGNBETTER for 50% off your first year of CrashPlan.

Uplift Desks: For people like us who spend countless hours at our desk, ergonomics are an essential consideration. A standing desk from Uplift Desk can help you avoid the negative effects of sitting all day by improving circulation and reducing strain. Design Better can get a special deal by visiting UPLIFTDesk.com. Use the code DESIGNBETTER5 at checkout for 5% off your order. Free shipping, free returns, and an industry-leading 15-year warranty. They’re a great company.

Gusto: We’re big fans of Gusto, who make it easy to run payroll, set up healthcare and other benefits for your business. They’ve made setting up the HR infrastructure for Design Better a breeze. Gusto is also one of the best designed SaaS tools out there.

Design Better listeners get 3 months free once they run their first payroll - Go to gusto.com/designbetter to sign up.

Adobe has been the big wrench in our creative toolbox for decades. But there’s a new tool shaking up our workflow —Generative AI. Eric Snowden, leader of Adobe’s design team, sees a big opportunity for designers to extend and enhance the creative process by folding generative AI into each of our tools and we wanted to get his take on what’s around the corner. 

We spoke with Eric about his journey from Atlantic records during a period of upheaval in the music industry and what he learned there, to his time on the Behance product team and working his way up through leadership roles at Adobe.

Eric leads a team of over 600 people, so we also talk about finding the right size for teams (and Amazon’s “Two Pizza Team” framework), as well as how R&D works at Adobe.

Bio

Eric Snowden is the Vice President of Design at Adobe overseeing a multidisciplinary team of designers responsible for the Creative Cloud & Document Cloud suite of product and services. His team is responsible for the Digital Video & Audio, Digital Imaging, Design & Web, Documents, Mobile, Portfolio, and Services across web, desktop, and mobile surfaces.

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Visiting the links below is one of the best ways to support our show:

Methodical Coffee: Roasted, blended, brewed, served and perfected by verified coffee nerds 🤓. We have our very own Design Better roast at Methodical, grab some here to fuel your creativity: https://methodicalcoffee.com/products/design-better-coffee

American Giant: Makers of the best hoodie on the planet, their clothing is American-made, ethically produced, and built to last. What more could you ask for? Save 20% off your first order with American Giant using our promo code DESIGNBETTER at checkout. dbtr.co/americangiant

Crashplan: You may have heard horror stories of people being locked out of their Apple or Google accounts, and losing decades worth of precious files like family photos. That’s why we’ve been using Crashplan for a decade and a half now to back up all of our important files. Visit Crashplan.com/DESIGNBETTER for 50% off your first year of CrashPlan.

Uplift Desks: For people like us who spend countless hours at our desk, ergonomics are an essential consideration. A standing desk from Uplift Desk can help you avoid the negative effects of sitting all day by improving circulation and reducing strain. Design Better can get a special deal by visiting UPLIFTDesk.com. Use the code DESIGNBETTER5 at checkout for 5% off your order. Free shipping, free returns, and an industry-leading 15-year warranty. They’re a great company.

Gusto: We’re big fans of Gusto, who make it easy to run payroll, set up healthcare and other benefits for your business. They’ve made setting up the HR infrastructure for Design Better a breeze. Gusto is also one of the best designed SaaS tools out there. Design Better listeners get 3 months free once they run their first payroll - Go to gusto.com/designbetter to sign up.

Few designers have an instinct for business fundamentals. Those that do are able to position design as a competitive advantage for a business and pave the way for design teams to collaborate more effectively. Kate Aronowitz is one of those rare birds.

Kate has held high level design roles at LinkedIn, WealthFront, Facebook, eBay, and today she’s at GV (formerly known as Google Ventures), where she helps early stage companies find their footing.

We speak to Kate about the arc of her career, about entrepreneurship as a designer (and why there aren’t more designer-founders), as well as some of the stories from the early days of Facebook like how she was one of the first designers to teach Mark Zuckerberg (or as Eli’s 8 year old son calls him, Zerk Merkerbergen) about human centered design.

Bio

Kate Aronowitz is a design executive who has built her career empowering teams at some of Silicon Valley’s most iconic companies. In addition to her role leading GV’s operations team, Kate coaches GV portfolio companies on cross-functional design processes, scale, product development, and management strategy.

Kate has built world-class design teams at eBay, LinkedIn, Facebook (now Meta), and Wealthfront. She joined the first user experience team at eBay before taking her experience to LinkedIn, where she started the user research team. As Facebook’s first design executive, Kate grew the organization from 20 to 200, establishing multidisciplinary design teams in front-end engineering, user research, content strategy, and communication design.

***

Subscribe to DB+ to get episodes a week early and ad-free. Plus, every month, you're invited to exclusive AMAs (Ask Me Anything) with big names in design and tech, from companies like Nike, Netflix, and the New York Times who will answer your questions directly.

Early bird subscribers get 50% off for the first three months. Visit designbetter.plus to learn more and subscribe.

***

Visiting the links below is one of the best ways to support our show:

Methodical Coffee: Roasted, blended, brewed, served and perfected by verified coffee nerds 🤓. We have our very own Design Better roast at Methodical, grab some here to fuel your creativity: https://methodicalcoffee.com/products/design-better-coffee

American Giant: Makers of the best hoodie on the planet, their clothing is American-made, ethically produced, and built to last. What more could you ask for? Save 20% off your first order with American Giant using our promo code DESIGNBETTER at checkout. dbtr.co/americangiant

Uplift Desks: For people like us who spend countless hours at our desk, ergonomics are an essential consideration. A standing desk from Uplift Desk can help you avoid the negative effects of sitting all day by improving circulation and reducing strain. Design Better can get a special deal by visiting UPLIFTDesk.com. Use the code DESIGNBETTER5 at checkout for 5% off your order. Free shipping, free returns, and an industry-leading 15-year warranty. They’re a great company.

Gusto: We’re big fans of Gusto, who make it easy to run payroll, set up healthcare and other benefits for your business. They’ve made setting up the HR infrastructure for Design Better a breeze. Gusto is also one of the best designed SaaS tools out there.

Design Better listeners get 3 months free once they run their first payroll - Go to gusto.com/designbetter to sign up.

We chat with Ellen about what’s new in this edition of her book, and how people other than designers can use it. We also go through some rapid-fire questions about the fundamentals of typography, and origins of some of the terminology like points, leading, kerning, italics, and more.

Whether you’re new to typography, or a seasoned pro, you’ll learn something from this conversation.

Bio

Ellen Lupton is a graphic designer, curator, writer, critic, and educator. Known for her love of typography, Lupton is the Betty Cooke and William O. Steinmetz Design Chair at Maryland Institute College of Art. Previously she was the Senior Curator of Contemporary Design at Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum in New York City and was named Curator Emerita after 30 years of service.

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Visiting the links below is one of the best ways to support our show:

Methodical Coffee: Roasted, blended, brewed, served and perfected by verified coffee nerds 🤓. We have our very own Design Better roast at Methodical, grab some here to fuel your creativity: https://methodicalcoffee.com/products/design-better-coffee

American Giant: Makers of the best hoodie on the planet, their clothing is American-made, ethically produced, and built to last. What more could you ask for? Save 20% off your first order with American Giant using our promo code DESIGNBETTER at checkout. dbtr.co/americangiant

Uplift Desks: For people like us who spend countless hours at our desk, ergonomics are an essential consideration. A standing desk from Uplift Desk can help you avoid the negative effects of sitting all day by improving circulation and reducing strain. Design Better can get a special deal by visiting UPLIFTDesk.com. Use the code DESIGNBETTER5 at checkout for 5% off your order. Free shipping, free returns, and an industry-leading 15-year warranty. They’re a great company.

Gusto: We’re big fans of Gusto, who make it easy to run payroll, set up healthcare and other benefits for your business. They’ve made setting up the HR infrastructure for Design Better a breeze. Gusto is also one of the best designed SaaS tools out there.

Design Better listeners get 3 months free once they run their first payroll - Go to gusto.com/designbetter to sign up.

Chances are you have a few fonts on your computer designed by Jonathan Hoefler. Since 1991, Apple has included Hoefler Text on every Mac. Ideal Sans, Knockout, Archer, Verlag, and Sentinel—are a few more of Hoefler’s well known typefaces —each is steeped in history and timelessly beautiful. It’s no wonder that Jonathan was featured in the Netflix series Abstract, which explores design and creativity, as he is truly a typography legend.

As part of our series on design history, we talk with Jonathan about his typographic influences, his philosophical views on the value of presentation and why he views entrepreneurship as an invitation, and some of the themes in his work like “Unfinished Business” and “Conservation and Preservation.”

This is the first episode of our 10th season of Design Better. We’ll be continuing our exploration of design history and the creative process, but also adding new themes like how we can design a better future, and the secrets of living a more creative life, with guests like potter and designer Jonathan Adler.

Bio

Jonathan Hoefler (pronounced "HEFF-ler") is a typeface designer, typographer, writer, and inventor, and the creator of some of the world's most influential fonts such as Gotham, Knockout, Mercury, Sentinel, and Hoefler Text. He founded the distinguished type foundry Hoefler&Co in 1989, which he sold in 2021, after publishing more than eleven hundred original tyepfaces. He's currently enjoying a sabbatical, and writing about typography and visual culture on his website, JonathanHoefler.com.

***

Subscribe to DB+ to get episodes a week early and ad-free. Plus, every month, you're invited to exclusive AMAs (Ask Me Anything) with big names in design and tech, from companies like Nike, Netflix, and the New York Times who will answer your questions directly.

Early bird subscribers get 50% off for the first three months. Visit designbetter.plus to learn more and subscribe.

***

Visiting the links below is one of the best ways to support our show:

Methodical Coffee: Roasted, blended, brewed, served and perfected by verified coffee nerds 🤓. We have our very own Design Better roast at Methodical, grab some here to fuel your creativity: https://methodicalcoffee.com/products/design-better-coffee

American Giant: Makers of the best hoodie on the planet, their clothing is American-made, ethically produced, and built to last. What more could you ask for? Save 20% off your first order with American Giant using our promo code DESIGNBETTER at checkout. dbtr.co/americangiant

Uplift Desks: For people like us who spend countless hours at our desk, ergonomics are an essential consideration. A standing desk from Uplift Desk can help you avoid the negative effects of sitting all day by improving circulation and reducing strain. Design Better can get a special deal by visiting UPLIFTDesk.com. Use the code DESIGNBETTER at checkout for 5% off your order. Free shipping, free returns, and an industry-leading 15-year warranty. They’re a great company.

Gusto: We’re big fans of Gusto, who make it easy to run payroll, set up healthcare and other benefits for your business. They’ve made setting up the HR infrastructure for Design Better a breeze. Gusto is also one of the best designed SaaS tools out there.

Design Better listeners get 3 months free once they run their first payroll - Go to gusto.com/designbetter to sign up.

We would love to learn a bit about you and your listening habits to help us improve the show and partner with the right sponsors who make things relevant to your life. We're giving away a 13" Macbook Air with the new M2 chip to one lucky respondent to our survey who will be chosen at random. Just complete this survey to be entered to win! One entry per person please. https://dbtr.co/2024survey

Design systems have been on the minds of those of us in the software industry for more than a decade now and for good reason. To create large scale software with a consistent experience, standards are needed to guide contributors. 

This is not a new problem, though. Before software designers created design systems, brand and print designers created design standards to guide creative collaboration. We had a chance to talk with Hamish Smyth, co-founder of the popular tool Standards, and we relished the opportunity to nerd out with him on this subject.

We spoke with Hamish about what design standards are and how they differ from design systems, some examples of famous standards like Massimo Vignellli’s NYC Subway map and NASAs Standards Manual, and also about what Hamish learned about getting corporate buy-in from working with famed designer Michael Beirut from Pentagram.

Bio

Hamish Smyth is the co-founder of Standards and partner at Order. Prior to co-founding Order, Hamish worked as an associate partner the New York office of Pentagram Design under partner Michael Bierut.

In 2014 he co-founded Standards Manual, an independent publishing imprint focusing on the preservation of graphic design history.

***

Subscribe to DB+ to get episodes a week early and ad-free. Plus, every month, you're invited to exclusive AMAs (Ask Me Anything) with big names in design and tech, from companies like Nike, Netflix, and the New York Times who will answer your questions directly.

Early bird subscribers get 50% off for the first three months. Visit designbetter.plus to learn more and subscribe.

***

Visiting the links below is one of the best ways to support our show:

Methodical Coffee: Roasted, blended, brewed, served and perfected by verified coffee nerds 🤓. We have our very own Design Better roast at Methodical, grab some here to fuel your creativity: https://methodicalcoffee.com/products/design-better-coffee

American Giant: Makers of the best hoodie on the planet, their clothing is American-made, ethically produced, and built to last. What more could you ask for? Save 20% off your first order with American Giant using our promo code DESIGNBETTER at checkout. dbtr.co/americangiant

Uplift Desks: For people like us who spend countless hours at our desk, ergonomics are an essential consideration. A standing desk from Uplift Desk can help you avoid the negative effects of sitting all day by improving circulation and reducing strain. Design Better can get a special deal by visiting UPLIFTDesk.com. Use the code DESIGNBETTER at checkout for 5% off your order. Free shipping, free returns, and an industry-leading 15-year warranty. They’re a great company.

Gusto: We’re big fans of Gusto, who make it easy to run payroll, set up healthcare and other benefits for your business. They’ve made setting up the HR infrastructure for Design Better a breeze. Gusto is also one of the best designed SaaS tools out there.

Design Better listeners get 3 months free once they run their first payroll - Go to gusto.com/designbetter to sign up.

Airbnb and Apple have a few things in common: They’re both design-centric companies, they sell products through best-in-class marketing, and they’ve achieved incredible success by focusing on the customer. There’s one more thing they have in common—Hiroki Asai who currently leads marketing at Airbnb and formerly led marketing at Apple during their most historic product launches.

We spoke with Hiroki about his time at Apple and the key elements of their marketing playbook, as well as how he reinterpreted Apple’s values in Airbnb’s culture. We also spoke about the importance of dogfooding, or as John Maeda calls it, “wine tasting,” your own products. And we learn how Airbnb shifted away from traditional product managers, and how that affected their marketing and design processes.

Bio

Hiroki Asai oversees all of Airbnb’s marketing efforts, as well as Airbnb's in-house creative teams. Hiroki is responsible for maintaining Airbnb's strong global brand and sharing the story of our millions of hosts who offer unique homes and experiences to guests around the world.

***

Subscribe to DB+ to get episodes a week early and ad-free. Plus, every month, you're invited to exclusive AMAs (Ask Me Anything) with big names in design and tech, from companies like Nike, Netflix, and the New York Times who will answer your questions directly.

Early bird subscribers get 50% off for the first three months. Visit designbetter.plus to learn more and subscribe.

***

Visiting the links below is one of the best ways to support our show:

Methodical Coffee: Roasted, blended, brewed, served and perfected by verified coffee nerds 🤓. We have our very own Design Better roast at Methodical, grab some here to fuel your creativity: https://methodicalcoffee.com/products/design-better-coffee

American Giant: Makers of the best hoodie on the planet, their clothing is American-made, ethically produced, and built to last. What more could you ask for? Save 20% off your first order with American Giant using our promo code DESIGNBETTER at checkout. dbtr.co/americangiant

Gusto: We’re big fans of Gusto, who make it easy to run payroll, set up healthcare and other benefits for your business. They’ve made setting up the HR infrastructure for Design Better a breeze. Gusto is also one of the best designed SaaS tools out there.

Design Better listeners get 3 months free once they run their first payroll - Go to gusto.com/designbetter to sign up.

Change at work is tough, and it’s seemingly constant. New leadership, new boss, new role, new responsibilities, new strategies. Suddenly, everything you thought was certain has been upended and you’re left fretting about what’s next. 

Though change at work is a constant, the stress and confusion it often induces doesn’t have to be. Our guest today is Vanessa Gennarelli, author of Surviving Change at Work, has navigated difficult work situations herself and has practical guidance that can help you get your bearings. 

We speak with Vanessa about dealing with uncertainty, and how to decrease the odds that you’ll be laid off. We also discuss what happens when the mission of your organization has changed, and how to know when it’s time to go.

You can get 10% off Vanessa’s book Surviving Change at Work by entering the code BETTER10 at checkout

Bio

Vanessa Gennarelli is the principal of Fortuna, a change management firm, and the chief operating officer for Raise.dev. She has led cross-functional teams at rapidly growing organizations, including GitHub Education through its acquisition by Microsoft. While at one of the largest tech companies on the planet, she learned how to navigate cultural differences, integrate new processes, and help direct reports thrive through change.

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Visiting the links below is one of the best ways to support our show:

American Giant: Makers of the best hoodie on the planet, their clothing is American-made, ethically produced, and built to last. What more could you ask for? Save 20% off your first order with American Giant using our promo code DESIGNBETTER at checkout. dbtr.co/americangiant

Uplift Desks: For people like us who spend countless hours at our desk, ergonomics are an essential consideration. A standing desk from Uplift Desk can help you avoid the negative effects of sitting all day by improving circulation and reducing strain. Design Better can get a special deal by visiting UPLIFTDesk.com. Use the code DESIGNBETTER at checkout for 5% off your order. Free shipping, free returns, and an industry-leading 15-year warranty. They’re a great company.

Factor, America’s #1 Ready-To-Eat Meal Delivery Service, can help you fuel up fast for breakfast, lunch, and dinner with chef-prepared, dietitian-approved ready-to-eat meals delivered straight to your door. You’ll save time, eat well, and stay on track with your healthy lifestyle while tackling all your holiday to-dos. https://factormeals.com/designbetter50 (use code "designbetter50" for 50% off ).

Methodical Coffee: Roasted, blended, brewed, served and perfected by verified coffee nerds 🤓 : https://methodicalcoffee.com (use code "designbetter" for 10% off of your order).

Brain.fm: Music scientifically proven to increase focus. We use it to focus on important work, tap into our creativity, and wind down at night when we need to rest. As a Design Better subscriber, you can take 30% off of your subscription: https://www.brain.fm/designbetter

That’s exactly what we asked Scott Rice, an Emmy-award winning film and television director, who has been teaching film at the University of Texas at Austin for 25 years. He teaches a course called “Script to Screen” with Academy-award winning actor Matthew McConaughey.

We chat with Scott about how to get your creative process unstuck, how to find collaborators that amplify your skills and bring the right energy to a project, and the essential components for telling a compelling story, whether it’s a feature-length movie or short, convincing pitch.

Bio

Scott Rice is an Emmy Award-winning filmmaker and commercial director whose clients include Mastercard, Subway, Vegas Tourism, Shell, Sears and the American Heart Association. He’ s worked with talent like Glenn Close, Brett Favre and Matthew McConaughey with whom he co-teaches a film course at the University of Texas. He’ s collaborated with agencies including JWT, R&R Partners, McGarrah Jessee, Archer Malmo, TM, Commerce House, Fenton and GDC.

Scott’s narrative work holds a staggering film festival record of 300 Official Selections and 85 Awards, including two Student Academy Award nominations. Comedy Central, CBS, Showtime, Hulu, Blockbuster and PBS have distributed his films. He has also directed projects for A&E, the Mental Health Channel, MTV Networks and Sony Pictures.

Design Better “Office Hours” with Automattic: Dave Lockie

This episode is sponsored in part by Automattic, the people behind WordPress.com, Woo, Pocket Casts, Jetpack, and more. Stay tuned after the interview where we chat with Dave Lockie, Web3 Lead at Automattic. Automattic is a fully distributed company with the goal of democratizing publishing and commerce so that anyone with a story can tell it. Dave talks about why he sees crypto as an extension of the heart of open source, and his perspective on how Automattic is a mission-driven business that cares about people's freedoms online.

To learn more about working at Automattic, including current job opportunities, visit dbtr.co/automattic.

***

Subscribe to DB+ (50% off)

Subscribe to DB+ to get episodes a week early and ad-free. Plus, every month, you're invited to exclusive AMAs (Ask Me Anything) with big names in design and tech, from companies like Nike, Netflix, and the New York Times who will answer your questions directly.

Early bird subscribers get 50% off for the first three months. Visit designbetter.plus to learn more and subscribe.

***

Visiting the links below is one of the best ways to support our show:

American Giant: Makers of the best hoodie on the planet, their clothing is American-made, ethically produced, and built to last. What more could you ask for? Save 20% off your first order with American Giant using our promo code DESIGNBETTER at checkout. dbtr.co/americangiant

Uplift Desks: For people like us who spend countless hours at our desk, ergonomics are an essential consideration. A standing desk from Uplift Desk can help you avoid the negative effects of sitting all day by improving circulation and reducing strain. Design Better can get a special deal by visiting UPLIFTDesk.com. Use the code DESIGNBETTER at checkout for 5% off your order. Free shipping, free returns, and an industry-leading 15-year warranty. They’re a great company.

Methodical Coffee: Roasted, blended, brewed, served and perfected by verified coffee nerds 🤓 : https://methodicalcoffee.com (use code "designbetter" for 10% off of your order).

The Marvel Cinematic Universe has dominated the box office and streaming platforms for years, and our guest, Autumn Durald Arkapaw, has played a significant role in shaping the look of the series. Autumn was the cinematographer for Wakanda Forever—the critically acclaimed second Black Panther film—the series Loki released on Disney+, along with a documentary on the Beastie Boys and music videos for Rihanna and Arcade Fire.

We chat with Autumn about her creative process, including any “rules” she has (and when she breaks them), the overlap between photography and design, and how technology including AI and pre-visualization is changing the process of making films and television.

Bio

Autumn Durald Arkapaw grew up in the Bay Area and moved to Los Angeles to complete a course in Art History from Loyola Marymount University. She then went on to study at the American Film Institute before beginning her career as a cinematographer. She has travelled all over the world and worked with both Film Directors, Commercials Projects and Fashion Houses. In 2022, she became a member of the American Society of Cinematographers.

Design Better “Office Hours” with Automattic

This episode is sponsored in part by Automattic, makers of WordPress, which powers more than 40% of all websites around the world. Stay tuned after the interview (or hear the segment in the embedded player below) for a special glimpse inside Automatic, where we chat with Josepha Hayden Chomphosy, Executive Director of the WordPress Project, about the advantages of open source and what makes Automatic a special work environment.

***

Visiting the links below is one of the best ways to support our show:

American Giant: Makers of the best hoodie on the planet, their clothing is American-made, ethically produced, and built to last. What more could you ask for? Save 20% off your first order with American Giant using our promo code DESIGNBETTER at checkout. dbtr.co/americangiant

Uplift Desks: For people like us who spend countless hours at our desk, ergonomics are an essential consideration. A standing desk from Uplift Desk can help you avoid the negative effects of sitting all day by improving circulation and reducing strain. Design Better can get a special deal by visiting UPLIFTDesk.com. Use the code DESIGNBETTER at checkout for 5% off your order. Free shipping, free returns, and an industry-leading 15-year warranty. They’re a great company.

Factor, America’s #1 Ready-To-Eat Meal Delivery Service, can help you fuel up fast for breakfast, lunch, and dinner with chef-prepared, dietitian-approved ready-to-eat meals delivered straight to your door. You’ll save time, eat well, and stay on track with your healthy lifestyle while tackling all your holiday to-dos. https://factormeals.com/designbetter50 (use code "designbetter50" for 50% off ).

Heath Ceramics: We love Heath Ceramics. They're the types of objects you pass on from generation to generation, the kind of gift you bring to a wedding, or the dishes that you'd want to put on a beautiful Thanksgiving table: dbtr.co/heathceramics get 15% off between now and December 31st with code DBholiday23

Methodical Coffee: Roasted, blended, brewed, served and perfected by verified coffee nerds 🤓 : https://methodicalcoffee.com (use code "designbetter" for 10% off of your order).

Brain.fm: Music scientifically proven to increase focus. We use it to focus on important work, tap into our creativity, and wind down at night when we need to rest. As a Design Better subscriber, you can take 30% off of your subscription: https://www.brain.fm/designbetter

We love Heath Ceramics. They're the types of objects you pass on from generation to generation, the kind of gift you bring to a wedding, or the dishes that you'd want to put on a beautiful holiday table.

Speaking of which, If you have a little holiday money to spend, you can support our show, bring Heath home and get 15% off between now and December 31st . Just go to dbtr.co/heathceramics and use code DBholiday23.

***

If you’re a fan of architecture and design, you’re probably familiar with the mid-century modern movement. It brought a simple, clean aesthetic inspired by the Bauhaus and International movements to the US. Heath Ceramics, founded by Edith Heath in 1948 and influenced by mid-century modern principles, is still making beautiful hand-crafted tableware and architectural tile in Sausalito, California. 

We wanted to chat with Heath’s current owner, Robin Petravic, to find out how they approach designing within the legacy of the Heath brand, as well as the story of how he and his partner and co-owner Catherine Bailey came to be owners of the company. 

We also talk with Robin about how the pandemic affected their business, and some of the collaborative challenges and opportunities they faced in transitioning to a hybrid-remote scenario.

***

Visiting the links below is one of the best ways to support our show:

American Giant: Makers of the best hoodie on the planet, their clothing is American-made, ethically produced, and built to last. What more could you ask for? Save 20% off your first order with American Giant using our promo code DESIGNBETTER at checkout. dbtr.co/americangiant

Uplift Desks: For people like us who spend countless hours at our desk, ergonomics are an essential consideration. A standing desk from Uplift Desk can help you avoid the negative effects of sitting all day by improving circulation and reducing strain. Design Better can get a special deal by visiting UPLIFTDesk.com. Use the code DESIGNBETTER at checkout for 5% off your order. Free shipping, free returns, and an industry-leading 15-year warranty. They’re a great company.

Factor, America’s #1 Ready-To-Eat Meal Delivery Service, can help you fuel up fast for breakfast, lunch, and dinner with chef-prepared, dietitian-approved ready-to-eat meals delivered straight to your door. You’ll save time, eat well, and stay on track with your healthy lifestyle while tackling all your holiday to-dos. https://factormeals.com/designbetter50 (use code "designbetter50" for 50% off ).

Methodical Coffee: Roasted, blended, brewed, served and perfected by verified coffee nerds 🤓 : https://methodicalcoffee.com

(use code "designbetter" for 10% off of your order).

Brain.fm: Music scientifically proven to increase focus. We use it to focus on important work, tap into our creativity, and wind down at night when we need to rest. As a Design Better subscriber, you can take 30% off of your subscription: https://www.brain.fm/designbetter

We bet you don’t know where the term “interaction design” comes from, but Barry Katz does. Katz’s book, Make It New, captures the lost history of digital design that should be required reading for all in the software design industry.

Eli first got to know Barry Katz as a professor at Stanford during his undergrad education in product design, where Barry taught one of his favorite classes: The History and Philosophy of Design. Typically, Eli was drawn toward the more project-based classes where he got to spend late nights in the machine shop making things, but Barry’s humor and knowledge of the depths of design history brought the academic side of design to life for him.

In our conversation with Barry we learned when exactly design became an essential part of technology businesses, and the origin story behind some of the challenges designers commonly have with engineering teams. This is an eye opening episode.

Bio

Barry M. Katz is Professor of Industrial and Interaction Design at California College of the Arts, Consulting Professor in the Design Group, Department of Mechancial Engineering, at Stanford University, and Fellow at IDEO, Inc. He is coauthor of Change by Design, with Tim Brown, and NONOBJECT, with Branko Lukić (MIT Press).

***

Subscribe to DB+ to get episodes a week early and ad-free. Plus, every month, you're invited to exclusive AMAs (Ask Me Anything) with big names in design and tech, from companies like Nike, Netflix, and the New York Times who will answer your questions directly.

Early bird subscribers get 50% off for the first three months. Visit designbetter.plus to learn more and subscribe.

***

Visiting the links below is one of the best ways to support our show:

American Giant: Makers of the best hoodie on the planet, their clothing is American-made, ethically produced, and built to last. What more could you ask for? Save 20% off your first order with American Giant using our promo code DESIGNBETTER at checkout. dbtr.co/americangiant

Uplift Desks: For people like us who spend countless hours at our desk, ergonomics are an essential consideration. A standing desk from Uplift Desk can help you avoid the negative effects of sitting all day by improving circulation and reducing strain. Design Better can get a special deal by visiting UPLIFTDesk.com. Use the code DESIGNBETTER at checkout for 5% off your order. Free shipping, free returns, and an industry-leading 15-year warranty. They’re a great company.

Factor, America’s #1 Ready-To-Eat Meal Delivery Service, can help you fuel up fast for breakfast, lunch, and dinner with chef-prepared, dietitian-approved ready-to-eat meals delivered straight to your door. You’ll save time, eat well, and stay on track with your healthy lifestyle while tackling all your holiday to-dos. https://factormeals.com/designbetter50 (use code "designbetter50" for 50% off ).

Heath Ceramics: We love Heath Ceramics. They're the types of objects you pass on from generation to generation, the kind of gift you bring to a wedding, or the dishes that you'd want to put on a beautiful Thanksgiving table: dbtr.co/heathceramics get 15% off between now and December 31st with code DBholiday23

Methodical Coffee: Roasted, blended, brewed, served and perfected by verified coffee nerds 🤓 : https://methodicalcoffee.com (use code "designbetter" for 10% off of your order).

Brain.fm: Music scientifically proven to increase focus. We use it to focus on important work, tap into our creativity, and wind down at night when we need to rest. As a Design Better subscriber, you can take 30% off of your subscription: https://www.brain.fm/designbetter

The sound and movement of a split flap display mesmerizes us like few things can. There’s a charm to these things. Travelers linger in front of them in train stations anticipating new information, happy to stick around to watch the magic.

Dorrian Porter’s encounter with a split flap display in Paris inspired a product idea that would later turn into a company—Vestaboard.

In our interview with Dorrian, we learn about the arc of his career, from corporate lawyer to serial entrepreneur, co-founding two software companies before taking on the new challenge of a company making a sophisticated hardware product. 

We talk about what inspired him to create Vestaboard, as well as their mission and vision, and how people are using the product in unique ways both at home and in the office.

This is a sponsored bonus episode we’re excited to share as Vestaboard is a brand we love. Their mission to inspire and connect people resonates with us and we think it will with you too.

Why we love Vestaboard

Vestaboard’s mission is to build products that can inspire others, which resonates with us here at Design Better as it aligns with our own mission to educate and inspire.

We also love how the product uses design to connect us to one another. In a world where so many of us, including our kids, are often glued to screens, the Vestaboard creates a space for sharing inspiring quotes or creative imagery that causes us to look up and reflect.

Design Better listeners can get $200 off one of these magical displays from Vestaboard. Visit Vestaboard.com and use the code “DESIGNBETTER” at checkout to save $200.

The Museum of Modern Art brings to mind images of Van Gough’s Starry Night, Salvador Dali’s Persistence of Memory, and Andy Warhol’s Campbell Soup Cans. But thanks to Paola Antonelli, senior curator in the Department of Architecture and Design, MoMA exhibitions also encompass the role design has played in shaping culture and the human experience. 

We talk with Paola about how we can look at digital design through a historic lens, some of the most important design movements in the past 100 years, and how the creative process has evolved through these different movements.

We also talk about the history of the @ symbol, why craftsmanship is necessary to experimentation, and some of the current challenges in design education.

We hope you enjoy this episode which is a part of our series on design history, with upcoming episodes on typography with Jonathan Hoefler, and the history and philosophy of design with Professor Barry Katz.

Bio

Paola Antonelli joined The Museum of Modern Art in 1994 and is the Museum’s Senior Curator in the Department of Architecture and Design, as well as MoMA’s founding Director of Research and Development. Her work investigates design in all its forms, from architecture to video games, often expanding its reach to include overlooked objects and practices.

***

Subscribe to DB+ to get episodes a week early and ad-free. Plus, every month, you're invited to exclusive AMAs (Ask Me Anything) with big names in design and tech, from companies like Nike, Netflix, and the New York Times who will answer your questions directly.

Early bird subscribers get 50% off for the first three months. Visit designbetter.plus to learn more and subscribe.

***

Visiting the links below is one of the best ways to support our show:

American Giant: Makers of the best hoodie on the planet, their clothing is American-made, ethically produced, and built to last. What more could you ask for? Save 20% off your first order with American Giant using our promo code DESIGNBETTER at checkout. dbtr.co/americangiant

Uplift Desks: For people like us who spend countless hours at our desk, ergonomics are an essential consideration. A standing desk from Uplift Desk can help you avoid the negative effects of sitting all day by improving circulation and reducing strain. Design Better can get a special deal by visiting UPLIFTDesk.com. Use the code DESIGNBETTER at checkout for 5% off your order. Free shipping, free returns, and an industry-leading 15-year warranty. They’re a great company.

Factor, America’s #1 Ready-To-Eat Meal Delivery Service, can help you fuel up fast for breakfast, lunch, and dinner with chef-prepared, dietitian-approved ready-to-eat meals delivered straight to your door. You’ll save time, eat well, and stay on track with your healthy lifestyle while tackling all your holiday to-dos. https://factormeals.com/designbetter50 (use code "designbetter50" for 50% off ).

Heath Ceramics: We love Heath Ceramics. They're the types of objects you pass on from generation to generation, the kind of gift you bring to a wedding, or the dishes that you'd want to put on a beautiful Thanksgiving table: dbtr.co/heathceramics get 15% off between now and December 31st with code DBholiday23

Methodical Coffee: Roasted, blended, brewed, served and perfected by verified coffee nerds 🤓 : https://methodicalcoffee.com (use code "designbetter" for 10% off of your order).

Brain.fm: Music scientifically proven to increase focus. We use it to focus on important work, tap into our creativity, and wind down at night when we need to rest. As a Design Better subscriber, you can take 30% off of your subscription: https://www.brain.fm/designbetter

Our show starts with a little sample of the music that fuels our creative work. Eli’s been listening to Tycho, aka Scott Hansen, since 2006. It just happened to coincide with the first time he took the leap into being a creative entrepreneur, starting his own small design consultancy as well as co-founding a magazine about underwater photography. Tycho’s music was a constant, motivating soundtrack to his work, and it has been for the past 17 years.

In our conversation with Scott, we talked about his childhood influences, his enduring nostalgia for the 80s, how graphic design led him to music, and the importance of cultivating attention and observation as a foundation of his creative process.

At the end of the episode, we’ll share a post show discussion with takeaways from the conversation and you’ll get to hear Tycho’s new single, Small Sanctuary. You can find all his music at tychomusic.com.

Bio

Scott Hansen, known professionally as Tycho, is an American musician, record producer, composer, and songwriter based in the San Francisco Bay Area. He is also known as ISO50 for his photographic and design work.

***

DB+ is our new premium service that gives you access to ad-free versions of the show released a week early. Subscribers will be invited to AMA (Ask Me Anything) conversations with big names in design and tech from companies like Nike, Netflix, and The New York Times who will field your questions about compelling topics. 

Early bird subscribers get 50% off for the first three months of DB+. Visit designbetter.plus to learn more and subscribe.

***

Visiting the links below is one of the best ways to support our show:

American Giant: Makers of the best hoodie on the planet, their clothing is American-made, ethically produced, and built to last. What more could you ask for? Save 20% off your first order with American Giant using our promo code DESIGNBETTER at checkout. dbtr.co/americangiant

Factor, America’s #1 Ready-To-Eat Meal Delivery Service, can help you fuel up fast for breakfast, lunch, and dinner with chef-prepared, dietitian-approved ready-to-eat meals delivered straight to your door. You’ll save time, eat well, and stay on track with your healthy lifestyle while tackling all your holiday to-dos. https://factormeals.com/designbetter50 (use code "designbetter50" for 50% off ).

Heath Ceramics: We love Heath Ceramics. They're the types of objects you pass on from generation to generation, the kind of gift you bring to a wedding, or the dishes that you'd want to put on a beautiful Thanksgiving table: dbtr.co/heathceramics

Methodical Coffee: Roasted, blended, brewed, served and perfected by verified coffee nerds 🤓 : https://methodicalcoffee.com (use code "designbetter" for 10% off of your order).

Brain.fm: Music scientifically proven to increase focus. We use it to focus on important work, tap into our creativity, and wind down at night when we need to rest. As a Design Better subscriber, you can take 30% off of your subscription: https://www.brain.fm/designbetter

Freehand by InVision: The intelligent whiteboard that's half the price of Miro and Mural: https://freehandapp.com

Help us make the show even better by taking a short survey: www.dbtr.co/survey

If you're interested in sponsoring the show, please contact us at: sponsors@thecuriositydepartment.com

If you'd like to submit a guest idea, please contact us at: contact@thecuriositydepartment.com

October is dyslexia awareness month, and we were recently introduced to Gil Gershoni, who is on a mission to help us all recognize dyslexia as a creative superpower.

Gershoni runs an influential agency that’s been reshaping brands with the power of dyslexic design thinking for decades.

One in five people have dyslexia, and there are many other kinds of neurodivergent thinkers out there.

We hope this bonus episode opens your eyes to other modes of creative thinking. Thanks for listening.

Books & Links

• The Dyslexic Advantage
• The Bigger Picture Book of Dyslexics and the Things They Do
• Dyslexic Design Thinking Podcast

Bio

Gil Gershoni is the founder and creative director of Gershoni Creative in San Francisco and Dallas.

For more than 25 years, Gil has worked with clients like Google, Apple, Spotify, Deloitte, Patrón, San Francisco Art Institute, BBC and Nike, and he has presented at the Whitney Biennial, Sundance Film Festival, South by Southwest, Vancouver Institute of Media Arts, Contemporary Jewish Museum and San Francisco Design Week.

Gil is an advocate for the reframing of dyslexia as a hyper-ability and regularly speaks on neurodiversity’s influence on design thinking.

***

Last week we launched DB+, our new premium service that gives you access to ad-free versions of the show released a week early. Subscribers will be invited to AMA (Ask Me Anything) conversations with big names in design and tech from companies like Nike, Netflix, and The New York Times who will field your questions about compelling topics. 

Early bird subscribers get 50% off for the first three months. Visit designbetter.plus to learn more and subscribe.

***

isiting the links below is one of the best ways to support our show:

American Giant: Makers of the best hoodie on the planet, their clothing is American-made, ethically produced, and built to last. What more could you ask for? Save 20% off your first order with American Giant using our promo code DESIGNBETTER at checkout. dbtr.co/americangiant

Heath Ceramics: We love Heath Ceramics. They're the types of objects you pass on from generation to generation, the kind of gift you bring to a wedding, or the dishes that you'd want to put on a beautiful Thanksgiving table: dbtr.co/heathceramics

Methodical Coffee: Roasted, blended, brewed, served and perfected by verified coffee nerds 🤓 : https://methodicalcoffee.com

(use code "designbetter" for 10% off of your order).

Brain.fm: Music scientifically proven to increase focus. We use it to focus on important work, tap into our creativity, and wind down at night when we need to rest. As a Design Better subscriber, you can take 30% off of your subscription: https://www.brain.fm/designbetter

***

Help us make the show even better by taking a short survey: www.dbtr.co/survey

If you're interested in sponsoring the show, please contact us at: sponsors@thecuriositydepartment.com

If you'd like to submit a guest idea, please contact us at: contact@thecuriositydepartment.com

Not many bands hire Russian pilots to film a Zero-G video on their cosmonaut training plane, known as the “vomit comet”. But those are the kinds of extremes that OK Go will go to in the pursuit of creativity.

Tim Nordwind and Damien Kulash, the band’s founders, met at camp as pre-teens in search of a fellow creative nerd, and founded the band in 1998. Over the past 25 years, they’ve created 3 Grammy-nominated music videos, and won Best Music Video for Here It Goes Again.

From the perfectly timed explosions filmed in slow-motion for their song The One Moment, to the immensely elaborate Rube Goldberg contraption they created for This Too Shall Pass, OK Go is almost like a performance-art troupe that just happens to be a fantastic rock band.

In this episode on the creative process, we talk to Tim and Damian about how they come up with ideas, the macro and micro elements of their creativity, and achieving the impossible.

One more thing…last week we launched DB+, our new premium service that gives you access to ad-free versions of the show released a week early. Subscribers will be invited to AMA (Ask Me Anything) conversations with big names in design and tech from companies like Nike, Netflix, and The New York Times who will field your questions about compelling topics. 

Early bird subscribers get 50% off for the first three months. Visit designbetter.plus to learn more and subscribe.

***

Visiting the links below is one of the best ways to support our show:

American Giant: Makers of the best hoodie on the planet, their clothing is American-made, ethically produced, and built to last. What more could you ask for? Save 20% off your first order with American Giant using our promo code DESIGNBETTER at checkout. dbtr.co/americangiant

Heath Ceramics: We love Heath Ceramics. They're the types of objects you pass on from generation to generation, the kind of gift you bring to a wedding, or the dishes that you'd want to put on a beautiful Thanksgiving table: dbtr.co/heathceramics

Methodical Coffee: Roasted, blended, brewed, served and perfected by verified coffee nerds 🤓 : https://methodicalcoffee.com

(use code "designbetter" for 10% off of your order).

Brain.fm: Music scientifically proven to increase focus. We use it to focus on important work, tap into our creativity, and wind down at night when we need to rest. As a Design Better subscriber, you can take 30% off of your subscription: https://www.brain.fm/designbetter

Paula’s work and kinetic typography sits in the canon of graphic design history. Described as the “master conjurer of the instantly familiar,” Scher straddles the line between pop culture and fine art in her work.

She’s been a partner at Pentagram since 1991 where she has led the redesign of numerous major brands including Citi and Tiffany & Co.

One other fun story from the show…we learn the real backstory behind the Citibank logo that Paula created, and the story isn’t the same one you’ll find if you Google it.

This is the second episode of our series on design history, to be followed by interviews with legendary designers like Jonathan Hoefler, design curators like Paola Antonelli, and design historians like Barry Katz.

After the interview, stay tuned for another special conversation with Heath Ceramics, which was founded by Edith Heath in the 1940s and played a major role in defining the mid-century modern aesthetic.

Learn about the origins of Heath Ceramics and bring the history home with a special discount that we'll share at the end of the conversation.

Heath Ceramics is one of our sponsors for this series on design history. Bring Heath home and take 15% off your online order using code “DesignBetter” between now and October 31st.Heath Ceramics is one of our sponsors for this series on design history. Bring Heath home and take 15% off your online order using code “DesignBetter” between now and October 31st.

***

Visiting the links below is one of the best ways to support our show:

Heath Ceramics: We love Heath Ceramics. They're the types of objects you pass on from generation to generation, the kind of gift you bring to a wedding, or the dishes that you'd want to put on a beautiful Thanksgiving table. You can support our show, bring Heath home and take 15% off your online order using code “DesignBetter” between now and October 31st: dbtr.co/heathceramics

American Giant: Makers of the best hoodie on the planet, their clothing is American-made, ethically produced, and built to last. What more could you ask for? Save 20% off your first order with American Giant using our promo code DESIGNBETTER at checkout. dbtr.co/americangiant

Methodical Coffee: Roasted, blended, brewed, served and perfected by verified coffee nerds 🤓 : https://methodicalcoffee.com (use code "designbetter" for 10% off of your order).

Brain.fm: Music scientifically proven to increase focus. We use it to focus on important work, tap into our creativity, and wind down at night when we need to rest. As a Design Better subscriber, you can take 30% off of your subscription: https://www.brain.fm/designbetter

Freehand by InVision: The intelligent whiteboard that's half the price of Miro and Mural: https://freehandapp.com

***

Help us make the show even better by taking a short survey: www.dbtr.co/survey

If you're interested in sponsoring the show, please contact us at: sponsors@thecuriositydepartment.com

If you'd like to submit a guest idea, please contact us at: contact@thecuriositydepartment.com

We’ve got a special bonus episode for you today. Matt D. Smith, better known as MDS, is the founder of Shift Nudge, and he has a mission to lead a new generation of interface designers to build the digital products of the future.

Matt’s courses on Shift Nudge have helped thousands of students at top companies like Apple, Figma, Lyft, Slack, and more, learn the visual skills of interface design, even when they didn’t start with a design background. 

In today’s episode, we talk about the elements of a great UI, typography, color theory, and where people often go wrong in UI design.

One more thing before we get to the show. Design Better listeners can get access to 3 free lessons from shift nudge for a limited time. Just go to shiftnudge.com/designbetter to get free access.

Bio

Matt D Smith earned his BFA in Graphic Design from UGA in 2005 and has specialized in interface design ever since. He’s led projects around the world, served as an adjunct design professor, guest lectured at Harvard, and taught workshops at conferences all over the US.

***

Visiting the links below is one of the best ways to support our show:

Heath Ceramics: We love Heath Ceramics. They're the types of objects you pass on from generation to generation, the kind of gift you bring to a wedding, or the dishes that you'd want to put on a beautiful Thanksgiving table. You can support our show, bring Heath home and take 15% off your online order using code “DesignBetter” between now and October 31st: dbtr.co/heathceramics

American Giant: Makers of the best hoodie on the planet, their clothing is American-made, ethically produced, and built to last. What more could you ask for? Save 20% off your first order with American Giant using our promo code DESIGNBETTER at checkout. dbtr.co/americangiant

Methodical Coffee: Roasted, blended, brewed, served and perfected by verified coffee nerds 🤓 : https://methodicalcoffee.com/ (use code "designbetter" for 10% off of your order).

Brain.fm: Music scientifically proven to increase focus. We use it to focus on important work, tap into our creativity, and wind down at night when we need to rest. As a Design Better subscriber, you can take 30% off of your subscription: https://www.brain.fm/designbetter

Freehand by InVision: The intelligent whiteboard that's half the price of Miro and Mural: https://freehandapp.com/

***

Help us make the show even better by taking a short survey: www.dbtr.co/survey

If you're interested in sponsoring the show, please contact us at: sponsors@thecuriositydepartment.com

If you'd like to submit a guest idea, please contact us at: contact@thecuriositydepartment.com

Mid century modern design aesthetics are enduring and as relevant today as ever. Perhaps no designers influenced those philosophies more than Charles and Ray Eames whose body of work transcends media and is still being produced today.

It’s hard not to think of the Eames’ as monolithic design heroes, but today we’re taking a different look at them as human beings. We’re talking with Llisa Demetrios, Chief Curator of the Eames Institute and the granddaughter of Charles and Ray.  

In this interview, we get to know some of the personal stories behind the legendary designers, from how they met, to Llisa’s experience having two of the most creative grandparents a child could wish for.

This is the first episode of our series on design history, to be followed by interviews with legendary designers like Paula Scher and Jonathan Hoefler, design curators like Paola Antonelli, and design historians like Barry Katz.

After the interview, stay tuned for a special conversation with Heath Ceramics, founded by Edith Heath in the 1940s and which played a major role in defining the mid-century modern aesthetic.

Learn about the origins of Heath Ceramics and bring the history home with a special discount that we'll share at the end of the conversation.

Heath Ceramics is one of our sponsors for this series on design history. Bring Heath home and take 15% off your online order using code “DesignBetter” between now and October 31st.

Bio

Llisa Demetrios is the Chief Curator for the Eames Institute, a non-profit 501(c)(3) public charity that aims to equip everyone with the lessons of Ray and Charles Eames, so that anyone can solve problems through design.

Llisa has also been a bronze sculptor for over twenty years. She makes mainly in bronze material sculptures for contemplative retreats set in homes, private gardens and corporate spaces.

Additionally, Llisa has worked as an archivist for both the Eames Office and MOMA.

Please visit the links below to help support our show:

Methodical Coffee: Roasted, blended, brewed, served and perfected by verified coffee nerds 🤓 : https://methodicalcoffee.com/

(use code "designbetter" for 10% off of your order).

Brain.fm: Music scientifically proven to increase focus. We use it to focus on important work, tap into our creativity, and wind down at night when we need to rest. As a Design Better subscriber, you can take 30% off of your subscription: https://www.brain.fm/designbetter

Freehand by InVision: The intelligent whiteboard that's half the price of Miro and Mural: https://freehandapp.com/

Help us make the show even better by taking a short survey: www.dbtr.co/survey

If you're interested in sponsoring the show, please contact us at: sponsors@thecuriositydepartment.com

If you'd like to submit a guest idea, please contact us at: contact@thecuriositydepartment.com

Ed has a background in computer science, and as someone who pioneered many of the computer graphics and digital animation techniques that we now take for granted, he has a unique perspective on the intersection of technology and creativity.

We chat with Ed about his transition from creating things himself, to leading creative teams; the elements of a sustainable creative culture, and how to give people feedback so they’ll actually listen to you.

Ed also collaborated with Steve Jobs longer than probably anyone else who knew him—for over 30 years—and we hear some stories that haven’t been told anywhere else. 

One more quick thing before we go: we have some amazing guests lined up for our upcoming AMAs, like Judy Wert Debbie Millman, which are filling up quickly. Go to our events page and you can register for free.

Show notes: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/ed-catmull-the-journey-from-lucasfilm#details

Bio

Dr. Ed Catmull is co-founder of Pixar Animation Studios and the former president of Pixar, Walt Disney Animation Studios, and Disneytoon Studios. For over twenty-five years, Pixar has dominated the world of animation, producing #1 box office hits that include iconic works such as Toy Story, Frozen, Cars, and The Incredibles. Pixar’s works have grossed more than $14 billion at the worldwide box office, and won twenty-three Academy Awards®, 10 Golden Globes Awards, and 11 Grammys, among countless other achievements.

Dr. Ed Catmull’s book Creativity, Inc.—co-written with journalist Amy Wallace and years in the making—is a distillation of the ideas and management principles he has used to develop a creative culture. A book for managers who want to encourage a growth mindset and lead their employees to new heights, it also grants readers an all-access trip into the nerve center of Pixar Animation Studios—into the meetings, postmortems, and “Braintrust” sessions where some of the most successful films in history have been made.

Dr. Catmull has been honored with five Academy Awards®, including an Oscar of Lifetime Achievement for his technical contributions and leadership in the field of computer graphics for the motion picture industry. He also has been awarded the Turing Award by the world’s largest society of computing professionals, the Association for Computing Machinery, for his work on three-dimensional computer graphics.

Please visit the links below to help support our show:

Methodical Coffee: Roasted, blended, brewed, served and perfected by verified coffee nerds 🤓 : https://methodicalcoffee.com/products/design-better-coffee

(use code "designbetter" for 10% off of your order).

Brain.fm: Music scientifically proven to increase focus. We use it to focus on important work, tap into our creativity, and wind down at night when we need to rest. As a Design Better subscriber, you can take 30% off of your subscription: https://www.brain.fm/designbetter

We’ll speak with guests like Ed Catmull, co-founder of Pixar; Autumn Durald Arkapaw, cinematographer for Loki and Wakanda Forever, and OK Go, one of the most creative bands in the world right now. Before we get there though, we have a very special guest for you.

You may have first heard of David Sedaris from his annual reading of The Santaland Diaries on National Public Radio in the U.S., a story that chronicles his misadventures as Crumpet the holiday elf, and has been a holiday tradition for over 30 years.

Or, if you’re like us, you may have gotten to know him from some of his early books like Naked. And if you don’t know David Sedaris, you’re in for a real treat. We chat with David about his acute powers of observation, how he prototypes his essays in front of live audiences, and whether fear exists in his creative process.

One quick announcement before we get started. We’re continuing to explore new ways to help you learn, grow your career, hone your craft, and get inspired here at Design Better. As part of that, we’d like to invite you to 3 free AMAs (“Ask Me Anything”) with some amazing experts: 

First, on September 21st, Dan Mall, founder of Design System University, who’s helped companies ranging from Eventbrite, to Nike, to United Airlines, develop and deploy sustainable design systems will share what he’s learned to help designers get the respect they deserve while scaling digital products sustainable.

Next, on September 28th, Judy Wert, co-founder of Wert & Co, who has been guiding the careers of top designers through ups and downs in the job market, will join us for an open discussion where you can ask questions, get career guidance, and gain perspective on the challenging design and tech job landscape.

Finally, on October 4th, Debbie Millman, host of Design Matters —the first podcast about design, and one of the longest running shows in the world—will be with us and you’ll have a chance to ask one of the best interviewers in the world what inspires her and what she’s learned about creativity over the course of her career.

For more details and to sign up for free to each AMA, go to dbtr.co/AMA2023.

Bio

David Sedaris is the author of Barrel Fever and Holidays on Ice, as well as collections of personal essays, Naked, Me Talk Pretty One Day, Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim, When You Are Engulfed in Flames, and his most recent book, Let’s Explore Diabetes with Owls, each of which became an immediate bestseller.

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Thank you for your support!

In this special bonus episode, renowned scholar and author Don Norman (The Design of Everyday Things, Design for a Better World) leads a discussion with recognized design leaders about how design can and should play a role in solving the biggest challenges of humanity today. This conversation was recorded at a live online event August 17, 2023 produced by the UX Design Institute. Panelists who participated in the conversation with Don Norman include Brenda Laurel (researcher, writer, and consultant), Irene Au (Design partner at Khosla Ventures and former Design Better guest), and our own Aarron Walter. Gareth Dunlop is the MC of the event.In this hour-long conversation the panelists discuss:

• The role of design in understanding and navigating our current socio-economic challenges
• How to think about design and UX as humanity-centered versus human-centered
• How to harness the power of design in creating a better future for all of us

Learn more about the UX Design Institute, the gold standard in UX education at:

https://www.uxdesigninstitute.com/

Get Don Norman’s new book Designing for a Better World at: https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262047951/design-for-a-better-world/

Show notes: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/ole-lutjens-evidence-based-design

What was it like to lead product design at Disney through the creation of Disney+, one of its biggest launches in the digital age? And how did a designer from Germany become a design leader for Major League Baseball, when he knew almost nothing about the sport? 

We talk to Ole Lütjens, former VP of Product Design at Disney, about the arc of his career, from his early days in the electronic music scene through his roles at MLB Advanced Media, Hulu and Disney. We also talk about evidence-based design, the Nemawashi method, and why designer storytelling can be too fast.

Bio

Ole Lütjens is a design executive with over 25 years of experience building and leading product design teams. He was formerly the Vice President of Product Design at Disney Streaming where he oversaw UX for Disney+, Hulu and Star+.

Throughout his career, he’s been generating and implementing new ideas about the design and technology of content interaction. He’s interested in new models of experience and storytelling and has been fortunate to work with thought leaders in diverse industries on the cutting edge of technology since the 90s. 

This episode is brought to you by:

Methodical Coffee: Roasted, blended, brewed, served and perfected by verified coffee nerds 🤓 : https://methodicalcoffee.com/

(use code "designbetter" for 10% off of your order).

Freehand by InVision: The intelligent whiteboard that's half the price of Miro and Mural: https://freehandapp.com/

Help us make the show even better by taking a short survey: www.dbtr.co/survey

If you're interested in sponsoring the show, please contact us at: sponsors@thecuriositydepartment.com

If you'd like to submit a guest idea, please contact us at: contact@thecuriositydepartment.com

Show notes: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/georg-petschnigg-product-design-and#details

***

The New York Times has gone through many challenges and evolutions during its storied history. Founded in 1851—when it was called the New-York Daily Times—it faced draft riots during the Civil War, received the first telegraph transmission from a naval battle in 1904, and was involved in libel suits in the 1960’s that helped establish freedom of the press through the US Supreme Court

But it’s within the past 25 years or so that the “Newspaper of Record” has undergone some of its most radical transformations: shifting much of its focus away from the printed page to the web and app ecosystem, and expanding into food with NYT Cooking, consumer product reviews with The Wirecutter, and podcasts with The Daily.

Today we chat with Georg Petschnigg, SVP of Product Design at the New York Times, about what it takes to balance the tension between the rich legacy of the Times with the rapidly evolving digital landscape. We also talk about designing across products and platforms for a more unified experience, creating a tight coupling between design and engineering, and what the future holds for news products in a world where AI and ML can facilitate content creation but also manufacture deception.

Before we get to the show, we wanted to let you know about a cool project that our friend Felix Lee started called ADPList.

If you’re early in your career, or if you’re in the midst of a transition, you might want to connect with top-notch professionals in design.

Well, now you can now tap into the knowledge and wisdom of some of the most prominent figures in the design industry. And best of all, it's completely free! 

ADPList is a community platform on a mission to democratize mentorship for all, with over 16,000 verified mentors contributing worldwide; opening up an entire world of possibilities for mentorship and networking.

Join ADPList today—for free—and accelerate your career growth.

Visit https://dbtr.co/adplist

Bio

Georg Petschnigg is an executive, entrepreneur, and product leader. He feels most comfortable at the intersection of design, technology, and business. He currently serves as Head of Product Design at The New York Times.

Throughout his career, he’s created products that changed how people work, create, and see the world. He believes technology needs to serve the human need to create. 

Georg co-founded FiftyThree in 2011 and served as CEO until WeTransfer’s acquisition in 2018. FiftyThree are the makers of Paper®, the fast and beautiful productivity app for getting ideas down, Paste® the fastest way for teams to share and gather around their ideas, and Pencil, the award-winning stylus. Internationally recognized for design excellence and innovation, they’ve received awards from Apple, IDSA, Communication Arts, and IxDA. FiftyThree’s products reach more than 30 Million creative thinkers worldwide and defined mobile creativity. 

This episode is brought to you by:

Methodical Coffee: Roasted, blended, brewed, served and perfected by verified coffee nerds 🤓 : https://methodicalcoffee.com/

(use code "designbetter" for 10% off of your order).

Help us make the show even better by taking a short survey: www.dbtr.co/survey

If you're interested in sponsoring the show, please contact us at: sponsors@thecuriositydepartment.com

If you'd like to submit a guest idea, please contact us at: contact@thecuriositydepartment.com

Links

Georg Petschnigg on Design Matters by Debbie Millman

Hi Folks-

We hope that everyone is enjoying their summer so far. We’re taking a few weeks off to be with our families, and to prepare for an exciting announcement that we plan to share soon. In the meantime, we’re rewinding to one of our favorite episodes with Eileen Fisher, founder of her eponymous fashion brand Eileen Fisher, Inc. Enjoy the episode, and we’ll see you in a few weeks.

You can subscribe to our Substack to receive episodes a week early, our monthly newsletter with job opportunities and career advice, and more bonus content: https://designbetterpodcast.com/

We’d also like to give a huge thank you and shout-out to our sponsors so far this season. Please help us continue to bring you great guests by visiting the links below:

Fable: Build inclusive products: https://makeitfable.com/designbetter/

Methodical Coffee: Roasted, blended, brewed, served and perfected by verified coffee nerds 🤓 : https://methodicalcoffee.com/ (use code "designbetter" for 10% off of your order).

Freehand by InVision: The intelligent whiteboard that's half the price of Miro and Mural: https://freehandapp.com/

Cruise: Cruise is a team of researchers and designers creating a self-driving transportation service for the people and cities we love. Visit design.getcruise.com to learn more about how you can help design the future of transportation!

In his book The Laws of Simplicity, John Maeda says that “simplicity is about subtracting the obvious, and adding the meaningful.” Our final guest this season, Eileen Fisher, is a master at making the simple, meaningful.

Eileen is the founder of her eponymous and iconic fashion brand Eileen Fisher, Inc., which is known for its ethical & sustainable practices, and elegant yet simple clothing. She started the company in 1984, and grew it from her first sale of $3000, to annual revenue of over $300 million.

We speak with Eileen about her design principles, how she thinks about form, function, and sustainability, and how systems thinking has helped her develop a brand that stands the test of time.

We’re so glad you joined us for the sixth season of our show, and hope you were inspired along the way. Stay tuned for the next season, and in the meantime, we’ll be sharing some of our best episodes from past seasons, in case you missed them. Thanks for listening.

Bio 

Eileen Fisher founded her women's fashion brand in 1984, with $350 of startup money. It's since grown into a company with over 1200 employees and hundreds of millions of dollars a year in revenue.

The company focuses on producing simple, timeless clothing, with sustainability initiatives including selling used pieces in excellent condition, resold through their Renew take-back program, as well as a Waste No More program which transforms damaged clothes into a new felted fabric, used to create wall hangings, pillows, and other accessories.

“Management is a job, whereas leadership is a quality you have to earn,” as we learned way back in Episode 21 from our guest Julie Zhuo. Today, we’re diving deeper into the topic of leadership with Donna Lichaw, author of the new book The Leader's Journey: Transforming Your Leadership To Achieve the Extraordinary Donna is also the author of The User's Journey: Storymapping Products That People Love. 

We chat with Donna about why leadership often gets conflated with management, how to find your own narrative, and why your product isn’t the hero. One more thing before we get to the show: our newsletter this month is going to feature a new column by Margaret Lee, who founded the UX Community & Culture program for Google's global User Experience organization, and who is now an executive and leadership coach.

If you’re looking for solid leadership advice from someone who’s been in the trenches, subscribe at designbetterpodcast.com so you get the newsletter when it comes out later this month. Thanks for subscribing, and for listening.

Bio

Donna Lichaw is an executive coach, keynote speaker, and author of the bestselling books, The User’s Journey and much-awaited follow-up, The Leader’s Journey. She helps high-growth startup CEOs, tech executives, and senior leadership teams scale their leadership so that they can amplify their business growth and make a positive impact in the world.

Before coaching, she was a product leader and consultant working with some of the most successful companies on the planet. What she found was that teams would bring her in to help solve product problems…and that their biggest challenges were actually people problems that could be easily solved with a little bit of design thinking, psychology, and ingenuity.

This episode is brought to you by:

Fable: Build inclusive products: https://makeitfable.com/designbetter/

Methodical Coffee: Roasted, blended, brewed, served and perfected by verified coffee nerds: https://methodicalcoffee.com/

(use code "designbetter" for 10% off of your order).

Freehand by InVision: The intelligent whiteboard that's half the price of Miro and Mural: https://freehandapp.com/

Help us make the show even better by taking a short survey: www.dbtr.co/survey

If you're interested in sponsoring the show, please contact us at: sponsors@thecuriositydepartment.com

If you'd like to submit a guest idea, please contact us at: contact@thecuriositydepartment.com

Links

• SCARF: Status, Certainty, Autonomy, Relatedness, Fairness
• The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting Up a Generation for Failure by Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt

Our guest today, Robert Brunner, once joked that his tombstone will say: “Here lies the guy who hired Jonathan Ive.” But there’s much more to Robert than that. He did indeed build out the industrial design team at Apple in the 90’s, but he’s also been a partner at Pentagram Design, and was the chief designer of Beats by Dr. Dre, a brand that sold to Apple for $3 billion dollars.

We talk with Robert about the arc of his career, what it takes to run a successful design consulting business, and why great products are more about ideas than objects.

Before we get to the episode, we’ve got something new to share. We just released the first issue of our monthly newsletter. It includes a guest post from April Luelling, former Senior Product Design Recruiter and Program Manager at Meta, who shares tips on working with recruiters as well as current job openings in the design world. We also share highlights from some of our recent interviews, and links to interesting tools and summer reads. 

You can subscribe for free to the newsletter, and also get the podcast a week early, at designbetterpodcast.com. Thanks for subscribing, and for listening.

Bio

Robert Brunner is an industrial design leader with broad experience in consumer electronics, personal computers, communications, and appliance industries. He was the co-founder of Lunar Design and former Director of Industrial Design at Apple Computer. Robert was also a Partner at Pentagram Design in San Francisco, after which he formed Ammunition LLC, a product design and brand development group in San Francisco, CA. He co-authored the book Do you matter? How great design will make people love your company, published by Financial Times Press.

This episode is brought to you by:

Fable: Build inclusive products: https://makeitfable.com/designbetter/

Methodical Coffee: Roasted, blended, brewed, served and perfected by verified coffee nerds:

https://methodicalcoffee.com/

(use code "designbetter" for 10% off of your order).

Cruise: Cruise is a team of researchers and designers creating a self-driving transportation service for the people and cities we love. Visit design.getcruise.com to learn more about how you can help design the future of transportation!

Freehand by InVision: The intelligent whiteboard that's half the price of Miro and Mural:

https://freehandapp.com/

Help us make the show even better by taking a short survey: www.dbtr.co/survey

If you're interested in sponsoring the show, please contact us at: sponsors@thecuriositydepartment.com

If you'd like to submit a guest idea, please contact us at: contact@thecuriositydepartment.com

Links

Rethinking Everyday Things - Robert Brunner keynote

How Design Drives The World's Best Companies w/ Robert Brunner | Chase Jarvis LIVE

Do You Matter? Robert Brunner, Stewart Emery, Russ Hall

Today we welcome back John Maeda, who is currently Vice President of Design and Artificial Intelligence at Microsoft. You’re probably familiar with John’s work, but if not, take a listen to Episode 42 of this show, where he talks about the arc of his remarkable career.

In today’s episode, we talk with John about his role at Microsoft, what’s most misunderstood about AI, and his optimistic take on what the future holds for designers who embrace these new tools. 

One more thing before we get to the show…if you can take a moment to leave us a review on Apple Podcasts, or rate the show on Spotify, that will help us reach new people. Go ahead and hit the pause button right now and leave your review, we’ll wait for you. 😉 Thank you for listening, and thanks for your support.

Bio

John Maeda is an American technologist, designer, engineer, artist, investor, author, and teacher. He is currently the VP of Design and Artificial Intelligence at Microsoft. He’s the author of five books including a gentle intro to AI/ML "How To Speak Machine (Penguin)" and the "Laws of Simplicity (MIT Press)."

John is represented in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, NYC, and the Cartier Foundation, Paris. He’s the first recipient of the White House’s National Design Award for algorithmically-generated visualizations informed by data. Maeda serves on the Board of Sonos and the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum. 

He has held positions with Automattic, the parent company of WordPress.com; the venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins; served as president of the Rhode Island School of Design; and began his early career at the MIT Media Lab at the intersection of computer science and visual art. Named as one of the “75 Most Influential People of the 21st Century” by Esquire, Maeda draws on his diverse background as an MIT-trained engineer, award-winning designer, and MBA-community translator to bring people and ideas together at scale. 

***

This episode is brought to you by:

Fable: Build inclusive products: https://makeitfable.com/designbetter/

Methodical Coffee: Roasted, blended, brewed, served and perfected by verified coffee nerds:

https://methodicalcoffee.com/

(use code "designbetter" for 10% off of your order).

Freehand by InVision: The intelligent whiteboard that's half the price of Miro and Mural:

https://freehandapp.com/

Help us make the show even better by taking a short survey: www.dbtr.co/survey

If you're interested in sponsoring the show, please contact us at: sponsors@thecuriositydepartment.com

If you'd like to submit a guest idea, please contact us at: contact@thecuriositydepartment.com

We may not think about it all that often, but the choices that we make often end up defining who we become. Dr. Sheena Iyengar, the S.T. Lee Professor of Business at the Columbia Business School, makes the psychology of choice and decision-making the focus of much of her research. She wrote a best-selling book called The Art of Choosing, and just published a new book called Think Bigger.

We talk about Sheena’s new book, and dive into why decision-making has become a focus of her career. We also have a lively discussion about design thinking and its shortcomings, and talk about some of the myths associated with innovation.

Join our Substack to get access to episodes a week early, post-show discussions, and other bonus content: https://thecuriositydepartment.substack.com/

Bio

Sheena S. Iyengar is the S.T. Lee Professor of Business at the Columbia Business School. She graduated with a B.S. in Economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and received her Ph.D. in Social Psychology from Stanford University.

Dr. Iyengar’s research focuses on the psychology of choice and decision-making, addressing how humans face challenges in a world where they are inundated with options. She has also tackled issues in the business world through the lenses of network analysis and diversity-inspired ideation. She studies the processes used by both groups and individuals in making choices to see how we can improve on innovation, problem-solving, and leveraging business relationships.

Dr. Iyengar currently sits on the board of the Asian University for Women and is looking to expand her work on further board opportunities. She is also a member of the Ashinaga Kenjin-Tatsujin International Advisory Council. She is a blind, first-generation Indian-American who lives in New York City.

***

This episode is brought to you by:

Fable: Build inclusive products: https://makeitfable.com/designbetter/ Freehand by InVision: The intelligent whiteboard that's half the price of Miro and Mural:

https://freehandapp.com/

Methodical Coffee: Roasted, blended, brewed, served and perfected by verified coffee nerds:

https://methodicalcoffee.com/

(use code "designbetter" for 10% off of your order).

Help us make the show even better by taking a short survey: www.dbtr.co/survey

If you're interested in sponsoring the show, please contact us at: sponsors@thecuriositydepartment.com

If you'd like to submit a guest idea, please contact us at: contact@thecuriositydepartment.com

Matt Mullenweg started out as a jazz saxophonist, and went on to create WordPress, which is the platform behind an astonishing 42% of the websites in the world.

We chat with Matt about his journey from musician to developer to entrepreneur, his perspective on distributed work, and his thoughts on the transformative capabilities of the latest generation of Generative Artificial Intelligence.

We also come back to Matt’s roots in jazz and his continued love for music and musicians.

Get the show transcript, bonus content, and access to episodes a week early on our Substack: https://thecuriositydepartment.substack.com/

Bio

(via Wikipedia)

Matthew Mullenweg is an American entrepreneur and web developer living in Houston. He is known for developing and founding the free and open-source web software WordPress, and its parent company Automattic.

After dropping out of the University of Houston, he worked at CNET Networks from 2004 to 2006 until he quit and founded Automattic, an internet company whose brands include WordPress.com, Akismet, Gravatar, VaultPress, IntenseDebate, Crowdsignal, and Tumblr.

 ***

Help us make the show even better by taking a short survey: www.dbtr.co/survey

If you're interested in sponsoring the show, please contact us at: sponsors@thecuriositydepartment.com

If you'd like to submit a guest idea, please contact us at: contact@thecuriositydepartment.com

*** This episode is brought to you by:

Fable: Build inclusive products: https://makeitfable.com/designbetter/ Freehand by InVision: The intelligent whiteboard that's half the price of Miro and Mural:

https://freehandapp.com/

Methodical Coffee: Roasted, blended, brewed, served and perfected by verified coffee nerds:

https://methodicalcoffee.com/

(use code "designbetter" for 10% off of your order).

Cruise: We’re a team of researchers and designers creating a self-driving transportation service for the people and cities we love. Visit design.getcruise.com to learn more about how you can help design the future of transportation!

Not many people can say they’ve gone from being a nuclear engineer to helping design Air Jordans at Nike. But that’s part of Kevin Bethune’s story, and today we chat with him about his journey from engineering to design.

Kevin also published a best-selling book last year called Reimagining Design: Unlocking Strategic Innovation. We talk about what he hoped to learn from writing the book, and discuss a critique of design thinking, the role of rigor in creativity, and the rewards and challenges of working with multidisciplinary teams. Bio

Kevin Bethune is a Design and innovation executive leader serving, scaling and leading creative teams as large as 30+ nationwide, and influencing global teams as large as 70+ in the definition of design functional excellence and innovation best practices while respecting local differences.

He’s also an entrepreneur and founder of dreams • design + life, a “think tank” combining strategic design and industrial design to address human-centric and holistic opportunities to solve latent needs across industries that benefit from integrated physical, digital and service-oriented experiences.

Kevin is a globally recognized speaker who’s given talks at TED, DMI, IDSA, AIGA, MIT, Northwestern, Carnegie Mellon, Notre Dame, ArtCenter, Lucerne, Nike, BCG and Google Design. 

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Help us make the show even better by taking a short survey: www.dbtr.co/survey

If you're interested in sponsoring the show, please contact us at: sponsors@thecuriositydepartment.com

If you'd like to submit a guest idea, please contact us at: contact@thecuriositydepartment.com

* This episode is brought to you by:

Fable: Build inclusive products: https://makeitfable.com/designbetter/ Freehand by InVision: The intelligent whiteboard that's half the price of Miro and Mural: https://freehandapp.com/

Methodical Coffee: Roasted, blended, brewed, served and perfected by verified coffee nerds: https://methodicalcoffee.com/

(use code "designbetter" for 10% off of your order). Athletic Greens: Build a foundation for better health: http://athleticgreens.com/designbetter

For many of us, being the co-creator of two of the most transformative products of the early 21st century—the iPod and iPhone—would be enough for one career. But Tony Fadell was just getting started.

After his time at Apple, Tony went on to start Nest Labs, known for its smart home products like thermostats and fire alarms, which sold to Google for over 3 billion dollars. He’s authored more than 300 patents, and with his newest venture, the Build Collective, he’s investing time and money to help engineers and scientists build a greener world.

He’s also written a book about what he’s learned over the years called Build. In this interview, we chat with him about what some of his early failures taught him, why the best teams are multigenerational, and how to deal with the different types of—for lack of a better word—a*holes you might encounter in your career.

Bio

Tony Fadell started his 30+ year Silicon Valley career at General Magic, the most influential startup nobody has ever heard of. Then he went on to make the iPod and iPhone, start Nest and create the Nest Learning Thermostat. Throughout his career Tony has authored more than 300 patents. He now leads the investment and advisory firm Build Collective, which invests its money and time to help engineers and scientists build a greener world, in which every person enjoys a longer, richer life.

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Help us make the show even better by taking a short survey: www.dbtr.co/survey

If you're interested in sponsoring the show, please contact us at: sponsors@thecuriositydepartment.com

If you'd like to submit a guest idea, please contact us at: contact@thecuriositydepartment.com

*

This episode is brought to you by:

Fable: Build inclusive products: https://makeitfable.com/designbetter/ Freehand by InVision: The intelligent whiteboard that's half the price of Miro and Mural: https://freehandapp.com/

Methodical Coffee: Roasted, blended, brewed, served and perfected by verified coffee nerds: https://methodicalcoffee.com/ (use code "designbetter" for 10% off of your order). Athletic Greens: Build a foundation for better health: http://athleticgreens.com/designbetter

It’s a challenging time in tech right now. Chances are, if you haven’t been directly affected by the layoffs, you know someone—or many people—who have. 

In today’s episode, we’re welcoming back Judy Wert, along with her son and colleague Daniel. At their executive search firm Wert & Co, they’ve guided many leaders through navigating career changes. We discuss the layoffs, and strategies for dealing with changes in your own career when the environment is as difficult as it is right now.

We’ll also discuss what skills you need to cultivate as an individual contributor if you want to advance your career, and the ins-and-outs of transparency when it comes to salary policies. Thanks for joining us, and we hope it’s helpful wherever you are in your career.

Bios

Judy WertJudy has been working with the leadership of innovative companies for over 25 years. She has earned an international reputation as a pivotal force in executive search. A trusted authority in the world of design and business, Judy is also known for bringing an added dimension to her work—a humanistic approach—fostering deep relationships through empathy, intuition, and curiosity. Daniel WertWith an intimate understanding of venture-backed start-ups, Daniel has developed expertise in recruiting at scale, executive search, and in the people operations that hold businesses together. He has spent the last decade in-house, building companies, managing cross-functional teams, and coaching executive leaders to better understand the value of both people and design.

What is the difference between creativity and innovation? What does it take to find your superpowers? How can you become open to embracing failure to learn and grow?

Tina Seelig, Executive Director of the Knight-Hennessy Scholars program at Stanford, has spent a large part of her career answering questions like these, while studying and teaching creativity, leadership, and entrepreneurship.

Tina has a PhD in neuroscience, and we speak with her about how her background influences the way that she approaches these topics. We also discuss how to approach creativity in a corporate environment, and why being a good listener is an underrated superpower that many of us can cultivate.

Bio

Dr. Tina Seelig is Executive Director of Knight-Hennessy Scholars and Emeritus Director of the Stanford Technology Ventures Program at Stanford School of Engineering. She teaches courses on leadership, creativity, innovation, and entrepreneurship at the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design (d.school) at Stanford.

In 2014, Dr. Seelig was honored with the SVForum Visionary Award, and in 2009 she received the Gordon Prize from the National Academy of Engineering, recognizing her as a national leader in engineering education. She also received the 2014 MS&E Award for Graduate Teaching, the 2008 National Olympus Innovation Award, and the 2005 and 2019 Stanford Tau Beta Pi Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching.

Dr. Seelig earned her Ph.D. from Stanford University Medical School in 1985 where she studied Neuroscience. She has worked as a management consultant for Booz, Allen, and Hamilton, as a multimedia producer at Compaq Computer Corporation, and was the founder of a multimedia company called BookBrowser.

She has written 17 popular science books and educational games. Her books include The Epicurean Laboratory and Incredible Edible Science, published by Scientific American; and a series of twelve games called Games for Your Brain, published by Chronicle Books. Her three newest books, published by HarperCollins are What I Wish I Knew When I Was 20, inGenius, and Creativity Rules.

Design Operations, or “Design Ops,” is entering a new era. No longer the new kid on the block, it’s becoming a required discipline in many design organizations. We wanted to catch up to see where design ops is now, so who better to chat with than Meredith Black, a guest from our second season back in 2018.

After leaving Pinterest, where she was head of Design Operations, Meredith co-founded the DesignOps Assembly, which focuses on fostering community, offering educational opportunities, sharing resources, and generating best practices within the DesignOps Industry.

We chat with Meredith about what’s changed with design ops in the past four years, the skills that a person needs to be successful in a design ops role, and what she’s hoping to accomplish with the DesignOps Assembly.

Bio

Meredith Black is the co-founder of DesignOps Assembly and now a consultant working with companies worldwide to implement DesignOps within their organizations.

Prior, Meredith spent five years at Pinterest, where she started and grew the DesignOps team into an internationally renowned team while also being instrumental in growing and building the Pinterest Product Design Team.

You can listen to her discuss DesignOps on an earlier episode of the Design Better Podcast, or check out “The DesignOps Handbook.” Meredith is also the co-host of the Reconsidering Podcast, along with our very own Aarron Walter.

There is probably no better training ground than Nike to learn about creativity as a team sport, and Greg Hoffman, former Chief Marketing Officer of Nike, shares this lesson—along with many other valuable insights—in his new book, Emotion by Design.

In this episode, we chat with Greg about how his childhood shaped the way he thinks about creativity and collaboration, how working in inspiring spaces can influence your work (and how you might accomplish that in a remote environment), and about curiosity as a catalyst for creativity.

Bio

Greg Hoffman is a global brand leader, former NIKE Chief Marketing Officer, and founder and principal of the brand advisory group Modern Arena.

For over 27 years, Greg held marketing, design, and innovation leadership roles at NIKE, including time as the brand’s CMO. In his most recent role as NIKE’s Vice President of Global Brand Innovation, he led teams tasked with envisioning the future of storytelling and consumer experiences for the brand.

Greg oversaw NIKE’s brand communications and experiences as NIKE was solidifying its position as one of the preeminent brand storytellers of the modern era and the leading innovator in digital and physical brand experiences. His role in the rise of marketing and design through that period was recognized in 2015 when Fast Company named him one of the Most Creative People in Business. He’s also been recognized for his transformative leadership in the industry through the Business Insider’s 50 Most Innovative CMO’s and AdAge’s Power Players annual lists.

For over two decades, he was a major strategic and creative influence for Nike at every major global sporting event, for the launches of NIKE’s signature products and innovations, and for the building of the brands of its athletes.

Through his leadership, Nike drove themes of equality, sustainability, and empowerment through sport in some of its most significant brand communications. That work was, in part, driven by his role on the Advisory Board of the NIKE Black Employee Network and as a member of the NIKE Foundation Board of Directors.

Today as founder and principal of Modern Arena, Greg advises Fortune 1000 brands, startups, and nonprofits in creating brand strength, business growth, and social impact. He sits on the advisory boards of the brands Shred Adventures and AO-Air and is a board member for Summit Impact, the philanthropic arm of Summit Series.

In addition, he is the Branding instructor at the University of Oregon's Lundquist College of Business and the Innovation Chair of the Board of Trustees for the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. In 2022, Greg brings all of his brand experience to the world through his new book Emotion by Design: Creative Leadership Lessons From a Life at Nike.

Often it’s the little things, and not the flashy technology or slick user interface that make a product or experience memorable. The handwritten note from customer service, or the humorous quote that pops up as you’re waiting for a screen to load. Our guest today, Felecia Hatcher, calls these “moments of enchantment,” and she advocates for more opportunities for a human touch, as artificial intelligence and machine learning push us in the opposite direction.

Felecia is the CEO of Black Ambition, an organization founded by Pharrell Williams that works towards closing the opportunity and wealth gap through entrepreneurship. Prior to her current role, she was Chief Popsicle and co-owner of Feverish Ice Cream, and was Co-Founder & Executive Director of the Center for Black Innovation.

In our conversation, we talk about the perpetual growth and achievement across her career, what she learned bootstrapping her ice cream business from her parent’s backyard to Fortune 500 clients, and how her entrepreneurial experiences shape the way she advises and mentors students and entrepreneurs.

Bio

Felecia Hatcher is on a mission to rid communities of innovation deserts by working with community leaders and government officials to create inclusive and diverse tech/startup ecosystems as the Co-Founder of Code Fever, Black Tech Week and Tribe Cowork and Urban Innovation Lab. 

Hatcher has raised over 3 million dollars to support Code Fever's work which sits at the intersection of economic development and inclusive innovation. As an Author, Social Entrepreneur and the former Chief Popsicle of Feverish Ice Cream, Hatcher was named one of the Empact 100 Top 100 Entrepreneurs under the age of 30 by the White House and Kauffman Foundation in 2011, a 2014 White House Champion of Change for STEM Access and Diversity, Ruth Shack Honoree, 2017 Comcast/Nationswell Tech Impact Allstar, a Black Enterprise 2017 TechConnext Game Changer and 2016 Innovator of the Week, Essence Magazine Tech Master, and featured on the NBC Today Show, MSNBC, FORBES, INC, The Cooking Channel, & Grio’s 100 African American’s Making History.

If you don’t know who Seth Godin is, just type “Seth” into Google or DuckDuckGo. The first entry will lead you to his blog, where he writes—every day—about marketing, design, writing, how being a better human will make you better at your job.

Once you’ve started to read his blog, you’ll probably be hungry for more of his wisdom. He’s written over eighteen bestselling books on business and marketing, including Linchpin, Purple Cow, and The Dip.

We’ve been following Seth for a long time, and his writing and speaking have influenced how we think about creating and marketing products. So it was a huge honor to have him on our show, where we spoke about subjects ranging from how to take risks in your career, to why being creative is an act of generosity, to the idea of “creative destruction.”

We hope you enjoy our conversation with Seth as much as we did, and after you finish, we encourage you to go make a ruckus.

Takeaways:

• Why the counterintuitive idea of “surplus” means that, despite everything going on in the world, we all have access to more resources than the last King of France did.
• Why writing is often the best starting point for almost any type of creative work.
• Why a company is more like an organism than an organization

Bio

Seth is an entrepreneur, best-selling author, speaker and teacher. In addition to launching one of the most popular blogs in the world, he has written 19 best-selling books, including The Dip, Linchpin, Purple Cow, Tribes, and What To Do When It's Your Turn (And It's Always Your Turn). His most recent book, This is Marketing, was an instant bestseller in countries around the world.

Though renowned for his writing and speaking, Seth also founded two companies, Squidoo and Yoyodyne (acquired by Yahoo!).

By focusing on everything from effective marketing and leadership, to the spread of ideas and changing everything, Seth has been able to motivate and inspire countless people around the world.

In 2013, Seth was one of just three professionals inducted into the Direct Marketing Hall of Fame. In an astonishing turn of events, in May 2018, he was inducted into the Marketing Hall of Fame as well. He might be the only person in both.

Seth created the altMBA and Marketing Seminar to transform online education and help people connect with their audience.

If you’re looking for an inspiring human being, it would be hard to beat Dr. Sian Proctor. Dr. Proctor is a geoscientist, and also an artist and poet who uses her afro-futurist space art to encourage conversations about women of color in the space industry.

For 21 years, she taught geology, sustainability, and planetary science. She also happens to be an astronaut(!), and was the mission pilot for the Inspiration4 all-civilian orbital mission to space. Her call sign “Leo” was eaned from her crewmates, who consider her a modern-day Rennaisance woman in the mold of Leonardo DaVinci.

This special episode of the Design Better Podcast was recorded at an internal event for InVision, where we brought Dr.Proctor in to speak to our team. After her inspiring presentation, we had the chance to interview her, and we spoke about topics ranging from imposter syndrome, to learning to speak the language of your collaborators, to the natural synthesis between art and science.

Bio

Dr. Proctor is a geoscientist, explorer, space artist, and astronaut. She is the mission pilot for the Inspiration4 all-civilian orbital mission to space. She is also one of The Explorer’s Club 50: Fifty People Changing the World. Her motto is called Space2inspire where she encourages people to use their unique, one-of-a-kind strengths, and passion to inspire those within their reach and beyond. She believes that we need to actively strive for a J.E.D.I. space: a just, equitable, diverse, and inclusive space as we advance human spaceflight.

Dr. Proctor spent 21 years as a professor teaching geology, sustainability, and planetary science at South Mountain Community College, Phoenix, Arizona. She is currently the Open Educations Resource Coordinator for the Maricopa Community College District. She has a B.S. in Environmental Science, an M.S. in Geology, and a Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction: Science Education. She recently finished a sabbatical at Arizona State University’s Center for Education Through Exploration creating virtual field trips. She did her 2012-13 sabbatical at the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) Emergency Management Institute developing their science of disasters curriculum. She has appeared in multiple international science shows and is currently on A World Without NASA and Strange Evidence. You can follow her on social media @DrSianProctor.

If you lead a team of over 700 people, what skills would you need to bring to the table to help them collaborate effectively? In today’s episode, we chat with Katrina Alcorn, General Manager of Design at IBM, about how she develops partnerships across her organization to resolve conflicts and get aligned.

We also talk to Katrina about the challenges that large teams face in remote and hybrid environments, how her training in journalism influences her work as a leader, and what she learned about living a balanced life from writing her book Maxed Out: American Moms on the Brink.

Bio

Katrina Alcorn spent the first decade+ of her career as a consultant, leading strategic design and research initiatives for startups, non-profits, and Fortune 500s in a variety of industries including financial services, medical devices, energy, e-commerce, the arts, and education. 

In 2015 she went “in-house” and learned what it means to be a change-maker from the inside. Katrina built two successful design practices, the first at Hot Studio (bought by Facebook in 2013) and the second at Autodesk, centralizing all digital design and research functions, leading to major improvements in e-commerce sales and customer satisfaction.

You’re sitting at your desk, trying to do some deep work—finishing up a presentation, writing some code, sketching out a new interface—and you hear a noise. It’s the familiar knock of Slack, or the chime of your e-mail inbox. All of a sudden, you’re taken away from a state of flow and into an attempt to multi-task, which is the enemy of getting things done.

By some estimates, distractions cost the US economy more than $650 billion dollars a year in lost productivity. And Nir Eyal, bestselling author of the book Hooked, may have been the inspiration behind some of the most habit-forming products out there.

But he also has another book, Indistractable, which can give you the tools to avoid distractions both at work and at home. In this episode, we chat with Nir about what got him interested in the intersection of technology and psychology, how we as consumers can have a better relationship with habit-forming products, and how he—as a parent— thinks about kids and technology.

Bio

Nir Eyal writes, consults, and teaches about the intersection of psychology, technology, and business. Nir previously taught as a Lecturer in Marketing at the Stanford Graduate School of Business and the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford.

Nir co-founded and sold two tech companies since 2003 and was dubbed by The M.I.T. Technology Review as, “The Prophet of Habit-Forming Technology.” Bloomberg Businessweek wrote, “Nir Eyal is the habits guy. Want to understand how to get app users to come back again and again? Then Eyal is your man.”

He is the author of two bestselling books, Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products and Indistractable: How to Control Your Attention and Choose Your Life.

Indistractable received critical acclaim, winning the Outstanding Works of Literature Award as well as being named one of the Best Business and Leadership Books of the Year by Amazon and one of the Best Personal Development Books of the Year by Audible. The Globe and Mail called Indistractable, “the best business book of 2019.”

In addition to blogging at NirAndFar.com, Nir’s writing has been featured in The New York Times, The Harvard Business Review, Time Magazine, and Psychology Today.

Nir invests in habit-forming products that improve users’ lives. Some of his past investments include Eventbrite (NYSE:EB), Anchor.fm (acquired by Spotify), Kahoot! (KAHOOT-ME.OL), Canva, Homelight, Product Hunt, Marco Polo, Byte Foods, FocusMate, Dynamicare, Wise App, and Cutback Coach.

Nir attended The Stanford Graduate School of Business and Emory University.

In an interview with the Wall Street Journal last year, Detria Williamson, former Chief Marketing Officer of IDEO, said that “diversity can be engineered and inclusion cannot.”

In this episode, we dive deeper into that statement, and also ask Detria what roadblocks she encountered over the course of her career—from working as a head of marketing in Dubai, to her most recent role at IDEO. We also ask her about what it means when design becomes commoditized, and how remote and hybrid work impact inclusivity.

Bio

Detria Williamson is an internationally recognized digital marketer, who for over 20 years has helped category-leading companies become experience-led and content-driven. Informed by her experiences living and working from the U.S., London, Singapore, and the Middle East, she created the ICX (inclusive customer experience) approach, enabling visionary leaders to embrace inclusivity as an end-to-end element of their business ecosystem.

Guy Kawasaki has certainly had a remarkable career. From gaining popularity as the Chief Evangelist at Apple for the Macintosh computer in the 1980’s, to authoring fifteen books, to hosting the Remarkable People podcast, Guy has made a habit of trying new things During our conversation with Guy, we talk about why it’s important to be able to make a sale, no matter what your role is. We discuss the start of his career at Apple, and how he got developers to write software for a relatively unknown platform. And we ask his advice for people just getting started in their own careers, whether that’s in tech, writing, or entrepreneurship.

The Ministry of Silly Walks. The Cheese Shop. French Taunting. If you haven’t seen any of these Monty Python sketches before, do us a favor and go watch one or two of them. You’ll discover—or re-discover—why our guest for this episode is a creative comic legend. John Cleese starred in and co-wrote the award-winning series Fawlty Towers, was nominated for an Academy Award for the screenplay of A Fish Called Wanda, and even has a species of lemur named after him (Cleese’s wooly lemur, Avahi cleesei). He’s also an expert on the creative process, and so if you’re looking for a new framework to level-up your own workflow, his book Creativity: A Short and Cheerful Guide is a great resource. We talk with John about his new book, and also about creative collaboration in the midst of friction, how to be comfortable with ambiguity, and creating boundaries of space and time to get in a creative mode. We also get to ask him a question that’s been bugging us ever since we first watched Monty Python and The Holy Grail. After everything that happened in 2020, we can all use a little more laughter in our lives. We hope our interview with John sparks some joy, and leaves you with some new creative tools. Thanks for listening. Takeaways:

• How John’s childhood influences the way he approaches creativity
• Why John uses writing to explore ideas
• What “closed mode” and “open mode” are (and how they relate to convergent and divergent modes of thinking).

Bio John Cleese is an English actor, comedian, writer, and film producer. He achieved success at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and as a scriptwriter and performer on The Frost Report. In the late 1960s, he co-founded Monty Python, the comedy troupe responsible for the sketch show Monty Python's Flying Circus and the four Monty Python films, And Now for Something Completely Different, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Life of Brian, and The Meaning of Life. In the mid-1970s, Cleese and his first wife, Connie Booth, co-wrote and starred in the British sitcom Fawlty Towers. Later, he co-starred with Kevin Kline, Jamie Lee Curtis, and former Python colleague Michael Palin in A Fish Called Wanda and Fierce Creatures. He also starred in Clockwise, and has appeared in many other films, including two James Bond films, two Harry Potter films, and the last three Shrek films. He is also the author of Creativity: A Short and Cheerful Guide.

In his book The Laws of Simplicity, John Maeda says that “simplicity is about subtracting the obvious, and adding the meaningful.” Our final guest this season, Eileen Fisher, is a master at making the simple, meaningful.

Eileen is the founder of her eponymous and iconic fashion brand Eileen Fisher, Inc., which is known for its ethical & sustainable practices, and elegant yet simple clothing. She started the company in 1984, and grew it from her first sale of $3000, to annual revenue of over $300 million.

We speak with Eileen about her design principles, how she thinks about form, function, and sustainability, and how systems thinking has helped her develop a brand that stands the test of time.

We’re so glad you joined us for the sixth season of our show, and hope you were inspired along the way. Stay tuned for the next season, and in the meantime, we’ll be sharing some of our best episodes from past seasons, in case you missed them. Thanks for listening.

Bio

Eileen Fisher founded her women's fashion brand in 1984, with $350 of startup money. It's since grown into a company with over 1200 employees and hundreds of millions of dollars a year in revenue.

The company focuses on producing simple, timeless clothing, with sustainability initiatives including selling used pieces in excellent condition, resold through their Renew take-back program, as well as a Waste No More program which transforms damaged clothes into a new felted fabric, used to create wall hangings, pillows, and other accessories.

If you’re a fan of architecture and design, you’re probably familiar with the mid-century modern movement. It brought a simple, clean aesthetic inspired by the Bauhaus and International movements to the US. Heath Ceramics, founded by Edith Heath in 1948 and influenced by mid-century modern principles, is still making beautiful hand-crafted tableware and architectural tile in Sausalito, California. 

We wanted to chat with Heath’s current owner, Robin Petravic, to find out how they approach designing within the legacy of the Heath brand, as well as the story of how he and his partner and co-owner Catherine Bailey came to be owners of the company. 

We also talk with Robin about how the pandemic affected their business, and some of the collaborative challenges and opportunities they faced in transitioning to a hybrid-remote scenario.

Bio

Robin Petravic runs the day-to-day business of Heath Ceramics with a focus on operations, manufacturing, and retail. As co-owner, he also sets the long-term vision and goals for the company which is led by design and a passion for creative opportunity, with the responsibility to ensure they are met while maintaining financial viability and the ability to continue to invest for the long term. In business since 1948, the company has 130+ employees and is headquartered in Sausalito, CA, where all design, marketing, and administrative functions are based, and has two factories in Sausalito and San Francisco which produce all of is ceramic dinnerware and tile.

Prior to Heath Ceramics, Robin studied product design in the MFA program at Stanford University, and worked as a product designer and mechanical engineer at several companies.