Design To Be Conversation

In today’s episode, I speak with Bonnie Bakhtiari. Bonnie is a brand designer and strategist for creative entrepreneurs, as well as a coach for fellow graphic, brand, and web designers. She specializes in crafting high converting, strategic brands for her custom design clients. Bonnie currently teaches fellow designers how to generate consistent income and connect with their ideal clients through the Brand Strategy School, her signature program for designers.

We dive into learning how you can connect with your ideal clients from a place of ease and intention, how you can turn hustling into building a meaningful relationship with your clients through shared values that are aligned with your client goals, and steps to design effective solutions by understanding your client’s pain points through the lens of self-awareness and collaboration.

In today’s episode, I speak with May-Li Khoe. May-Li is an interdisciplinary, quatricultural, twice-immigrant artist-researcher-designer-inventor who combines invention with cultural practices, bright colors, faces-on-things, and glitter. She brings over 20 years of experience in design, including serving as VP of Design at Khan Academy, co-founding two companies (Scribble Together and Sprout, formerly MakeSpace), and recently creating a music and dance toy-game for the new Playdate game platform. Before that, she worked on new technologies at Apple and other tech organizations ranging from IBM Research, the MIT Media Lab, and Dynamicland, to the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Universal Music Group, and Oakland Museum of California. She also DJs, dances, writes, makes art, speaks, teaches, plays music, and cultivates joyful ways to subvert the status quo.

We dive into what it means to manage and lead by understanding the emotions that drive people’s behaviors in an organization, the power and responsibility of being a manager versus influencing as an individual contributor, ways to communicate your true authentic voice as a new manager, and how EQ can help you manage more humanely and inclusively in the future. Check out links mentioned in the episode: Catt Small’s article, Should you become a design manager and Kat Vellos’s tweet on the Fast Co. article, The DEI disconnect between tech leaders and their teams. 

In today’s episode, I speak with Priya Anant. Priya is a Senior Director at Google where she has led user-facing teams in fighting spam, abuse and fraud to deliver safe and delightful user experiences.  She leads a multi-disciplinary UX team focused on scaling UX and user-centric product development across Search, Assistant, Shopping, Travel, Maps and Payments. Her expertise is in developing end-to-end connected and inclusive consumer experiences by harnessing the power of design systems, tools and analytics. Prior to Google, Priya spent 10 years in management consulting at Bain where she advised healthcare, technology and consumer goods companies on global growth strategies and operations improvement.

We dive into understanding the role of vulnerability in cultivating trusting relationships, how valuing your authentic self allows you to take ownership of your feelings, and how embracing curiosity and a growth mindset can help you overcome imposter syndrome.  

In today’s episode, I speak with Jon Delman. Jon is a Director of Product Design at Twitter in San Francisco. He works within the design and research team focused on internal tools and product solutions. Jon offers tactical advice for young designers on how to approach learning by embracing the courage to fail through his article, Let it be a lesson to you, on Medium. He has over 20 years of professional design experience in both agency and in-house environments, working with brands such as Google, Apple, Splunk, and Samsung. Previously, he worked as Executive Creative Director at ueno, Group Creative Director at Beyond, and a Creative Director at Huge.  

We dive into how to develop the courage to fail while also how to learn through failures to design your success, how you can weave more kindness and curiosity into your work through joyful relationships with others and yourself, as well as actionable ways to pursue greater learning by acknowledging when you fail and how to embrace your most authentic self.    

In today’s episode, I speak with Rebecca Brooker. Rebecca is a queer woman of color born in Trinidad + Tobago and currently based in Buenos Aires. She is the co-founder of Queer Design Club, the global online community for LGBTQ+ designers where she spearheads the Queer Design Count which is the first and only survey of LGBTQ+ people in design. She’s an art director at Ghost Note Agency and designs across branding, print, and digital.

We dive into learning and understanding the challenges of queer designers in the industry, how data and research can inform inclusive and equity driven design, what community efforts can foster social awareness and collaboration among LGBTQ+ designers, and tactical ways to spark authentic conversations around inclusivity and creating safe spaces for all.

In today’s episode, I speak with Wendy Johansson. Wendy is the Head of UX Apprentice Program at Amazon. She is a global product experience leader and entrepreneur focused on the intersection of product and user experience to scale high-performing global teams. She started and built her career as a UX leader at successful early-stage startups, co-founded Wizeline, a global product development company, and served as Global VP of Experience at Publicis Sapient. Wendy champions women and people of color in tech, and volunteers with organizations for the humane treatment of animals.

We dive into what it means to lead in tech and design as a woman and person of color, how identity plays a role in being a leader, and how intentional leadership can drive cross-functional influence through curiosity, collaboration, and communication.

In today’s episode, I speak with Jonathan Shariat. Jonathan is the co-author of Tragic Design published by O'Reilly. He co-hosts the Design Review podcast, and is currently an Interaction Designer and Accessibility Program Lead at Google.

We dive into the importance of communication for designers to convey clarity and solve problems, what communication skills he’s learned from parenting books, tactical ways to build good communication skills by actively listening and asking good questions to get behind the why, and how EQ can lead you to become a more effective communicator.

In today’s episode, I speak with Brad Frost. Brad is a web designer, speaker, writer, and consultant based in Pittsburgh. He is the author of the book Atomic Design, which introduces a methodology to create and maintain effective design systems. Brad co-hosts the Style Guides Podcast and has helped create several tools and resources for web designers.

We dive into navigating the challenges designers experience when coping with personal crisis and burnout, tactical ways to protect your well-being by cultivating self-awareness  and reaching out for support, and why investing in your mental health is key to becoming a more effective and empowered designer.

In today’s episode, I speak with Hana Schank. Hana is the Co-Director of Strategy for Public Interest Technology at New America where she works to develop the public interest technology field via research, storytelling, and hands-on projects. She is the co-author of Power to the Public: The Promise of Public Interest Technology. In the private sector, Hana founded and ran CollectiveUX, a user experience consultancy that works with startups, Fortune 500 companies, and governmental organizations to research and design human-centered products.

We dive into the importance of developing high EQ in the area of public interest technology to solve various human issues, the value of practicing empathy as it relates to individual stories and designing successful user journeys, and how emotional intelligence can serve as a guidepost to cultivate a meaningful and impactful career.

In today’s episode, I speak with Felix Lee. Felix is the Co-Founder and CEO at ADPList on a mission to democratize mentorships for all. He is a designer, engineer, and tech entrepreneur who believes in constantly reinventing the way we experience the world and beyond through purposeful design. Previously, Felix co-founded Packdat and has worked with global startups from Y Combinator, Sequoia, and more, raising over $50 million from an early stage.

We dive deeper into how the role of design can bring people together to create solutions for global community impact, how data-driven design can bring user and business success by understanding metrics and growth numbers, and how EQ can help elevate the ability to design for startups and scale impact to solve problems and build better interactions around the world.