Design is Everywhere

How do designers craft experiences that are immersive and impactful? In this episode, Sam is joined by David Schwarz, the Founding Partner of HUSH to learn how design choices are considered when crafting spatial experiences. David explains how he discovered design as a career option and the shift to founding his own company. Later on in the show, they are joined by Nikolai Cornell, the Creative Director and Senior Design Manager of Brand Experience at Uber, to learn how the teams at Uber create meaningful spatial experiences for their employees and customers. Together, they chat about their collaboration process for designing Uber’s Mission Bay HQ.

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Designing Immersive Experiences

How do designers craft robots to make life easier and better for humans? In this episode, Sam is joined by Betsy Goodrich, the Vice President of Design and Co-founder at Manta to chat about the design of complex robots that help people. Betsy shares how she founded Manta, her product design process, and how designers test out scenarios for robot design. Later on in the show, they are joined by Rick Hoobler, the Senior Director of Design at iRobot. Rick shares his background and what led him to robot design. Together, they discuss their various robot design projects, the way robots can help make cleaning better and easier, and they each share their favorite robots portrayed in the media.    

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Making Your Home Smarter: Robot Design for Humans 

Every teacher is a curriculum designer, creating experiences for people to understand and learn. In this episode, we explore curriculum design with an important lens: equity. In this episode, we explore curriculum design with an important lens: equity. Successful curriculum connects with kids of different backgrounds and learning styles, and contains content beyond a white-centric history and approach. We discuss with Design Museum Everywhere’s very own Director of Learning and Interpretation, Diana Navarrete-Rackauckas, and Dr. Aaliyah Samuel, who at the time of the recording was the Executive Vice President of Government Affairs and Partnerships at NWEA. Now, Dr. Aaliyah Samuel is the Deputy Assistant Secretary for State and Local Engagement at the U.S. Department of Education. The conversation also explores strategies for parents who were transformed into teachers almost overnight because of COVID-19. It’s all connected because our kids are growing up and learning in the context of a global pandemic — their learning experience has dramatically changed — and during a growing, global protest movement against police brutality against Black Americans. Our guests provide insights on how we can meet this unique moment for our kids and our communities. Plus we have our weekly dose of good design.

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From the Archive: Infusing Equity in K-12 Curriculum Design, In the Classroom & At Home

How does design influence the restaurant experience? In this episode, Sam chats with Greg Bleier, the Founding Principal of Studio UNLTD, an award-winning design firm whose work includes restaurants like Bavel, Otium, and Bestia. Greg walks through design choices that enhance the restaurant experience and how he and his team crafted the look of Bestia and Bavel. Later on in the show, they are joined by Chef Sang Yoon who is the Chef and Proprietor of Father’s Office, Lukshon restaurant, and the Chef and Partner of Two Birds/One Stone in St. Helena, California. Together, they dive into the importance of practical and functional design in restaurant spaces and how they are collaborating on a new project.

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Your Table is Ready: Designing the Restaurant Experience 

How are designers rethinking the to-go cup? In this episode, Sam learns more about the NextGen Consortium to address the world’s single-use food packaging waste. In 2018, Closed Loop Partners launched the NextGen Consortium to bring together leading brands, industry experts, and innovators. Sam chats with Kate Daly, the Managing Director for the Center of Circular Economy at Closed Loop Partners. Kate explains what a circular economy is and how the Consortium gleaned consumer insights for better designs. Later on, in the show, they are joined by Chris Krohn, who is a Portfolio Lead at IDEO, a global design company, which is running and designing the pilots in the San Francisco bay area on behalf of the NextGen Consortium. Chris explains the process of redesigning the reusable to-go cups and the concepts that came out of the NextGen Consortium. 

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The To-Go Cup for A Better, More Sustainable World

In the first of our monthly Design is Everywhere live shows, Sam Aquillano learns how designers can be agents of change through their work. He is joined by Yvette Perullo, Co-Author of Renourish: Sustainable Graphic Design in Practice, and Co-Founder and Partner at Re-nourish, a nonprofit that works with designers to understand and advocate for design decisions that center people and the environment. Later on in the show, they are joined by Jessie McGuire, Managing Director at brand design studio, ThoughtMatter. Together they discuss her experience designing for socially progressive causes while spearheading creative projects and their advice for designers who want to do similar work. And they take questions from the live audience.

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Launching a Movement: Graphic Design for Social Change, Live Show

How can empathy be used as a tool for designers? In this episode, Sam is joined by Renae Geraci, who currently leads the Research & Operations team for Autodesk’s Architecture, Engineering & Construction Design Group to learn how research builds understanding of user’s needs. Renae talks about what led her to research and how user research is used. Later on in the show, they are joined by Jen Shaffer, the Director of User Experience at Optum. Jen wrote an article for our magazine called “UnitedHealth Group and Optum Emphasize the Care in Healthcare". Together, they chat about how designers use empathy as a tool in design and creating user personas. Jen shares more details behind her article and the surprises of her findings.

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Research-Fueled Design Insights

What is the power of story? In this episode, Sam is joined by Jon Campbell, Head of Innovation Capability at EPAM Continuum, to learn about the value of storytelling in design. They chat about how designers convey stories to bring impactful designs and how storytelling is used in the prototyping phase. Later on in the show, they are joined by Debbie Millman, designer, author, educator, and the host of Design Matters. Debbie shares her earliest interview experiences and how her process has changed over the years. Together, they discuss how podcasting has evolved and why design matters to them.

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The Power of Story

What is the criteria for good design? In this episode, Sam chats with Karen Korellis Reuther, a former creative executive at corporations like Nike and Reebok and a 2021 Harvard Advanced Leadership Initiative Fellow to learn how design informs brand identity and how she characterizes good design. We learn more about Karen’s career leading creative teams and thinking about design in new ways. Later on in the show, they are joined by Ralph Wiegmann, the CEO of iF International Forum Design, the organization behind the prestigious iF Design Awards, to discover how design is judged. Ralph shares his practices, criteria, and the way the design field has changed over the span of his career. Together, they chat about the iF judging process and why design matters.  

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What Makes Design “Good”?

How can futures thinking be used as a tool to change today? In this episode, Sam chats with Nedret Sahin, a Senior Experience Designer at Mad*Pow, on the way that some human problems can be addressed by design thinking. They are joined by Liz Possee Corthell, an Experience Strategist at Mad*Pow, to discuss futures thinking and how it can prevent burnout. Earlier in the pandemic, Nedret and Liz were faced with the question, “how do you safely bring people back into their offices?” What they uncovered were the tools to build personal resilience while working remotely. Together, they chat about the use of mental models, equity in design and the way burnout manifests. 

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Using Futures Thinking to Prevent Burnout