Episódios
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We’re students of the creative process, and so is Adam Moss, author of The Work of Art: How something comes from nothing. Formerly the editor-in-chief of New York magazine, these days Moss is on a quest in his studio to understand painting and through it the mysteries of the act of creation.
Questions about why people create—and the diversity of process across mediums—led Adam to write his book, which features interviews with a host of inspiring folks. Kara Walker, Tony Kushner, Sofia Coppola, Stephen Sondheim, Barbara Kruger, Ira Glass, Samin Nosrat, Marc Jacobs, David Simon, and many more share their approach to the work they do in the book.
We talk with Adam about the red threads that run through such varied creative expressions, finding the right creative partners, how to feed creativity, and how his own work has been influenced by his investigation into how creativity unfolds.
Visit our Substack for bonus content and more: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/adam-moss
Bio
Adam Moss was the editor of New York magazine, The New York Times Magazine, and 7 Days. As editor of New York, he also oversaw the creation of five digital magazines: Vulture, The Cut, Daily Intelligencer, Grub Street, and The Strategist. During his tenure, New York won forty-one National Magazine Awards, including Magazine of the Year. He was an assistant managing editor of The New York Times with oversight of the Magazine, the Book Review, and the Culture, and Style sections, as well as managing editor of Esquire. He was elected to the Magazine Editors’ Hall of Fame in 2019.
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Wix Studio: With Wix Studio, agencies and enterprises can create, develop and manage exceptional web projects with hyper efficiency. And if you're worried about the learning curve eating into time you don't have, don't be. Wix Studio is intuitive by design, so your entire team can hit the ground running. For your next project, check out wixstudio.com.
Wine Access: We love wine, but often feel overwhelmed by the options out there. But we recently joined Wine Access who not only ship to your door some of the world’s most inspiring wines, they also educate subscribers with full color information cards that accompany each bottle. You should totally join The Waitlist Wine Club. Just visit wineaccess.com/waitlist and use Promo Code: DESIGNBETTER for $25 off your first shipment.
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One of Aarron’s first jobs as a kid was performing magic shows, and it taught him a surprising amount about creativity. Magic is, at its core, the art of storytelling. It’s about directing attention, making people question assumptions, and blending creativity with technology to change how we see the world. That’s why it’s no surprise that Andrew Evans, founder of the Magic Patio, draws on his training from Stanford’s d.school to craft truly mesmerizing experiences.
We dive into Andrew’s journey, from his childhood dream of designing roller coasters, to creating treehouses, working at IDEO and Nike, and eventually launching a magic show in his own backyard. We also explore how he’s honed the art of engaging an audience, and we share tips on how to craft presentations that pull people in and make them feel part of the experience.
Watch the video version of this episode on our Substack: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/andrew-evans
Bio
Andrew Evans is founder and magician at The Magic Patio, a uniquely San Francisco magic experience. After entering what appears to be a strange library/candy store on Mission Street, guests discover the hidden wonders of a hand-crafted, secret magic theater with one-of-a-kind magic performances.
More than designing and performing magic, my passion is creating unexpected experiences that transport people into new worlds and shift their perspective on what they perceive to be impossible.
Think Urban Disneyland rather than David Copperfield. A trip to The Magic Patio will fill you with inspiration and wonder as you witness unexplainable feats in an intimate setting.
Buy tickets to The Magic Patio
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Premium Episodes on Design Better
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Adobe’s In the Making: As a Design Better listener, we have another podcast we think you’ll enjoy. Adobe’s In the Making hosted by Teresa Au takes an honest look at the challenges and rewards of being part of the creator economy. Building a business around your creative pursuits ain’t easy. Wouldn’t it be great to learn from those who have done this before? Check out In the Making from Adobe to learn more about how to build a creative career and life. Subscribe on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen.
Bluehost: When you upgrade to Bluehost Cloud, you can start managing multiple sites and domains. Not only that, you also get 100% uptime, enhanced security, and priority 24/7 support to keep you online no matter what. That means no crashing from heavy traffic. Go to Bluehost.com and start building your dream website today.
Methodical Coffee: Roasted, blended, brewed, served and perfected by verified coffee nerds 🤓 : https://methodicalcoffee.com
(use code "designbetter" for 10% off of your order).
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We don’t know about you, but we spend more time than we’d like to admit worrying about our future. Central to our concerns is how we’re responding to climate change. It’s a massive, multi-dimensional problem. People like Diane Hoskins and Andy Cohen of Gensler, one of the world’s largest architectural firms, bring our anxiety levels down a notch. Under their leadership, Gensler has been innovating in material science and design to mitigate the impact buildings have on our environment.
Diane and Andy have a new book called Design for a Radically Changing World, and we wanted the back story on what inspired them to write about a more sustainable approach to architecture and urban planning. We also spoke with Diane and Andy about their childhood and how they found their way into architecture, and what’s kept them excited about staying at the same company for 30-40 years (a rarity in our current era).
Find bonus content, full show notes, and more on our Substack: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/diane-hoskins-andy-cohen
Bios
Diane Hoskins
Diane Hoskins, FAIA, is Co-Chair of Gensler, overseeing a global network of over 6,000 employees across 50 offices worldwide. An MIT-trained architect with an MBA from UCLA, her career spans architecture, design, real estate, and business. Diane founded Gensler’s Research Institute to drive innovation and improve the human experience through design. One of its groundbreaking studies, the Experience Index, demonstrated the critical role design plays in enhancing retail experiences, driving sales, and boosting consumer loyalty.
Diane is active in organizations such as the Urban Land Institute and the World Economic Forum's Global Future Council on Cities & Urbanization. Named one of Business Insider's 100 Creators, she is a frequent speaker and media contributor, sharing insights with outlets like The New York Times, Harvard Business Review, and Bloomberg TV.
Andy Cohen
Andy Cohen's core philosophy is based on shaping the future of cities. Since 2005, he has served as Co-CEO of Gensler and continues to lead the world's foremost design and architecture firm as Global Co-Chair. He is extremely proud of what their global team has accomplished. Gensler is a people- and client-centered organization, laser-focused on enhancing the human experience.
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Premium Episodes on Design Better
This ad-supported episode is available to everyone. If you’d like to hear it ad-free, upgrade to our premium subscription, where you’ll get an additional 2 ad-free episodes per month (4 total). Premium subscribers also get access to our monthly AMAs with former guests, ad-free episodes, early and discounted access to workshops, and our new enhanced newsletter The Brief that compiles salient insights, quotes, readings, and creative processes uncovered in the show.
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Design Thinking + AI Workshops: We’ve been continuing to run our AI + Design Thinking workshops, including for Fortune 100 companies that are developing some of these technologies. Participants love the chance to play and experiment with some of these tools, and we have an additional public session coming in mid-November.
One of our big takeaways is that many people simply don’t have time in their day-to-day workflow to explore this new technology, and this workshop provides just that—a valuable space for experimentation, discussion, and reflection on how the world and our jobs are changing with generative AI.
Register for November 13th
If you're not yet a Design Better Premium member, if you sign up for a yearly account we've got a few 50% off tickets for new yearly members. Just sign up for a new account at the yearly level and we'll share the discounted ticket code with you if you write to us at [email protected].
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The New Yorker has great writing, but Aarron and I are pretty sure we’re not the only ones who flip through the magazine before reading any articles to find all the great cartoons from legends like Roz Chast or Saul Steinberg.
So you can imagine how thrilled we were to get a chance to speak with Jason Chatfield, a New Yorker cartoonist who also happens to be a very talented illustrator, and aspiring stand-up comedian.
Jason’s also got a new Substack about his creative process called Process Junkie. We talk to him about the importance of embracing mistakes, how he collaborates with writers, the cartoon selection process at the New Yorker, and why creating a large volume of work is critical to creative success.
Get bonus content and more on our Substack: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/jason-chatfield
Bio
Jason Chatfield is an award-winning Cartoonist, Author & Comedian based in New York City. For 16 years, he has been an internationally syndicated comic strip cartoonist, writing and drawing the iconic 102-year-old strip, Ginger Meggs, published daily through Andrews McMeel Syndication.
His work has appeared in The New Yorker, MAD Magazine, Esquire, Variety, The Weekly Humorist, American Bystander, Wired, and Air Mail among others. His art has been exhibited in France, the UK, Australia, and all over the United States and in books published by Penguin Random House, Harper Collins, & Humorist Media. His latest book with Andrews McMeel Publishing will be out in Fall 2025.
Chatfield is a past President of both the National Cartoonists’ Society (Est. 1946) and Australian Cartoonists Association (Est. 1924). He is the youngest cartoonist to ever hold either of these positions.
His weekly newsletter New York Cartoons is one of Substack's Featured Publications for 2023, with thousands of weekly subscribers.
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Premium Episodes on Design Better
This is a premium episode on Design Better. We release two premium episodes per month, along with two free episodes for everyone. Premium subscribers also get access to our monthly AMAs with former guests, ad-free episodes, discounts and early access to workshops, access to our (small but growing!) library of books and participation in book giveaways, and our new enhanced newsletter The Brief that compiles salient insights, quotes, readings, and creative processes uncovered in the show.
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Methodical Coffee: Join us for a coffee break with our friends at Methodical Coffee. In this segment, Methodical Coffee co-founder Will Shurtz teaches us how to select the right roast for our preferred flavor profile. Select your own preferred roast at methodicalcoffee.com, and use code "designbetter" for 10% off of your order.
LinkedIn: Design Better is supported by our pals at LinkedIn—our favorite social network. It’s hard to get your B2B marketing to land with the right audience. Let’s face it, the web can be a very noisy place! If your message isn’t targeted to the right audience—it just disappears into the noise.
With LinkedIn Ads, you can precisely reach the professionals who are more likely to find your ad relevant. With LinkedIn's targeting capabilities, you can reach people by job title, industry, company, and more. Start converting your B2B audience into high quality leads today. To get a $100 credit on your next campaign go to LinkedIn/designbetter to claim your credit.
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If you're interested in sponsoring the show, please contact us at: [email protected]
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If, like us, you’ve been tinkering with the plethora of AI tools that have emerged recently, chances are it’s changing your workflow and creative process. AI is a great thought partner for writing, illustration, and even user research, but we’ve been wondering how people in other creative disciplines are using it.
Matthias Hollwich, principal and founder of New York architecture firm HWKN Architecture, has discovered AI is a powerful addition to architectural design. He and his team are using it to imagine how buildings might fit into the existing design of a city, and take cues from local history and culture. It’s yet another way AI is unexpectedly expanding creative horizons.
Find the transcript, bonus content, and more, on our Substack: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/matthias-hollwich
Bio
Matthias Hollwich is the founder of HWKN, a NY-based collective of architects, sculptors, social strategists and innovators dedicated to use architecture to shape a better world. Matthias was born and raised in Germany where he studied architecture and brings a dual perspective to all the firm’s designs, combining German precision with American aspiration.
Matthias was honored in Fast Company’s ranking of the world’s Top 10 Most Innovative Architects and in Business Insider’s list of Top Business Visionaries. He published his first book UmBauhaus- Updating Modernism in collaboration with Rainer Weisbach and the Bauhaus Foundation in 2006. His latest book, New Aging: Live Smarter Now to Live Better Forever, suggests a new way to think about aging that could fundamentally change the way we design for it.
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Stay tuned after the interview for a special look at Wix Studio, the intuitive way for agencies and enterprises to design exceptional sites, with full-stack business solutions, multi-site management and built-in AI.]
We chat with Brad Hussey, Founder of Creative Crew—a free community for web agencies with Wix Studio—about how he uses the platform to efficiently build and refine websites by seamlessly transferring designs from Figma, saving time through its dynamic content management, customizable features, and support for custom CSS.
To learn more about Wix Studio, visit dbtr.co/wixstudio.
***
Premium Episodes on Design Better
This ad-supported episode is available to everyone. If you’d like to hear it ad-free, upgrade to our premium subscription, where you’ll get an additional 2 ad-free episodes per month (4 total). Premium subscribers also get access to our monthly AMAs with former guests, ad-free episodes, early and discounted access to workshops, and our new enhanced newsletter The Brief that compiles salient insights, quotes, readings, and creative processes uncovered in the show.
Upgrade to paid
***
Visiting the links below is one of the best ways to support our show:
LinkedIn: Design Better is supported by our pals at LinkedIn—our favorite social network. It’s hard to get your B2B marketing to land with the right audience. Let’s face it, the web can be a very noisy place! If your message isn’t targeted to the right audience—it just disappears into the noise.
With LinkedIn Ads, you can precisely reach the professionals who are more likely to find your ad relevant. With LinkedIn's targeting capabilities, you can reach people by job title, industry, company, and more. Start converting your B2B audience into high quality leads today. To get a $100 credit on your next campaign go to LinkedIn/designbetter to claim your credit.
Methodical Coffee: Roasted, blended, brewed, served and perfected by verified coffee nerds 🤓 : https://methodicalcoffee.com (use code "designbetter" for 10% off of your order).
If you're interested in sponsoring the show, please contact us at: [email protected]
If you'd like to submit a guest idea, please contact us at: [email protected]
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We’ve talked with people across many creative disciplines on Design Better, and there’s a red thread that keeps popping up—many are neurodivergent in some way. A diagnosis of ADHD in childhood can seem like a disadvantage, but it can actually become a superpower that enables hyper-focus and deep learning. We wanted to learn more about ADHD so we called in an expert—Skye Waterson.
Skye received a surprise ADHD diagnosis at the beginning of her Ph.D. program, which led her to research and develop strategies to help other adults with ADHD reach their potential. Now, she has an international business called the Unconventional Organisation which supports more than 800 professionals with ADHD.
We spoke with Skye about some common challenges that people with ADHD face at work, why the modern work environment does not always work for ADHD thinkers, as well as some communication strategies for collaborating with neurodiverse people in your work.
For full show notes, bonus content, and more, visit our Substack: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/skye-waterson
Bio
Skye Waterson is an academic with over seven years of experience working in adult education. She has studied in various fields, including Psychology, Sociology, and Public Health, and is now a Doctoral Candidate in Population Health.
Skye was diagnosed with ADHD at the start of her doctorate. Since then, she has dedicated time to researching and disseminating ADHD studies, focusing on supporting others with strengths-based, neurodiverse-friendly tools and systems.
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Premium Episodes on Design Better
This is a premium episode on Design Better. We release two premium episodes per month, along with two free episodes for everyone. Premium subscribers also get access to our monthly AMAs with former guests, ad-free episodes, discounts and early access to workshops, access to our (small but growing!) library of books and participation in book giveaways, and our new enhanced newsletter The Brief that compiles salient insights, quotes, readings, and creative processes uncovered in the show.
Upgrade to paid
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Visiting the links below is one of the best ways to support our show:
On Set With: The HGTV and Max On Set With podcast explores the sets and world building of beloved films and TV shows produced by Warner Bros. Discovery through conversations with art directors and set designers. Each episode highlights a different iconic set from film or television. Through a constellation of voices (set decorators, production designers, directors, and showrunners) our audience gets a first-hand account of the creation of the environments that became a part of our collective, global iconography — and actionable tips to bring the power of scenic design into our listeners’ own spaces.
Listen to On Set With on Spotify
Listen to On Set With on Apple Podcasts
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Until Designer Fund was founded by Enrique Allen and Ben Blumenrose, venture capital investments rarely considered design strategy when investing. Companies like Stripe, Notion, Gusto, and Omada Health—all in Designer Fund portfolio companies—see design as a competitive advantage and a tool for acquiring and retaining customers. Enrique Allen told us all about the tremendous value design is creating in these and many other companies.
We spoke with Enrique about how they chose design as an investment lens, the changing role of design from when they started until now, why venture capital might not always be the best way to fund a startup business, and how they think about finding good partners and co-founders.
By the way, if you’re starting a design-centric company and seeking investment, Designer Fund is investing up to $1 million for pre-seed and Series A startups. To learn more and apply for funding, visit designerfund.com/partnership. Apply by October 4th.
Bio
Enrique Allen is the co-founder and managing partner at Design Fund. Previously, Enrique was a designer at venture capital firms, including 500 Startups, Facebook’s fbFund, and Venrock, where he helped invest in companies like Lyft (NASDAQ: LYFT), Wildfire (acquired by Google) and Behance (acquired by Adobe). He's a Stanford University alum, former Division 1 soccer player and senior lecturer at the Stanford d.school.
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Stay tuned after the interview for a special look at Wix Studio, the intuitive way for agencies and enterprises to design exceptional sites, with full-stack business solutions, multi-site management and built-in AI.
We chat with Kyle Prinsloo, founder of ClientManager.io, about why he loves Wix Studio for its efficient tools like the Figma to Wix Studio plugin, and robust email marketing features, which have greatly improved his workflow and client engagement.
To learn more about Wix Studio, visit dbtr.co/wixstudio.
***
Premium Episodes on Design Better
This ad-supported episode is available to everyone. If you’d like to hear it ad-free, upgrade to our premium subscription, where you’ll get an additional 2 ad-free episodes per month (4 total). Premium subscribers also get access to our monthly AMAs with former guests, ad-free episodes, early and discounted access to workshops, and our new enhanced newsletter The Brief that compiles salient insights, quotes, readings, and creative processes uncovered in the show.
Upgrade to paid
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Visiting the links below is one of the best ways to support our show:
Incogni: Every year, both the number and scope of data breaches worldwide are rising. According to the 2022 Annual Data Breach Report by the Identity Theft Resource Center, the number of victims has gone up nearly 41.5% from 2021. Incogni reaches out to data brokers on your behalf, requests your personal data removal, and deals with any objections from their side. Use promo code DESIGNBETTER at https://incogni.com/designbetter to get 60% off an annual plan.
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 diverse creative fields, to help you hone your craft, unlock your creative potential, and learn the art of collaboration.
Whether you’re design curious or a design pro, Design Better is guaranteed to inspire and inform. Vanity Fair calls Design Better, “sharp, to the point, and full of incredibly valuable information for anyone looking to better understand how to build a more innovative world.”
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One of the great things about being a dad is getting to watch your favorite movies again with your kids and experience them through a new point of view, and also to watch new films together and see how things like animation evolve and create new ways of telling stories.
One of the best examples of this from the past decade is Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse, which used innovative techniques to pay tribute to the comic-book origins of the stories but add new depth and excitement without feeling forced. Aarron and I both loved watching the original—and the sequel— with our kids.
Visit our Substack for bonus content, transcripts, and more: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/yashar-kassai
So you can imagine how excited we were to chat with Yashar Kassai, Production Designer of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, and artist on The Mitchells vs. The Machines, Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse and more. We learned about the tools he uses, how he thinks about developing a fresh look for a familiar franchise, and what the future of visual storytelling might look like.
Bio
Yashar Kassai is a production designer and artist, who has worked on animated films like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, The Mitchells vs. The Machines, Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse, Angry Birds, Book of Life, and more. You can find his work on Artstation, Instagram, and on his personal website.
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Premium Episodes on Design Better
This is a premium episode on Design Better. We release two premium episodes per month, along with two free episodes for everyone. Premium subscribers also get access to our monthly AMAs with former guests, ad-free episodes, discounts and early access to workshops, access to our (small but growing!) library of books and participation in book giveaways, and our new enhanced newsletter The Brief that compiles salient insights, quotes, readings, and creative processes uncovered in the show.
Upgrade to paid
***
Visiting the links below is one of the best ways to support our show:
Incogni: Every year, both the number and scope of data breaches worldwide are rising. According to the 2022 Annual Data Breach Report by the Identity Theft Resource Center, the number of victims has gone up nearly 41.5% from 2021. Incogni reaches out to data brokers on your behalf, requests your personal data removal, and deals with any objections from their side. Use promo code DESIGNBETTER at https://incogni.com/designbetter to get 60% off an annual plan.
On Set With: The HGTV and Max On Set With podcast explores the sets and world building of beloved films and TV shows produced by Warner Bros. Discovery through conversations with art directors and set designers. Each episode highlights a different iconic set from film or television. Through a constellation of voices (set decorators, production designers, directors, and showrunners) our audience gets a first-hand account of the creation of the environments that became a part of our collective, global iconography — and actionable tips to bring the power of scenic design into our listeners’ own spaces.
Listen to On Set With on Spotify
Listen to On Set With on Apple Podcasts
LinkedIn: Design Better is supported by our pals at LinkedIn—our favorite social network. It’s hard to get your B2B marketing to land with the right audience. Let’s face it, the web can be a very noisy place! If your message isn’t targeted to the right audience—it just disappears into the noise.
With LinkedIn Ads, you can precisely reach the professionals who are more likely to find your ad relevant. With LinkedIn's targeting capabilities, you can reach people by job title, industry, company, and more. Start converting your B2B audience into high quality leads today. To get a $100 credit on your next campaign go to LinkedIn/designbetter to claim your credit.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices -
Costume design plays an important role in filmmaking. Films like Austin Powers, Lala Land, Boogie Nights, Black Panther, and Malcolm X transport us to a different time and place through costume. Have you ever wondered how the concepts for costume designs come together? We have—that’s why we’re talking today with Mimi Haddon, author of Palace Costume, a book about the most important costume house in Hollywood, and costume designer Shirley Kurata who was nominated for an Oscar for her work on Everything Everywhere All at Once.
We speak with Mimi and Shirley about the origin story of Palace Costume, how it's organized and how costume designers use its vast collection. We also talk about how working with a limited budget inspires creativity, how costume designers think about color in their work, and how they collaborate with directors and other colleagues to execute on the vision for the film.
For bonus content and more, visit our Substack: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/shirley-kurata-and-mimi-haddon
Bios
Mimi Haddon is the author of Palace Costume, a behind-the-scenes glimpse into Palace Costume & Prop Co., an exclusive Los Angeles film-industry haven of dresses, gowns, garments, accessories, props, and jewelry featured in countless movies for more than fifty years. Acclaimed designers such as Sandy Powell (Carol, The Aviator, Shakespeare in Love), Ruth E. Carter (Black Panther, Malcolm X, Frankie and Alice), Arianne Phillips (Once upon a Time in Hollywood, A Single Man, W.E.), Shirley Kurata (Everything Everywhere All at Once), and Mary Zophres (La La Land, Babylon, True Grit) and Mark Bridges (Boogie Nights, Licorice Pizza) each share insightful anecdotes about the importance of Palace Costume as their go-to creative resource, especially for historic period films.
Shirley Kurata is an Academy Award-nominated costume designer who has worked on films like Everything Everywhere All at Once. As a stylist, Kurata's clients have included celebrities such as Billie Eilish, Lena Dunham, Pharrell Williams, Zooey Deschanel, Beck, Mindy Kaling, and Tierra Whack.
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Premium Episodes on Design Better
This ad-supported episode is available to everyone. If you’d like to hear it ad-free, upgrade to our premium subscription, where you’ll get an additional 2 ad-free episodes per month (4 total). Premium subscribers also get access to our monthly AMAs with former guests, ad-free episodes, early and discounted access to workshops, and our new enhanced newsletter The Brief that compiles salient insights, quotes, readings, and creative processes uncovered in the show.
Upgrade to paid
***
Visiting the links below is one of the best ways to support our show:
Incogni: Every year, both the number and scope of data breaches worldwide are rising. According to the 2022 Annual Data Breach Report by the Identity Theft Resource Center, the number of victims has gone up nearly 41.5% from 2021. Incogni reaches out to data brokers on your behalf, requests your personal data removal, and deals with any objections from their side. Use promo code DESIGNBETTER at https://incogni.com/designbetter to get 60% off an annual plan.
Methodical Coffee: Join us for a coffee break with our friends at Methodical Coffee. In this segment, Methodical Coffee co-founder Will Shurtz discusses options for the best brewing gear, depending on your budget.
Select your own preferred roast at methodicalcoffee.com, and use code "designbetter" for 10% off of your order.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices -
Eli first met Brendan Boyle when Brendan was his instructor in the undergraduate Product Design program at Stanford, where Brendan has taught for many years. Brendan is also a toy inventor, and one of the assignments in his class was to design a toy—now that Eli has kids, he realizes how bad his toy project was, which made Brendan’s justified criticism of his idea that much more bearable. Brendan, however, has a unique gift for retaining the curiosity and playfulness that has made so many of his toy designs successful.
We spoke with Brendan about the importance of play in the creative process, testing new toy concepts with kids, how decoupling innovation and metrics can create judgment-free creativity, what’s wrong with LEGO today, and the eternal optimism that drives inventors.
Find bonus content, a transcript and more on our Substack: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/brendan-boyle
Bio
Brendan Boyle is a toy inventor at Fuse London, Adjunct Professor at Stanford University’s d.School, and the Founder of the IDEO Play Lab. He believes that play is the key to innovation and has spoken to creative leaders, entrepreneurs, and students about the importance of playful exploration and risk-taking.
He founded the Play Lab to uncover kid-centered solutions to the challenge of boredom. As Brendan says, "The opposite of play is boredom." Under his leadership, the Play Lab has invented and licensed hundreds of toys and apps, including the best-selling Jumperoo and Elmo Calls, respectively.
Brendan also consults with companies about redesigning their organizational behavior to include space for play, wrote (and teaches) the Design for Play at Stanford’s d.School, and co-authored the award-winning encyclopedia of never-before-seen inventions, The Klutz Book of Inventions.
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Premium Episodes on Design Better
This is a premium episode on Design Better. We release two premium episodes per month, along with two free episodes for everyone. Premium subscribers also get access to our monthly AMAs with former guests, ad-free episodes, discounts and early access to workshops, access to our (small but growing!) library of books and participation in book giveaways, and our new enhanced newsletter The Brief that compiles salient insights, quotes, readings, and creative processes uncovered in the show.
Upgrade to paid
***
Visiting the links below is one of the best ways to support our show:
Incogni: Every year, both the number and scope of data breaches worldwide are rising. According to the 2022 Annual Data Breach Report by the Identity Theft Resource Center, the number of victims has gone up nearly 41.5% from 2021. Incogni reaches out to data brokers on your behalf, requests your personal data removal, and deals with any objections from their side. Use promo code DESIGNBETTER at https://incogni.com/designbetter to get 60% off an annual plan.
Zeplin: Few things frustrate designers quite as much as seeing the UI they’ve meticulously designed, botched when built out. But Zeplin can help you make every design-to-dev handoff efficient and accurate so you nail every release on time and on budget. Design Better listeners can get their first month of the Basic Plan free. Just go to zeplin.io and use code DESIGNBETTER to get your first month of the Basic Plan free.
LinkedIn: Design Better is supported by our pals at LinkedIn—our favorite social network. It’s hard to get your B2B marketing to land with the right audience. Let’s face it, the web can be a very noisy place! If your message isn’t targeted to the right audience—it just disappears into the noise.
With LinkedIn Ads, you can precisely reach the professionals who are more likely to find your ad relevant. With LinkedIn's targeting capabilities, you can reach people by job title, industry, company, and more. Start converting your B2B audience into high quality leads today. To get a $100 credit on your next campaign go to LinkedIn/designbetter to claim your credit.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices -
This week, we’re rewinding to one of our favorite episodes from our 6th season, with Vicki Tan. Vicki is a designer and author, who is now a staff product designer at Pinterest. When we spoke with her, Vicki was an associate principal product designer at Spotify, and Earlier in her career, she was a senior product designer at Headspace, worked on communication and UX design at Google and product design at Lyft.
Find full show notes, bonus content, and more on our Substack: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/rewind-vicki-tan
Original episode description
Vicki Tan has worked at companies that change the way we travel, think about our mental health, and access music from around the globe. To each of these roles she has brought her background in psychology, to better understand the needs of the people using these products.
We chat with Vicki about some of the things she has learned over the course of her career, from Lyft to Headspace to Spotify, how her creative process has changed over the years, and how her team does research.
Vicki also talks about why she regularly takes a sabbatical from her work, and why “finding umami” is important to figuring out the core mission of a company.
Bio
Vicki Tan is a Staff Product Designer at Pinterest. Earlier in her career, she was an Associate Principal Product Designer at Spotify, a senior product designer at Headspace, worked on communication and UX design at Google, and product design at Lyft. According to Frank Yoo, design director at Lyft, Vicki “is positive and thoughtful and puts as much care into people and teams as she does creating the artifacts themselves.”
***
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This ad-supported episode is available to everyone. If you’d like to hear it ad-free, upgrade to our premium subscription, where you’ll get an additional 2 ad-free episodes per month (4 total). Premium subscribers also get access to our monthly AMAs with former guests, ad-free episodes, early and discounted access to workshops, and our new enhanced newsletter The Brief that compiles salient insights, quotes, readings, and creative processes uncovered in the show.
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Methodical Coffee: Join us for a coffee break with our friends at Methodical Coffee. In this segment, Methodical Coffee co-founder Will Shurtz teaches us how to select the right roast for our preferred flavor profile. Select your own preferred roast at methodicalcoffee.com, and use code "designbetter" for 10% off of your order.
Zeplin: Few things frustrate designers quite as much as seeing the UI they’ve meticulously designed, botched when built out. But Zeplin can help you make every design-to-dev handoff efficient and accurate so you nail every release on time and on budget. Design Better listeners can get their first month of the Basic Plan free. Just go to zeplin.io and use code DESIGNBETTER to get your first month of the Basic Plan free.
LinkedIn: Design Better is supported by our pals at LinkedIn—our favorite social network. It’s hard to get your B2B marketing to land with the right audience. Let’s face it, the web can be a very noisy place! If your message isn’t targeted to the right audience—it just disappears into the noise.
With LinkedIn Ads, you can precisely reach the professionals who are more likely to find your ad relevant. With LinkedIn's targeting capabilities, you can reach people by job title, industry, company, and more. Start converting your B2B audience into high quality leads today. To get a $100 credit on your next campaign go to LinkedIn/designbetter to claim your credit.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices -
Sound is the unsung hero of interaction design. The iconic chorus you hear as you boot up your Mac, the double knock of an arriving Slack message, and the ascending notes Airpods make as they connect to a device all provide context and feedback without visual interactions. Without sound in our design toolbox, interacting with technology would be much more cumbersome.
Connor Moore has helped companies like Tesla, Uber, Peloton, and Youtube shape their brand and enhance the user experience through sound design.
We spoke with Connor about how he found a career in sound design, his creative process and the tools he uses, and how sound shapes a brand experience.
***
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This ad-supported episode is available to everyone. If you’d like to hear it ad-free, upgrade to our premium subscription, where you’ll get an additional 2 ad-free episodes per month (4 total). Premium subscribers also get access to our monthly AMAs with former guests, ad-free episodes, early and discounted access to workshops, and our new enhanced newsletter The Brief that compiles salient insights, quotes, readings, and creative processes uncovered in the show.
We’re also hosting a monthly welcome call on Zoom, where new subscribers can say hi, meet other members, and let us know what you are most excited to learn about and be inspired by.
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Methodical Coffee: Join us for a coffee break in this episode with our friends at Methodical Coffee. In this segment, Methodical Coffee co-founder Will Shurtz teaches us how to select the right roast for our preferred flavor profile.
Select your own preferred roast at methodicalcoffee.com, and use code "designbetter" for 10% off of your order.
Zeplin: Few things frustrate designers quite as much as seeing the UI they’ve meticulously designed, botched when built out. But Zeplin can help you make every design-to-dev handoff efficient and accurate so you nail every release on time and on budget. Design Better listeners can get their first month of the Basic Plan free. Just go to zeplin.io and use code DESIGNBETTER to get your first month of the Basic Plan free.
LinkedIn: Design Better is supported by our pals at LinkedIn—our favorite social network. It’s hard to get your B2B marketing to land with the right audience. Let’s face it, the web can be a very noisy place! If your message isn’t targeted to the right audience—it just disappears into the noise.
With LinkedIn Ads, you can precisely reach the professionals who are more likely to find your ad relevant. With LinkedIn's targeting capabilities, you can reach people by job title, industry, company, and more. Start converting your B2B audience into high quality leads today. To get a $100 credit on your next campaign go to LinkedIn/designbetter to claim your credit.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices -
Becoming a better communicator is one of the best ways to level up your career. Being able to think on your feet and communicate ideas effectively is critical, no matter what role you have right now, or where you’d like to be in the coming years.
Our guest today, Matt Abrahams, is just the guide you need to help you improve your communication skills. Matt is a leading expert in communication with decades of experience as an educator, author, podcast host, and coach. He lectures at Stanford’s Graduate School of business where he teaches popular classes in strategic communication and effective virtual presenting.
Last year Matt wrote the book Think Faster, Talk Smarter, which aims to teach you how to speak successfully when you’re put on the spot. We talk with Matt about how to become a better presenter, how improv can help your speaking skills, and the winning formula for an impromptu toast.
Bio
Matt Abrahams is a leading communication expert with decades of experience as an educator, author, podcast host, and coach. He lectures in Organizational Behavior at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business, where he teaches strategic communication and virtual presenting. Recognized with Stanford GSB’s Alumni Teaching Award, Matt's influence extends beyond the classroom as a sought-after keynote speaker and consultant.
Matt has guided presenters for IPO road shows, Nobel Prize, TED, and World Economic Forum presentations, and consults for the United Nations’ Secretary General’s Strategic Planning and Communication Office. His popular podcast, Think Fast, Talk Smart, has garnered millions of views, and his books, Think Faster, Talk Smarter and Speaking Up without Freaking Out, provide practical techniques to help individuals communicate confidently and manage speaking anxiety.
***
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This is a premium episode on Design Better. We release two premium episodes per month, along with two free episodes for everyone. Premium subscribers also get access to our monthly AMAs with former guests, ad-free episodes, discounts and early access to workshops, access to our (small but growing!) library of books and participation in book giveaways, and our new enhanced newsletter The Brief that compiles salient insights, quotes, readings, and creative processes uncovered in the show.
Upgrade to paid
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Visiting the links below is one of the best ways to support our show:
Zeplin: Few things frustrate designers quite as much as seeing the UI they’ve meticulously designed, botched when built out. But Zeplin can help you make every design-to-dev handoff efficient and accurate so you nail every release on time and on budget. Design Better listeners can get their first month of the Basic Plan free. Just go to zeplin.io and use code DESIGNBETTER to get your first month of the Basic Plan free.
Methodical Coffee: Roasted, blended, brewed, served and perfected by verified coffee nerds 🤓. We have our very own Design Better roast at Methodical, grab some here to fuel your creativity: https://methodicalcoffee.com/products/design-better-coffee
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Design has the potential to help us solve some of the world’s most pressing problems. But few designers and entrepreneurs recognize that potential.
Paul Lambert, co-founder and CEO of Quilt, sees design as a tool to drive the adoption of climate change mitigation technologies. That’s why he’s partnered with industrial designers Maaike Evers and Mike Simonian who are helping the team at Quilt rethink how we heat and cool our homes, a major contributor to the average home’s carbon footprint.
We spoke with Maaike, Mike, and Paul about how they approached the challenge of designing a process as well as a product, bringing fresh eyes to familiar problems, and how they collaborated with engineers to create a product that is both beautiful and highly functional.
Find the full episode, transcript and bonus content on our Substack: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/quilt-mike-and-maaike
Bios
Mike & Maaike
Mike & Maaike is a progressive industrial design studio led by Mike Simonian and Maaike Evers.
Formed as a design laboratory, the San Francisco studio works both independently and with clients to create new opportunities through products, technology, furniture, environments and transportation.
Maaike Evers is Dutch, Mike Simonian, Californian. These distinct backgrounds inform a diverse body of work marked by experimentation, substance and strong conceptual narratives.
Collaborations include: Google, Sonos, Headspace, Haworth, Artifort, Incase, Belkin, Xbox, Blankblank, Council, Coalesse, Quilt, Steelcase, and the City of San Francisco.
Paul Lambert
Paul founded Quilt after committing himself to designing a company that he could spend the rest of his life on. A breakthrough came in 2022 after realizing the answer was working on whatever problem was most threatening to the next generation of humans and that the problem today is climate change. Paul built his first internet business as a teenager, founded Learndot, an education platform, and was a Partner at Google’s Area 120.
***
Premium Episodes on Design Better
This ad-supported episode is available to everyone. If you’d like to hear it ad-free, upgrade to our premium subscription, where you’ll get an additional 2 ad-free episodes per month (4 total). Premium subscribers also get access to our monthly AMAs with former guests, ad-free episodes, early and discounted access to workshops, and our new enhanced newsletter The Brief that compiles salient insights, quotes, readings, and creative processes uncovered in the show.
Upgrade to paid
***
Visiting the links below is one of the best ways to support our show:
Methodical Coffee: Roasted, blended, brewed, served and perfected by verified coffee nerds 🤓. We have our very own Design Better roast at Methodical, grab some here to fuel your creativity: https://methodicalcoffee.com/products/design-better-coffee
Zeplin: Few things frustrate designers quite as much as seeing the UI they’ve meticulously designed, botched when built out. But Zeplin can help you make every design-to-dev handoff efficient and accurate so you nail every release on time and on budget. Design Better listeners can get their first month of the Basic Plan free. Just go to zeplin.io and use code DESIGNBETTER to get your first month of the Basic Plan free.
Greenlight: Years ago, Aarron and Eli set up their kids with Greenlight, a debit card and money app made for families. Their allowance is automatically deposited into their account and is divided into three buckets: spending, saving, and giving. With Greenlight’s investing tools, we’ve helped our kids learn how to invest in stocks and mutual funds and they can see those investments grow. Sign up for Greenlight today and get your first month free: http://greenlight.com/designbetter
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Hi folks!
We hope your summer is going well. Aarron and I are traveling and spending some time with our families this week, so we thought we’d rewind to one of our favorite episodes, with Julie Zhuo. The episode came to mind because one of our listeners asked us what episodes we’d recommend to someone who is growing their team, and Julie’s book The Making of Manager has a lot of helpful advice.
Find the full episode, transcript, and more on our Substack: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/rewind-julie-zhuo
We also suggested Tony Fadell’s episode to our listener…the inventor of the iPhone and iPod has some great tips about hiring people who are skilled but don’t necessarily have the experience that ticks all the boxes of the posted job description.
We first aired the interview with Julie back in 2019, when she was the VP of Product Design at Facebook. Since then, she’s gone on to found her own company called Sundial, with the mission to help teams make faster, smarter decisions with data.
Original episode description
Listen as Julie Zhuo, former VP of Product Design at Facebook and author of The Making of a Manager, recalls some of her earliest professional experiences at one of the fastest growing companies on the planet. She reveals how she got her start and grew to be a highly influential design leader renowned for building top-notch teams. Julie talks about the difference between leading and managing, and shares personal examples that can help you advance your career.
Bio
Julie Zhuo started building products as employee ~100 at Facebook and went on to head up product design for the Facebook app for many years. She’s kept a blog called The Looking Glass, about design, technology and leadership for much of that time. In 2019 she wrote a bestselling leadership book called The Making of a Manager. Currently, she’s living the entrepreneurial journey with her start-up Sundial whose mission is to help teams make faster, smarter decisions with data.
***
Premium Episodes on Design Better
This ad-supported episode is available to everyone. If you’d like to hear it ad-free, upgrade to our premium subscription, where you’ll get an additional 2 ad-free episodes per month (4 total). Premium subscribers also get access to our monthly AMAs with former guests, ad-free episodes, early and discounted access to workshops, and our new enhanced newsletter The Brief that compiles salient insights, quotes, readings, and creative processes uncovered in the show.
Upgrade to paid
***
Visiting the links below is one of the best ways to support our show:
Zeplin: Few things frustrate designers quite as much as seeing the UI they’ve meticulously designed, botched when built out. But Zeplin can help you make every design-to-dev handoff efficient and accurate so you nail every release on time and on budget. Design Better listeners can get their first month of the Basic Plan free. Just go to zeplin.io and use code DESIGNBETTER to get your first month of the Basic Plan free.
Greenlight: Years ago, Aarron and Eli set up their kids with Greenlight, a debit card and money app made for families. Their allowance is automatically deposited into their account and is divided into three buckets: spending, saving, and giving. With Greenlight’s investing tools, we’ve helped our kids learn how to invest in stocks and mutual funds and they can see those investments grow. Sign up for Greenlight today and get your first month free: http://greenlight.com/designbetter
Babbel: Babbel’s quick 10-minute lessons are hand-crafted by over 200 language experts to help you start speaking a new language in as little as 3 weeks. Here's a special, (limited time) deal for our listeners: Right now get up to 60% off your Babbel subscription by visiting http://babbel.com/designbetter. Rules and restrictions may apply.
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Over the years, Eli spent a lot of time diving and doing photography—from designing underwater photography equipment, to running an underwater photography magazine in the early 2000’s, to doing research work using towed underwater camera systems. And both he and Aarron have a huge amount of respect and admiration for folks that are at the top of their craft. After watching the Academy-award winning documentary My Octopus Teacher, both of us knew that we needed to learn more about the cinematographer Roger Horrocks
Visit our Susbtack for the full episode, transcript, and other bonus content: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/roger-horrocks
Roger is an award-winning wildlife cinematographer with over 15 years of experience filming behavioral sequences for the BBC, Netflix, Disney and National Geographic, in addition to his work on My Octopus Teacher. There’s a lot of overlap between photographic work and what it takes to be a good designer, and we talk with Roger about how he shapes the story and collaborates with the directors and editors, cultivating patience, and how generative AI fits into his creative workflow. Plus we also ask what it was like to swim with 🦈 great white sharks and 🐊 Nile crocodiles!
Bio
Roger Horrocks has worked from the frozen poles to the tropical equator and is experienced in documenting both open-water and benthic-based stories and behaviors.
During this period he narrated and co-directed three documentaries with Craig and Damon Foster. The first of these "Into the Dragon's Lair", was nominated for an Emmy for best Cinematography in 2010, and the sequel, 'Touching the Dragon" was selected as one of the feature shows for National Geographic's 125th centenary year celebrations. Roger was also nominated for Best Narration at Jackson Hole.
***
Premium Episodes on Design Better
This is a premium episode on Design Better. We release two premium episodes per month, along with two free episodes for everyone. Premium subscribers also get access to our monthly AMAs with former guests, ad-free episodes, discounts and early access to workshops, access to our (small but growing!) library of books and participation in book giveaways, and our new enhanced newsletter The Brief that compiles salient insights, quotes, readings, and creative processes uncovered in the show.
Upgrade to paid
***
Visiting the links below is one of the best ways to support our show:
Zeplin: Few things frustrate designers quite as much as seeing the UI they’ve meticulously designed, botched when built out. But Zeplin can help you make every design-to-dev handoff efficient and accurate so you nail every release on time and on budget. Design Better listeners can get their first month of the Basic Plan free. Just go to zeplin.io and use code DESIGNBETTER to get your first month of the Basic Plan free.
Greenlight: Years ago, Aarron and Eli set up their kids with Greenlight, a debit card and money app made for families. Their allowance is automatically deposited into their account and is divided into three buckets: spending, saving, and giving. With Greenlight’s investing tools, we’ve helped our kids learn how to invest in stocks and mutual funds and they can see those investments grow. Sign up for Greenlight today and get your first month free: http://greenlight.com/designbetter
Babbel: Babbel’s quick 10-minute lessons are hand-crafted by over 200 language experts to help you start speaking a new language in as little as 3 weeks. Here's a special, (limited time) deal for our listeners: Right now get up to 60% off your Babbel subscription by visiting http://babbel.com/designbetter. Rules and restrictions may apply.
***
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There’s an art to interviewing customers. It’s so much harder than just asking a few people some questions. If we’re not careful, bias can throw off our findings. And sometimes the most salient information that may inform the next generation of your products can slip by even the most seasoned researchers. Few people have mastered interviewing users as well as our guest today—author and independent research practitioner Steve Portigal.
Steve’s just released a second edition to his popular book, Interviewing Users, that expands upon the principles and techniques introduced in the first edition, and provides guidance for conducting user research remotely. It’s essential stuff for anyone in UX.
Find the full show notes, transcript and more on our Substack: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/steve-portigal
Bio
Steve Portigal is an experienced user researcher who helps companies harness the strategic power of insights. Steve has interviewed hundreds of people, including families eating breakfast, hotel maintenance staff, probiotic distributors, rock musicians, home-automation enthusiasts, credit-default swap traders, business school professors and radiologists.
His clients are leaders in telecommunications, banking, media, energy and eCommerce. He is the author of two books: The classic Interviewing Users: How To Uncover Compelling Insights and new, Doorbells, Danger, and Dead Batteries: User Research War Stories. He’s also the host of the Dollars to Donuts podcast, where he interviews people who lead user research in their organizations.
***
Premium Episodes on Design Better
This ad-supported episode is available to everyone. If you’d like to hear it ad-free, upgrade to our premium subscription, where you’ll get an additional 2 ad-free episodes per month (4 total). Premium subscribers also get access to our monthly AMAs with former guests, ad-free episodes, early and discounted access to workshops, and our new enhanced newsletter The Brief that compiles salient insights, quotes, readings, and creative processes uncovered in the show.
Upgrade to paid
***
Visiting the links below is one of the best ways to support our show:
Zeplin: Few things frustrate designers quite as much as seeing the UI they’ve meticulously designed, botched when built out. But Zeplin can help you make every design-to-dev handoff efficient and accurate so you nail every release on time and on budget. Design Better listeners can get their first month of the Basic Plan free. Just go to zeplin.io and use code DESIGNBETTER to get your first month of the Basic Plan free.
Greenlight: Years ago, Aarron and Eli set up their kids with Greenlight, a debit card and money app made for families. Their allowance is automatically deposited into their account and is divided into three buckets: spending, saving, and giving. With Greenlight’s investing tools, we’ve helped our kids learn how to invest in stocks and mutual funds and they can see those investments grow. Sign up for Greenlight today and get your first month free: http://greenlight.com/designbetter
Babbel: Babbel’s quick 10-minute lessons are hand-crafted by over 200 language experts to help you start speaking a new language in as little as 3 weeks. Here's a special, (limited time) deal for our listeners: Right now get up to 60% off your Babbel subscription by visiting http://babbel.com/designbetter. Rules and restrictions may apply.
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There’s a reason why we’ve been talking about design systems for a number of years now—it’s the key to collaboration at scale. Few people get that more than Dan Mall who has helped the world’s most recognizable brands create design practices that are truly sustainable and successful.
We spoke to Dan about his new book, Design That Scales, which dives into how to create, manage, and sustain a successful design system. And he shares where the people involved in a design system fit and how they can best collaborate.
In case you missed it, Dan also joined us for an AMA recently. He’s a wealth of knowledge.
Find the full show notes, transcript, and more on our Substack: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/dan-mall
Bio
Dan Mall is a husband, dad, teacher, creative director, designer, founder, and entrepreneur from Philly. He shares as much as he can to create better opportunities for those who wouldn’t have them otherwise. Most recently, he ran design system consultancy SuperFriendly for over a decade. Now he’s trying to share as much of what he’s learned to help designers get the respect they deserve. Currently creating Design System University. [more via Dan’s website].
***
Premium Episodes on Design Better
This is a premium episode on Design Better (learn more in the announcement here). We’ll be releasing two premium episodes per month, along with two free episodes for everyone. Premium subscribers also get access to our monthly AMAs with former guests, ad-free episodes, and our new enhanced newsletter The Brief that compiles salient insights, quotes, readings, and creative processes uncovered in the show.
Upgrade to paid
***
Visiting the links below is one of the best ways to support our show:
Methodical Coffee: Roasted, blended, brewed, served and perfected by verified coffee nerds 🤓. We have our very own Design Better roast at Methodical, grab some here to fuel your creativity: https://methodicalcoffee.com/products/design-better-coffee
HelloFresh: At the end of a busy workday, it’s hard to muster the energy to put together a healthy meal. Cut down on time spent in the kitchen so you can get back to enjoying the summer sunshine and the people you love thanks to HelloFresh’s Quick & Easy recipes. Go to hellofresh.com/designbetterapps for FREE appetizers for life! One appetizer item per box while subscription is active.
Crashplan: You may have heard horror stories of people being locked out of their Apple or Google accounts, and losing decades worth of precious files like family photos. That’s why we’ve been using Crashplan for a decade and a half now to back up all of our important files. Visit Crashplan.com/DESIGNBETTER for 50% off your first year of CrashPlan.
Greenlight: Years ago, Aarron and Eli set up their kids with Greenlight, a debit card and money app made for families. Their allowance is automatically deposited into their account and is divided into three buckets: spending, saving, and giving. With Greenlight’s investing tools, we’ve helped our kids learn how to invest in stocks and mutual funds and they can see those investments grow. Sign up for Greenlight today and get your first month free: http://greenlight.com/designbetter
Uplift Desks: For people like us who spend countless hours at our desk, ergonomics are an essential consideration. A standing desk from Uplift Desk can help you avoid the negative effects of sitting all day by improving circulation and reducing strain. Design Better can get a special deal by visiting UPLIFTDesk.com. Use the code DESIGNBETTER5 at checkout for 5% off your order. Free shipping, free returns, and an industry-leading 15-year warranty. They’re a great company.
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Find full show notes, bonus content and more on our Substack: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/rewind-sara-seager
It’s a holiday week—happy 4th of July to those celebrating it 🎆—so we’re rewinding to one of our favorite episodes. NASA has been making a lot of headlines with the discovery of planets outside of our solar system that may harbor life, and our guest, Sara Seager, is a big part of these pioneering projects.
While we have you here, make sure to check out some of our upcoming workshops and a Design Better happy hour in August, in San Francisco. Early and discounted access goes to our premium members, and we’ll be opening up tickets next week to everyone.
***
If you’re lucky enough to look up into a clear night sky and see the thousands of stars visible to the naked eye, it’s hard not to wonder, “are there other planets like ours out there?” Our guest for this episode, Professor Sara Seager, is on a mission to discover potentially habitable planets outside our solar system.
Sara is an astrophysicist and planetary scientist at MIT, and to discover these exoplanets, she relies not only on her own brilliance—she’s the recipient of a Macarthur Fellowship, otherwise known as the “Genius Grant”—but also on some pretty extreme collaboration across different disciplines.
In the course of our conversation, we talk to Sara about how these teams push beyond initial friction, and how giving herself permission to fail has driven much of her success. Sara is also the author of a memoir titled The Smallest Lights in the Universe, and we talk to her about the book and bringing her full self to work
Bio
Sara Seager is the Class of 1941 Professor of Planetary Science, Professor of Physics, and Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Her past research is credited with laying the foundation for the field of exoplanet atmospheres, while her current research focuses on exoplanet atmospheres and the future search for signs of life by way of atmospheric biosignature gases.
Professor Seager is involved with a number of space-based exoplanet searches including as the Deputy Science Director for the MIT-led NASA mission TESS, as the PI for the on-orbit JPL/MIT CubeSat ASTERIA, and as a lead for Starshade Rendezvous Mission (a space-based mission concept under technology development for direct imaging discovery and characterization of Earth analogs).
***
Visiting the links below is one of the best ways to support our show:
Methodical Coffee: Roasted, blended, brewed, served and perfected by verified coffee nerds 🤓. We have our very own Design Better roast at Methodical, grab some here to fuel your creativity: https://methodicalcoffee.com/products/design-better-coffee
HelloFresh: At the end of a busy workday, it’s hard to muster the energy to put together a healthy meal. Cut down on time spent in the kitchen so you can get back to enjoying the summer sunshine and the people you love thanks to HelloFresh’s Quick & Easy recipes. Go to hellofresh.com/designbetterapps for FREE appetizers for life! One appetizer item per box while subscription is active.
Crashplan: You may have heard horror stories of people being locked out of their Apple or Google accounts, and losing decades worth of precious files like family photos. That’s why we’ve been using Crashplan for a decade and a half now to back up all of our important files. Visit Crashplan.com/DESIGNBETTER for 50% off your first year of CrashPlan.
Greenlight: Years ago, Aarron and Eli set up their kids with Greenlight, a debit card and money app made for families. Their allowance is automatically deposited into their account and is divided into three buckets: spending, saving, and giving. With Greenlight’s investing tools, we’ve helped our kids learn how to invest in stocks and mutual funds and they can see those investments grow. Sign up for Greenlight today and get your first month free: http://greenlight.com/designbetter
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