In the Making

Whether it’s leaving the comfort of a steady paycheck to pursue photography, or checking out the possibilities of AI, sometimes the greatest rewards lie on the other side of fear. Teresa Au speaks to photographer Tobi Shinobi about his first career in law, making a name on Instagram, and why drone photography is so peaceful. Tobi also shares his perspectives as a brand strategist, advising the same types of corporate clients who hire him for their shoots.

What you’ll hear in this episode:

• Learn about Tobi’s upbringing in East London
• Why practicing law and photography are so opposite
• The importance of being exposed to the arts
• How the shift from law to photography was both a jump and a push
• There’s no time for fear when you’re so busy
• Growth and progress are not linear
• Professionalism as a means to creativity
• Listening to clients
• What Tobi loves about photography
• The best way to shake a bad mood
• How the AI revolution is like the Industrial Revolution
• The difference between fear and respect
• Controversy over AI use in photography
• The AI we’re already using without realizing it
• Tobi’s “real life” Photoshop technique
• What makes you more or less of an artist?
• The thing that makes both AI and photography exciting
• How creative strategy is like storytelling
• Why storytelling is so essential to human beings
• Are you cut out for working with brands?
• Brand safety and authenticity
• Tobi’s one word for 2023 (and 2024)

Tobi Shinobi is an award winning photographer and videographer based between London and Chicago who was just named one of Adobe’s 2023 Firefly Creators to Watch. His work encompasses high profile events, product photography, architecture, and interviews. An early Instagram star, he has over 200,000 followers across online platforms. Tobi finds beauty in often gritty urban landscapes and his distinctive focus on detail, perspective, geometry, and symmetry allows for a new appreciation of architecture. 

Tobi provides social strategies for an array of digital content from video to photos for brands. He regularly works for clients such as Audi, Adidas, Coca-Cola and Samsung. He is an alumnus Adobe Lightroom Ambassador and Sony Global Imaging Ambassador. His first solo photo book, Equilibrium, is available now, and he starred in the award-winning documentary, I Take Photos. He is currently showing work in Brazil and in Chicago, some of which was recently selected as part of the 2023 MvVO awards. 

Teresa Au (@tautastic) is an executive for community engagement at Adobe. Her career spans diverse creative fields, primarily in New York’s fashion industry, as well as architecture firms, and now Silicon Valley tech companies. She has always prized working with distinctive design and the interesting people behind it–from designer Elie Tahari to start-up CEOs. 

Learn more about this podcast, and find transcripts and links, at adobe.ly/inthemaking. In the Making is brought you by Adobe Express and Adobe Creative Cloud. 

Past episodes of Wireframe can still be found in the show archive within this feed, or online on Behance. 

Design flyers, TikToks, resumes, and Reels with the new, all-in-one Adobe Express. Create video, marketing, and social content. Edit photos and PDFs. Make it all in one app, including generative AI tools from Adobe Firefly and easy, one-click tasks like removing backgrounds.

Adobe Creative Cloud provides apps, web services, and resources for all your creative projects — photography, graphic design, video editing, UX design, drawing and painting, social media, and more. Learn more about the apps in Creative Cloud

When is it better to keep your side hustle on the side, and stay with your day job? Teresa Au speaks to UX designer-by-day, illustrator-by-night Miranda Wong about the pros and cons of working a second shift in a creative field. Miranda shares her strategies for time management, why her illustration business makes her better at her day job, and the hidden rewards of meeting customers and vendors in real life. 

What you’ll hear on this episode:

• How Miranda’s creative process has changed since graduating college and starting a job
• Her thoughts on how to be creative in a time crunch
• Use your body to inspire your creativity–take a walk or dance to a song
• The interplay between UX design and having your own business
• Miranda’s new confidence at her day job
• A professional breakthrough from speaking her mind
• Gaining support at work from early-career colleagues
• The benefits of finding a mentor
• Why time management is also about attitude
• Creativity flows at night
• Prioritizing self care and rest
• Why she started Mando’s Bake Shop in the pandemic
• Giving to worthy causes is part of the business, not an afterthought
• Responding to Black Lives Matter and Stop Asian Hate
• Should Miranda take Mando’s Bake Shop full-time?
• Thoughts on future expansion and employee number one: her mom
• Breaking down creative vs. administrative time
• How Miranda learns from her vendors by visiting them in person
• Posting on social shouldn’t be a chore
• The importance of creating a consistent brand online
• What are the most successful posts?
• Choosing self-expression over what’s popular with your followers
• The popularity of fan art
• Inspiration from Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way and Tiffany Tan aka Apple Cheeks
• Work/life balance? Be sure to know your purpose
• Do your co-workers know about your side hustle?
• What success looks like
• Miranda’s One Word for 2023

Miranda Wong is a Chinese-Filipino American illustrator and designer based in California. Her illustrations are inspired by everyday life, memories, food and desserts, or anything that celebrates her Asian background and culture. She sells illustrated stationery and decor products online at Mando's Bake Shop.

Teresa Au (@tautastic) is an executive for community engagement at Adobe. Her career spans diverse creative fields, primarily in New York’s fashion industry, as well as architecture firms, and now Silicon Valley tech companies. She has always prized working with distinctive design and the interesting people behind it–from designer Elie Tahari to start-up CEOs. 

Learn more about this podcast, and find transcripts and links, at adobe.ly/inthemaking. In the Making is brought you by Adobe Express and Adobe Creative Cloud. 

Past episodes of Wireframe can still be found in the show archive within this feed, or online on Behance. 

Design flyers, TikToks, resumes, and Reels with the new, all-in-one Adobe Express. Create video, marketing, and social content. Edit photos and PDFs. Make it all in one app, including generative AI tools from Adobe Firefly and easy, one-click tasks like removing backgrounds.

Adobe Creative Cloud provides apps, web services, and resources for all your creative projects — photography, graphic design, video editing, UX design, drawing and painting, social media, and more. Learn more about the apps in Creative Cloud

For small business owners and creators, building your brand is the way to show the world what makes you great and why they should care. Teresa Au speaks to personal branding expert and content creator Phil Pallen about developing an authentic and consistent brand that will help you reach your goals. Phil explains why branding isn’t just about looking pretty on the internet, how your brand can help you stand out in a crowded marketplace, and the best reason to build a branded website. Plus, Phil gives tips on all things Instagram, from what you shouldn’t worry about when you post, practical tips for efficient posting, and how to make posting a growth experience.

• How Phil got his start in brand marketing thanks to a controversial Hollywood star
• Thinking about what your audience is getting out of your social posts
• What is a brand?
• The importance of consistency
• Defining and positioning your brand
• Logos and brand identity
• Is there a difference between marketing companies and people?
• The power of strategic distraction
• Branding vs marketing
• What makes for great photos for your personal brand
• Phil’s advice to the camera-shy creator
• How Phil went from brand strategist to content creator
• The nuts and bolts of brand partnerships
• Selling via social media is a rapidly growing market segment
• Do you need a website if you do business on social media?
• What building a website really does for you
• All things Instagram–how much should we post, when should we post, and why should we post
• Timesaving tools for Instagram–Adobe Express templates and Adobe Express Scheduler
• Why content creation is a learning opportunity
• Surprising information about when it’s best to post
• Instagram hashtags vs SEO terms
• Getting caught up chasing likes can be bad for business
• Practical tips for growing your social media audience
• Gen AI ideas for small businesses
• Phil’s One Word for 2023

Phil Pallen is a brand strategist and keynote speaker who helps people and companies position, build, and promote their brands. He founded Phil Pallen Collective in 2011 and has worked with hundreds of brands across all industries, including a Shark on Shark Tank, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, politicians, and some of the most important names in entertainment. He frequently speaks at conferences in cities all over the globe, including London, Tokyo, Dubai, São Paulo, Medellín, Auckland, Helsinki, and Los Angeles. Phil’s insights have been featured in media outlets around the world, including CNN, Access Hollywood, Entertainment Tonight, and The Daily Mail, to name a few.

Teresa Au (@tautastic) is an executive for community engagement at Adobe. Her career spans diverse creative fields, primarily in New York’s fashion industry, as well as architecture firms, and now Silicon Valley tech companies. She has always prized working with distinctive design and the interesting people behind it–from designer Elie Tahari to start-up CEOs. 

Learn more about this podcast, and find transcripts and links, at adobe.ly/inthemaking. In the Making is brought you by Adobe Express and Adobe Creative Cloud. 

Past episodes of Wireframe can still be found in the show archive within this feed, or online on Behance. 

Design flyers, TikToks, resumes, and Reels with the new, all-in-one Adobe Express. Create video, marketing, and social content. Edit photos and PDFs. Make it all in one app, including generative AI tools from Adobe Firefly and easy, one-click tasks like removing backgrounds.

Adobe Creative Cloud provides apps, web services, and resources for all your creative projects — photography, graphic design, video editing, UX design, drawing and painting, social media, and more. 

Learn more about the apps in Creative Cloud

When a new creative venture is percolating in your mind, it might make sense to move to a more affordable or more nurturing area. Teresa Au speaks to Shannon Maldonado, who quit fashion design and New York to head home to Philadelphia and start her business YOWIE–it began as an online shop, and is now a design studio, store, and hotel. Shannon shares her strategies for finding and fostering community while you grow your creative business.

What you’ll hear on this episode:

• Why Shannon named her company YOWIE
• The beginnings of YOWIE: pop-up shops and unique merchandise
• Creating YOWIE vs. working in corporate fashion
• The dream of a gift shop
• How Shannon quit her 9-to-5
• Serendipity and Pinterest
• Lessons from fashion on building a brand
• How Shannon researched her new business venture
• Philadelphia vs New York City for creative businesses
• Why a sense of place is so important to Shannon
• The connection between community and design
• Humility as a brand ethos
• How to surprise your customer but also establish a recognizable brand
• Thinking of how you do business as an additional creative outlet
• Planning ahead vs taking one decision at a time
• How big dreams can turn into reality, even if it’s not exactly what you’ve hoped for
• Social connections can lead to new opportunities
• Imagining a new life for a historic property
• Brand extension ideas
• How being part of a team helps Shannon take on new projects
• The importance of nurturing employees to take ownership of different aspects of the business
• Why Shannon started her web TV show Small Enough
• Thoughts on finding personal time and work/life balance when you love your creative business
• How social media can lead to in-person community
• The role of AI at YOWIE
• How Shannon defines success
• Shannon’s One Word of 2023

Shannon Maldonado (@helloyowie) is Founder and Creative Director of YOWIE, a creative platform, storefront and design studio based in Philadelphia. After over a decade working in design for brands like Ralph Lauren, American Eagle, Urban Outfitters and Tommy Hilfiger she moved back to Philadelphia to launch YOWIE. Since 2016 YOWIE has been a brand built on community and one-of-a-kind products, events and service. 

YOWIE is a hotel, shop, and cafe located in Philadelphia. Founded in 2016 and named “The Coolest Shop in Philadelphia” by Bon Appétit in 2019, the YOWIE brand has extended its outreach to include interactive design workshops, creative/art direction, product design, and interior design consulting for hospitality clients that include Ethel’s Club in Brooklyn, NY and The Deacon in Philadelphia and Dye House in Providence, RI.

With the recent launch of its hotel, YOWIE is cementing itself as a design destination in Philadelphia and beyond. Nestled on a sunny corner of South Street, a block rich in the history of music, art, and makers, YOWIE is a new place to shop, eat, stay and explore the city of Brotherly Love from an insider’s point of view. Philadelphia native and co-founder Shannon Maldonado hopes guests will venture to the different neighborhoods and cultural spaces across the city and feel grounded in the space when they return at the end of their day.

Teresa Au (@tautastic) is an executive for community engagement at Adobe. Her career spans diverse creative fields, primarily in New York’s fashion industry, as well as architecture firms, and now Silicon Valley tech companies. She has always prized working with distinctive design and the interesting people behind it–from designer Elie Tahari to start-up CEOs. 

Learn more about this podcast, and find transcripts and links, at adobe.ly/inthemaking. In the Making is brought you by Adobe Express and Adobe Creative Cloud. 

Past episodes of Wireframe can still be found in the show archive within this feed, or online on Behance. 

Design flyers, TikToks, resumes, and Reels with the new, all-in-one Adobe Express. Create video, marketing, and social content. Edit photos and PDFs. Make it all in one app, including generative AI tools from Adobe Firefly and easy, one-click tasks like removing backgrounds.

Adobe Creative Cloud provides apps, web services, and resources for all your creative projects — photography, graphic design, video editing, UX design, drawing and painting, social media, and more. Learn more about the apps in Creative Cloud

Whether you want to score brand influencer deals or promote a small business, a successful social media strategy needs to reach your audience in their favorite places. Teresa Au speaks to marketing expert and creator Jon Youshaei for tips on making social media content creation pay off for you. Jon shares insights from his years working for YouTube and Instagram and now running his own new media studio. Hear what Jon says is most important for creators to focus on, where the algorithm can help you, and the power of engaging your following. And if you want to go viral, Jon tells you how to plan for it–and what to do before and after.

What you’ll hear on this episode:

• How the pandemic made Jon question his career plan
• The importance of taking your destiny into your own hands
• The definition of “influencer”--and knowing what you can and cannot influence
• Jon’s goal: to create the best educational content on YouTube
• What Jon learned at YouTube and Instagram that he can finally share
• How to manage social media in 2023
• Yes, you can plan to go viral–but should you?
• The importance of also making content that is not meant to go viral
• The best way to grow your audience is to poll your audience
• Your audience is your focus group
• Why it’s so powerful to bring your audience along with you as you create
• Create goals based on what you can control, not what you hope will happen 
• Tips on how not to get caught up in chasing “likes”
• What makes metrics most meaningful
• Behind every great creator is a great partner
• How Jon diversifies his revenue stream
• The difference between Stephen Colbert and James Corden on YouTube
• The importance of trying new things
• Putting the algorithm to work for you
• How to determine the best platforms for your content
• The hot features within Instagram and YouTube
• Being realistic about how much content you can produce
• Looking outside your feed for inspiration
• On creating the viral “24 Hours with Danny Duncan” YouTube video
• What makes for the best interviews with famous and not-so-famous people
• Knowing exactly what your goals are vs. not knowing how high your ceiling is
• Jon’s unexpected next big project
• How Jon is using Gen AI via Adobe Photoshop’s Generative Fill feature to streamline his workflow
• The best ways to use AI
• Jon’s One Word for 2023

Jon Youshaei

One of few marketers to work at both YouTube and Instagram, Jon Youshaei has been featured in Business Insider, Time, and Inc Magazine for "cracking the code to going viral.” During five years at YouTube, Jon was Head of Creator Product Marketing where he worked with YouTube's top creators and brands to grow their audience and their incomes. During his three years at Instagram, Jon helped build their creator team to empower even more creators to grow and monetize.

Now a creator himself, Jon has garnered 500K+ followers, 300M+ views, and has interviewed Logan Paul, Paris Hilton, Terry Crews, Charli D'Amelio, Danny Duncan, Mark Rober, and more. He is also a sought-after advisor, investor, and speaker who serves as a Head Creator Advisor for TubeBuddy (analytics platform used by 9M creators), and was recognized by NPR as one of the best commencement speakers since 1774 alongside Steve Jobs, Oprah and John F. Kennedy. He has also been Forbes 30 Under 30 and LinkedIn named him as one of their Top Voices on the platform.

Teresa Au (@tautastic) is an executive for community engagement at Adobe. Her career spans diverse creative fields, primarily in New York’s fashion industry, as well as architecture firms, and now Silicon Valley tech companies. She has always prized working with distinctive design and the interesting people behind it–from designer Elie Tahari to start-up CEOs. 

Learn more about this podcast, and find transcripts and links, at adobe.ly/inthemaking. In the Making is brought you by Adobe Express and Adobe Creative Cloud. 

Past episodes of Wireframe can still be found in the show archive within this feed, or online on Behance. 

Design flyers, TikToks, resumes, and Reels with the new, all-in-one Adobe Express. Create video, marketing, and social content. Edit photos and PDFs. Make it all in one app, including generative AI tools from Adobe Firefly and easy, one-click tasks like removing backgrounds.

Adobe Creative Cloud provides apps, web services, and resources for all your creative projects — photography, graphic design, video editing, UX design, drawing and painting, social media, and more. Learn more about the apps in Creative Cloud

As a creator, sometimes you can be your own worst enemy! Perfectionism, negative self-talk, and fear block the creative process and keep you from doing your best work. Teresa Au speaks to writer and illustrator Misha Blaise, author of the books This Phenomenal Life and Breathe Deep, for guidance on how to keep perfectionism at bay. Misha shares how an unexpected crash course in the fundamentals of breathing helped her learn to control her nervous system and create a space for creativity. Misha’s practical advice for shifting your attitude, making room for play, and tapping into the power of your breath can help you access your most creative self.

What you’ll hear on this episode:

• Misha’s unconventional career path and the Chicago arts scene
• Who designs the wall art sold in big box stores?
• Misha’s transition to writing books and finding an agent and publisher
• A hybrid workflow, combining painting and Adobe Photoshop
• Rainn Wilson says Misha’s books are filled with wonder and curiosity
• A family health crisis leads to an unexpected deep dive on breathing
• The problem with mouth breathing and how to overcome it
• Why the breath is so fascinating
• How breathing is the key to your nervous system
• Breath as a symbol
• The connection between breathing and creativity
• How “fight or flight” mode physically affects the body
• Why it’s impossible to create and play in “fight or flight” mode 
• The importance of play for adults
• A guided breathing exercise: The Physiological Sigh
• Teresa and Misha bond over the burden of perfectionism
• “Regular” perfectionism vs. moral perfectionism
• How breath and nervous system work can help in troubling times
• Why perfectionist energy is at odds with creativity
• Redefining success in your career
• Misha is inspired by the musician Anthony Vincent
• What it felt like to go viral, and will it happen again?
• The advantages of having a smaller online following
• How Misha is experimenting with AI in her workflow
• Misha’s One Word for 2023

Misha Blaise (@mishablaise) is an author-illustrator of several books related to the theme of our interconnection with the universe. Her book This Phenomenal Life which was translated into six languages and was a bestseller in China. She served as a jury member for the 2017 Golden Pinwheel Young Illustrators Competition in

Shanghai and her work can be seen on the walls of the acclaimed Austin Central Public Library. She lives in Northwest Arkansas.

Teresa Au (@tautastic) is an executive for community engagement at Adobe. Her career spans diverse creative fields, primarily in New York’s fashion industry, as well as architecture firms, and now Silicon Valley tech companies. She has always prized working with distinctive design and the interesting people behind it–from designer Elie Tahari to start-up CEOs. 

Learn more about this podcast, and find transcripts and links, at adobe.ly/inthemaking. In the Making is brought you by Adobe Express and Adobe Creative Cloud. 

Past episodes of Wireframe can still be found in the show archive within this feed, or online on Behance. 

Design flyers, TikToks, resumes, and Reels with the new, all-in-one Adobe Express. Create video, marketing, and social content. Edit photos and PDFs. Make it all in one app, including generative AI tools from Adobe Firefly and easy, one-click tasks like removing backgrounds.

Adobe Creative Cloud provides apps, web services, and resources for all your creative projects — photography, graphic design, video editing, UX design, drawing and painting, social media, and more. 

Learn more about the apps in Creative Cloud

When it’s time to make a change in your creative career, how do you figure out what you want to do next? Can you start your own business? What are your deal breakers and dealmakers? Use the principles of design to create a career you love. Teresa Au speaks to Puno, a web designer, content creator, and the founder of online education platform ilovecreatives, for guidance. Puno shares her journey from working on the Call of Duty video game, to taking a “gap year” to explore her creative muse, to building both a design studio and a trade school for digital design. Puno’s practical advice for taking a thoughtful, iterative approach to career building can help you take your next step.

What you’ll hear on this episode:

• Why Teresa loves Puno’s Webby Award Honoree reel “Compressed PDF - Even Cat Can Do It"
• Puno’s marketing degree leads to her first, failed business attempt–which then leads to her first job
• A peek at Puno’s work at Activision on Call of Duty
• What burnout looks like
• The financial aspect of quitting your job before you find a new one
• Why it’s OK not to know what you want to do, and not have a plan
• Analysis paralysis–why thinking is no substitute for doing
• What Puno did on her creative “gap year”
• The importance of skill-building
• Turning your most personal and creative projects into income
• What is a slashie? And how was Benjamin Franklin the first slashie?
• The power of iterative thinking
• Three questions to ask yourself each day
• Puno describes what inspired her to start ilovecreatives, an educational and community platform for digital creatives
• The mistakes people make when quitting a job
• Designing a new career with intention
• How Puno defines success now
• Puno’s one word for 2023

Puno (@punodostres) is the Founder of ilovecreatives (@ilovecreatives), an online trade school where designers, illustrators, and animators can build their skills and find community. She is also Executive Creative Director of ilovecreatives.studio, a boutique design agency. She loves writing and directing funny videos and doing photoshoots with her Persian cat, the Instagram starlet Muad’Dib (Muad'Dib).

Teresa Au (@tautastic) is an executive for community engagement at Adobe. Her career spans diverse creative fields, primarily in New York’s fashion industry, as well as architecture firms, and now Silicon Valley tech companies. She has always prized working with distinctive design and the interesting people behind it–from designer Elie Tahari to start-up CEOs. 

Learn more about this podcast, and find transcripts and links, at adobe.ly/inthemaking. In the Making is brought you by Adobe Express and Adobe Creative Cloud. 

Past episodes of Wireframe can still be found in the show archive within this feed, or online on Behance. 

Design flyers, TikToks, resumes, and Reels with the new, all-in-one Adobe Express. Create video, marketing, and social content. Edit photos and PDFs. Make it all in one app, including generative AI tools from Adobe Firefly and easy, one-click tasks like removing backgrounds.

Adobe Creative Cloud provides apps, web services, and resources for all your creative projects — photography, graphic design, video editing, UX design, drawing and painting, social media, and more. Learn more about the apps in Creative Cloud

Khoi Vinh, host of Wireframe, hands over the Adobe podcast feed to Teresa Au, host of the new podcast In the Making. Khoi and Teresa talk about finding great stories in design, the rise of the creator economy, and what even is a slashie?

Learn more about this podcast, and find transcripts and links, at adobe.ly/inthemaking. In the Making is brought you by Adobe Express and Adobe Creative Cloud. 

Past episodes of Wireframe can still be found in the show archive within this feed, or online on Behance. 

Design flyers, TikToks, resumes, and Reels with the new, all-in-one Adobe Express. Create video, marketing, and social content. Edit photos and PDFs. Make it all in one app, including generative AI tools from Adobe Firefly and easy, one-click tasks like removing backgrounds.

Adobe Creative Cloud provides apps, web services, and resources for all your creative projects — photography, graphic design, video editing, UX design, drawing and painting, social media, and more. 

Learn more about the apps in Creative Cloud

Mickaela Allison-Aliifua has big plans to grow her brand beyond just pet collars. Check out her work on Facebook and Instagram, and watch how she evolves her design and product line from “Avie Daisy Designs” to “Keiki’s Collection”.

We pair Mickaela with Deja Foxx, a fierce and inspiring online activist, strategist and influencer. Deja talks about her own rebranding efforts for GenZ Girl Gang, an online community of young women. Deja talks about the value of engaging customers in Mickaela’s rebranding work, and encourages her to be fearless in expressing her heritage, her pride, and her voice in rebranding Avie Daisy. Follow Deja on Instagram, TikTok.

Then, designer and creative director Carly Ayres guides Mickaela through a core values exercise to help her find design inspirations for her rebrand. Carly draws from her experience supporting the redesign of Google’s logo.

This season of Wireframe is supported by Adobe Express, a new web and mobile app that helps anyone create great content from thousands of templates. Learn more about this podcast at adobe.ly/wireframe. (Most of the guests appearing in this season are part of Adobe’s CoCreate program.)

Find a transcript of this episode here.

Natalie Ma and Melody Jung are roommates-turned-business partners who founded Hangover Coffee. Find the brand on Instagram, TikTok and Facebook.

They’re big fans of Philip Wang, so we bring him in to offer advice. He’s the co-founder of Wong Fu Productions and owner of Bopomofo, a bubble tea cafe in San Gabriel, California. They talk about the benefits of bringing the co-founders’ personality into their brand content, and about how to own their power as AAPI creators. 

Karlei Ayers is the designer-at-large in this episode. She borrows from her decade-long experience of working as a designer at coffee shops, and suggests exercises to draw out Hangover Coffee’s brand voice and personality. Find Karlei on Instagram.

This season of Wireframe is supported by Adobe Express, a new web and mobile app that helps anyone create great content from thousands of templates. Learn more about this podcast at adobe.ly/wireframe. (Most of the guests appearing in this season are part of Adobe’s CoCreate program.)

Find a transcript of this episode here.

This episode profiles Jon Perdomo, co-founder of Plant Man P, as he tries to marry his two seemingly disparate passions and audiences: street wear and houseplants. You can find Jon on Instagram and YouTube. 

Jon is paired with his hero in the plant styling space: Hilton Carter. Hilton talks about his own journey of starting out, and how he navigates the challenge of engaging two distinct audiences: those interested in interior decor, and those craving houseplant content. Hilton also impresses upon Jon the importance of auditing the design of other brands, like Supreme. Find Hilton on Instagram and TikTok.

Adobe designer Kyle Webster encourages Jon to take risks and experimentat in his design work. Kyle references his own experience designing for streetwear brand The Hundreds, and uses some of those lessons to guide Plant Man P’s branding and messaging. Find Kyle on Twitter and Instagram.

This season of Wireframe is supported by Adobe Express, a new web and mobile app that helps anyone create great content from thousands of templates. Learn more about this podcast at adobe.ly/wireframe. (Most of the guests appearing in this season are part of Adobe’s CoCreate program.)

Find a transcript of this episode here.

Adriana Alejandre is a therapist working to break the stigma of mental health in the Latinx community by making mental health services more accessible. Find her on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, TikTok or listen to her podcast. 

We pair Adriana with Ellen Marie Bennett of Hedley & Bennett, an apron & cookware company known for their iconic ampersand logo. Ellen shares the story behind how she chose to represent her own heritage through her brand.

Designer Schessa Garbutt of Firebrand Creative House helps Adriana harness the simple power of symbols to inspire her new look, and they talk about the potential of using the Quetzal bird as a design inspiration for her refresh. Schessa references work she’s done with “Mindfulness For The People”, a queer Black-woman-owned non-profit that used symbolism from African culture in their branding. 

This season ofWireframe is supported by Adobe Express, a new web and mobile app that helps anyone create great content from thousands of templates. Learn more about this podcast at adobe.ly/wireframe. (Most of the guests appearing in this season are part of Adobe’s CoCreate program.)

Find a transcript of this episode here.

For some content design tips, we pair Juliana with Chris Do. He’s a podcaster, and the founder of The Futur Academy—an online education platform with the mission of ‘teaching 1 billion people how to make a living doing what they love.’ Watch his videos on YouTube, and find him on Instagram and Twitter. 

Elaine Lopez brings pro designer knowledge to the episode too. She’s a designer, researcher and educator in the faculty of Communication Design at Pratt Institute School of Design. Elaine talks about how typeface, color and composition can help Juliana cut through clutter and design educational content that’s simple, accessible and consistent. You can check out Elaine’s work on her website. 

And you can follow Juliana’s design journey on Instagram, Facebook and YouTube.

This season of Wireframe is supported by Adobe Express, a new web and mobile app that helps anyone create great content from thousands of templates. Learn more about this podcast at adobe.ly/wireframe. (Most of the guests appearing in this season are part of Adobe’s CoCreate program.)

Find a transcript of this episode here.

This episode pairs Will with Courtney Quinn - a prolific online content producer you might know as Color Me Courtney. Find her on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube. Courtney used her own website as inspiration to help Will think through color theory, and how different tones and shades could prompt consumer behavior on the merch page.

For a professional designer’s perspective on web design, we connect with Brandon Groce. He’s a designer, speaker, content creator and friend of Adobe. You can check out Brandon’s design portfolio here. And check out Will’s website as he continues to think through some design choices and try out new ideas.

This season is supported by Adobe Express - a new web and mobile app that helps anyone create great content from thousands of templates. Learn more about the podcast at adobe.ly/wireframe. (Most of the guests appearing in this season are part of Adobe’s CoCreate program.)

Find a transcript of this episode here.

Design plays a big role in shaping how we buy, how we sell, and how we support the businesses we believe in. Meet six young entrepreneurs struggling to brand their small business. We pair them with successful creators who share secrets to designing content that gets noticed. Then we meet a professional designer who offers design tips and advice to empower our entrepreneurs and listeners level-up their design chops.

If Comic Sans showed up at a house party, would it be welcome or shown the door? In this episode, the Wireframe team parties down with a wild array of fonts, good and bad, to learn about the rise of novelty typefaces like Comic Sans and the proliferation of the now all-too-familiar geometric sans serif typeface. They’ll find out what the popularity of these fonts says about how we think about the role of typography in today’s world. And they’ll also talk to some exciting new type designers who think that it’s time for a new chapter in the story of type, one that reflects a richer, more diverse set of voices. Join host Khoi Vinh, and producers Pippa Johnstone and Dominic Girard as they explore the personalities of the typefaces we know and love and ideas that are influencing what we’ll see next.

Emma Tucker is a Comic Sans apologist. She’s a senior writer and deputy editor at Creative Review, and believes there’s a time and a place for this font. Though she’s noticing how its “time and place” has become more subversive and cynical than before. 

Next, Stephen Coles is a major expert on type. He’s the co-publisher of Fonts in Use and Typographica and editorial director at Letterform Archive. He explains how Comic Sans’s rise made sense, and follows up with an argument for why design is ready to embrace more expressive fonts, and not fear personality so much.

Then, young independent type designers introduce us to a pair of fonts they’ve created that embrace personality and expression in very personal ways. Tré Seals is the founder of Vocal Type - and we hear about how he made his Martin font, and its connection to the American Civil Rights era. Lynne Yun, of Space Type Continuum, introduces us to her “earthy and bold” font, Ampersandist. Both of these designers explain how they find creative reward, and liberty, in type design.

Other fonts mentioned in this episode: Times New Roman, Impact, Arial, Comic Sans, Calibri, Garamond, Windsor, Cooper Black, Roboto and Wingdings. And here's an excellent resource of comic book style alternatives to the font we love to hate. 

Find a transcript to this episode here.

Do you know what “flatten the curve” means? If so it’s likely in part due to the hard work by data visualization designers over the last year. Our society is now more data driven than ever; as everything is quantified, counted, and dumped into spreadsheets, and it’s easy to be overwhelmed by numbers. Data visualization designers work to sort through the numbers using both science and creativity to find the stories they have to tell, and help us understand the world a little better. But what goes into designing an effective data visualization, and how do you balance the art and the science of it? In this episode of Wireframe, host Khoi Vinh, and producers Dominic Girard and Pippa Johnstone, learn how designers are building charts, games, and more to take the numb out of numbers.

If you’ve been fighting over housework during lock down, you’re not alone. Designer Amy Cesal and her husband, Zander Furnas used data visualization to clean up the messy business of their own household chores, and made the invisible, visible, along the way. 

Shirley Wu, worried that people weren’t taking the pandemic seriously enough. Her data visualization game, People of the Pandemic, helps us understand the consequences of defying stay at home orders. 

And Alberto Cairo outlines the responsibilities data visualization designers must balance when designing with data. He’s the author of How Charts Lie, and the Knight Chair in Visual Journalism at the School of Communication of the University of Miami.

The New York Times visualization we referenced is here. The Washington Post’s most read article is a data visualization that you can see here. Listen to NASA’s X-ray sonification here, the sonification of American COVID deaths here, and Jordan Wirfs-Brock’s sonification of last year’s stock market volatility here (it happens at 4:18). 

Find a transcript to this episode here.

Do you keep your iPhone boxes—or toss them? This simple question sparked a heated debate on Twitter earlier this year that, at its heart, is really about the role that the design of packaging plays in our lives. 

At the same time, online shopping keeps gaining huge momentum, especially during the pandemic. And that’s changing how we interact with the boxes arriving on our doorsteps, and the way packaging designers think about the products we buy. Host Khoi Vinh, and producers Pippa Johnstone and Dominic Girard, take a look at how the design of product packaging is evolving, how designers are thinking about the environmental footprint of their work, and the right answer to the question of whether you should keep—or toss—that iPhone box.

First, actor and writer Bisserat Tseggai tells the story of the unexpected controversy that arose from tweeting that people should throw out their iPhone boxes. Photographer and creative director Sailey Williams heartily disagrees.

Next, Brittney Swindells, design manager of Alfred, explains how creating a cheerful unboxing experience helped their coffee shops pivot to online sales during lockdown, and bring the Alfred experience to customers' doorsteps. 

Stephan Ango, the co-founder of Lumi, explains the differences between designing packaging for a store shelf, and packaging to sell online. You can find Stephan’s podcast, Well Made, here. 

And Andrew Gibbs, founder and CEO of Dieline, tells the story of his reckoning with the environmental impact of packaging – and what he’s doing about it.

Finally, Ian Montgomery and Marisa Sanchez-Dunning, of packaging design firm Guacamole Airplane, share the story behind their innovative packaging design for Hammerhead’s Karoo 2, and how sustainable design is about more than just the materials.

Find a transcript of this episode here.

The Black Lives Matter movement has mobilized countless people all over the world in the urgent fight for true racial justice and equality, one of the most important issues of our time. In this episode, host Khoi Vinh and producers Dominic Girard and Pippa Johnstone examine the intersection of BLM and the world of design and creativity. They unpack the challenge of building a brand around an expansive social movement, investigate the role that art, craft, and design can play in the struggle, and bring to light the role bias can play in the underpinnings of the design profession itself.

First, Teddy Phillips is an illustrator who posts on Instagram as Stat the Artist. He discovers that his artwork plays a bigger role in the protests than he knew – and finds inspiration to bridge his art with newfound activism. 

Then, Ivy Climacosa is a worker-owner at Design Action Collective, the design team behind the very first BLM logo. Ivy explains the unique challenges of designing for an activist movement, and how design helps to clearly and effectively communicate the message. 

Finally, Dori Tunstall is on a mission to decolonize design. The Dean of the Faculty of Design at OCAD University in Toronto speaks with Khoi about how the definition of design itself can be culturally problematic, how she’s working to create a more inclusive industry, and how all designers can work towards a more just and diverse practice.

Learn more about how Adobe is listening, learning and taking action and see more on Adobe’s efforts to support diversity & inclusivity here. 

And don’t forget to take a moment and fill out our audience survey for a chance to win a year of Creative Cloud.

Find a transcript of this episode here.

An entirely new user experience has been designed for people who want to exercise from home. By combining touchscreens and apps with stationary bikes, treadmills, rowing machines, punching bags, strength trainers - even smart mirrors - a new category of exercise has created millions of new fitness buffs. Long gone are the days of VHS fitness classes and Thigh Master infomercials. But is the UX of fitness something truly creative and revolutionary? Or is it just the latest fad from an industry with a history of fads? Host Khoi Vinh, and producers Pippa Johnstone and Dominic Girard dig into the brain-hacking and body-shaping UX designs that promise to help users break bad habits and break a sweat.

Software Designer Ariel Norling is a connected fitness fanatic. She explains how the UX of Tonal's strength training gear keeps her coming back for more. Jennifer Clinehens is a customer experience strategist, and a Peloton owner. She writes about the intersection of UX and behavioral science, and explores the psychology behind how Peloton's UX has turned so many couch potatoes into cycling converts. Then, UX designer Kevin Twohy explains how he helped design the user experience for Mirror, a connected fitness, well… mirror, and how their approach to designing a home workout is very different from the competition.
 Finally, UX designer and R/GA Creative Director Gene Lu offers a counterpoint to connected fitness. He tells us about his own creative approach to keeping fit with tech, but without the gadgets. (Tap here to see the artwork that Gene made just for this episode!)

Have a look at his Instagram to see the artwork resulting from his literal creative exercise - work he created specifically for this episode.

Find a transcript to this episode right here. 

When Burger King launched its new logo and branding identity this winter, a lot of people said the new look felt retro, even nostalgic. But was that really what the King had in mind for its new brand? In our season launch episode, host Khoi Vinh and producers Pippa Johnstone and Dominic Girard investigate the creative upsides and the pitfalls of using nostalgia to inform your design choices.

In this episode:

Lisa Smith, Executive Creative Director at Jones Knowles Ritchie, and Rapha Abreu, who led the design on the Burger King side, explain the thinking behind the restaurant’s new identity.

Over in London, Arthur Foliard from Koto Studio explains why they looked to the past to design the future of Meatable, a Dutch company working on lab-grown meat. 

Then, Khoi speaks with Champions Design’s Bobby C.Martin Jr., who redesigned the Girl Scouts logo. Bobby speaks to when nostalgia and history clash and can hurt a brand’s design, recalling recent examples including the rebranding of Aunt Jemima to "Pearl Milling Company" and Uncle Ben’s to Ben's Originals.. 

Want to see what we're talking about in this episode? 

Start with Burger King's new 2021 logo, and the rest of the brand redesign, on the Jones Knowles Ritchie site. 

Have a look at Burger King's logo history on this website. 

Can you feel Meatable's nostalgia-tinged designed aesthetic on it's website? 

How about in the marketing material that Koto Studios also designed - including those "vintage" postcards - as seen on our guest's own site? 

Finally, spot the changes Bobby Martin made to the original Girl Scouts logo when he redesigned it.

Find a transcript to this episode right here. 

 

Wireframe is back with a fresh season all about design and creativity. We're digging into all kinds of stories about how designers shape our everyday lives—graphic designers, UX designers, typographers, illustrators, artists, activists, and more. We'll learn from them about how we can unlock creativity for all. Hosted by Khoi Vinh, senior director of design at Adobe. Learn more about how Adobe Creative Cloud can you help you create great work at adobe.ly/wireframe.

The fundamental design feature of a democratic society is a citizen's right to vote. But ensuring that every person is able to vote is not as easy as it seems. Everything from how you design a paper ballot, build an electronic terminal, process a mail-in ballot, engineer a public space for private voting, and so on, brings hundreds of complicated design decisions. We look at how design choices are sometimes at odds with political ones.

In this episode: 

Wireframe producer Dominic Girard and host Khoi Vinh learn why designing for elections is a never-ending challenge. 

After the 2000 US Presidential Election, voter Andre Fladell sued after a flaw in the design of his ballot caused him to vote for the wrong candidate. 

Drew Davies of Oxide Design loves trying to bring order to ballot chaos, and has been trying to help the civic design process for nearly twenty years. 

Designer Whitney Quesenbery at the Center for Civic Design has been leading the charge in all things election design - and continues to support election officials on everything from signage, to electronic machines to mail-in ballots. 

Meanwhile,  Los Angeles County redesigned their voting systems this year. Called the Voter Solutions for All People, it's an ambitious project that updates the county's ballot machines to something modern, electronic, secure and, most importantly, user friendly. 

Kate Ludicrum and Jon Fox talk about how they helped it come together in time for the California Primary. 

Read the PDF transcript of this episode

Wireframe reveals the stories behind user experience design and how it helps technology fit into our lives. It’s a podcast for UX/UI designers, graphic designers, and the design-curious. Hosted by Khoi Vinh, one of Fast Company’s 100 Most Creative People in Business.

Learn more about designing with Adobe XD at adobe.ly/tryxd.

A third of America's population struggles to sleep through the night. For many of us, stress and anxiety play a big role in that. Some designers believe they can help us tackle these problems and calm our minds. The sleep-aid market is a multi-billion dollar industry, so it's no wonder companies are trying to design solutions for us. But can apps and gadgets designed to help us sleep, and keep us calm, really help? Or are they just a kind of digital snake oil?

In this episode: 

Wireframe producer Miriam Johnson talks to host Khoi Vinh about her own struggles with insomnia. 

Jon Delman is a Creative Director who just can't fall asleep. 

Iain McConchie, VP of Design at Headspace, talks to us about how Headspace is helping users calm down, manage stress, and sleep better. 

Ania Wysocka is a designer who made Rootd, an app for anxiety, after her own struggles with it. 

Lucas Guarneri is a designer working on sleep trackers at Withings. He believes sleep trackers can change a person's life. 

Dr. Kristyna Hartse, sleep doctor with the Sun City Sleep Center, is cautious when it comes to how much apps can really do for sleep disorders. 

Read the PDF transcript of this episode.

Wireframe reveals the stories behind user experience design and how it helps technology fit into our lives. It’s a podcast for UX/UI designers, graphic designers, and the design-curious. Hosted by Khoi Vinh, one of Fast Company’s 100 Most Creative People in Business.

Learn more about designing with Adobe XD at adobe.ly/tryxd.

On just one day this spring, at the height of global stay-at-home orders for Covid-19, Americans watched 27 billion minutes of streaming video. Dozens of online streaming services court us with an ever increasing amount of television and film content. And yet, more streaming services are coming online. But in the battle to win over subscribers (and our subscription dollars), how much of a role can good UX interface design play in crowning a video streaming champion? Does the best interface matter, or is content truly king?

In this episode: 

The Wireframe team get together online and try to watch a TV show together using Scener, even though they all live in different parts of the continent. 

Wireframe producer Dominic Girard and host Khoi Vinh trade thoughts on the UX of streaming.

Daniel Strickland, CEO of Scener, explains how they've designed a user experience that is basically bolted on top of a video streaming service's own UX. 

Then, CEO and UX designer Thomas Williams of Ostmodern; streaming video analyst and reporter Dan Rayburn; and writer Suzanne Scacca use a few examples of the Netflix and Quibi interfaces to explore how each platform is trying to attract and retain subscribers. 

We then discuss why Netflix is considered a gold standard, and whether or not Quibi is doomed to fail - or is just getting warmed up. 

Read the PDF transcript of this episode.

Wireframe reveals the stories behind user experience design and how it helps technology fit into our lives. It’s a podcast for UX/UI designers, graphic designers, and the design-curious. Hosted by Khoi Vinh, one of Fast Company’s 100 Most Creative People in Business.

Learn more about designing with Adobe XD at adobe.ly/tryxd.

As the pandemic created health and employment crises, a lot of people found themselves in urgent need of financial help. As a result, crowdfunding platforms are proving more popular than ever. They create personal connections between those of us asking for help, and those of us with money to give. We look at how platforms like GoFundMe, Kickstarter, Patreon and Chuffed deploy different strategies in their UX design to encourage us to give, and give more.

In this episode: 

Wireframe producer Dominic Girard and host Khoi Vinh discuss how UX can help us give. 

A hospital emergency amidst a Covid-19 outbreak leads Ryan Parker and Shay Chestnutt to discover the kindness of strangers via GoFundMe. 

Prashan Paramanathan, CEO of Chuffed, explains how a few design and business choices combine to encourage us to give to smaller social causes. 

Charles Adler, designer and one of the founders of Kickstarter, shows us how the site is built to accelerate and encourage empathetic connections between funders and creators with great project ideas. 

And Ursula Sage is the Director of Product at Patreon. She tells us how recent UX changes to the platform has led to a huge increase in fans subscribing and funding their favourite artists. 

Read the PDF transcript of this episode.

Wireframe reveals the stories behind user experience design and how it helps technology fit into our lives. It’s a podcast for UX/UI designers, graphic designers, and the design-curious. Hosted by Khoi Vinh, one of Fast Company’s 100 Most Creative People in Business.

Learn more about designing with Adobe XD at adobe.ly/tryxd.

Your dad’s dog is barking in the background, but he doesn't know how to mute his video chat. Your uncle can’t get Netflix working on his new SmartTV. And grandma still can’t find where her favorite songs are stored on her tablet. Why is your family always depending on you for tech support? Sometimes design, technology, and getting older doesn't add up. And if design is failing older generations, it will eventually fail us all.

In this episode: 

Wireframe producer Miriam Johnson and host Khoi Vinh chat about the risks and rewards of designing for older users. 

UX Researcher Michelle Brown is helping her parents install a new surveillance camera when she learns there's a much bigger problem. 

Dr. Jeff Johnson believes there is a right way to design for an ageing population; he co-wrote a book about it. 

Mike Duggan is a senior user who feels like Spotify wasn't made for his generation. 

Sophie Kim, a designer at Studio Red, made a music app just for people like Mike. 

Don Norman, tech and design expert, says that when we talk about designing for the elderly, we've got it all wrong.

Read the PDF transcript of this episode.

Wireframe reveals the stories behind user experience design and how it helps technology fit into our lives. It’s a unique podcast for UX/UI designers, graphic designers, and the design-curious. Hosted by Khoi Vinh, one of Fast Company’s 100 Most Creative People in Business.

Learn more about designing with Adobe XD at adobe.ly/tryxd.

With our first episode, we tackle the Covid-19 pandemic question directly: how has it affected designers and the work they do? Our episode explores the changing nature of work from a designer's perspective. We also examine what it means to design during a pandemic - and how our anxieties and concerns we have intersect with the responsibilities UX designers already have in making technology work better for us.

In this episode: 

At the height of the pandemic, UX researcher Doug Collins found himself working in a very strange new office. 

Erika Hall at Mule Design wonders if it's time to say goodbye to the "old way" of doing things. 

Deroy Peraza recalls what he's learned navigating his studio, Hyperakt, through previous crises, and how the outbreak can focus his priorities. 

Sarah Foster lost her design job in the crisis; she's taking stock of where to go from here. 

Kevin Twohy thinks this crisis will change the kinds of projects he's willing to do in the future. 

Designer Paola Mendoza-Yu is still trying to understand how her role as a designer can help drive change. 

Designer Jessica Gaddis explains why now is the time for designers to listen, not act.

Read the PDF transcript of this episode.

Wireframe reveals the stories behind user experience design and how it helps technology fit into our lives. It’s a podcast for UX/UI designers, graphic designers, and the design-curious. Hosted by Khoi Vinh, one of Fast Company’s 100 Most Creative People in Business. 

Learn more about designing with Adobe XD at adobe.ly/tryxd.

With the pandemic, the user experience of life has changed. It has affected how we feel, how we communicate, how we think and how we entertain ourselves. This season, we examine how good UX design can help technology support some very current anxieties. Can design help us sleep? Can it encourage us to be more charitable? Can it solve our family tech support conundrums? Can it entertain us with better online content? And come November, can it help us vote?

Read the PDF transcript of this trailer.

Wireframe reveals the stories behind user experience design and how it helps technology fit into our lives. It’s a podcast for UX/UI designers, graphic designers, and the design-curious. Hosted by Khoi Vinh, one of Fast Company’s 100 Most Creative People in Business.

Can an app really help you fall in love? Sometimes using a dating app feels like getting hit by cupid’s arrow - and sometimes it feels like you’ve been stung. We talk to designers and daters to see whether the UX of these apps is meant to help you find that someone special, or just to keep you swiping left indefinitely.

Read the PDF transcript of this episode.

The world of FUI or fantasy user interface design is responsible for on-screen depictions of UX. Like the heads up displays for superheroes, or what a hacker sees as she cracks the government’s mainframe. All of these worlds are designed by someone. But, when it comes to designing these worlds, the lines between fiction and reality are often blurred. How do FUI designers create the futures we see on screen, and how do they influence the traditional designers who are building our real-life futures?

Read the PDF transcript of this episode.

Design critics Jessica Helfand and Emily Heyward, founder of Red Antler, discuss what's at stake when everything looks the same -- and what designers can do about it.

Read the PDF transcript of this episode.

Sound is becoming more important in the world of design, especially as our devices shrink and we become less attached to screens. Wireframe speaks to sound designer Connor Moore and psychoacoustic expert Susan Rogers on the best ways to design for the ear.

Read the PDF transcript of this episode.

Khoi speaks with a roundtable of global privacy experts to find out what

designers can - and should - do to keep user data safe. Featuring: Georgia Bullen (Simply

Secure), Amy Stepanovich (Access Now) and Lieke Beelen (Visual Contracts).

Read the PDF transcript of this episode.

Electronic health records aren’t just cumbersome and time-consuming, they’re actually damaging the doctor-patient relationship. How can UX designers help? 

Read the PDF transcript of this episode.

The foosball, the snacks, the scale - life at a big design firm can be really exciting. But at independent studios, design culture still flourishes. In this episode, taped live at Adobe MAX, we explore life at independent design studios, with Jason Hardy of Century, Jennifer Gonzales of Hugo & Marie, and Kemp Attwood of Area 17.

Last season we asked - what is good design? This season, we’re delving deeper into what design can - and can’t - do. From privacy, to the beeps and boops our phones make, to the secret world of UX design in film. 

On this special live episode of Wireframe, we dive into the brand new territory of Voice UX design. How can designers to approach voice not just as a technology, but also as a design challenge? Our guests are Katie Briggs (NPR) and Will Hall (RAIN Agency).

This episode asks: what's the difference between designing for accessibility versus designing inclusively? To find the answers we look at everything from WordPress blogging software to the Xbox controller. We even start with some early lessons from, of all places, TV’s “French Chef,” Julia Child! Bon appetit!

Read the PDF transcript of this episode.

The “Like” button was a huge triumph for Facebook, or was it? Now more than ever we’re all wondering if our traditional definition of “good” design is actually in our best interests. In this episode, we take a look at the intersection of ethics and design.

Read the PDF transcript of this episode.

A few years from now, augmented reality may render most screens obsolete, as computing becomes integrated into the world around us. This presents a host of challenges for designers: What do we want an augmented reality world to look like? 

Read the PDF transcript of this episode.

A short but special bonus episode of Wireframe, recorded at Adobe MAX in Los Angeles, a.k.a. the world’s largest creativity conference, which this year brought together more than 14,000 creative pros—designers, photographers, videographers, illustrators, artists, and more—all in one place. So it was an ideal opportunity to ask them: What does good design mean to you? 

We dig into the unexpected origin story of the universal screen language… emoji! We talk to the designers behind emoji, and the steps (and missteps) emoji design took before the icons found their way to our screens. 

Read the PDF transcript of this episode.

The Boston Mayor’s Office was having a problem: Not enough residents were reporting their own problems into the city. Sure, the 311 phone line had its old school devotees. But Boston decided they could reach a whole new population by creating a brand new 311 mobile app. The only issue? Turning a human-operated phone line into a mobile app isn’t easy. Designers at the mayor’s office looked around at another city’s 311 app—and made their own share of mistakes—to figure out how to get it done. 

Read the PDF transcript of this episode.

From airplane crashes, to industrial disasters and medical error: When things go terribly wrong, why do we blame human beings instead of bad design?

Read the PDF transcript of this episode.

From Adobe, a podcast about interaction design. Hear the trailer now.