Podcasts about senior designer

Can AI be a tool for inclusion—or is it reinforcing the digital divide? Join us as we explore how young people are stepping into the future of tech and what it means to build equitable, human-centered innovation.RESOURCES AND LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:Connect with Mike and Delali on LinkedInWant to open your dream school with the freedom you deserve and the support you need?Visit https://openmyschool.my.canva.site/rebelkaipod to learn more about our partnership with KaiPod Learning and get help opening your dream school!Learn more about the Rebel Project Literacy Curriculum, a fully integrated literacy and project based learning curriculum, at  projectup.us or inkwire.co/rplc Get your copy of Rebel Educator: Create Classrooms Where Impact and Imagination MeetLearn more about Rebel Educator, explore our professional development opportunities for educators and students, and check out our project library.Visit us at UP Academy to learn more about our personalized and inclusive learning environment.Connect with Tanya and UP Academy on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram and learn more about her journey here.GUEST BIO:Mike Yates is a Senior Designer at the Reinvention Lab at Teach for America. He's figuring out where learning is going and pointing Teach for America in that direction. Right now that looks like leading AI for the organization. He runs hackathons, designs unique and engaging workshops and trains staff to use AI in novel ways to better their work. He's also using AI to reimagine what it means to teach and learn. Realizing a bright, innovative and equitable future of learning is why he gets up in the morning. Delali Ekpeh was born in the Bronx, New York, but grew up in Jacksonville, Florida. He's currently pursuing a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science at the University of Central Florida. He's passionate about leveraging technology to create impactful solutions in education and community engagement.Professionally, he serves as a resilient and driven Junior Solutions Architect and Instructor at The Village Project (Scratchwerk Tech), where he brings experience in full-stack web and mobile development, game development, data analytics, and team leadership. He's adept at leading sprint teams, building scalable applications, and mentoring the next generation of developers.Enjoying the show? Leave us a rating and review and help more people find us!bit.ly/RebelEducatorApplePodcastsWe'd love it if you could take a few minutes to fill out this survey to let us know how we can bring you the best possible content: forms.gle/JcKHf9DHTZnYUmQr6 Interested in being on the Rebel Educator podcast? Fill out this form and we'll reach out to you if we think you'd be a great fit for an upcoming episode. https://forms.gle/CZJXLQDdevPh22ZN7Want to learn more about opening your own UP Academy? Check out the Rebel Educator Accelerator: www.rebeleducator.com/courses/the-acceleratorMORE ABOUT THE REBEL EDUCATOR PODCAST:In each episode of the Rebel Educator podcast, I deconstruct world-class educators, students, and thought leaders in education to extract the tactics, tools, and routines that you can use as teachers and parents. Join me as we discuss how to shift the classroom, the learning environment, the mindset, and the pedagogy, to resist tradition, reignite wonder, and re-imagine the future of education.This podcast is dedicated to all of the educators who work thankless hours to make our next generation the best it can be.  It was designed to begin conversations on how we can redesign education for the future of work and the success of our students.  It is meant for teachers, students, administrators, homeschoolers and anyone who interacts with and teaches youth. We're thrilled to be sponsored by IXL. IXL's comprehensive teaching and learning platform for math, language arts, science, and social studies is accelerating achievement in 95 of the top 100 U.S. school districts. Loved by teachers and backed by independent research from Johns Hopkins University, IXL can help you do the following and more:Simplify and streamline technologySave teachers' timeReliably meet Tier 1 standardsImprove student performance on state assessments

Will talks with Kathryn Grayson Nanz, Senior Designer and Developer Advocate at Progress (https://www.progress.com/), about the influence and power design can have when developing new software. Kathryn breaks down what it means to be a designer advocate and the role it plays within software development, the importance of design systems, designing for accessibility and knowing when to ask the right questions at the just the right time. — You can try out KendoReact's starter library for free here (https://www.telerik.com/kendo-react-ui)! Or check out some of the other development tools and services Kathryn and the team offer at Progress (https://www.progress.com/). Alternatively, you can reach out to Kathryn directly through LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/kathryngrayson/). Your host for this episode has been Will Larry, you can find and connect with Will over on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/william-larry/). If you would like to support the show, head over to our GitHub page (https://github.com/sponsors/thoughtbot), or check out our website (https://podcast.thoughtbot.com). Got a question or comment about the show? Why not write to our hosts: hosts@giantrobots.fm This has been a thoughtbot (https://thoughtbot.com/) podcast. Stay up to date by following us on social media - LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/150727/) - Mastodon (https://thoughtbot.social/@thoughtbot) - Bluesky (https://bsky.app/profile/thoughtbot.com) © 2025 thoughtbot, inc.

Send us a textMike Yates is a Senior Designer at Teach for America's Reinvention Lab, with over a decade of experience at the intersection of technology and learning. A former classroom teacher and founding member of Alpha School, he now leads the Lab's AI initiatives, creating workshops, coaching educators, and prototyping innovative AI solutions. Mike has built partnerships with organizations like Playlab AI, Google, and Snapchat, and remains dedicated to helping educators navigate the future of learning through practical, human-centered approaches.

In this episode, Euan walks us through the design perspective when bringing eVTOL aircraft concepts to life, especially how designing for the sky differs from designing for the road. Euan talks about balancing form and function in electric or hybrid aircraft, and shares more details about the work Frank Stephenson Design is doing with Chinese eVTOL OEM AutoFlight. We talk about how emotion might play a role in the design of AAM aircraft and what the biggest human factor challenges might be when designing interiors and cabins, incluing how we envision accessibility and inclusivity. Euan also talks about how design can help normalise and build trust in these new aircraft and we ask him if he could design the ideal AAM experience, what they would like.

Lust bekommen auf das LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY®-Barcamp am 13.05? Last Minute bekommt ihr 50% Rabatt auf das Ticket, wenn ihr euch zu zweit anmeldet. Melde dich dafür bei Konstantin Eckert oder bei mir - David Hillmer. Zum Beispiel auf LinkedIn oder per Mail an david@helloagile.de In dieser Episode wurde es spielerisch und gleichzeitig hoch spannend: Ich sprach mit Ludwig Maul, Senior Innovation Coach bei Bosch und ehemaliger Senior Designer bei LEGO in Billund. Unterstützt wurde ich dabei von meinem HelloAgile-Kollegen Konstantin Eckert, Unit Lead unserer LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY®-Unit. Gemeinsam tauchten wir in die Welt der Spielzeuge ein – und entdeckten, was wir daraus für die Arbeitswelt lernen können: ✨ Wie radikale Nutzerzentrierung aussieht, wenn Kinder die Haupttester sind. ✨ Warum Co-Creation durch Spiel oft bessere Innovationen hervorbringt. ✨ Weshalb emotionale Werte wichtiger sind als klassische Produktanforderungen. ✨ Wie Agilität bei LEGO gelebt wird – offen, ehrlich und manchmal chaotisch. ✨ Und: Warum ein "Play Mindset" nicht nur bei LEGO, sondern auch in Unternehmen ein echter Gamechanger sein könnte. Neben spannenden Einblicken aus Ludwigs Zeit bei LEGO sprachen wir über Rapid Prototyping, kreative Experimente im LEGO Creative Play Lab, die Rolle der Digitalisierung im Spiel und darüber, was Unternehmen erreichen könnten, wenn sie Arbeit wieder spielerischer denken.

Send us a textIn this special episode, EdTech Insiders hits the floor at ASU+GSV 2025—one of the world's premier EdTech conferences—for rapid-fire conversations with the leaders reshaping learning. From AI-native campuses to multilingual agents and human-centered R&D, we go behind the scenes with the innovators driving the future of education.

Anfisa and Ioana delve into the challenges that senior designers face as they reach the peak of their careers.In this episode: • Anfi and Ioana share their personal experiences• Should you aim for a management position, or is it better to focus on growing as an individual contributor?• What skills should I learn next?Check out these links:Join Anfi's ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Job Search community⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The community includes 3 courses, 12 live events and workshops, and a variety of templates to support you in your job search journey.Ioana's ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠AI Goodies Newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Enroll in Ioana's AI course ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠"**AI-Powered UX Design: How to Elevate Your UX Career"**⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ on Interaction Design Foundation with a 25% discount.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠❓Next topic ideas:Submit your questions or feedback anonymously ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Links:

Live from the beautiful and warm waters of Miami, Florida, the Believe in the Run duo of Thomas and Meaghan chat with Val Weilert (Senior Designer Manager of Performance Road Footwear) and Rebekah Broh (Senior Director of Product) of Hoka about all things Bondi 9 and Cielo X1 2.0. Get a look behind the scenes of what goes into footwear design and development at Hoka.Read the review of the Hoka Cielo X1 2.0 ➡ https://believeintherun.com/shoe-reviews/hoka-cielo-x1-2-0-review/Read the review of the Hoka Bondi 9 ➡ https://believeintherun.com/shoe-reviews/hoka-bondi-9-review/

This week we're wrapping up season three with an incredible guest. Elizabeth Lawrence's design origin story is one to inspire – rising from intern to partner at one of the most prestigious interior design firms in the country. Originally hailing from Wilmington, Delaware, the classically trained interior designer attended the University of Richmond and then the New York School of Interior Design. After graduation, a coveted internship with Bunny Williams led to a job as a Junior Designer, and she rose through the ranks, from Senior Designer to becoming the firm's first ever Partner – a major accomplishment.Together, Elizabeth and Bunny run Williams Lawrence, the interior design firm formerly known as Bunny Williams Inc., and the firm's product line, Bunny Williams Home. Elizabeth has been honored by the New York School of Interior Design, and her work has been widely published in media outlets including Architectural Digest, Elle Decor, House Beautiful, Veranda, Galerie, Milieu, and others, as well as being featured in Bunny's newest interior design course on Create Academy, “How to Design Your Dream Home.”Thank you again for joining us for this season and stay tuned for season three coming this Spring!

"I brought a different perspective. I wasn't that typical fan girl who knew everything and loved everything about the sport, it was almost from an actual design perspective that I designed, not from a football perspective, so that's what differentiates my style overall."Humble, Hungry & Smart. These are the three virtues identified in Patrick Lencioni's book The Ideal Team Player. The book's primary focus is on building a strong team of individuals who demonstrate the attributes; Humble, Hungry, Smart.During our conversation with Vittoria Anzelmi I couldn't help but return to the book's themes and consider how highly she performs with these virtues. Like a lot of of creative professionals, the proud Italian showed talent in early childhood with life size portraits in led pencil. Vittoria navigated school and creative tertiary education before working in print until the age of 27 where she was the first full time graphic designer at AFL club Carlton.After thriving through the growth of the social media boom for clubland and the launch of the AFL's Women's game, Carlton's Senior Designer found a new opportunity at A-League's Melbourne Victory and while the Pantone was the same (296c) there was a lot that was very different.We explore a lot during Vittoria's time at Melbourne Victory including some key design moments for the club. By 2024 restructures across the league meant a change of scenery where Vittoria has now landed a creative role with Tennis Australia. Still blue but at least not 296c.Visual GuideEpisode ArticleConsider our PatreonHumbleIt's being self confident but not arrogant. In our chat we talk about #SerifClub; the term contrived internally when Vittoria and the MVFC team began using serif fonts in their collateral and watched as other Australian clubs followed suit. And while setting the trend locally, doesn't take a step without crediting their own European inspirations. We also dive into how she took on Victory's uniform designs. Simplifying elements, introducing a pink strip and a kit without the clubs' iconic chevron. All to a commercial success.HungryThe inherent desire to learn and grow as a creative just oozes from Vittoria. There is no clearer sign of a relentless desire for more than to devote your own personal time and money to the cause.Personal trips to Europe mean investing some days to pop over and visit Macron, Hellas Verona, Genoa CFC, Juventus and Inter Milan. Connect with the teams, network, take a tour and watch the creatives in action. Or reaching out to MLS designers in the US and collaborating on some artwork to see how others work learning new ways to design and operate.SmartThe fine balance of getting the job done and connecting with people in the best way. Like when Vittoria identified that "the wrong people were in the room" when making important decisions that were effecting the brand and navigating her way through this, becoming a voice in that room to advocate her design opinions, getting them across the line.It's these qualities that have driven Vittoria to the personal and professional successes she has achieved to date and undoubtedly the passion will continue to reward in unexpected ways or places.While we dive into all the details above, we also cover the day to day duties of a club creative, the importance of mentors and networking. We explore where Vittoria's inspirations come from and the advice she passes onto those wanting to get into the industry. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of the Passive House Podcast, Jay Fox speaks with Raphael Vibert, Passive House Certifier and Senior Designer at Herz Lang, about the Museum of Bavarian History in Regensburg, Germany. Discover how this stunning riverside museum became the largest Passive House-certified museum in the world, the unique challenges of balancing artifact preservation with energy efficiency, and the innovative systems that make it a landmark of sustainable design.https://www.museum.bayern/en/museum.htmlhttps://www.herz-lang.de/de/Thank you for listening to the Passive House Podcast! To learn more about Passive House and to stay abreast of our latest programming, visit passivehouseaccelerator.com. And please join us at one of our Passive House Accelerator LIVE! zoom gatherings on Wednesdays.

Jason Mayden, co-founder of Super Heroic, was the lead designer for the Air Jordan, the highest grossing Nike shoe in history. In his relentless pursuit to be the greatest sneaker designer, he did 1,000 sketches a day and became the first African American to land a design internship with Nike. And in just five years, he familiarized himself with other disciplines to earn his role as Senior Designer — a feat that normally takes around 15 years to achieve— and ultimately designed the Nike shoe of his hometown hero, Michael Jordan. Jason went on to obtain his Master's degree from Stanford and worked his way all the way to Senior Global Design Director for the Jordan brand. Join Tom Bilyeu as he sits down with the co-founder of Super Heroic, Inc. as he shares his strategies for improving introspection and harnessing child-like curiosity in this episode of Impact Theory. Original air date: July 25, 2017]. SHOW NOTES Jason recalls learning about suffering at an early age. [5:21] Jason talks about harnessing curiosity and turning weakness into strength. [8:48] Jason describes what it means to have a non-emotional mindset and the mastery of self. [16:25] Tom and Jason discuss how to improve on introspection and lessons he learned from Michael Jordan. [22:01] Jason reveals how he meditates through service and creativity. [29:32] Jason explains the need for forcing functions and trusted editors to go from ideation to execution. [32:30] Jason shares the importance of asking uncomfortable questions and searching for accessible experts. [36:27] Jason opens up about using the lack of resources growing up as motivation to succeed. [39:04] Tom and Jason discuss three important skills that entrepreneurs need to develop. [42:51] Jason emphasizes learning transferable skills and turning circumstances into opportunities. [46:17] Jason explains why he wants to effect change in his local community. [49:12] Tom and Jason touch on embracing naysayers and acknowledging fear. [51:38] Jason defines the impact that he wants to have on the world. [53:46] FOLLOW JASON: TWITTER: http://bit.ly/2snCsrT INSTAGRAM: http://bit.ly/2vAVQmq FACEBOOK: http://bit.ly/2uBDYKU LINKEDIN: http://bit.ly/2uy8WnK FOLLOW SUPER HEROIC, INC.: INSTAGRAM: http://bit.ly/2u77x4R FACEBOOK: http://bit.ly/2vhqLVw WEBSITE: http://bit.ly/2t6JrbE SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS: Get 5 free AG1 Travel Packs and a FREE 1 year supply of Vitamin D with your first purchase at https://impacttheory.co/AG1pod. Secure your digital life with proactive protection for your assets, identity, family, and tech – Go to https://impacttheory.co/aurapod to start your free two-week trial. What's up, everybody? It's Tom Bilyeu here: If you want my help... STARTING a business: join me here at ZERO TO FOUNDER SCALING a business: see if you qualify here. Get my battle-tested strategies and insights delivered weekly to your inbox: sign up here. Join me live on my Twitch stream. I'm live daily from 6:30 to 8:30 am PT at www.twitch.tv/tombilyeu Feeling stuck? Check out Billion Dollar Habits and unlock the mindset strategies that helped me achieve all my goals. This community will show you how to gain clarity and build discipline so you can become the person you've always wanted to be. Click here to learn more. LISTEN TO IMPACT THEORY AD FREE + BONUS EPISODES on APPLE PODCASTS: apple.co/impacttheory FOLLOW TOM: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tombilyeu/ Tik Tok: https://www.tiktok.com/@tombilyeu?lang=en Twitter: https://twitter.com/tombilyeu YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TomBilyeu Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Join us for a special Thanksgiving episode of the Ducks Unlimited Podcast! Hosted by Dr. Mike Brasher, this episode features a lively discussion with co-hosts Katie Burke, Dr. Scott Stevens, and Dr. Jerad Henson, along with our special guest host, Kevin Woods, Senior Designer at Ducks Unlimited. In this episode, we dive into everything Thanksgiving, from the age-old debate of whether turkey is overrated to the best ways to enjoy leftovers. We share our favorite Thanksgiving traditions, discuss the stress of holiday travel versus post-election family gatherings, and even tackle the controversial topic of cranberry sauce—canned or homemade? As we sip on some festive cocktails, we explore unique Thanksgiving hacks, the best waterfowl substitutes for turkey, and the must-have side dishes that could cause a riot if missing from the table. Plus, we touch on the latest waterfowl weather updates and what to expect for the upcoming hunting season. Whether preparing for a big family feast or just looking to enjoy some holiday banter, this episode is packed with fun, laughter, and a few surprises. Don't miss out on the festive spirit—tune in now! Topics Covered:Turkey: Overrated or underrated?Cranberry sauce: Canned vs. homemadeThanksgiving traditions and hacksBest waterfowl substitutes for turkeyHoliday travel stress vs. family gatheringsWaterfowl weather updatesCheers to a Happy Thanksgiving!

Jason Tandro, senior designer of D&D, dehumanizes old school players as "Grognards" after Elon Musk told WotC to "burn in hell" for trying to distance itself from Gary Gygax. D&D's current leadership considers old school players "not worth listening to," prioritizing a "modern audience" and "enlightened" players over the game's original creators and fans. Hasbro and Wizards of the Coast have allegedly mistreated creators like Ed Greenwood and Margaret Weis, denying proper credit and residuals for their work on Forgotten Realms and Dragonlance. Gen Con has been accused of downplaying Gary Gygax's legacy, reflecting a broader trend in tabletop gaming to distance from its roots. The D&D team anticipated backlash from "progressives" and "underrepresented groups" over original game language, but failed to foresee criticism from longtime fans.

In this podcast, we highlight Nefab's second Sustainability Packaging Design Competition, held in collaboration with San José State University (SJSU). This year, SJSU's Packaging Degree students were tasked with creating sustainable packaging solutions for Cloud Network Routers, vital to cloud networking. Derek Lam, Senior Designer at Nefab, and the winning team—Bea Nguyen, Yvonne Nguyen, and Yaoyao Li—discuss the competition. Image courtesy of Nefab

Grab your skates but don't forget your helmet and knee pads, as Anna Cook joins us to talk about her newfound passion for roller derby. She explains how a friend's invitation to watch a match sparked her interest, how having no prior skating experience made her first day challenging, and how the encouragement from fellow teammates and coaches gave her the support she needed. Anna provides insights into the structure and rules of roller derby, the various roles within a team, and the rigorous training required to participate in bouts. She talks about the inclusive and nurturing community she discovered in the sport, particularly highlighting its embrace of diversity, including those who are queer, neurodivergent, or disabled. Guest BioAs a Senior Designer at Microsoft, Anna Cook (she/they) specializes in building inclusive products, focusing on accessibility and inclusion for Azure and beyond. She has over ten years of experience in digital product design and a Masters in Creative Technology + Design from the University of Colorado Boulder's College of Engineering and Applied Science.LinksBoulder County Roller Derby League: https://bouldercountyrollerderby.com/Anna's website: https://annaecook.com/Anna's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/annaecook/Anna on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/annaecook.comAnna on Mastodon: https://mstdn.social/@annaecookCreditsCover design by Raquel Breternitz.

Send us feedback or episode suggestions.On today's episode of the Design Systems Podcast, we hear from Catalina Manea, Senior Designer at Spelunk, about the crucial intersection of design and development. Catalina shares her journey from graphic design to product and systems design, providing insights into the importance of reusability, cross-functional collaboration, and empathy in building scalable and adaptable design systems. Catalina emphasizes that design systems go beyond UI and consistency—they are powerful tools for enhancing teamwork and agility in fast-paced environments.View the transcript of this episode.Check out our upcoming events.GuestCatalina Manea has been a system designer since the early stages of her career as a product designer, working with both emerging and established design systems. She has collaborated with cross-functional teams to launch new systems from scratch and has contributed to refining and evolving well-established ones across multiple industries. Throughout Catalina's career, she has enjoyed mentoring junior designers and sharing insights at industry conferences.HostChris Strahl is co-founder and CEO of Knapsack, host of @TheDSPod, DnD DM, and occasional river guide. You can find Chris on Twitter as @chrisstrahl and on LinkedIn.SponsorSponsored by Knapsack, the design system platform that brings teams together. Learn more at knapsack.cloud.

Designere Kan lave grafisk design Velkommen til et særafsnit af Design Kan. I et fire-episode langt samarbejde med Det Kongelige Akademi udforsker vi de krydsende veje mellem forskellige generationer af designere. Hvad sker der, når erfarne mestre i faget mødes med unge, nysgerrige sind og hvordan kan designernes perspektiver, erfaringer og visioner skabe bro mellem fortid og fremtid?  Gennem samtaler vil vi afdække, hvordan design er en evig kilde til fornyelse og forandring. Sæt dig til rette, lyt med, og lad os udforske, hvordan design ikke blot er et fagområde, men en levende og dynamisk kraft, der bringer generationer sammen i dialog. Velkommen til Designere Kan lave grafisk design. Vi er virkelig glade for at sige velkommen til Line Kurtzweil. Line er Senior Designer hos Kontrapunkt, (på 31. år) og har blandt andet arbejdet for kunder som IKEA, Vestas og Røde Kors. Og så har Line designet Københavns metrokort – noget af en opgave og bedrift.Line er uddannet fra akademiet i 1986. Og velkommen Klara Graah, uddannet fra akademiet i 2023 og nu selvstændig grafisk designer under eget navn. Klara har lavet illustrationer for kunder som Ace & Tate, DR og Miljøstyrelsen. Din vært er CEO og brandstrateg hos AM Copenhagen, Kristina May.    Designere Kan er lavet i samarbejde med Det Kongelige Akademi, som sammen med Designskolen Kolding uddanner fremtidens designkandidater. Det Kongelige Akademi har bidraget økonomisk til udarbejdelsen af denne episode. #DesignKan #AMcopenhagen #AMpodcast #detkongeligeakademi #designpodcast #brandingpodcast #grafiskdesign #kontrapunkt #

Tu peux soutenir sur le podcast sur KissKissBankBank ou en mettant 5⭐️ sur Apple Podcasts ou Spotify !Arthur est Creative Director chez Koto.Lorsqu'il était enfant, Arthur faisait des montages photos sur son ordinateur. Arthur n'aime pas l'école, mais après le bac - qu'il n'a pas eu - il rejoint une école d'arts et se spécialise la communication visuelle.Rapidement, Arthur veut travailler, mais également apprendre l'anglais. Il rejoint alors, en stage, l'agence Landor Associate à San Francisco. Il y découvrir le branding et tombe amoureux de ce métier. Au départ, il travaille dans le studio photo de l'agence. Très motivé, il évolue rapidement, fait du graphisme et commence à prendre certains sujets en main.A la fin de ses études, Arthur fait un deuxième stage dans l'agence londonienne Pentagram. Mais, il découvre un fonctionnement à l'opposé de Landor : il ne travaille que sur un projet à la fois, dans une équipe attitrée, et doit se confronter au “style” Pentagram. L'expérience s'arrêtera plus rapidement que prévue et Arthur en ressort avec le sentiment de ne pas être fait pour ce métier.Contacté par une petite agence, Arthur rebondit et lui permet de reprendre confiance en lui. Mais, rapidement, il réalise qu'il a des envies de plus et souhaite rejoindre une plus grosse structure.Il rejoint alors studio Moving Brands et découvre d'autres branches du design : le motion design et l'UI Design. Au quotidien, il travaille à la création de branding pour différentes entreprise, comme il le fait depuis le début de sa carrière.Après 2 ans chez Moving Brands, la mission d'Arthur est arrêtée sans préavis. C'est un encore un gros coup au moral pour Arthur… Qui rebondit rapidement et rejoint en tant que freelance l'agence branding MultiAdaptor.Arthur fini par entendre parler d'une petite agence de branding qui est en train de monter : Koto. Au départ, il hésite mais finit par y postuler, car en adéquation totale avec les valeurs de l'agence. Il rejoint l'agence en janvier 2017.Arthur va gravir les échelons de l'agence en commençant comme Senior Designer, puis évoluant vers le poste de Design Director puis de Creative Director avant d'ouvrir l'antenne new-yorkaise de l'agence. Au cours de l'épisode, Arthur revient sur son parcours chez Koto, les différents rôles qu'il a occupé et ce sur quoi il a travaillé - car Arthur est derrière le branding d'une multitudes marques : BlaBlaCar, Back Market, Foodvisor, Fiverr ou encore Sonos.On aborde également Koto en général : où se trouvent les studios dans le monde, qui sont les clients, ce qu'ils attendent de l'agence, etc… Arthur nous livre la sauce secrète qui fait le succès planétaire du studio !Enfin, Arthur nous parle de son aventure américaine avec l'ouverture du studio new-yorkais. Il nous explique les étapes par lesquelles il est passé pour monter cette antenne et comment il l'a fait grandir au quotidien.Les ressources de l'épisodeKotoLes autres épisodes de Design JourneysCase Study #1, La nouvelle identité de marque de Malt avec Loïc GuayPour contacter ArthurLinkedInInstagramXHébergé par Ausha. Visitez ausha.co/politique-de-confidentialite pour plus d'informations.

In the latest episode of Just FlexIt, Austin and Justin welcome Gwen Whiting, the visionary Founder of The Laundress, and Founder of The Fill ( www.thefillclub.com), a newly created company as of June 2024. As a category innovator, Gwen brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the show.In this episode, the discussion begins with Gwen's journey as the founder of The Laundress, a premium, eco-friendly laundry and home cleaning brand that she successfully sold to Unilever in 2019. They delve into her initial decision to step away from the industry and her eventual return, driven by a desire to restore her legacy and provide a new solution for her devoted cleaning enthusiasts.Gwen shares the story behind the launch of The Fill in June 2024, a private members-cleaning community and collection of sustainable solutions. She emphasizes the brand's mission to combine luxury with minimal environmental impact, placing wellness at the heart of cleaning through the use of aromatherapy and its sensory benefits. Gwen's innovative approach ensures these products "work even harder for you," enhancing the cleaning experience.The conversation also touches on Gwen's diverse background, including her early career at Ralph Lauren in home design, her focus on dry cleaning and other care products, and her unique skills in tailoring, hat making, and shoe making, developed during her studies abroad and how it has influenced her disciplined and dynamic approach to business.This episode is packed with insights you won't want to miss. Catch the latest episode of Just FlexIt with Gwen Whiting!Three Reps: 

Sarah Seamonson's passion for design and the demands she places upon herself and her work are what make her the sort of person that a global brand like Under Armour relies on to be competitive in it's markets. Sarah's determination to get into a leading design program in college translates into a high standard of success for her performance as a creative professional. She knew what she wanted from a young age, and she went for it. Let us strengthen your team: gfda.co/workshop Buy our products: gfda.co/store Instagram: instagram.com/gfda.co X: x.com/gfdaco YouTube: youtube.com/@YouAreNotEnoughPodcast Connect with Sarah: instagram.com/sarahtaaaylor

Damien Follone, Senior Designer at Wimberly Interiors London, is an acclaimed interior architect known for his dynamic and immersive designs in the hospitality industry. Originally from Australia, Damien's work has earned him recognition as one of Space magazine's rising stars in 2020. His unique approach to interior design is deeply rooted in his personal experiences and a profound passion for storytelling. Listen to Damien talk about his career journey and design ethos. Follow us: Website, Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, WeChat  

Caleb Grace, Senior Designer and former Lead Designer of the LOTR LCG, joins us for a conversation about the game as a whole, and specifically the revised Core Set and the campaign "add-on."  Join us for a great conversation with the guy who made LoTR what it is today! Check out the blog:  https://www.cardtalk2018.com Become a patron:  https://www.patreon.com/cardtalk2018

How are foodservice consumers contending with persistent inflation? Are they eating more at home, for example, or continuing to treat themselves at their favorite restaurants? The latest episode of The Food Institute Podcast examines that topic with Krystle Mobayeni of BentoBox, who dissected rapidly evolving consumer dining dynamics. More About Krystle Mobayeni: Krystle Mobayeni is the Co-Founder of BentoBox and Head of Restaurants at Fiserv, a global provider of payments and technology solutions that enables 200,000 restaurants to deliver differentiating experiences. Krystle founded BentoBox in 2013 after working with restaurants as a web designer, where she observed that existing technology drove a wedge between restaurants and their guests. BentoBox aims to empower modern restaurants to build their online presence, diversify revenue, engage with diners, and increase operational efficiency. Under her leadership, BentoBox was acquired by Fiserv in November 2021. Prior to BentoBox, Krystle co-founded Neon & Sons, a full-service digital creative agency in New York City, working with clients like Rent the Runway, NASDAQ, Robin Hood Foundation and more. Earlier, she led design teams as Art Director and Senior Designer at Big Spaceship, and Agency.com (acquired by TBWA). Krystle is on the Board of Directors for the Food Education Fund and recognized as Inc. Magazine's Top 100 Female Founders of 2021, New York Business Journal's 2021 Women of Influence, Entrepreneur's 100 Powerful Women of 2021 and Business Insider's Top Innovators in Restaurant Tech. Most recently, Krystle was featured on Nation's Restaurant News 2022 Power List. More About BentoBox: BentoBox, a Fiserv Company and the Official Restaurant Technology Partner of the James Beard Foundation, empowers thousands of restaurants to deliver on their mission of hospitality. With the BentoBox Marketing & Commerce Platform, restaurants can unify their technology into an all-in-one commerce engine that delivers a seamless guest experience, a better operator experience and sustainable growth. The platform enables restaurants to build their online presence, diversify revenue, engage with diners and increase operational efficiency through websites, ordering, reservations, marketing tools and more. BentoBox is part of Fiserv, Inc. (NYSE: FI). Learn more about BentoBox https://www.getbento.com/

Our guest today is Chi Bhatia, VP of Strategy & Growth at One Plan, a SaaS start-up that builds 2D & 3D technology for events & venues. Chi is also part of the amazing career consultant team at Out of Architecture.Hear Chi share his journey from international student to completing LA's first NFL stadium to now working at a tech startup providing support to the 2024 Paris Olympics.On this episode of Tangents, Chi Bhatia of OnePlan, and Out of Architecture Career Consultant, shares his experiences transitioning from an Senior Designer to VP Strategy and Growth. Hear how being in Los Angeles, California impacted the trajectory of Chi's career, and how he systematically approached each step of his journey, using his passion of sports as a driver for his success. Highlights:Curious, Systematic, CalmTaking advantage of your environmentImpact of studying architecture in LABeing focused on finding work as an international studentHow software proficiency matters in your job searchUnique Sports Studio at HKS evolving architectureCareer pivots influenced by passion and expertiseWhy Architecture is an underrated professionhttps://www.outofarchitecture.com/bio-chi-bhatia ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

I'm thrilled to welcome Ben Clay, a Senior Designer at Action Rocket, to analyze some innovative email campaigns from well-known brands. This episode offers an up-close look at three creatively crafted emails, each showcasing unique interactive and personalized elements designed to engage and reactivate audiences. Here's what we explored: Bluey    We start with a charming email from Bluey, featuring an invitation to a special wedding episode. The invitation, designed to look like it's pinned to a refrigerator, opens with a delightful confetti effect when clicked, making for a memorable user experience. We delve into how this interactive element not only captures attention but also enhances user engagement, and would create a truly memorable experience for Bluey fans. Nespresso Next, we review a Nespresso email tied to the coronation of King Charles. The email includes an elegantly set table image, where users can click on different elements to learn more about the products featured. We discuss the effectiveness of this interactive approach in promoting a product line, emphasizing how it adds depth to the shopping experience and connects the brand to a significant cultural event. Sky Sports Concluding with Sky Sports, we examine a reactivation campaign targeted at customers who had previously canceled their subscriptions. This campaign leverages extensive personalization, using past data to highlight each customer's favorite teams and players. It features a dynamic GIF that cycles through exciting moments in various sports, from football to racing. We explore how personalized content and visually engaging elements can remind former subscribers of the value and excitement that Sky Sports offers, potentially encouraging them to reconsider their decision. Ben shares his expertise on how to effectively combine design principles, interactivity, and personalization to craft emails that resonate with recipients. Whether you're refining your strategy or seeking fresh ideas, this episode is packed with actionable insights to help you elevate your email marketing campaigns. Tune in to Inboxing for more expert analyses and discussions. Don't forget to subscribe and rate us on Apple and Spotify! Thank you for listening! Be sure to rate and review Inboxing on Apple Podcasts. 

Michael has spent 30+ years in the entertainment industry. First as a freelancer, then in 2011, Michael joined forces with other designers to create Crossfade Design, LLC. During that time, he has created designs for small,medium and large-scale events worldwide. Michael is the President / Senior Designer at Crossfade Design and guides its overall business operations. This episode is brought to you by Roe Visual and Stratum Productions. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/geezersofgear/message

In this episode of 8111, we talk with John Bell, a New Jersey native who developed a passion for drawing and cars in his youth. To earn money as a kid, he and his brother sold his car drawings at dragster races. This passion led John to the Art Center's Transportation Design program. After graduating, he joined GM's Advanced Concept Studio in Detroit.John's career expanded further when he moved to California to work as a conceptual artist at Atari Games. By the late 1980s, he began a twenty-year intermittent tenure at Industrial Light & Magic, where he collaborated on films like "Star Trek IV," "Innerspace," and "Back to the Future II & III," earning an Academy Award nomination and a BAFTA. In 1991, he became the Art Director for "Jurassic Park."Post-Jurassic Park, John explored new avenues at Nike as a Senior Designer, diversifying into footwear, clothing, graphics, and branding. He later returned to Northern California to create concept art for films such as "Men in Black," "Mission Impossible," and "A.I. Artificial Intelligence." His work extended into production design for Dreamworks' "ANTZ."John then ventured into video game design at Electronic Arts, contributing to titles like "Freekstyle" and "Dead Space," and freelanced on animated films including "Cars" and "The Penguins of Madagascar."He later returned to ILM, working on Oscar-winning films "Rango", "Pirates IV" and "The Revenant." John has also collaborated with multiple clients including Nike, BMW, and Samsung. His broad portfolio spans film, gaming, automotive design, product design and advertising, showcasing his remarkable artistic talent. John is awesome and it was a real pleasure catching up with him and hearing his inspiring story.https://www.johnbell.studio/

With Danny Miller, Co-founder and Creative Director of High Tide; Matthew Smith, Senior Designer at High Tide; and Jesse Stein, Director of Marketing at H&H Bagels. The original post for the project can be found at https://bit.ly/bnpodcast080

Andrew R McHugh is the founder and CEO of Wist, an app for stepping inside your memories on mobile and in XR. Previously at Samsung, he was Team Lead and Senior Designer at the XR Design Group. Andrew contributed to the LGBTQ+ Museum and his work has been featured in Vice, This Week In Startups, and the Wall Street Journal. By listening to this episode you will learn: What are spatial memories and how to capture them without a Vision Pro How AI can close the gap in memory capture What drove Andrew to leave Samsung and pursue his passion for capturing spatial memories *** OUR SPONSOR Visit Meshy.ai and use the code "XRAI20" to get 20% discount on your subscription *** CONNECT WITH ANDREW ⁠

James Case, a Senior Designer at Paizo, joined Daniel and Jeremy for an interview about the development process behind the Tian Xia World Guide for Pathfinder 2nd edition! This is our first episode to feature a developer from a major tabletop RPG publishing company! //SUPPORT Help us produce new and exclusive content! Join us on Patreon for ad-free audio and exclusive series! patreon.com/aznsrepresent //SPONSOR Head to diceenvy.com/aznsrepresent and use code AZNSREPRESENT to get 10% off!  Check out VALOROUS GAMES and the Valor Tabletop system, a high-action roleplay experience that offers high levels of customizability and excitement, at valorousgames.com! //FOLLOW Website | aznsrepresent.com Twitter | @aznsrepresent Twitch | @aznsrep Follow Daniel @danielhkwan, Jeremy &PixelGrotto, and James @toriariaria on Twitter! //CONTACT If you have questions about this episode's themes, suggestions, or anything else related to Asians Represent, get in touch with us at aznsrepresent.com

Bilklubben LIVE kommer til Jylland, når vi optræder på Hermans i Århus den 8. maj. Køb din billet lige her!Dine værter i denne uge er Nils Petter Bro, og Anders Richter som har besøg i studiet af gæstevært Søren Dyrhøj.Søren er Senior Designer hos LEGO og har lavet alt fra Dødsstjernen fra Star Wars til Pagani Utopia af klodser.Richter gør status efter de første 2.000 km i hans nye Volvo XC60.NP kører Toyota C-HR Plug-in hybrid i Frankrig.Vi lærer Sørens Dyrhøjs bil-smag bedre at kende.Rivian lancerer nye modeller, og Porsche kommer med Taycan Turbo GT som er hurtigere end Tesla Model S Plaid.NP overtager brevkassen, hvor vi svarer på alle jeres bilspørgsmål.Richter er ugens quizmaster i verdens sværeste bilquiz, hvor emnet denne gang er 'Biler med kant'For annoncering i programmet kontakt Bauer Media. Afsnit 132 er publiceret d. 18. marts, 2024.

Tu peux soutenir sur le podcast sur KissKissBankBank ou en mettant 5⭐️ sur Apple Podcasts ou Spotify !Arthur est Creative Director chez Koto.Lorsqu'il était enfant, Arthur faisait des montages photos sur son ordinateur. Arthur n'aime pas l'école, mais après le bac - qu'il n'a pas eu - il rejoint une école d'arts et se spécialise la communication visuelle.Rapidement, Arthur veut travailler, mais également apprendre l'anglais. Il rejoint alors, en stage, l'agence Landor Associate à San Francisco. Il y découvrir le branding et tombe amoureux de ce métier. Au départ, il travaille dans le studio photo de l'agence. Très motivé, il évolue rapidement, fait du graphisme et commence à prendre certains sujets en main.A la fin de ses études, Arthur fait un deuxième stage dans l'agence londonienne Pentagram. Mais, il découvre un fonctionnement à l'opposé de Landor : il ne travaille que sur un projet à la fois, dans une équipe attitrée, et doit se confronter au “style” Pentagram. L'expérience s'arrêtera plus rapidement que prévue et Arthur en ressort avec le sentiment de ne pas être fait pour ce métier.Contacté par une petite agence, Arthur rebondit et lui permet de reprendre confiance en lui. Mais, rapidement, il réalise qu'il a des envies de plus et souhaite rejoindre une plus grosse structure.Il rejoint alors studio Moving Brands et découvre d'autres branches du design : le motion design et l'UI Design. Au quotidien, il travaille à la création de branding pour différentes entreprise, comme il le fait depuis le début de sa carrière.Après 2 ans chez Moving Brands, la mission d'Arthur est arrêtée sans préavis. C'est un encore un gros coup au moral pour Arthur… Qui rebondit rapidement et rejoint en tant que freelance l'agence branding MultiAdaptor.Arthur fini par entendre parler d'une petite agence de branding qui est en train de monter : Koto. Au départ, il hésite mais finit par y postuler, car en adéquation totale avec les valeurs de l'agence. Il rejoint l'agence en janvier 2017.Arthur va gravir les échelons de l'agence en commençant comme Senior Designer, puis évoluant vers le poste de Design Director puis de Creative Director avant d'ouvrir l'antenne new-yorkaise de l'agence. Au cours de l'épisode, Arthur revient sur son parcours chez Koto, les différents rôles qu'il a occupé et ce sur quoi il a travaillé - car Arthur est derrière le branding d'une multitudes marques : BlaBlaCar, Back Market, Foodvisor, Fiverr ou encore Sonos.On aborde également Koto en général : où se trouvent les studios dans le monde, qui sont les clients, ce qu'ils attendent de l'agence, etc… Arthur nous livre la sauce secrète qui fait le succès planétaire du studio !Enfin, Arthur nous parle de son aventure américaine avec l'ouverture du studio new-yorkais. Il nous explique les étapes par lesquelles il est passé pour monter cette antenne et comment il l'a fait grandir au quotidien.Les ressources de l'épisodeKotoLes autres épisodes de Design JourneysCase Study #1, La nouvelle identité de marque de Malt avec Loïc GuayPour contacter ArthurLinkedInInstagramX

Jason Mayden, co-founder of Super Heroic, was the lead designer for the Air Jordan, the highest grossing Nike shoe in history. In his relentless pursuit to be the greatest sneaker designer, he did 1,000 sketches a day and became the first African American to land a design internship with Nike. And in just five years, he familiarized himself with other disciplines to earn his role as Senior Designer — a feat that normally takes around 15 years to achieve— and ultimately designed the Nike shoe of his hometown hero, Michael Jordan. Jason went on to obtain his Master's degree from Stanford and worked his way all the way to Senior Global Design Director for the Jordan brand. Join Tom Bilyeu as he sits down with the co-founder of Super Heroic, Inc. as he shares his strategies for improving introspection and harnessing child-like curiosity in this episode of Impact Theory. [Original air date: July 25, 2017]. FOLLOW JASON: TWITTER: http://bit.ly/2snCsrT INSTAGRAM: http://bit.ly/2vAVQmq FACEBOOK: http://bit.ly/2uBDYKU LINKEDIN: http://bit.ly/2uy8WnK FOLLOW SUPER HEROIC, INC.: INSTAGRAM: http://bit.ly/2u77x4R FACEBOOK: http://bit.ly/2vhqLVw WEBSITE: http://bit.ly/2t6JrbE FOLLOW TOM: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tombilyeu/ Tik Tok: https://www.tiktok.com/@tombilyeu?lang=en Twitter: https://twitter.com/tombilyeu YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TomBilyeu SPONSORS: If you purchase an item using these affiliate links, Impact Theory may receive a commission.  Get 5 free AG1 Travel Packs and a FREE 1 year supply of Vitamin D with your first purchase at https://drinkag1.com/impact. Try Audible free for 30 days! Just visit https://audible.com/impacttheory or text impacttheory to 500-500. MEDITATIONS is available from Penguin Random House at http://prh.com/meditations. Right now, download NetSuite's popular KPI Checklist, designed to give you consistently excellent performance - absolutely free, at https://netsuite.com/theory. Save 70% and get a FREE HD camera when you sign up at https://covesmart.com/impact. Head to https://squarespace.com/impact for a free 14 day trial and 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain.   Secure your digital life with proactive protection for your assets, identity, family, and tech – Go to https://aura.com/IMPACT to start your free two-week trial. Take control of your gut health by going to https://tryviome.com/impact and use code IMPACT to get 20% off your first 3 months and free shipping. ***Are You Ready for EXTRA Impact?*** If you're ready to find true fulfillment, strengthen your focus, and ignite your true potential, the Impact Theory subscription was created just for you.  *New episodes delivered ad-free, EXCLUSIVE access to hundreds of archived Impact Theory episodes, Tom AMAs, and so much more!* This is not for the faint of heart. This is for those who dare to learn obsessively, every day, day after day. *****Subscribe on Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3PCvJaz***** Subscribe on all other platforms (Google Podcasts, Spotify, Castro, Downcast, Overcast, Pocket Casts, Podcast Addict, Podcast Republic, Podkicker, and more) : https://impacttheorynetwork.supercast.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of the Giant Robots Smashing Into Other Giant Robots podcast, hosts Will Larry and Victoria Guido discuss the intricacies of product design with thoughtbot's Senior Designers, Rami Taibah and Ferdia Kenny. They delve into the newly launched Product Design Sprint Kit by thoughtbot, which is designed to streamline and enhance product development. Ferdia and Rami explain how the kit aims to compress the design process into a focused five-day sprint, allowing teams to move from idea to user-tested prototype efficiently. They discuss the genesis of the kit, its components, and the rationale behind making it openly available. Towards the end of the episode, the conversation shifts towards the broader implications of design in product development, the iterative nature of design sprints, and the value of user feedback in guiding product decisions. Rami and Ferdia share real-world examples where product design sprints led to significant pivots or refinements in product strategy, emphasizing the critical role of user testing in uncovering genuine user needs versus presumed functionalities. Follow Rami Taibah on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/ramitaibah/). Follow Ferdia Kenny on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/ferdiakenny/). Follow thoughtbot on X (https://twitter.com/thoughtbot) or LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/150727/). Become a Sponsor (https://thoughtbot.com/sponsorship) of Giant Robots! Transcript: WILL:  This is the Giant Robots Smashing Into Other Giant Robots podcast, where we explore the design, development, and business of great products. I'm your host, Will Larry. VICTORIA: And I'm your co-host, Victoria Guido. And with us today are Rami Taibah, Senior Designer at thoughtbot, and Ferdia Kenny, Senior Designer at thoughtbot, here to talk to us about the newly released Product Design Sprint Kit from thoughtbot. Ferdia and Rami, thank you for joining us. Why don't you introduce yourselves a little bit, tell us a little bit about each of your background while we get started? FERDIA: I'm Ferdia. I'm a product designer at thoughtbot. I've been with the company for nearly three years now. I'm based in Dublin in Ireland, but I'm from the West Coast of Ireland. Happy to be on the podcast. It's my first time coming on, so that'll be a new experience. RAMI: Yeah, so I'm Rami Taibah, and I am also a senior designer at thoughtbot for nearly two years. I'm also from the West Coast, like Ferdia, but I didn't move. I'm still where I'm from [laughs]. VICTORIA: Yeah, so just to get us warmed up here, why don't you tell us something interesting going on in your lives outside of work you want to share with the group? FERDIA: For me, I'm trying to do a bit of traveling at the moment. So, one of the benefits, obviously, of working with thoughtbot is that we are a fully remote company. As long as we're kind of staying roughly within our time zones, we can kind of travel around a little bit. So, I'm actually in France at the moment and going to Spain in March. So yeah, I'll be working from a couple of different spots, which is really cool and a lot of fun. RAMI: Yeah, it's pretty cool. I always see Ferdia, like, having these meetings in, like, these different locations. Just a few months ago, you were in Italy, right? FERDIA: Yeah. Yeah [laughs], that's right, yeah. RAMI: Yeah. So, for me, well, first of all, I got a new baby, new baby girl, exactly on New Year's Day, so that's interesting, going back home every day and seeing how they evolve very quickly at this age. Another thing is I've been doing a lot of Olympic weightlifting. It's probably one of the consistent things in my life since COVID. I was a CrossFitter. I got out of that, thankfully. But coming back into, like, after quarantine, weightlifting seemed like a good choice because it doesn't have the social aspect of CrossFit, and I can just do it on my own. WILL: How is your sleep? RAMI: I'm a heavy sleeper, and I feel guilty about it, so no problems here [laughs]. WILL: Yeah, that was one thing I'm still trying to recover from–sleep. I love my sleep. And so, I know some people can do with little sleep, but I like sleep. And so, I'm just now recovering, and we're almost two years since my baby boy, so [chuckles]... RAMI: Yeah, I'm a heavy sleeper. And I tell my wife, like, we have this understanding, like, if you ever need anything from me besides...because she has to be up for, like, breastfeeding, just kick me. I'll wake up. I'll do whatever you need [laughs]. WILL: That's awesome. VICTORIA: So, my understanding is that if you want to get better at any sport, if you get better at deadlifting, that will help you progress in your sport pretty much. That's my [laughs] understanding. I don't know if you all feel that way as well. RAMI: Oh, I never heard that. But I do know that these three, like, three or four basic lifts just basically boosts you in everything else, like, deadlifts, back squats. And what was the third one? Bench press, I guess. FERDIA: And pull-ups as well, I think, is a compound exercise. I just hate like this. I look for an excuse to skip them, so...[chuckles] VICTORIA: Yeah, the four essential exercises, but it doesn't mean that they're fun, right? FERDIA: [chuckles] VICTORIA: Yeah. And then, Will, I heard you were also training for a new activity, the 5k. WILL: Yeah, I'm going to run a 5k with my best friend. He's coming into town. So, I'm excited about it. I've always tried to do running, but my form was horrible, and I'll get injured, tried to do too much. And I think I finally figured it out, taking it slow, stretching, making sure my form is correct. So, it's been good. I've enjoyed it. And it's interesting looking at what I'm doing now versus when I first started. And I was like, whoa, like, when I first started, I couldn't even run a mile, and I'd be out of breath and dying and just like, ah, and then now it's like, oh, okay, now I'm recovered, and I can walk it off. So, one thing it's taught me is just consistent, being consistent because I feel like with working out and running, you have this, like, two-week period that it's just hard. Everything hurts. Your body is aching. But then after that, your body is like, okay, you're serious. Okay, then, like, I can adjust and do that. And then once you get over that two weeks, it's like, oh, okay, like, still, like, sometimes I still push it and get sore, but for the most part, my body is like, okay, I get it. Let's do this. And then now, compared to before, now I'm just like, I can't stop because I don't want to go back through that two weeks of pain that I started at, at the very beginning. So, yeah, it's been a very good journey. I don't know how far I'm going to go with it. I don't know if I'm going to go a full marathon or a half marathon. I will increase it and do multiple races, but yeah, I don't know how far I'm going to go with it. VICTORIA: Well, it's interesting. It reminds me how, like, anytime you do something new, you're forming new neural pathways in your brain, then you can get in a routine, and it becomes easier and easier every time you do it. So, I'm going to try to relate this back to our Product Design Sprint Kit. It's like a set of exercises you can learn how to do that might be difficult at first, but then it becomes a part of the way that you work and how you build products, right? So, why don't you tell me a little bit about it? Like, what is it? What is the product design kit that you just came out with? FERDIA: The PDS kit or the Product Design Sprint Kit it was something that I'd kind of been playing around with in investment time for a while, and then spoke to Rami about it a couple of months ago, and he got on board. And it really accelerated what we were doing. And it was basically, like, a product design sprint is a known process in design and product design and product development. I think it was started by Google. And, essentially, the concept is that you can take an idea that you have for something new and, in five days, go from that idea to creating something that can be user tested, and so getting real kind of validated feedback on your idea. Yeah, so try to do it in a compressed timeframe. That's why it's called a sprint. So, you're trying to do it within five days. And the concept for kind of creating a kit that we could share to people beyond thoughtbot was that we tend to repeat a lot of the same instructions in each sprint, so we're running very similar exercises. The outcomes are slightly different, obviously, depending on the customer, but the exercises themselves are pretty similar. So, the [inaudible 06:42] kind of when we're talking to the customer are often very much the same. And we just thought that we get a lot of inquiries from start-ups, I think probably maybe even more so in Europe, before they're funded and looking kind of for the first step. Like, what can they do? So, a lot of them, if they're not in a position to, say, pay for some of our design team to come on with them and run a sprint with them, we thought it'd be cool to be able to give them, well, you know, this is something free that you can run yourself with your team and will kind of get you on the ladder. It will hopefully give you something that you can then take to an investor or somebody that could potentially fund a kind of bigger sprint or maybe even an MVP build. WILL: Let me ask you this: Why is design so important? So, if I'm a developer, or a CTO, or a CEO of whatever, why should I be an advocate for design? RAMI: Well, over here at thoughtbot, we do a lot of iterative design. I think that's a key factor that we should take into consideration. With iterative design, it's the idea of designing something based on a validation or based on a user and doing it quickly and testing it to get feedback from the user or from the market and adjust from there, instead of just designing something in, like, a silo and releasing it after six months and then discovering that you went off course four months ago. And that will cost you a lot of time, a lot of money, a lot of agony, I guess [laughs]. And it just generally will become a very frustrating process. I've seen clients before thoughtbot where they come in and they've been working on this thing for six months, and they're just not releasing and pushing the release for month on month just because the CEO does not feel like it's at par with what he's using on, like, everyday apps. And he's, like, looking at, oh, I want to look like Instagram, or feel like Instagram, or feel like whatever they like when, in reality, products don't evolve that way. And Instagram has already, I don't know, 12 years of development and design behind it. And you can't possibly expect your app that you're launching for your startup to feel the same, look the same, and all that stuff. That's why design is important. So, you just discover early on that you are on the right path and always correcting course with different design techniques, including the PDS. FERDIA: What you're talking about there just de-risks a lot of stuff for people when they're trying to create something new. You could have the, you know, a really, really impressive product under the hood that can do a lot of really technical stuff. But if it's very hard to use, or if it's very hard to kind of tap into that magic that you've built on the development side, people just won't use it, and you won't be able to generate the revenue you want. So yeah, the user experience and kind of the design around that is really important to get people actually using your product. VICTORIA: Yeah, I can relate to what you all have said. I've talked with founders before, who they maybe have a lot of experience in the industry and the problem that they are trying to solve. They think I know what it should look like. I just need developers to build it. But the activities you described about the product design sprint and creating something where you can go out and test that theory, and then incorporate that feedback into your product, and doing it within five days, it seems like a really powerful tool to be able to get you on the right path and avoid hundreds of thousands of dollars of development spend, right? FERDIA: Yeah, 100%, yeah. And, like, a typical outcome for a product design sprint will never be a fully polished, like, perfect design. That's just...it's not realistic. But what you will hopefully have by the end of that five days is you will know, okay, these are, like, five or six things that we're doing right, and these are things we should keep going with. And maybe here are three or four things that we thought users would like, or potential customers would like, and we are actually wrong about those. So, we need to change those things and maybe focus on something else. So, as Rami said, design is an iterative process that is like your first iteration. But getting that feedback is so helpful because, as Rami said, if you spend six months developing something and figure out that 4 of the ten things that you built weren't needed or were wrong, or customers just didn't want them, that's a really, really expensive exercise. So, a design sprint, kind of if you're to do them on a continuous basis or every couple of months, can be a really helpful way to check in with users to make sure what you're committing your resources to is actually going to benefit them in the long run. RAMI: Yeah. And I would also like to add, like, one of the outputs of a design sprint is a prototype. To me, I'm always like, seeing is believing. It's just better to have a prototype as a communication tool within the team with clients, with customers, with users, instead of having, like, a document or even just wireframes. It just doesn't really deliver what you're trying to do, like a prototype. FERDIA: Yeah, 100%, Rami. And, like, on the prototype, like, a good comparison that people, if they're not in product development, might have seen it's like if you're building a house, like yourself, Victoria, a lot of architects will give you two-dimensional plans. And for people that aren't in the building industry, plans can be difficult to read or difficult to visualize what those actually look like. But if you can give someone a 3D representation of the house, you know, they can see, oh yeah, this is what it's going to kind of look like and what it's going to feel like. And the prototype that Rami is talking about gives you exactly that. So, it's not just this is our idea; it's, this is actually what the thing could look like, and what do you think of that? So yeah, it's definitely a valuable output. VICTORIA: We're having this debate about whether or not we need a designer for our renovation project. And I'm very much pro [laughs] designer. And maybe that's from my background and being in software development and, like, let's get an expert in here, and they will help us figure it out [laughs], and then we'll make less mistakes and less expensive mistakes going forward. So, I think there's a lot of analogies there. So, this product design sprint is a service that we offer at thoughtbot as well, right? We do workshops and meetings together with the client, and you all have this idea to record the videos and put all the content out there for free. So, I'm curious how that conversation went within management at thoughtbot and how did the idea really get started and get some traction going. FERDIA: The benefit of the Product Design Sprint Kit what you get out of it won't replace, say, doing a product design sprint with thoughtbot because you will have expert product designers or developers in the room with you to kind of share their ideas and their experience. So, the output you're going to get from running a sprint with thoughtbot will be more beneficial, definitely. But what we were trying to, I suppose, cater for was people that fall in the gap, that they're not quite ready to bring thoughtbot on board, or they don't have enough funding to bring thoughtbot on board to do a product design sprint, or a longer discovery sprint, or something like that. But we want to be able to give those people in kind of the software community something actionable that they can actually take and use. So, the first three days, I think, of the Product Design Sprint Kit will be really, really valuable to people. It'll really help them identify the problem that they're trying to solve and then to come up with a lot of different solutions and to try to pick one of those. And probably where it's going to be a bit more challenging if you don't have experience in design or in development will be around the prototype, which Rami had spoken about. You can kind of do some offline things, and there are ways to test things without, say, a high-fidelity prototype, but those high-fidelity prototypes, again, are something that could be helpful. But thoughtbot has always had an approach of kind of giving stuff for free to the community, either open source or just letting people, yeah, letting people learn from our resources and from what we know. And so, yeah, this is just a way to, hopefully, cater to people that we currently can't work with for a variety of reasons but that this is something that they could maybe use in the meantime. MID-ROLL AD: Are you an entrepreneur or start-up founder looking to gain confidence in the way forward for your idea? At thoughtbot, we know you're tight on time and investment, which is why we've created targeted 1-hour remote workshops to help you develop a concrete plan for your product's next steps. Over four interactive sessions, we work with you on research, product design sprint, critical path, and presentation prep so that you and your team are better equipped with the skills and knowledge for success. Find out how we can help you move the needle at tbot.io/entrepreneurs. WILL: So, can you break down...you said it's five days. Can you break down what is walking you through, like, each day? And, like, what experience do I have? Because I know, I've tried to get in Figma sometimes, and it's not easy. It's a pain at times. You're trying to maneuver and stuff like that. So, what do I have to do? Like, do you show me how Figma? Do you give me a template with Figma? Like, how do you help me with those things? And I know Miro and those things. So, like, walk me through each step of the sprint. RAMI: Yeah, well, I mean, Figma and Miro are just tools that just became popular, I guess, after COVID. Design sprints used to be physical, in the same room as sprints. You would get the clients or the stakeholders in a room and do all that stuff. But Figma, FigJam, and, you know, kind of...I don't know if this was part of their, like, product thinking, but it kind of allowed doing full-on design sprints in their tools. So, the first step or the first day would be, like, the understanding day where basically we gather information about the product, the users, what's out there, and just come up with a general plan on how to go forward. And the second day would be divergent where we just look at what's out there and come up with these crazy ideas, kind of, like, a brainstorming thing but in a more inclusive, I guess, way and in a more organized way. So, you don't have people shouting over each other. Like, being anonymous also is important on this day, so nobody really knows what you're doing or saying. It's just ideas to remove bias. Then, we'd have a converge day where we take all these ideas and consolidate them, which will be an input into the prototype phase. And the last day is the test phase. I mean, each of these days you can talk...have a full podcast. VICTORIA: I'm curious about when you're testing and when you're, like, I'll say thoughtbot is a global company, right? And so, there's lots of different types of users and groups that you might be wanting to use your app. I'm thinking, you know, sometimes, in particular, some of the applications I've been looking at are targeting people who maybe they don't have an iPhone. They maybe have lower income or less means and access to get products and services. So, how does your design sprint talk to designing for different types of communities? FERDIA: I think that's a great question, Victoria. I would say the first thing on it is that we'd often get a lot of people with a startup idea, and they would come in and say, "You know, this app could be used by everybody. So, like, we have kind of no beachhead market or no target market. Like, this would be great for the whole world." That's a very nice thought to have if it is something that could potentially be used by everyone. But we would generally say you should pick a smaller niche to try to establish yourself in first and hit a home run basically with that niche first, and then kind of grow from there. We would normally say to people as, like, again, this is going back to what Rami said about the iterative process. If at the end of the five days, you've picked the wrong beachhead market and it doesn't hit home with them, that's fine. You can just do another sprint next week or next month on a different kind of subsection of the market. So, I think picking a fairly niche sector of the market is a good starting point. You then run your product design sprint with that niche in mind and try to talk to five users from that. And, generally, we say five because, generally, if you have less than or fewer than five people contributing, you probably won't get enough data. You know that you could...if you only test with two people, you probably wouldn't get a thorough enough data set. And then, normally, once you go over five, you kind of start seeing the patterns repeating themselves. You get kind of diminishing returns, I guess, after five. So, that would generally be the approach. Try to identify your beachhead market, the one you want to go into first, and then you will try to talk to five people generally from the founding team's network that match the criteria of that beachhead market. And, in some ways, just the final point, I guess, is the fact that you have to pull them from your network is actually beneficial to kind of make you narrow down and pick a niche market that's accessible to you because you know people in it. RAMI: And maybe if you don't know anybody, then maybe you're in the wrong industry. FERDIA: Yeah. Great point. Great point because, yeah, it makes it a lot easier. It's nice to have loads of industries that you could go into, but it makes it so much easier if the founding team have contacts in an industry. Yeah, it makes a big difference. WILL: Yeah, I was going through the different days and kind of what you were talking about. So, like, one day is brainstorming, then converge, and then prototyping, and user testing kind of on that last day. It seems like it's completely laid out. Like, you're giving away all the keys except experience from the actual designer. It seems like it's all laid out. Was that the goal to, like, really have them fully laid out? Hey, you can do this from point A to point B, and this is what it looks like. Is that something that you're...because that's what it looks like as my experience with designers and stuff. And if that's the case, what was your reasoning behind that, to give it away? For someone, like you said, like a startup they can do this because you pretty much laid it all out. I'm not a designer, and I don't claim to, but it looks like I can do this from what you laid out. RAMI: Well, first of all, like, at thoughtbot, we're really big into open source, and open source is not always just development. It can be these kinds of things, right? It's not a trade secret. It's not something we came up with. We maybe evolved it a little bit from Google, I think it was Google Ventures, but we just evolved it. And, at the end of the day, it's something that anybody can do. But, actually, taking the output from it is something that we do as thoughtbot. Like, okay, you have a prototype. That's great. You tested it, but okay, now we want to make it happen. If you can make it happen, then great, but the reality is that a lot of people can't, and that's why there are, like, a gazillion agencies out there that do these things. So, the reasoning, I guess, and Ferdia can expand on, is, like, if somebody takes this and comes up with a great prototype and feels confident that they actually want to develop this idea, who else would be better than thoughtbot who actually gave them the keys to everything? FERDIA: Yeah, 100%, Rami. Yeah, it's essentially just helping people get on the first rung of the product development ladder with fewer barriers to entry, so you don't have to have a couple of thousand dollars saved up to run a sprint. This kind of gives you a really, really low entry point. And I guess there's another use case for it where you would often have potentially founders or even companies that want to release a new product or feature. And they might reach out to thoughtbot because they want to develop something, and they're very sure that this is what we want to develop. And, you know, maybe they don't want to engage with a product design sprint or something like that if they think they know their market well enough. And this could be a handy tool just to say to them, "Okay, if you can go away, take this free resource for a week, run a product design sprint with your team, and come back to us and tell us that nothing has changed, you know that you've correctly identified the right market and that you've validated your theories with them," then we can kind of jump into development from there. But yeah, it can be a good way, I suppose, to show the value of doing a product design sprint. As I said, a lot of people come in, and they have great ideas, and they can be fairly certain that this is going to work. But a product design sprint is really, really valuable to validate those before you dive into building. VICTORIA: And can you give us an example from your experience of a client who went through a product design sprint and decided to pivot maybe their main idea and go in a different direction? FERDIA: I'm not sure off the top of my head, Victoria, if I can pick one that pivoted in a completely different direction, but definitely, like, some of the clients that we worked with on the Fusion team in thoughtbot ended up changing direction or changing the customer that they were going after. So, some people might have had an idea in their head of who they wanted to tackle and might have had a particular, say, feature prioritized for that person. And through the product design sprint, we were able to validate that, actually, this feature is not that important. This other feature is more important, and it's more important to a different group than kind of what you initially thought. That would happen fairly regularly on a product design sprint. Like, I think if you look at the potential outcomes, one being that everything's exactly as you thought it was and you can proceed as planned, or the opposite end of the spectrum where nothing is as you thought it was and, you know, you kind of have to go back to the drawing board, it's very rare that you're on either end of those after a product design sprint. Most of the time, you're somewhere in the middle. You've changed a few things, and you're able to keep a few things, and that's kind of normally where they land. So, I would say nearly every customer that we've done a product design sprint with has changed some things, but never kind of gone back to the drawing board and started from scratch. RAMI: It's usually prioritization and just understanding what to do and also, like, get into the details of how to do it. That's where the value comes in. But, like, completely pivoting from a food delivery app to, I don't know, NFTs [laughs] never really happened. VICTORIA: Yeah, and it doesn't have to necessarily be a big pivot but looking for, like, a real-world example, like, maybe you're building an e-commerce site for a plant marketplace or something like that. RAMI: Yeah. Well, we had a self-help app where they already had the app in the market. It was a progressive web app, and they were really keen on improving this mood tracker feature. But then we did a product design sprint, and they had a bunch of other features, and that exercise kind of reprioritized. And the mood tracker ended up not being released in the first version of the actual mobile app because we were also developing a native app. VICTORIA: Gotcha. So, they were pretty convinced that this was an important feature that people wanted to track their mood in their app. And then, when they went through and tested it, users were actually like, "There's this other feature that's more important to me." FERDIA: One example of another client that we did, which was a kind of a wellness app, they wanted it to feel like a friend in your pocket. So, they were looking at ways to integrate with WhatsApp that you'd get notifications via WhatsApp. So, they would kind of be, like, friendly messages to people as if it's your friend, you know, texting you to check in. And that was kind of an idea going into it, and users did not like that at all. Like, they really didn't like that. So, we ditched that [inaudible 25:49] completely. But, again, that could have been something that they would have spent a long time developing to try to implement, and then to have users say this would have been a very, very costly waste of time. So, we figured that out in a few days, which was a money saver for the team. VICTORIA: And it must be pretty emotional to have that feedback, right? Like, it's better to get it early on so that you don't invest all the money and time into it. But as a founder, I'm sure you're so passionate about your ideas, and you really think you have the answers from your experience, most likely. So, I'm curious if there's any kind of emotional management you do with clients during this product design sprint. FERDIA: I think it definitely is. I think people, as I said, often come in with very strong opinions of what they feel will work. And it might even be a product that they specifically want, or they might be one of those potential users. And I actually think, say, engaging an agency like thoughtbot to design something like that, if we felt that they were going down the wrong path, that could be actually quite difficult to do. But because of product design sprints, you are user-testing it. The founders are hearing this feedback from the horse's mouth, so to speak. They're hearing it directly from potential customers. So, it's a lot more black and white. Now, sometimes, it might still be a case that a founder then doesn't want to proceed with that idea if it's not kind of going to be the way that they wanted it to be, and that's fair enough as well. But the feedback, as I said, it tends not to be that the idea is completely scrapped. It just means that you move a couple of things around. As Rami said, you deprioritize some things and prioritize other things for the first version, and that tends to be the outcome of it. VICTORIA: Are the users always right, or is it sometimes you can have an idea that persist, despite the early feedback from users? RAMI: Interesting question. Like, I see the parallels you're doing with the customer is always right, yeah. But the thing is, like, that's just my opinion, I think. We tested with users, and we kind of observe how they react to it and how they use the prototype. So, it's not like an opinion session or, like, a focus group where they're actually giving...a user can say something and do something else or react in a different way. But yeah, it's a fine line, I think. But I would be really surprised if ten users would agree on something and say something, and their behavior also would reflect that, and we won't pick up on. VICTORIA: Yes, I like the distinction you're making between what they say and then what the behavior shows, right? FERDIA: I think something important there as well, like you'll often hear it in design communities, is that you should listen to the feedback from customers but maybe not the solutions that they're proposing. Because, at the end of the day, like, thoughtbot have experts in product design and product development, so we want to figure out from the user's perspective what they want to achieve and maybe what their problems are, but not necessarily take into account or just, I suppose, not necessarily just follow exactly what they say the solution should be. You're kind of looking for the problems and the things that they're struggling with. You're trying to pick those up rather than just to do the solution that the customer is telling you. And you'll see that in a lot of startups as well that, you know, it's the famous Henry Ford quote about, you know, "If I'd listened to my customers, I'd have designed a faster horse." Sometimes, you need to listen to the problem, and the problem is getting from A to B faster, and then you come up with a solution for that rather than the solution that's been recommended to you. WILL: I want to pivot a little bit and ask you both, why did you get into design? FERDIA: I actually did architecture in university, and there were aspects of that I liked. Funnily enough, it's a fairly similar process to designing for software, and then it's an iterative approach. You're given a brief and yet you kind of take a concept forward. But then, when you apply for planning, you have to make changes. And when you kind of put [inaudible 29:41], you make changes. So, you're constantly, I suppose, designing iteratively. And then I got into startups and was kind of wearing a lot of different hats in that startup sort of world. But the product was the one area that always kind of got me excited. So, you know, if you tried to make a sale with a particular customer and they didn't want to go over something, like, coming home and trying to figure out, okay, how can I fix that problem with the product so that next time when I go to a customer, and they'll say, "Yes"? That was kind of what always gave me the adrenaline. So yeah, comparatively, between architecture and software, the turnaround times in software is so much faster that I think it's more enjoyable than architecture. You kind of can really see progress. Product design sprint in five days. You can kind of take something a long way whereas designing a building is a bit slower, but it's always kind of been some area of interest. Well, what about you, Rami? RAMI: Well, I wanted to become a hacker, but I ended up to be a designer [laughs]. No, really, when, like, in middle school, I really wanted to be a hacker and kept looking up what is it. Like, I see it in all these movies really cool, and I wanted to understand, like, how it's done online. And I saw, like, everybody is talking about this weird, little thing called command line. And it turns out, like, all these hacking, quote, unquote, "hacking tutorials" were done on Linux. So, I started looking into Linux and got into Linux. From there, I started blogging about Linux, and then I just really got into technology. I was in marketing. By then, I was a marketing major. So, that got me into blogging into, like, Linux and open source, which kind of triggered in my head, okay, I need to maybe pivot to a different career path. So, I did a master's degree in information management. Over there, I stumbled into design. The information management school that I was in, like, it was an interdisciplinary school at, like, design, coding, and business all mixed in. So, I stumbled in design there. VICTORIA: That's how you all got started. And now you've put this product out there pretty recently. I'm curious if you have thought about how you would measure the success of this effort. So, how do you know that what you put out there in the product designs kit is helping people or achieving the goals that you had originally set out to? FERDIA: Initially, Victoria, we obviously like to see the view counts going up on YouTube, and we're always open to feedback. So, like, at the end of each video and in the resources and stuff, we've got contact us kind of links and stuff. So, if people have feedback on how we could make it better or more useful, that would be really, really welcome. So, do feel free to reach out to us. And kind of the ultimate success metric for us would be to have somebody come to us in future and say, "Oh, we used that Product Design Sprint Kit that you produced before, and we either got funding or, you know, we got so much value out of it that we'd like to do a full product design sprint or an MVP build, or something like that." And the equivalent that we would kind of have a lot of in thoughtbot would be, say, gems in development where we would get people reaching out and say, "We use that gem all the time. We know about thoughtbot because of that." That kind of is a way to establish trust with potential customers. So, we're hoping that this is somewhat of an equivalent on the design side. WILL: Oh, it's been great chatting with both of you about design and what you came up with this. I really like it. I'm going to look more into it. VICTORIA: Yes. Thank you both for joining us. And I had one question. So, the sprint is the short-term. What would be, like, a product design marathon? Like, what's [chuckles] the big picture for people who are building products? Maybe that's a silly question, but... RAMI: No, it's not, I mean, but I would guess it's actually building the product and having a successful product in the market and iterate over it for years and years. VICTORIA: Yeah. So, it's a one-week sprint, and you could do it over and over again for many years just to fine-tune and really make sure that your product is meeting the needs of the people you were hoping to reach. Wonderful. All right. Well, thank you both so much for joining us. WILL: You can subscribe to the show and find notes along with a complete transcript for this episode at giantrobots.fm. If you have questions or comments, email us at hosts@giantrobots.fm. You can find me on Twitter @will23larry. VICTORIA: And you can find me on Twitter @victori_ousg. This podcast is brought to you by thoughtbot and produced and edited by Mandy Moore. Thanks for listening. See you next time. AD: Did you know thoughtbot has a referral program? If you introduce us to someone looking for a design or development partner, we will compensate you if they decide to work with us. More info on our website at: tbot.io/referral. Or you can email us at referrals@thoughtbot.com with any questions.

Interview with anthology author Bre Cain contributing the chapter titled "Coming Home" to Volume II Deserts to Mountaintops: Choosing Our Healing Through Radical Self-Acceptance.Since being diagnosed in early 2022 with untreated Lyme disease, Bre has had to reevaluate and evolve the relationship she has with her body in order to advocate for her own healing. She is passionate about openly sharing what led to over a decade of misdiagnosed pain, medical gaslighting, and the difficulties of receiving healthcare for a chronic illness while living in a fat body. Bre is interested in continuing a conversation about the barriers of our current healthcare system and the repercussions of evaluating health based on socioeconomic status and image. Bre hopes by sharing her experience, others will feel empowered to ask questions, hold their providers accountable, and advocate for the body they live in. Bre spent most of her life growing up in the Midwest and is the middle child of seven siblings. She is a Senior Designer, Creative Writer, and Small Business Owner living in Salt Lake City, Utah. Her favorite humans and biggest supporters are her husband Matt and their daughter, Evangeline. You can follow Bre's healing journey or connect with her about speaking engagements on Instagram @bre_cain, TikTok @healingmyhome, or by email at brecaindesigns@gmail.comSee more about Deserts to Mountaintops Anthologies: desertstomountaintops.comSee more from Soul Speak Press: soulspeakpress.comFind out more about Jessica Buchanan: Website

Kendall "Boo Boo" Howse, a Senior Designer, Illustrator, and Musician, discusses his design journey, which started with creating artwork for his music projects that eventually led to him freelancing full-time. He shares his passion for Dungeons & Dragons and its evolution to becoming a more inclusive and cooperative game. He emphasizes the importance of community and inclusivity in design and shares his experiences advocating for diversity and equity in the tech industry. He also encourages slow progress and reevaluation of solutions to create meaningful change.Key Takeaways:Experience cooperative storytelling and communication through Dungeons & DragonsFollow his journey from creating band merchandise to becoming a full-time freelancer and eventually joining the tech industryExplore his commitment to creating inclusive spaces and advocating for marginalized communities within the Bay Area Black Designers communityLearn about community, collaboration, allyship, and systemic change from his perspectiveReflect on the challenges and opportunities of working in the tech industry as a designer and on the need for progress and meaningful actionQuotes:"If I believe that I am to do this alone, if I believe that the best ideas available to me are already in my head, I am doomed to fail." - Kendall "Boo Boo" Howse"In alternative spaces, we have the power to set our own rules and create new realities." - Kendall "Boo Boo" Howse"Every once in a while, we need to take stock and see if there has actually been progress forward." - Kendall "Boo Boo" HowseTimestamps:(01:28) Introduction of the multi-talented Kendall "Boo Boo" Howse(02:24) Icebreaker: How playing Dungeons & Dragons impacts him as a designer(06:31) The history of his nickname "Boo Boo" and why he sought out alternative culture as a kid(10:02) Feeling isolated after the Murder of George Floyd, the transformation of his music from despair and frustration to hope and encouragement, and the self-made CEO myth(17:39) His path into design, freelancing, and how he almost lost his home(24:03) ERGs and Bay Area Black Designers: His career in tech and inclusion(26:29) The importance of allyship to get through marginalization and isolation and how to make a meaningful impact in the workplace(31:04) How to measure systemic change and the importance of knowing the differences between no progress, slow progress, and false progress(32:21) Ways to get in touch with KendallAbout The Guest:Kendall "Boo Boo" Howse is a Senior Designer, Illustrator, and Musician based in Oakland, California. With a background in DIY punk rock bands, he developed a passion for design and visual communication. He has freelanced for various clients and worked in-house at CoreOS, later acquired by Red Hat and IBM. He also actively promotes diversity and inclusion in the tech industry by helping companies form ERGs, co-chairing Bay Area Black Designers, and facilitating Frame Shift Consulting.Connect with Kendall "Boo Boo" Howse:EmailInstagramReferenced Links:Dungeons & DragonsMass ArrestZulu

Our guest this week is a long-time friend that been a Surf Industry Designer since 1998. He is an HSS alumni, State lifeguard and worked at Split while going to college at LB State. He got all his experience at Quiksilver from intern to Design Director. Eventually specializing in Board Shorts Designs for many of those years. You most likely have worn one of his designs at some point. Then relocated to Australia in 2010 to take a Senior Designer position at Billabong. He's been in Australia ever since as a RVCA Design Director for 6 years, and the last 5 years up to present day as Menswear Designer at Thrills. We welcome the super talented our buddy Mr. Steve “FONZIE“ Fontes.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In podcast episode 154, we're diving into the world of book cover design with Karen Horton, graphic designer and former Art Director at Henry Holt. Karen takes us behind the scenes of the process of book cover design, who makes key book cover related decisions, and the role of marketing budgets and author's reputation in this process. Plus, Karen shares her book recommendations! This post contains affiliate links through which I make a small commission when you make a purchase (at no cost to you!). CLICK HERE for the full episode Show Notes on the blog. Highlights The high-level book cover design process. When and why publishers reach out to designers before a book's launch proposal. The dynamics of deciding which books a designer works on. Freelance vs In-house: Factors that determine who gets to design the top titles. The lesser-known “silent auction” approach some publishers adopt. Whether book cover designers really read the whole book. Who holds the final decision about a book cover. The author's role in the decision-making process and the factors that impact how that can play out. How marketing budgets and an author's reputation influence design choices. The influence of ongoing design trends and when publishers decide to break away from them. Karen's Book Recommendations [35:58] Two OLD Books She Loves A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki | Amazon | Bookshop.org [36:11] The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón | Amazon | Bookshop.org [38:04] Two NEW Books She Loves Thicker Than Water by Kerry Washington | Amazon | Bookshop.org [39:36] We Were Once a Family by Roxanna Asgarian | Amazon | Bookshop.org [40:45] One Book She DIDN'T Love A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole | Amazon | Bookshop.org[42:46] NEW RELEASE She's Excited About The Cemetery of Untold Stories by Julia Alvarez (April 2, 2024) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [45:12] Other Books Mentioned: Unlikely Animals by Annie Hartnett [46:56] Last 5-Star Book Karen Read A Living Remedy by Nicole Chung | Amazon | Bookshop.org [47:25] Additional Books Mentioned Strange Sally Diamond by Liz Nugent [15:34] Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus [26:45] Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld [31:04] Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert [31:17] When the Stars Go Dark by Paula McLain [32:11] Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid [32:20] The Paper Palace by Miranda Cowley Heller [32:25] The Push by Ashley Audrain [32:32] The Whispers by Ashley Audrain [33:00] The Mothers by Brit Bennett [34:49] The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett [34:50] About Karen Horton Website | Instagram | X (formerly Twitter) Karen Horton is an Art Director and graphic designer with more than 15 years of experience working in the book publishing industry. She previously was the Art Director at Henry Holt and Company + Metropolitan Books. Prior to moving over to the Henry Holt imprint in 2016, she was the Senior Designer at Flatiron Books. Over the years she has worked as a freelancer and consulting Art Director for a variety of publishing clients. Additionally, Karen was a co-founder and the Editorial and Social Media Director for the startup design:related. Karen was also an Art Director on staff for a range of New York Times bestsellers at Little, Brown, and Company. Before working at Little, Brown, she managed a small team of designers as an Art Director at Oxford University Press. She first got her start in book publishing at St. Martin's Press (Macmillan Publishers). When she's not designing book covers, she spends much of her time wandering neighborhoods in Queens and researching all things design.

One of the most exciting parts of hosting this podcast is getting to speak with authors who have just written and released their first book. Of course, I want you to write and release a lot of books! But there's something very special about your first book because it represents the beginning of a wonderful journey. I'm excited to bring you this conversation with my friend David Steen, who has just released his first book, Almost Home: Setting Our Sights Toward Heaven. A typical farm boy from the South, David grew up in pursuit of the American dream. After college graduation, he staked his claim in the corporate world as an accomplished Senior Designer in Engineering, followed by an adventurous career as a Product Manager. His calling and passion to write, incubating for decades, manifested itself through personal and professional blogging, as well as lots of published articles for various magazines. David resides on a small farm in Hartford, Arkansas, where he enjoys long walks to the creek with his lovely wife and short walks through the field with his sheep. His other passions include writing, music, reading, cooking for their large family, and sipping on a cup of dark roast coffee as often as possible. In this conversation, David and I talk about the main idea of his book and what it means for authors—namely, that we need to make time for space, solitude, and nature in our creative lives. David also shares his writing process for the book as well as his marketing strategies. Most of all, I hope that if you're thinking about writing your first book, you'll be encouraged by David's journey and know that you can do it too! You can connect with David at almosthomebooks.com. * * * Today's episode is sponsored by Vellum, the go-to book formatting software for indie authors who care about creating beautiful ebooks and print books. Use the link to download Vellum for FREE.

One of the most exciting parts of hosting this podcast is getting to speak with authors who have just written and released their first book. Of course, I want you to write and release a lot of books! But there's something very special about your first book because it represents the beginning of a wonderful journey. I'm excited to bring you this conversation with my friend David Steen, who has just released his first book, Almost Home: Setting Our Sights Toward Heaven. A typical farm boy from the South, David grew up in pursuit of the American dream. After college graduation, he staked his claim in the corporate world as an accomplished Senior Designer in Engineering, followed by an adventurous career as a Product Manager. His calling and passion to write, incubating for decades, manifested itself through personal and professional blogging, as well as lots of published articles for various magazines. David resides on a small farm in Hartford, Arkansas, where he enjoys long walks to the creek with his lovely wife and short walks through the field with his sheep. His other passions include writing, music, reading, cooking for their large family, and sipping on a cup of dark roast coffee as often as possible. In this conversation, David and I talk about the main idea of his book and what it means for authors—namely, that we need to make time for space, solitude, and nature in our creative lives. David also shares his writing process for the book as well as his marketing strategies. Most of all, I hope that if you're thinking about writing your first book, you'll be encouraged by David's journey and know that you can do it too! You can connect with David at almosthomebooks.com. * * * Today's episode is sponsored by Vellum, the go-to book formatting software for indie authors who care about creating beautiful ebooks and print books. Use the link to download Vellum for FREE.

PATREON - Want to support us and have AD FREE podcasts? Then become a Webflailer HERE Welcome to Episode 56 of Webflail with Josh Jacobs. Currently, Josh is working as Senior Designer at Jasper AI but still moonlights as a Webflower on freelance projects. Josh has had over 6 years designing and building web stuff and he's a die-hard Webflower fan boy - he's even spoken at the 2021 and 2022 Webflow conferences. Josh's career has not been linear though and for anyone that has done as much as Josh has, there have been ups and downs.The failures we'll talk about today are:1. Not shifting my business alongside life changes2. (Briefly) pivoting away from Webflow design3) Not learning from past mistakesLINKS FOR JOSH

Let me start by saying I'm using a metaphor here. I haven't hunted since I was a teenager in the Midwest. I love animals, so please don't take my talk of “hunting” literally and miss the advice I'm trying to share in this article. Human beings have been acquiring food to survive for millions of years. We've used a combination of active/direct and passive/indirect methods to find the animals and plants we eat. * Actively hunting, scavenging, and gathering food in the moment. * Building traps, nets, etc,. to capture animals and recover them later. * Planting crops to harvest much later. Many modern-day humans have transitioned to a very different model of acquiring the meals we need. We work in jobs, get paid, and use that money to purchase food in grocery stores. However, oddly enough, we can still leverage the three methods of hunting, trapping, and planting to gain what we now need to survive: a job. We even use the phrase “job hunt” to describe this process, which is rather telling. Many job seekers focus almost exclusively on the hunt. They do everything necessary to hunt for a job actively (e.g., applying online and sending resumes). But they ignore the other two powerful methods of capturing and harvesting opportunities for the future. This is a mistake you don't want to make. Only hunting for a job when you desperately need one is a risky move. People often make hasty decisions when the clock is ticking. You'll be more empowered, less stressed, and more successful if you also trap potential opportunities and plant seeds that will yield an evergreen harvest of interest in you. You should always be looking for new and better opportunities, and methods 2 and 3 are much better suited for that. When I work with clients who need a new job immediately, I recommend combining all three strategies with an emphasis on 1 and 2. But when a client is still employed and seeking a better job, I prefer emphasizing 2 and 3 with a careful use of 1. 1. HuntingHumans fed themselves and their tribes by hunting and gathering, dating as far back as 2 million years ago. They actively searched for whatever they could find to survive. They couldn't passively wait around and hope food would land in their laps. Instead, they sought an immediate fulfillment of their needs. Hunting is a valuable strategy when you need a quick solution to an urgent problem. You need a job ASAP! However, I recommend a targeted approach vs. the clumsy “spray and pray” I see many job seekers using now. I've read more than one account of people applying for hundreds of jobs online and blasting their resumes to everyone they can find. Big surprise, it doesn't work. One person lamented, “I applied to a hundred jobs and didn't get a single request for an interview.”Instead, I ask my clients to be laser-focused on the job they want and the employers they find most interesting. * What is your ideal next role? * Who is your ideal next employer?* Who is your ideal next boss?You should have only 1-3 roles in mind for your next job. For example, you may ideally want a job as a Lead Designer, but you'd also accept a Senior Designer role if you were really excited about the opportunity. Be clear about the job you want and focus your sales pitch on selling yourself as the ideal candidate. If you have a dozen roles in mind, your resume and LinkedIn will be all over the place and won't appeal to hiring managers and recruiters. Focus! Similarly, you should have perhaps 3-10 employers in mind for your next job. Be picky with the hunting strategy. Create a list of ideal employers, start tracking down the potential hiring managers, and find a way to get a warm introduction. The market isn't great for job seekers right now. Employers have their pick of thousands and thousands of candidates. Stack the deck in your favor and get introduced to hiring managers and recruiters. Find your inside champion, who will help shepherd you through the interview process. This makes all the difference in the world! It certainly helped me land all the jobs I had during my tech career. Now, it's time to move on to one of my favorite ways of lighting up your network to help find you a job. 2. TrappingAbout 9,000 years ago, humans began building traps to capture prey. Instead of actively hunting, we used these more sophisticated traps and nets to serve as an extension of our capabilities. Think of it as an early creation of systems to automate food procurement. Now, instead of being limited to what you and your tribe could actively hunt during waking hours, you could deploy traps to work for you 24x7 in a more scalable way. Similarly, you can deploy “nets” to attract and secure interest in you and your capabilities 24x7 in a more scalable way than panicking and scrambling to find a job at the last minute. When you activate key helpers in your network, each expands your reach and ability to trap new opportunities. They'll help you capture things you never could on your own. But the activity is still targeted. Your friends know who you are and what you are seeking. Contrast this with people who indiscriminately toss their net to the four corners of the earth. Their net gets stretched thin and tangled up in everything that comes by while a prime catch slips past. I ask my clients to reengage and reactivate their networks, which I'll recommend to you, too. It's essential to do this from a place of honestly wanting to reconnect, since you shouldn't only reach out to people when you need them for something. You can't just contact people when you want to use them for an introduction or a job. No one likes that. Resist the urge to add, “Oh, by the way. Can you also do me a favor and introduce me to Susan, the hiring manager for an open position at the company?”Of course, during the conversation, your friend may naturally ask you, “So, what are you up to these days?”If they do, you can mention what you're doing now and what your plans are (e.g., “I'm working at company ABC. But, I'm actually considering my next move. It's time for a change.”)When you light up your network, you now have dozens of people recognizing opportunities for you, bringing your name up when someone is hiring, and keeping their eyes open for a job that seems like a good fit for what you are seeking. These “nets” are capturing and sending you jobs to pursue. Sometimes, they'll be able to make the warm introduction you need. This brings us to one of the most powerful methods, which is a gift that keeps on giving for years and years and years. 3. PlantingBesides hunting and trapping, humans also discovered the power and scale of agriculture. But farming requires more patience. Planning, investment, and work upfront to plant crops will only yield a bountiful harvest later (i.e., not tomorrow or even next week). When you plant an apple tree, for example, it can take around five years to mature. But it will then provide you with fruit for several years, thanks to that initial investment. Content creation and marketing is the last strategy I recommend for my career coaching clients and even job seekers. Planting the seeds from your excellent mind won't land you a job immediately, but it will provide examples of your knowledge, expertise, way of thinking, and point of view on things relevant to your profession. More importantly, as you create and publish hundreds of articles over the years, your harvest will yield evergreen inbound interest in you. * I've written 493 newsletters for Invincible Career. * I've published 92 episodes of my podcast. * I've written 228 articles on Medium. * I've tweeted over 18,000 times. * I've created over 170 videos.It's pretty amazing when a potential new client reaches out to me after reading an article I wrote seven years ago. I spent a couple of hours planting that “little seed” seven years ago, and it continues to bear fruit and attract people even today. When you consistently put yourself out there day after day, month after month, and year after year, your harvest may come long after you've forgotten that you planted the seeds. But this is how you create an invincible career. You want everyone to know who you are and how great you are. You want to become an opportunity magnet through trapping and—especially—planting, so you don't feel forced to scramble and hunt for your next job. Hi, I'm Larry Cornett, a Personal Coach who can work with you to optimize your career, life, or business. My mission is to help you take complete control of your work and life so you can become a more “Invincible You.” I live in Northern California near Lake Tahoe with my wife and our Great Dane. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit newsletter.invinciblecareer.com/subscribe

Art Style Academy:  https://www.laurenlesley.com/asa-sales-page-35-spots Guest Episode Application:  https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdIGrg1q59yw4c47VniYirOBpp2aoEYjA33N9o9a4eWgYR_tw/viewform?usp=pp_url   Transcript: Hey, how are you?  I basically disappeared from this podcast for the past 2 years and I owe you an explanation!   If this is your first time listening, hey, I'm Lauren of Lauren Lesley Studio.  I'm an artist and textile designer, and I started The Design Tribe podcast back in 2019 as a way to add some transparency to someone who was just getting started in surface pattern design and the whole licensing world.   In this episode, I'm going to spill the tea on what it's REALLY like being a full-time artist…. Full disclosure:  it's not exactly how I thought it would be.   But first, let me explain where I've been and what the plan is for the Design Tribe podcast moving forward!   Back in the Fall of 2021, I decided to go back to an in-house job and I found out I was pregnant all in the same month!    On top of that, my husband and I decided to move houses to have a more suitable neighborhood for our baby to grow up in.  The idea of moving after our daughter was born really stressed me out so we were on an intense timeline trying to find the right place.   The housing market was incredibly competitive when we were moving and it basically took up 150% of my time.   We literally closed on our old house one week before my daughter was born! Then, she came into the world and my full attention was on her.   So, I'm very sorry that I've been gone for so long.  That was never exactly the plan, but you know, sometimes life gets in the way of creative pursuits.   So, what is the plan for the Design Tribe podcast moving forward?   During this season of life, I have to be realistic about the fact that I just don't really have time to conduct a lot of interviews myself.   But, that doesn't mean I won't in the future.  I personally hate the idea of letting this podcast die just because of my own time constraints.   So, I started thinking outside the box and was wondering what WOULD be feasible for the podcast moving forward.   Sometimes, as artists and designers, we simply don't have time to create ALLLL of the content all by ourselves.  It's probably been a year since I've even created an Instagram post for my actual feed..  I am way more active in my Stories though!   But, the point is…. I started thinking what if The Design Tribe lived up to its name and became more of a collective effort?  Wouldn't it be great to be able to hear from different voices and different artists who have different experiences?   SO!  I'm opening up the podcast to publish more guest episodes.   That means, if you are an artist or designer who has conducted your own interviews… either in podcast format or on YouTube… and you'd like to repurpose your episodes for further reach, please get in touch with me!   Especially, if you find yourself unable to keep up with a demanding weekly interview schedule on your own podcast… I'd love to collaborate with you!    Wouldn't it be great to slow down and put our content efforts together… and get a bigger bang for your buck?   Imagine if you could relax the pace and schedule out one interview per month.  The Design Tribe is the perfect place to contribute those podcast episodes and reach more people.   If this sounds interesting to you, please look in the show notes for an application.       OKAY, so now let's get into the good stuff.   Why the heck did I return to an In-House job and what was it REALLY like being a Full-Time Artist?   So, I dreamed about being a full-time artist for as long as I can remember.  Back in college, I was an oil painter so back then I envisioned doing something more along the lines of Fine Art.   But upon graduating, I realized I needed a JOB and a stable income to pay the bills.   So, I got my first job in Graphic Design at a T-shirt company.  While I loved some of the people I worked with, I still longed for something more creative.   That's when I discovered Textile Design.  I ended up pivoting to a Textile Design job and have honestly really loved working as a Textile Designer.  It's 10X more fulfilling than Graphic Design ever was, for me.   However, at my first Textile Design job I worked with a lot of licensed artists.  This is where I first got an education about licensing.  And I started thinking, huh… how do I get onto the OTHER side of this licensing thing?   I saw that these artists had their own style, their own brand, and their own name on their designs.  They got to keep the copyright and license their work across multiple products.  And what was really cool is that they were totally independent business owners!   That sounded like something I really wanted to do.   Long story short, I went independent and started my own design business back in 2019.  I worked really hard to develop my own art style, I exhibited at Blueprint Trade Show, and I landed my first licensing deal.   Things were starting to happen!   But, the reality with licensing is that it takes a LONG TIME to get paid.  I kinda already knew this and thought, “Okay… if I get can multiple deals throughout the year then it will start to build up… and I can probably replace my old salary by the end of the year.” And friend, let me just tell you that is NOT what happened.   I quickly realized how difficult the licensing world is in terms of making a full-time income.  I even signed with an agent, but it didn't prove to be very fruitful.  I wasn't getting a lot of deals through my agent and I became really frustrated since I had no control over the process, and when I did get a deal, I had to split my income basically 50%.   I thought that the agent was going to get me enough deals to make their cut worth it, but that's not what actually happened.   Now, I realize that some artists are able to build 6, or even 7, figure businesses from licensing, but the truth is that licensing income can fluctuate A LOT!   I learned that most artists are supplementing their licensing income with multiple streams of income, and I can guarantee that the majority of those 6, or 7, figure art businesses are doing the same.   I made a lot of friends in the surface pattern world, and I'm so grateful for their transparency and kindness, and willingness to talk to me.   Most artists supplement their income either with freelance work, a YouTube channel, teaching, coaching, selling books, or some other means of reliable income.   This is just the reality of licensing for 99% of artists!   I basically tried all of the things, which took a LOT of time.  Sometimes, I felt like a chicken with its head cut off running around trying to make this independent artist thing work.   I always felt spread too thin, and maybe if I had concentrated on only 1or 2 alternate streams of income, I could have had more success earlier on.   But the truth is, without some experimentation you just don't really know what you enjoy doing or what's going to work for you.   I realized that I absolutely hated doing freelance work, but I really enjoyed making YouTube videos and teaching classes.   The funny thing is… I always thought I would love freelance work!  I fantasized about working from home, making my own schedule, being able to travel and take my laptop on the go, and choosing the clients I worked with.   And hey, some designers do really love working with their freelance clients!  I think if you can nail down really good clients who repeatedly come back to you with a reliable stream of work, it can be a lot better.   I had so many people contact me who gave me a design brief, said they wanted to hire me, and then… crickets.  They would ghost me completely.   For the freelance gigs I did have, I felt nickel and dime-d to the point where I dreaded working on their projects.   I know, I know.  Lauren, you need to charge more.   I really feel like I tried to charge an appropriate amount, but I felt resentful that so many people wasted so much of my time.  A lot of that time spent emailing and sending quotes and, of course, I never got paid for that time.   I understand that you need to charge more to account for this if you really want to make it as a freelance designer, but that just wasn't the reality I was experiencing.    I kept thinking that all I ever really wanted to do was license my artwork and see my name on my own art.  I wanted to see it exist out in the world.   Of course, I wanted to earn a living from it, but that could take a lot of years of build up and I didn't have that much time to spend on my portfolio alone.    I kept thinking that if I need to do THIS MUCH WORK to supplement my licensing, wouldn't it just be easier to supplement it with an in-house job?   You see, a lot of the ways artists supplement their income ALSO take a long time to create.  It can take at least a year to write a book or create a class.  With teaching online, there's all of the planning, writing, filming, editing, uploading, and designing the pages.  Then after that, there's all of the MARKETING you have to do to make sure people know about your class.   And yes, I enjoyed creating classes (and plan on doing more in the future!)… but I also felt like it was taking a lot of time away from actually creating art.  Which is WHY I wanted to be a full-time artist in the first place!   I spent so much time and energy trying to supplement my income that I was probably only spending about 10% of my time actually making art.   There were definitely a lot of things I enjoyed while being a full-time artist, but ultimately, I was really stressed out about not being able to replace my old salary from my Textile Design job.   So, lo and behold, a new position opened up at my old company for a Senior Designer.  I was extremely interested in the category and re-joined!  And in the same month, found out I was pregnant, haha.   So, needless to say, the past 2 years have been a whirlwind.   And, I don't say any of this to complain or kill your dreams.  I think it's important to discuss the reality around licensing, because it's easy to get the impression that it's going to be this amazing passive income stream that will make you rich.   All that being said, licensing is still my favorite thing to do!  It's a little odd, because the money isn't amazing, but it's so rewarding to see your own prints on products and to know that you keep the copyright.  At this point, it feels like a fun bonus every time I get a licensing check in the mail!   My in-house job is also rewarding!  Next year, I will see my textile designs on products in Target, Home Goods, and Walmart.  This is very exciting and extremely satisfying!  I will be able to walk through the stores and say, “Hey, I did that!”   I think sometimes the narrative out there is that working an in-house job means you are some kind of failure, but I want to reject that.  The fact that big box stores are buying my designs from my in-house job means I'm a pretty good designer!   And sure, I admit I wish my name was going to be on the products, but it won't be, and that's perfectly okay.  I have the internal satisfaction of knowing my designs are selling out in the world, and honestly, that's enough.   I also find that I can be more creative when I'm more relaxed and not so stressed about money.  Having a reliable paycheck every month and a 401K allows me to pay my bills and feel financially secure.  When I can be more relaxed about money, I can allow myself to play, experiment, and build up my portfolio without an insane amount of pressure.   I'm actually in a better place to work on my licensing portfolio, because I'm not scrambling for new freelance jobs, replying to art directors who are going to ghost me, or haggling my prices.   With a reliable income, I'm also able to take more courses and level up my business needs.   I also feel good about being able to provide for my daughter!    I know it shouldn't be about this, but when I worked independently I realized a lot of my self-worth was tied to the amount of income I was able to bring in.   Mental health was a real struggle, because I felt like if my art wasn't raking in the dollars then it was no good.  And that's simply not true!   I definitely felt like I grew a TON by having the experience of being an independent artist.  I certainly learned way faster about the surface pattern industry by being immersed in it than I would have otherwise.  I made a ton of friends and was bolder about reaching out to other designers… probably because I was spending most of my days alone.   I wouldn't trade the experience at all!    But, at least for now, I feel a lot more stable and relaxed by working an in-house job as a Senior Textile Designer.    I say all of this so that you don't feel bad if you are still working an in-house job as well.  Being a full-time artist isn't everything it's cracked up to be!   Unless you have a partner to support you, or about 5 years worth of savings, or some fantastic freelance contacts…   I would actually recommend keeping your side hustle as your side hustle!  At least until your side hustle is earning enough to support you and you feel really secure making that leap to going independent.     So, what are some of the side hustles you should work on in the meantime?   If you want to be independent one day, I'd first recommend working on developing your art style.  I teach an entire program on developing your Art Style, and it's the same process that worked for me when I exhibited at my first trade show.   I SO wish I'd been able to take a course like this before I made the jump to being a full-time artist.  I would have been able to hit the ground running.   The course is called Art Style Academy and it uses my Triad Method of 3 stages to fully develop your own art style.   Check out the link in the show notes if you're interested .. or you can always visit my website to find out more at LaurenLesley.com… and Lesley is spelled with an E-Y.     Thanks so much for listening!  I'll hopefully be back soon with some guest episodes.  Bye!                                            

Explore the realm of user experience with an in-depth conversation about creating user-friendly platforms, inspired by challenges faced by companies like Salesforce. Our guest, a senior product designer, shares insights into optimizing user interfaces, improving intuitiveness, and simplifying complex designs. Tune in to discover practical tips for crafting engaging and effective digital experiences, as well as uncover the behind-the-scenes strategies that drive design decisions. Whether it's addressing password suggestions or storage management, this episode offers valuable advice from a seasoned expert on how to enhance user satisfaction and usability in the digital age.LinkedIn: https://Brittanybarr | IG: @msbrittanybarr  Let us know what questions you want us to ask our future tech guests and what kind of guests we should interview.Got any questions? Click Here To Check Out ALL Recommended Bootcamps, Discounts & FAQshttps://direct.me/imjustcyrusHere are the 2 bootcamps we most recommend! 1. Careerist (the bootcamp I chose) These courses are 4 weeks long, virtual and are 8pm - 10:30pm Sun- Thur (Eastern). They record their classes In case you miss any. They are not partnered with tech companies, but they fix your resume & LinkedIn to industry standards and they assist you with finding jobs to apply to - in order to help set you up on interviews. They also do interview coaching & provide really good interview cheat sheets. They're about $4k, but I have a $300 discount link that you use with their sales too! The discount Is attached to the link automatically.Careerist Discount Link: https://crst.co/cyrus2. CourseCareers is self paced. You can finish it in 3 weeks or 3 months. They offer tech sales roles only & are partnered with tech companies, so they're usually able to get you a tech career quickly or a paid internship (up to $21/hr) while you wait to get hired on. They only offer courses for people in North America. They're just $449 with my discount code that gives you $50 off! Discount Code: Cyrus50CourseCareers Website Here

Despite the success of selling over one million boxes of macaroni and cheese, Kraft wanted to position their signature pasta dish as a timeless comfort food for all people while creating a more contemporary look. In this episode, we catch up with Terry Sieting, Senior Designer at JKR to get the inside scoop on the Kraft Mac and Cheese 2022 packaging and brand identity refresh. To see the change of brand for yourself, visit achangeofbrand.com or follow us on Instagram @changeofbrand.Produced by Matchstic (matchstic.com / @matchstichouse), hosted by Blake Howard (@blakehoward), co-hosted by Tracy Clark, edited and scored by Landon Oseitutu, fact-checked by Jill Jeffries, written in part and produced by Brianna Belcher, and artwork by Rachel Jackson. 

The new season of Design Together is geared toward designers in the early stages of their careers. The topics covered include the shift from academic life to the workforce and the various challenges and triumphs accompanying this transition. We've coined this season "Starting Out." Our first guest is Allie Osipov, a Senior Designer from WebMechanix. Graduating in the throes of the pandemic meant unique challenges for Allie's job hunt after school. In this episode, we hear about Allie's experience searching for a good career fit, how she balances work and play, and why you should never be afraid to ask questions in the professional world.

Building your own marketing business can be hard and lonely — but it doesn't have to be. When you become a StoryBrand Certified Guide, you'll join a like-minded community of marketers from all over the world. Not only will you get training on the StoryBrand marketing framework and licensing to use it with clients, you'll get ongoing support and training from our team and fellow Guides. The next StoryBrand Certification Training happening in July and includes…     Keynotes from Donald Miller, Dr. J.J. Peterson, and Director of Certification Program, Macy Robison Collaboration and networking with Guides from across the country Hands-on training using StoryBrand's messaging and business growth frameworks   Spots to fill up quickly, so apply now before May 19 at StoryBrand.com/Guide.   --   Adding visual media to your marketing strategy can feel daunting. If you do it yourself, how can you make photos and videos look professional? Is it better to hire someone? And if you're a visual media professional, how can you incorporate the StoryBrand philosophy into your work? Whether you're a business owner, a videographer, or a photographer, learning how to tell stories with visual media is key to growing your business in 2023.   In today's episode, J.J. and April talk with Senior Designer, Tessa Voccola and Videographer, Zach Camp from RVRB, a StoryBrand Certified Agency. Tessa and Zach give 8 tips for shooting great videos and photos, whether you're using professional equipment or the iPhone in your pocket. Tune in now to learn how you can use the StoryBrand framework in your visual media and get your message out to more people!   Contact StoryBrand Certified Agency RVRB directly at MarketingMadeSimple.com/RVRB.    --   HELP US DELIVER EVEN MORE VALUE EACH WEEK BY COMPLETING OUR HERO MAKER SURVEY: StoryBrand.com/Survey   HIRE A STORYBRAND CERTIFIED GUIDE TO HELP CREATE THE MARKETING AND MESSAGING YOUR BUSINESS NEEDS TO GROW: MarketingMadeSimple.com   START CLARIFYING YOUR MARKETING NOW AND CREATE YOUR FREE BRANDSCRIPT: Storybrand.com/sb7   STORYBRAND INSTAGRAM: instagram.com/StoryBrand

MotorTrend's Ed Loh & Jonny Lieberman chat with Tesla Senior Designer - Franz von Holzhausen! Franz tells us about his path to Tesla, designer challenges, the prototype reveal in 2009, MotorTrend giving the Model S "Car of the Year" in 2013, his eureka moment, over-the-air updates, the genesis of the Cybertruck, building toward a sustainable future, towing & cold weather issues, the supercharging network, media pushback & disinformation, the semi-truck, and much more!

My interview with David Milne, Senior Designer of Company of Heroes 3 for Relic Entertainment.Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/the-saga-of-world-war-2-a-casus-belli-project7137/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy