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 ...
Nov 28, 2023•58 min•Season 9Ep. 86
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 *...
Nov 22, 2023•53 min
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 ...
Nov 21, 2023•55 min•Season 8Ep. 85
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 thi...
Nov 17, 2023•45 min
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 wo...
Nov 08, 2023•56 min•Season 9Ep. 84
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 yo...
Nov 01, 2023•4 min
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 an...
Oct 25, 2023•39 min•Season 9Ep. 83
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 w...
Oct 19, 2023•1 hr 1 min
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...
Oct 10, 2023•52 min•Season 9Ep. 82
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 on...
Oct 04, 2023•56 min
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, h...
Sep 27, 2023•1 hr 9 min•Season 9Ep. 81
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 ...
Sep 12, 2023•48 min•Season 9Ep. 80
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 innovativ...
Aug 24, 2023•1 min
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!
Aug 22, 2023•17 min
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 c...
Aug 19, 2023•1 hr 4 min
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 spo...
Aug 08, 2023•50 min•Season 8Ep. 79
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...
Jul 25, 2023•52 min•Season 8Ep. 78
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 ...
Jul 06, 2023•41 min
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...
Jun 20, 2023•48 min•Season 8Ep. 77
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 ...
Jun 06, 2023•53 min•Season 8Ep. 76
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 designe...
May 23, 2023•35 min•Season 8Ep. 75
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 n...
May 09, 2023•40 min•Season 8Ep. 74
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 Ma...
Apr 25, 2023•1 hr 6 min•Season 8Ep. 73
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 des...
Apr 11, 2023•49 min•Season 8Ep. 72
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 wi...
Mar 28, 2023•55 min•Season 8Ep. 71
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 ...
Mar 14, 2023•51 min•Season 8Ep. 70
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 n...
Nov 17, 2022•42 min•Season 7Ep. 69
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...
Oct 18, 2022•40 min•Season 7Ep. 68
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 m...
Aug 30, 2022•46 min•Season 7Ep. 67
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...
Aug 08, 2022•43 min•Season 7Ep. 66
