Design To Be Conversation

In today’s episode, I speak with Pim Schachtschabel. Pim is the former Co-Founder and Design Director of the world-renowned Sherlocked, an experience design company in Amsterdam. He uses his formal training in architecture and design thinking as a backbone to enhance our human experience. During the pandemic, he went on a journey to research, experience and discover how we can train our muscle of curiosity.  Pim is on a mission to bring more magic into the design world and currently wears the hat of Experience Architect.  

We dive into the world of design filled with curiosity, how being curious about curiosity can fuel more creativity and innovation, the principles and practices you can integrate into your daily life to stay curious, and practical ways on how you can grow your curiosity as a designer that can lead to a path of learning filled with meaning and inspiration.

In today’s episode, I speak with Sana Rao.  Sana is the VP of Product and Design at Peanut, a social network for connecting women.  Previously, she has worked at Deliveroo and Twitter leading design, content and research.  Sana has built a career challenging the status quo and cultivating inclusive communities through the power of connectivity.  She is a poet and editor at Found Poems, a curated newsletter for poetry.

We dive deeper into the lens of imposter syndrome and how it relates to perfectionism and limiting beliefs, how to navigate self-doubt as you move into a new role, the importance of work values as you grow in your career, as well as imposter syndrome as it relates to minorities and people of color. 

In today’s episode, I speak with Gabe Valdivia. Gabe is a Cuban-American designer based in New York City. He’s been practicing design for more than fifteen years, leading teams in large organizations and designing for startups. He's currently leading Consumer Experience Design at Patreon, connecting artists with a passionate audience to help them make a living doing what they love. Before that, he led design and research teams at CNN Digital, Google Jigsaw, and Facebook.

We dive into the importance of practicing authenticity as a designer, how it can lead you to greater career empowerment, how your intrinsic motivations can guide you through career changes and challenges,  how to differentiate your identity from your work, and ultimately how this work can bring you towards a more meaningful and fulfilled design career. 

In today’s episode, I speak with Irene Au. Irene is the Design Partner at Khosla Ventures where she works with startup CEOs. She is dedicated to raising the strategic value of design and user research within software companies, having built and led the entire User Experience and Design teams at Google, Yahoo! and Udacity. Irene teaches yoga at Avalon Yoga Center in Palo Alto. She has authored the definitive O’Reilly book, Design in Venture Capital, and popular essays found on Medium. Irene has been featured on several publications like Wired Magazine, Fast Company, Communication Arts, and on the cover of Mindful Magazine.

We dive into different elements of EQ as it relates to you becoming a more effective designer, how EQ plays a large part in growing your design career, navigating design process challenges, and how practicing mindfulness will make you a better designer. 

In today’s episode, I speak with Dan Mall. Dan is a creative director and advisor from Philly. He’s the founder and CEO of SuperFriendly, a design collaborative that helps in-house teams make better digital products with design systems. Dan is the author of Pricing Design, and co-founder of Arcade, a fun way to manage design tokens for enterprise teams. Enthralled by his role as husband and dad, he also finds joy writing about design and other issues on Twitter and on his industry-recognized site, danmall.me.  We dive into the difference between boundaries and psychological safety, why these practices should matter to every designer, the connection between risk and creativity, tactical ways to inspire a culture of learning, as well as how to contribute and challenge the status quo for better collaboration and impact.

In today’s episode, I speak with Ioana Adriana Teleanu. Ioana is a UX Designer driven by the ambition to craft great products that people love. She currently works at UiPath on building RPA-enabling products that are easy to use. In the past, alongside years of working for ING Bank, she took on various freelancing and consulting roles with startups. 

As a personal project, she’s built UX Goodies, an Instagram design community with over 200,000 followers, sparking healthy design conversations and providing her with insights on the design industry and the struggles designers have.

We dive deeper into self-awareness and how it relates to imposter syndrome and authenticity, how to navigate self-doubt, how weaving authenticity into your practice can help you embrace your true self, as well as many actionable insights to help you become an effective designer.

In today’s episode, I speak with Mig Reyes, Product Design Manager at Instagram that helps bring the world closer to people and things they love. As a passionate supporter of the design community, Mig, together with his team, tirelessly works to improve the simplicity and craft of Instagram wherever you may find it.  Mig is the president emeritus of AIGA Chicago and founded the Chicago chapters of Creative Mornings.  We dive into the importance of self-awareness, how it is necessary when building high-functioning design teams, how self-awareness leads to higher productivity, collaboration and growth, and how you can start to contribute to a culture of self-awareness. 

In today’s episode, I speak with Frank Bach. Frank is a Lead Product Designer at Headspace in LA. Prior to this, he worked on the global launch of Red Bull TV. His work spans product, growth and brand design. He's interested in the relationship between mindfulness and creativity: how meditation can empower you to be a stronger designer and more engaged contributor. We dive into how meditation and mindfulness has impacted his personal and career journey, mindfulness techniques to weave into your design process, and the intersection of mindfulness and creativity and how those can make you a better designer.

In today’s episode, I speak with Debbie Levitt. Debbie is the CXO of Delta CX, has been a CX and UX strategist, designer, and trainer since the 1990s. As a “serial contractor” who lived in the Bay Area for most of this decade, Debbie has influenced interfaces at Sony, Wells Fargo, Constant Contact, Macys.com, Oracle, and a variety of Silicon Valley startups. Clients have given her the nickname, “Mary Poppins,” because she flies in, improves everything she can, sings a few songs, and flies away to her next adventure.

We dive into what a low-ego action hero is, what are the actions of high and low-ego designers, the relationship between self-awareness and ego, the intersection between empathy, knowledge, and meaning, the difference between sympathy, empathy, and compassion, and what skills to develop to become a low-ego action hero designer. 

Adam Rotmil is a product discovery and design lead at AstraZeneca and a product design professor at Maryland Institute College of Art. We dive into why it’s essential to cultivate self-awareness as a designer, how to make your career strengths and weaknesses actionable, the importance of retrospectives, how to create a safe working environment, as well as stories and strategies for giving and receiving feedback.