Find a transcript and more show notes on our Substack: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/hiroki-asai
Airbnb and Apple have a few things in common: They’re both design-centric companies, they sell products through best-in-class marketing, and they’ve achieved incredible success by focusing on the customer. There’s one more thing they have in common—Hiroki Asai who currently leads marketing at Airbnb and formerly led marketing at Apple during their most historic product launches.
We spoke with Hiroki about his time at Apple and the key elements of their marketing playbook, as well as how he reinterpreted Apple’s values in Airbnb’s culture. We also spoke about the importance of dogfooding, or as John Maeda calls it, “wine tasting,” your own products. And we learn how Airbnb shifted away from traditional product managers, and how that affected their marketing and design processes.
Bio
Hiroki Asai oversees all of Airbnb’s marketing efforts, as well as Airbnb's in-house creative teams. Hiroki is responsible for maintaining Airbnb's strong global brand and sharing the story of our millions of hosts who offer unique homes and experiences to guests around the world.
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Design Better co-hosts Eli Woolery and Aarron Walter explore the intersection of design, technology, and the creative process through conversations with inspiring guests across many creative fields. Whether you’re design curious or a design pro, Design Better is guaranteed to inspire and inform. Episodes are released semi-weekly. Vanity Fair calls Design Better, “sharp, to the point, and full of incredibly valuable information for anyone looking to better understand how to build a more innovative world.”

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Get access to the full episode, show notes, transcript and more on our Substack: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/pablo-stanley
Pablo Stanley’s creativity seemingly knows no bounds. Constant doodling is a key to his creative process, and has spawned countless projects including web comics like The Design Team and Stanley and Rupert, an illustration generation platform called Blush, and most recently Bueno, a platform that lets people build virtual worlds. Pablo makes us all feel like slackers!
We spoke with Pablo about his childhood in Mexico and how it influences his creativity, the wide array of creative projects he’s working on, and the importance of persistence and hustle when you’re earning a creative living independently.
Bio
Pablo Stanley is a Co-founder at Musho—AI Designer, Blush, and Lummi—tools to unlock people's creativity. He’s also working on Bueno, and previously made Robotos, Humankind, Transhumans, Humaaans, Open Peeps, etc . Previously he was was a Lead at InVision, a Staff Designer at Lyft, and co-founder of Carbon Health. He gives design workshops and shares design tutorials on YouTube. He also writes a comic- The Design Team.
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This is a premium episode on Design Better (learn more in the announcement here). We’ll be releasing two premium episodes per month, along with two free episodes for everyone. Premium subscribers also get access to our monthly AMAs with former guests, ad-free episodes, and our new enhanced newsletter The Brief that compiles salient insights, quotes, readings, and creative processes uncovered in the show. 
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Pablo Stanley: A creative force of nature on the importance persistence and hustle

Find full show notes, transcript, and more on our Substack: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/tasha-golden
As designers and creatives, we often find our work to be meaningful and fulfilling. But creativity can also come at a price. There can be a danger of burning out when we pursue creativity with passion, and our guest today, Tasha Golden, has experienced this herself. She lost her music career as a touring songwriter due to severe burnout and depression, and now researches well-being, how it’s affected by creativity, and how to use this knowledge to drive real change.
We speak with Tasha about her work on Project Uncaged, a trauma-informed creative writing program for incarcerated girls, as well as the The Arts on Prescription program: a model of care that’s gaining traction in the US—in which health- and social care providers can refer patients to community arts, culture, and nature experiences to support their health.
We also also discuss how creatives can better support mental health—for themselves and others.
Bio
Learn more about Tasha here on her site.
Tasha Golden, PhD is a singer/songwriter turned public health scientist, and a leading expert in Creativity and Wellbeing. Holding a PhD in Public Health, Dr. Golden has published extensively on the impacts of creativity, aesthetics, and the arts on health and well-being. She leads research at the International Arts + Mind Lab at Johns Hopkins University, serves as adjunct faculty for the University of Florida’s Center for Arts in Medicine, and is lead author of “Arts on Prescription: A Field Guide for US Communities.” [Find Tasha's full bio, and ways to connect with her, here: https://www.tashagolden.com/designbetter]
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This ad-supported episode is available to everyone. If you’d like to hear it ad-free, upgrade to our premium subscription, where you’ll get an additional 2 ad-free episodes per month (4 total). Premium subscribers also get access to our monthly AMAs with former guests, ad-free episodes, and our new enhanced newsletter The Brief that compiles salient insights, quotes, readings, and creative processes uncovered in the show. 
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Tasha Golden: Avoiding burnout while pursuing creativity with passion

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We’ve admired Jonathan Adler’s work for a long time. Though he started his career as a potter, today he designs sumptuous furnishings and interiors that inject energy and joy into everyday life. His work is decadent but not frumpy and always delivered with a winking sense of humor. If anyone truly knows how to bring creativity into all aspects of life, it’s Jonathan Adler.
We speak with Jonathan about why every creative person needs a naysayer to rebel against, how he surrounds himself with things that make him happy, and how he balances the tension between creating objects that have a lot of color and contrast, while making sure everything works together.
By the way, Eli’s wife Courtney has listened to many (though not all!) of our episodes, and this one happens to be her favorite so far—so you’re in for a treat. 
Brace yourself for some adult language. 

Jonathan Adler: Famed potter and designer on bringing creativity into all aspects of life

Tldr; We’re transitioning to weekly episode releases, publishing an enhanced newsletter, and simplifying our premium subscription which will now be on Substack. Read the details below …
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For years, we’ve been on a semi-weekly cadence for new episodes, but this schedule is proving too limiting for the amount of interviews we’re producing. Starting today, we’re shifting to a weekly release schedule for our premium subscribers who will receive a new episode every Tuesday morning. 
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Find the transcript, full show notes, and more on our Substack: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/brian-tyler
Our conversation today takes us further into the creative process across different mediums.
If you’re a fan of Yellowstone, Crazy Rich Asians, Iron Man 3, or the recent Mario Brothers movie, then chances are good that one of the soundtrack clips in the trailer below is familiar to you. And today on Design Better we speak with the person behind them all: Emmy-award nominated composer Brian Tyler.
We talk to Brian about his childhood influences, growing up in an artistic family, and how he finds the starting threads of a score.
Bio
Brian Tyler is a multiple BAFTA and Emmy Award nominee, platinum-selling recording artist, and has been a composer and conductor on over 100 feature films. Tyler’s scoring credits include Joss Whedon's Avengers: Age of Ultron, James Wan’s Furious 7 and F. Gary Gray’s Fate of the Furious as well as others in the Fast and the Furious franchise, Shane Black’s Iron Man 3, Alan Taylor’s Thor: The Dark World, Jon Chu’s Crazy Rich Asians, for which he was voted to the 2019 Oscar shortlist for Best Original Score.
Brian also tours as a successful electronic artist and producer, playing major festivals such as EDC and Hardfest, and he recently launched "Are We Dreaming", a completely immersive audio-visual experience created by Tyler himself, which debuted in October 2021 on the 400-foot Main Stage at Lost Lands Music Festival; an epic two-hour midnight performance for a crowd of 30,000 people. 
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Visiting the links below is one of the best ways to support our show:
Methodical Coffee: Roasted, blended, brewed, served and perfected by verified coffee nerds 

Bonus: Hiroki Asai, Global Head of Marketing at Airbnb

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