Jeff Carino didn’t choose design—it chose him at age ten, watching his father leverage the manual, smelly inks, erasers, markers and tools of design in their Albuquerque home studio. Those moments, seeing something tactile become billboards, storefronts and objects people used every day, locked in Jeff’s trajectory.

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“As designers, what is the core of what we do? We create meaning. And in order to become a really strong designer... we make meaning that endures. That sticks. And the way we do that and create enduring meaning is with emotional engagement.” - Jeff Carino

Jeff’s design philosophy hinges on a blunt truth: Real work endures because it carries emotional weight, not just flawless execution. Artifice is unavoidable in this profession, but artifice without emotional investment becomes empty. These are hard won realizations, earned back when graphic designers literally had their own skin (and sometimes blood) in the game—back when razor blades and rulers and late nights taught lessons.

“What does it mean for design when we reduce friction to zero? I think that we have an inherent understanding as creative people that friction has value. That friction imparts meaning into a work.” - Jeff Carino

He splits the design world into craft (where friction adds value) and artifice (which audiences tolerate, expect even—stock photos, actors, the whole charade). Remove all the friction and the work risks losing its weight. He thinks the value of design isn’t in flawless surfaces but in emotional resonance—the part that attaches to memory.

Increasingly, AI lives in this tension. When it’s 100% right, people respond emotionally as if it were real. When it’s 99%, that last 1% repulses them. The gap matters more than you’d think.

“This is the first time in history we have a technology you can talk to that talks back with something specific, contextual, rich, meaningful, and in real time.” - Jeff Carino

Technology, in Jeff’s telling, keeps reducing friction. But it also adds more touchpoints, more formats, more complexity disguised as convenience. AI sits right on that edge. AI enabled Jeff to reinvent his entire practice, and leverage tools that automate grunt work. But he’s wary too. AI’s speed invites emotional hollowness. It threatens some categories of creative labor while leaving others irreplaceable. And it raises a bigger question he hasn’t resolved: if meaning requires friction, what happens when the tools make friction disappear?

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Episode notes:

Learn more about Jeff’s work on his personal website, his AI consulting website or connect via LinkedIn.

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