Design Better

Find the transcript, full show notes, and more on our Substack: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/brian-tyler 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.  *** 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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Find the transcript, show notes, and more on our Substack: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/eric-snowden 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. *** 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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Visit our Substack for transcript, show notes, and more: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/kate-aronowitz? 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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For decades, graphic designers have been introduced to typography by Ellen Lupton?s book, Thinking With Type. It was certainly a staple in Aarron?s courses when he taught graphic design. It?s now in its third edition, with loads of new content. It?s worth noting, the layout of each page of this book is beautiful and entirely designed by Ellen herself.  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. *** 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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Visit our Substack for the transcript, additional show notes and links, and more: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/jonathan-hoefler 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 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Visit our Substack for the transcript, links, and more: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/hamish-smyth 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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Find a transcript and more show notes on our Substack: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/hiroki-asai 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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Find the transcript and full show notes on our Substack: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/vanessa-gennarelli 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. *** 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 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With a more than 100 year history, movie making has a lot to teach us about collaboration and creativity in complex environments. How do directors bring together so many people with such different skills for months, sometimes years, to make a movie that holds together as a story that entertains and makes a profit? 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). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Find more show notes and the transcript on our Substack: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/autumn-durald-arkapaw-cinematographer 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 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We hope that you?re having a festive holiday season, and that you?re able to take some time off to be with friends and family. Today we?re rewinding to our interview with Robin Petravic, co-owner of 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 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 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Find the transcript, show notes, and more on our Substack: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/barry-katz 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 Luki? (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 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Find the transcript, show notes, and more on our Substack: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/dorrian-porter-vestaboard 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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Find show notes, transcripts, and more at https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/paola-antonelli 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 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As designers, we can?t help but be particular about the gifts we give and receive. We?ve put together a list of beautiful and useful gifts at varying price ranges to help you satisfy everyone on your holiday shopping list this year, including yourself. Wishing you and yours a happy, safe holiday season filled with love, gratitude, and connection. Your pals, Aarron and Eli *** For the full gift guide, visit our Substack: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/design-better-holiday-gift-guide#details *** Gift ideas that support our sponsors and the show Eli: I'm kind of a coffee heathen, and tend to like really dark roast coffees, old school?and so I was a little skeptical because a lot of Methodical?s coffees tend to be a little lighter or medium roast. But this one that Aarron picked out is just great and I drink it all the time.  Design Better coffee, $22 Eli: You've probably heard us talk about American Giant. They're a clothing company based here in the US. They're all manufactured here in the States. We actually had their CEO Bayard Winthrop on an episode that got a really good reception from folks. Aarron: It was one of our more popular episodes this year. Bayard's an amazing person. And the company is just so cool. Eli: And their mission is great about revitalizing manufacturing here in the U. S., and they make great clothing. American Giant hoodie (m) (w), $138 but get 20% off with code DESIGNBETTER Eli: Heath Ceramics is another brand that we're really close to. A few years back we had on Robin Petravic who's the current co-owner of Heath ceramics. Their brand is rooted in the Bay Area, another local manufacturer, and they just make these beautiful, very handmade feeling dinnerware, tableware, vases...they're beautiful. Heath Ceramics: Small Modern Cup $24 dbtr.co/heathceramics get 15% off between now and December 31st with code DBholiday23 Aarron: We?ve been talking with our friends over at Vestaboard, and in this list of awesome gifts, this is like right there at the top. If you're familiar with a split flap display: when you go to an airport, a train station, and you see those [mechanical] displays that show what time your departures and arrivals are, that?s a split flap display. This is a great office thing as well, and could be a holiday gift to the office. So what's cool about VestaBoard is there's a mobile app that's associated with it. You can connect it to different data sources, like amazing quotes, latest scores in a game that you're watching. It's wonderful for families to be able to communicate with each other. If you're not at home and you've got a kid that's just gotten home, you can send them a quick message on this. There's so many different creative and cool things you can do. Vestaboard $3,295 Eli: Some people can't listen to any kind of music while they're writing or focusing on a task but, brain.fm has actually done the scientific work to create soundtracks for your creative or focus work, and it's really great. I've been using it all the time, especially if I'm having to have deep focus and write something. Brain.fm: $34.99/year Aarron: DB+, if you haven't heard about it already, it's our subscription service. We've got a really good discount going on it right now through the holidays. You can get ad free versions of the show. You can get episodes of the show early and get invited to our exclusive AMAs with some big names in design and technology. We have one coming up with Meredith Black, who's probably the foremost authority on design and ops. What we want to create with DB Plus is just a way for the community to get more, to learn more, and we're adding more to that subscription service as well. DB+ subscription, $3.75 (ad-free episodes 1 week early) or $8.75 (monthly AMAs with design luminaries). Charities Girls Who Code Nuçi?s space World Central Kitchen Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Find the episode transcript and show notes on designbetterpodcast.com 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: [email protected] If you'd like to submit a guest idea, please contact us at: [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Find the transcript and episode notes here: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/gil-gershoni#details 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: [email protected] If you'd like to submit a guest idea, please contact us at: [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Show notes and transcript: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/ok-go 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 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Over the seven years doing the show, we noticed a pattern in those who achieve their career goals fastest?they consciously invest in themselves by building skills and knowledge. And one of the best ways to learn is to have direct access to people who inform and inspire. Today, we?re launching a premium service called DB+ designed to help you learn faster and grow your career. Subscribers to the Power Listener plan get access to episodes ad-free and a week before everyone else for the price of your daily coffee. For folks who want direct access to some of the guests we?ve had on the show and industry experts, we have another tier for Accelerated Learners. Each month, we?ll invite you to AMA (Ask Me Anything) conversations with big names in design and tech from companies like Nike, Netflix, and The New York Times.  We?ll dive into topics most relevant to your work to help you learn from those with deep experience. You?ll have a chance to ask questions about UX research, UI design, the creative process, getting ahead in your career, and more. Here are some of our upcoming AMAs: Meredith Black, DesignOps superstar at the New York Times Greg Hoffman, former Chief Marketing Officer at Nike Brad Frost, author of Atomic Design Felix Lee, founder of ADPList If you?re unable to attend, no sweat. You?ll get a private feed of every AMA so you never miss an opportunity to learn. And it?s also affordable. For less than what you?d pay for a sandwich at your local deli, you can become a DB+ Accelerated Learner. Also, entire teams can get access to DB+ too. To learn more, get in touch with us at [email protected]. We love this show, and we?re excited to continue to expand Design Better to feed your passion for design. We want to help you learn more and stay inspired. Subscribing to DB+ is one of the best ways to do that. Early bird subscribers get 50% off for the first three months (until November 17th when the sale ends). Visit designbetter.plus to learn more and subscribe. You?ll also get early access to our interview with one of the most creative bands in the world, OK Go. Thank you so much for your support, and for being a fan of the show. -Eli & Aarron Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Aarron first met Paula Scher as a grad student in Philadelphia. He worked at the Temple University gallery and was hanging an exhibition of her posters when they first spoke about her work. He didn?t know at the time how significant her influence on graphic design was, but her work made an impression on him. 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: [email protected] If you'd like to submit a guest idea, please contact us at: [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Show notes and transcript: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/bonus-episode-matt-d-smith#details 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: [email protected] If you'd like to submit a guest idea, please contact us at: [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Show notes and transcript: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/llisa-demetrios#details 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: [email protected] If you'd like to submit a guest idea, please contact us at: [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey everybody, we have a special bonus episode for you today. We're having a conversation with Bayard Winthrop, the founder and CEO of American Giant, one of our favorite clothing companies. This episode is all about the intersection of design and entrepreneurship. Designers often hear that they need to develop business acumen: they need to know how a business works, and how a product makes money. And Bayard shares some of those insights here in our conversation. This episode is different in one other way: it's our very first sponsored episode. We want to occasionally bring you stories from brands that we love, who share our values, and who we feel have something to teach us about design. Why we love American Giant American Giant?s mission is threefold: to make clothing that stands apart, grow jobs for people who need them, and revitalize local communities. They also care deeply about sustainability, and makes clothes that are durable, not disposable. Bayard speaks in depth about their mission in this episode, and it?s one of the reasons we love the brand. Another reason is the clothing itself. Sometimes being a designer can be painful, because we pay attention to all the details: we check into a hotel room and the faucet doesn't work right, or the light switch is in the wrong place, or they don't have space in the closet for your luggage. So when we encounter a company like American Giant? where it?s clear that every little detail from the zippers to the stitching has been cared for immensely?it?s something that we want to bring into our lives. We love everything about American Giant, and we know you will too. Their clothing is American-made, ethically produced, and built to last. What more could you ask for? We?ve got a special partnership running with American Giant, where Design Better listeners can get 20% off your first order. Just go to dbtr.co/americangiant and use the code ?DESIGNBETTER? at checkout. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to our second Design Better episode on the creative process. You may not know Ed Catmull?s name, but there?s almost no doubt you?re familiar with his work. As the co-founder of Pixar, he?s responsible for helping to create movies ranging from the original Toy Story on through The Incredibles, Wall-E, Moana, and Inside Out.  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 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to the first episode in our Design Better series on the creative process. In this series, we?re going beyond the confines of design to speak with some of the most creative people in the world, to learn how they approach collaboration, come up with innovative ideas, and overcome creative obstacles. 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. 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: [email protected] If you'd like to submit a guest idea, please contact us at: [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Design Better co-hosts Eli Woolery and Aarron Walter explore the intersection of design, technology, and the creative process through conversations with inspiring guests across many creative fields. Whether you?re design curious or a design pro, Design Better is guaranteed to inspire and inform. Episodes are released semi-weekly. 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.? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We recently hit our 100th episode, and we have a big announcement to share. If you haven't already subscribed to our Substack at https://designbetterpodcast.com/ head over there so you can stay up to day with all the latest episodes, as well as our free newsletter. Thank you for your support! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Show notes: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/bonus-episode-with-don-norman-panel 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/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Subscribe for free to our show on Substack to receive episodes a week early, bonus content like post-show discussions, and more: https://designbetterpodcast.com/ 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: [email protected] If you'd like to submit a guest idea, please contact us at: [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Subscribe to the Design Better Podcast on Substack to get episodes a week early and other bonus content: https://designbetterpodcast.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: [email protected] If you'd like to submit a guest idea, please contact us at: [email protected] Links Georg Petschnigg on Design Matters by Debbie Millman Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Show notes: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/rewind-eileen-fisher-embracing-imperfect 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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Show notes: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/donna-lichaw-the-leaders-journey ?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: [email protected] If you'd like to submit a guest idea, please contact us at: [email protected] 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 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Show notes: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/robert-brunner-where-art-and-commerce 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: [email protected] If you'd like to submit a guest idea, please contact us at: [email protected] 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 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Show notes: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/john-maeda-ai-design 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: [email protected] If you'd like to submit a guest idea, please contact us at: [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Show notes: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/sheena-iyengar-choose-to-think-bigger 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: [email protected] If you'd like to submit a guest idea, please contact us at: [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Show notes: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/matt-mullenweg-wordpress-ai-and-jazz 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: [email protected] If you'd like to submit a guest idea, please contact us at: [email protected] *** 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! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Show notes: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/kevin-bethune-reimagining-design 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.  * 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: [email protected] If you'd like to submit a guest idea, please contact us at: [email protected] * 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 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Show notes: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/tony-fadell-how-to-build-the-future 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. * 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: [email protected] If you'd like to submit a guest idea, please contact us at: [email protected] * 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   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Show notes: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/judy-and-daniel-wert-challenging 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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Show notes: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/tina-seelig-constraints-drive-creativity 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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Show notes: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/meredith-black-a-new-era-of-designops 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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Show notes: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/greg-hoffman 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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Show notes: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/felicia-hatcher 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.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Show notes: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/seth-godin 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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Show notes: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/sian-proctor 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.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Show notes: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/katrina-alcorn 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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Show notes: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/nir-eyal 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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Show notes: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/detria-williamson 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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Show notes: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/guy-kawasaki 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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Show notes: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/john-cleese 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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices