Episode description

Teresa Au chats with Emmy-winning design superstar Chris Do about his pivot from design to teaching, his education platform The Futur, and all the things he didn’t learn in design school. You’ll hear all about how Chris’ 2M+ social followers inspire his content, and Chris answers questions from design students. Plus, Chris opens up about why now is the time for him to share his personal story as a refugee, what really fuels his work, and how he recharges.

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What you’ll hear in this episode:

• How Chris’ company The Futur is making education equitable for students and teachers
• The breakthroughs that came with teaching
• Learning how to really read
• What you don’t learn in design school about business
• The Futur’s business model
• Creating content to market a product vs creating content to help people
• Community and Chris’ cult-like following of design fans
• Why Chris spends 6 hours a day talking with his online community
• Why now is the time for Chris to share his story of coming to the US as a refugee from Vietnam
• A little inspiration from Aaron Draplin
• Personality tests and what it means to be an ambivert
• How Chris recharges
• Why Chris gets his inspiration from friction with his audience
• Conflict becomes content
• The story behind Chris Do is a Fraud, featuring Beeple
• Chris answers questions from students at the Adobe Creative Retreat
• Is design exploitation?
• Should your first job out of design school be in-person or remote?
• Why Chris started his own firm–the short answer and the real answer.
• Chris’ One Word for 2024

Chris Do is an Emmy award-winning designer and director, and the founder of The Futur—an online education platform with the mission of teaching 1 billion people how to make a living doing what they love. In his near-30-year career, he has served on boards for organizations such as the Society for the Promotion of Japanese Animation, AIGA Los Angeles, and the Emmys Motion & Title Design Peer Group. He taught Sequential Design for over 15 years at ArtCenter College of Design as well as Otis College of Art and Design. Chris has lectured at universities and conferences worldwide, including Adobe MAX. His firm’s work has been recognized by industry organizations such as the Emmys, the Clio awards, and numerous design publications. 

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

Find transcripts and links at adobe.ly/inthemaking. Past episodes of Wireframe can still be found in the show archive within this feed, or online on Behance. 

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