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 s...
Aug 06, 2024•40 min•Season 11Ep. 106
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-...
Aug 06, 2024•51 min
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 cinematogra...
Jul 23, 2024•13 min•Season 10Ep. 105
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, I...
Jul 16, 2024•56 min•Season 10Ep. 104
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 ca...
Jul 09, 2024•13 min•Season 10Ep. 102
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 worksho...
Jul 03, 2024•36 min
Find show notes, transcripts, and bonus content on our Substack: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/carissa-carter-scott-doorley Most of us are too busy with the present to think far into the future—work, kids, pets and other obligations can make it feel like planning for anything more than a week away is a fool’s errand. But we also live in a time of rapid change, where technologies from biological design to artificial intelligence threaten to mold the future in ways we might have trouble imagin...
Jun 25, 2024•49 min•Season 10Ep. 102
Get access to the full episode on our Substack: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/celene-aubry Back in 2010, Aarron visited Hatch Show Print, a small print shop with a storied history that began in 1879. Hand cut wood block type and illustrations filled the shelves around presses busy producing posters for famous bands and artists. Johnny Cash, Dolly Parton, Bob Dylan, Elvis Presley, and so many other legendary folks have used Hatch Show Print to promote their tours, and their aesthetic has been...
Jun 18, 2024•15 min•Season 10Ep. 101
Hey, everybody. We're sharing something special today from our pals over at the Say More podcast, where in a special series, Boston Globe columnist Shirley Leung is opening up the conversation about stress and burnout to help listeners feel less alone and inspired to get help. She connects with experts like Krista Tippett and Emily Nagoski, who use medical science, social science, and philosophy to answer deep questions about how stress works on our bodies and our minds so we can work better and...
Jun 14, 2024•28 min
Visit our Substack for a video of the live interview, transcript, and more: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/hillary-coe This is our 100th episode of Design Better. 🥳 It’s an amazing milestone! Whether you’ve been with us for years or you’re brand new to the show, thanks for listening and supporting our work. We saved something very special for our 100th episode: a live episode with Hillary Coe , formerly a design leader at SpaceX who is now leading design at Vast, who are building commercial ...
Jun 11, 2024•1 hr•Season 10Ep. 100
Generative AI is finding its way into the tools and processes that power creative work. Exciting? Terrifying? Maybe a little of both. Adobe has been not only shipping impressive generative AI tools and features, but thinking about the implications this new technology could have on creative careers. Adobe invited us to their offices in San Francisco for a conversation with a panel of leaders including Rachana Rele, Samantha Warren, Danielle Morimoto, and Laura Herman who shared how they and their...
Jun 04, 2024•1 hr 1 min
Get access to the full episode on our Substack: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/ben-clymer Aarron fell down a rabbit hole when the Apple Watch came out. He knew nothing about watches, their design history and the immense investment of human effort it’s taken to engineer accurate timepieces until he bought an Apple Watch. He loves wearing a watch, but notifications and tracking caused him to abandon it for something simpler and mechanical. Anyone curious about watches will inevitably end up at ...
May 28, 2024•13 min•Season 10Ep. 99
View show notes, transcript, and more on our Substack: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/natsai-audrey-chieza Steve Jobs perfectly described the creative process when he said, “Creativity is just connecting the dots”. Innovation and new ideas are often found by combining the familiar in new ways. Natsai Audrey Chieza, founder of Faber Futures, is doing just that. Natsai started her education as an architect, became fascinated by materials and transferred into biology, and today is designing new ...
May 21, 2024•38 min•Season 10Ep. 98
Get access to the full episode, show notes, transcript and more on our Substack: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/pablo-stanley Pablo Stanley’s creativity seemingly knows no bounds. Constant doodling is a key to his creative process, and has spawned countless projects including web comics like The Design Team and Stanley and Rupert, an illustration generation platform called Blush, and most recently Bueno, a platform that lets people build virtual worlds. Pablo makes us all feel like slackers! ...
May 14, 2024•18 min•Season 10Ep. 97
Find full show notes, transcript, and more on our Substack: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/tasha-golden As designers and creatives, we often find our work to be meaningful and fulfilling. But creativity can also come at a price. There can be a danger of burning out when we pursue creativity with passion, and our guest today, Tasha Golden, has experienced this herself. She lost her music career as a touring songwriter due to severe burnout and depression, and now researches well-being, how it’...
May 07, 2024•43 min•Season 10Ep. 96
Visit our Substack to get access to the full show: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/jonathan-adler We’ve admired Jonathan Adler’s work for a long time. Though he started his career as a potter, today he designs sumptuous furnishings and interiors that inject energy and joy into everyday life. His work is decadent but not frumpy and always delivered with a winking sense of humor. If anyone truly knows how to bring creativity into all aspects of life, it’s Jonathan Adler. We speak with Jonathan a...
Apr 30, 2024•13 min•Season 10Ep. 95
Tldr; We’re transitioning to weekly episode releases, publishing an enhanced newsletter, and simplifying our premium subscription which will now be on Substack. Read the details below … Upgrade to paid Weekly episodes For years, we’ve been on a semi-weekly cadence for new episodes, but this schedule is proving too limiting for the amount of interviews we’re producing. Starting today, we’re shifting to a weekly release schedule for our premium subscribers who will receive a new episode every Tues...
Apr 24, 2024•5 min
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 Bri...
Apr 09, 2024•44 min•Season 10Ep. 94
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 jou...
Apr 02, 2024•49 min
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), whe...
Mar 26, 2024•52 min•Season 10Ep. 93
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-fi...
Mar 13, 2024•44 min•Season 10Ep. 92
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, w...
Feb 27, 2024•1 hr 3 min•Season 10Ep. 91
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 collaboratio...
Feb 25, 2024•43 min
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 Hir...
Feb 06, 2024•52 min
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 Survivin...
Jan 30, 2024•53 min•Season 9Ep. 90
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 ...
Jan 16, 2024•49 min•Season 9Ep. 89
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 Bea...
Jan 02, 2024•57 min•Season 9Ep. 88
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 o...
Dec 26, 2023•41 min
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...
Dec 19, 2023•58 min•Season 9Ep. 87
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 ...
Dec 18, 2023•43 min
