Nodes of Design

Anab Jain is a filmmaker, designer and futurist. She co-founded Superflux, a pioneering speculative design and experiential futures company in London, UK, working for clients and commissioners such as V&A, Google, Red Cross, UNDP, IKEA, Deepmind and many more. Anab has delivered prolific talks at TED, Skoll, NEXT, House of Lords and House of Commons UK, and shown work at MoMA New York, V&A London, National Museum of China and Museum of the Future Dubai. Profiles on Anab and Superflux can be found in Wall Street Journal, Business Insider and Financial Times. 

Anab and Jon, co-founders of Superflux, have recently been awarded Royal Designers for Industry in speculative design, UK’s highest accolade for design. Anab also received an honorary doctorate from the University of Arts London for her contributions to the field. 

Anab serves as a Professor for Design Investigations at the University of Applied Arts, Vienna, for the last six years. She hopes to instil a culture of radical enquiry in her students so they can become active designers-translators-catalysts for a complex and uncertain world. 

In this episode, Anab shared great insights on Design for futures; we started the episode by defining design for the futures and what is the design process when working on a project focused on the future. Then we discussed navigating that uncertainty in work and how designers can balance the need for innovation and creativity with practicality and functionality in their designs. Later, we discussed why ethical considerations are critical when designing for the future and how do designers ensure their work is inclusive and representative of different perspectives and experiences.

Book Recommendation by Anab Jain RDI

Thank you for listening to this episode of Nodes of Design. We hope you enjoy the Nodes of Design Podcast on your favourite podcast platforms- Apple Podcast, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, and many more.

If this episode helped you understand and learn something new, please share and join the knowledge-sharing community #Spreadknowledge.

This podcast aims to make design education accessible to all. Nodes of Design is a non-profit and self-sponsored initiative by Tejj.

Amit Dangwal is a Design Director at Microsoft India Development Center, where he leads the Search and AI design studio. He has been with Microsoft for 16 years, with 20 years of experience designing user-centric products and solutions. Amit has led the design team for products like Microsoft Office, SharePoint, CRM and Lync. He holds a Master of Design degree from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay and a B.Arch degree from the School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi. He is passionate about creating engaging and delightful user experiences across different platforms and devices.

In this episode, Amit shared great insights on How to grow as a designer in an organisation. We started by discussing the core skills a designer needs to possess to succeed in an organisation and how designers can show their value to the organisation and impact business outcomes.

Later, we spoke about what role collaboration plays in the growth and development of a designer within an organisation. How can a designer take on leadership roles within the organisation, and what sort of preparation or guidance is required?

In the end, we concluded the show with Amit's take on how designers can use feedback and constructive criticism to grow and improve their work and how does the organisation measure the success of a designer's work?

Book Recommendation by Amit Dangwal

Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It by Chris Voss⁠ and ⁠Tahl Raz

Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking by Malcolm Gladwell

Thank you for listening to this episode of Nodes of Design. We hope you enjoy the Nodes of Design Podcast on your favourite podcast platforms- Apple Podcast, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, and many more.

If this episode helped you understand and learn something new, please share and join the knowledge-sharing community #Spreadknowledge.

This podcast aims to make design education accessible to all. Nodes of Design is a non-profit and self-sponsored initiative by Tejj.

Matthew Holloway ⁠is an accomplished design leader with a career spanning 25 years; Matthew has co-founded six start-ups after holding leadership and executive roles at Apple, WebMD, Shutterfly, and SAP, where he shifted their strategic direction with his team's innovations, delivering increased customer value and market share. 

Collaborating across organizations, Matthew helps executive teams fully engage design as a critical differentiator for their businesses while assisting design leaders in making the shift from creative thinkers to business executives. Many designers he has managed and mentored have moved on to executive roles at companies such as SAP, GE, Oracle, Google, Meta, Amazon, Apple, JPMorgan Chase, Nike, etc. Matthew also advises early-stage start-ups on effectively balancing their technology, design, and marketing investments to maximize their roadmap's impact. 

In this episode, Matthew shared great insights on Designing at scale and helped us understand the term scale in terms of the product and the organization itself; we discussed some of the biggest challenges faced when designing at scale. How to overcome them and speak on balancing creativity and innovation with the need to scale quickly when designing for a large organization, and how to approach user research and testing when designing at scale? What role does collaboration play in creating at scale? How do you encourage cross-functional collaboration and ensure everyone is aligned on the design vision? We then concluded the show with Mathews's tips on measuring the success of a large-scale design project and what metrics to use.

Book Recommendation by Matthew Holloway

Dawn of Everything, by David Graeber and David Wengrow 

Crucial Conversations, by Grenny, Patterson, and McMillan, 

Five Dysfunctions of a Team, by Patrick Lencioni

Stolen Focus, by Johann Hari 

Design for the Real World, by Victor Papanek 

Orbiting the Giant Hairball, by Gordon McKenzie

Thank you for listening to this episode of Nodes of Design. We hope you enjoy the Nodes of Design Podcast on your favourite podcast platforms- Apple Podcast, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, and many more.

If this episode helped you understand and learn something new, please share and join the knowledge-sharing community #Spreadknowledge.

This podcast aims to make design education accessible to all. Nodes of Design is a non-profit and self-sponsored initiative by Tejj.

Sheri Panabaker is an accomplished UX Leader with an impressive 23-year tenure at Microsoft, where she served as the Senior Director of UX Research. While at the tech giant, Sheri played an instrumental role in shaping product and marketing strategies for a diverse range of consumer, enterprise, and employee experiences.

Her extensive expertise in UX research and data analytics enabled her to drive a user-centred culture within Microsoft, significantly influencing the development of innovative experiences across Windows, Surface, and Microsoft Digital (internal) programs. Sheri firmly believes that you are a product maker no matter which disciplines you to represent, and adopting that mindset enhances your strategic influence.

In her post-Microsoft career, Sheri is committed to mentoring and developing diverse talent while continuing to share her insights at speaking events. Additionally, with a focus on applying UX and design thinking to reimagine fan experiences in sports, particularly Formula 1, Sheri is driven to make a lasting impact on that notoriously male-dominated industry. Outside of her professional life, Sheri enjoys Pilates, interior design, and exploring the Pacific Northwest in search of the perfect bubble tea.

In this episode, Sheri Panabaker shared great insights on Product Maker Mindset; we started by defining the word product maker and what it means to have a product maker mindset. We then discussed what strategies to use to collaborate effectively with other team members, such as engineers, marketers, and designers, and how to ensure everyone is aligned around the same goals and priorities. We then discussed the translation of insights to design considerations and working with Design and PM to clarify how to measure product success and what metrics to use to evaluate.

How to win friends and influence people - Dale Carnegie

The 360 Degree Leader- John C. Maxwell

Hit Refresh: The Quest to Rediscover Microsoft’s Soul and Imagine a Better Future for Everyone - Satya Nadella

Thank you for listening to this episode of Nodes of Design. We hope you enjoy the Nodes of Design Podcast on your favourite podcast platforms- Apple Podcast, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, and many more.

If this episode helped you understand and learn something new, please share and join the knowledge-sharing community #Spreadknowledge.

This podcast aims to make design education accessible to all. Nodes of Design is a non-profit and self-sponsored initiative by Tejj.

Irene has unprecedented experience elevating the strategic importance of innovation within technology companies, having built and led the entire User Experience and Design teams at Google, Yahoo!, and Udacity. She began her career as an interaction designer at Netscape Communications, where she worked on the design of the internet's first commercial web browser.  

For ten years, Irene taught yoga at Avalon Yoga Center in Palo Alto, where she also is among the teacher training program faculty. She is a frequent author and speaker on mindfulness practices, design, and creativity. She is an adjunct lecturer at Stanford University and teaches Product Design in the mechanical engineering department. Irene is also a trustee for the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Museum of Design.

Irene authored the definitive O'Reilly book, Design in Venture Capital, and her popular essays can be found on Medium. In addition, she has been featured in Wired magazine, Fast Company magazine, CommArts magazine, and on the cover of Mindful magazine.
Irene graduated magna cum laude from the Honors College at the University of South Carolina in Electrical and Computer Engineering. She received her Master's Degree from the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, focusing on Human-Computer Interaction at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Book Recommendation by Irene Au

The Design of Everyday Things - Don Norman

The Creative Act: A Way of Being - Rick Rubin

Geometry of Design - Kimberly Elam

Thank you for listening to this episode of Nodes of Design. We hope you enjoy the Nodes of Design Podcast on your favourite podcast platforms- Apple Podcast, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, and many more.

If this episode helped you understand and learn something new, please share and join the knowledge-sharing community #Spreadknowledge.

This podcast aims to make design education accessible to all. Nodes of Design is a non-profit and self-sponsored initiative by Tejj.

Nicole Lachenmeier is a Swiss information designer and co-founder of the data experience agency Superdot, founded in 2011. Alongside her team, she has developed over a hundred visual tools and design systems for large companies, NGOs and governmental organizations. Besides her agency work, Nicole teaches visualization (and design) at several design universities. She also won many accolades for her work in visualisation and design.

Darjan Hil is an information designer. He co-founded Superdot with Nicole while working as a researcher at the University of Applied Sciences, Northwestern Switzerland. In addition, Darjan has taught at various Swiss Universities, lecturing on data visualization and information design principles. He is co-author of Visualizing Complexity, the Handbook for Modular Information Design and initiated the event series On Data And Design in Vienna, Basel and Berlin.

Both of them at Superdot make complex issues understandable with innovative and attractive information design and data experience design.

In this episode, Darjan Hil⁠ and ⁠Nicole Lachenmeier shared great insights on Data+Design; we started the episode by defining the intersection between data and design. Then, what was one of the most complex data viz challenges that Nicole and Darjan had to improve and why? We then discussed balancing accuracy and clarity with the desire for creativity and visual appeal in data visualisations. Later, we discussed the role storytelling plays in crafting patterns for data visualisation and how information design and visualisation are applied to promote social progress or deal with significant societal issues.

Special Shoutout to Darjan Hil & Nicole Lachenmeier Book - Visualizing Complexity: Modular Information Design Handbook

Resources Mentioned in the Episode

The First Six Books of the Elements of Euclid - Oliver Byrne

Graphic Design Manual: Principles and Practice - Armin Hofmann

The Women in Data Viz:
Valentina D Efillipo
Federica Frangapane
Stefanie Posavec

Thank you for listening to this episode of Nodes of Design. We hope you enjoy the Nodes of Design Podcast on your favourite podcast platforms- Apple Podcast, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, and many more.

If this episode helped you understand and learn something new, please share and join the knowledge-sharing community #Spreadknowledge.

This podcast aims to make design education accessible to all. Nodes of Design is a non-profit and self-sponsored initiative by Tejj.

Ryan Rumsey is the author of Business Thinking for Designers, founder of Chief Design Officer School, and CEO of Second Wave Dive, a peer-coaching community for the next generation of design leaders and executives.

​For 20+ years, he worked as a designer and executive at Apple, Electronic Arts, USAA, Nestlé, and Comcast. Highlights include designing the first capitally funded Learning Management System at Apple, using CSS as a security measure, selling design systems before asking for buy-in, and building teams of incredibly talented and impactful designers, developers, researchers, PMs—humans. In addition, Ryan is a sought-after speaker and has presented at numerous industry conferences and events.

He is a father, a husband, and an avid fan of Liverpool Football Club. His life experiences include working on a farm and acting in a Staind music video.

In this episode, Ryan shared his journey into design and spoke about how to grow as a better designer; he shares his approach to working with clients or stakeholders who may need a clear vision or direction for their project and how we could help them define their goals as designers. Ryan then shared some frameworks to improve decision-making skills and confidence as a designer. We then spoke about how to face criticism or negative feedback on our work and how to respond to it. Finally, we concluded the show with Ryan's tips for designers to improve their business acumen.

Chief Design Officer School (Courses for design leaders)

Second Wave Dive (Peer-coaching community for design leaders)

Anything But Design (Editorial platform and podcast)

Thank you for listening to this episode of Nodes of Design. We hope you enjoy the Nodes of Design Podcast on your favourite podcast platforms- Apple Podcast, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, and many more.

If this episode helped you understand and learn something new, please share and join the knowledge-sharing community #Spreadknowledge.

This podcast aims to make design education accessible to all. Nodes of Design is a non-profit and self-sponsored initiative by Tejj.

Kristen is the Founder + Creative Director of MLTI NYC, a multi-disciplinary boutique creative agency based in New York City — specializing in Campaigns, Branding, Art Direction, Graphic + Motion Design, Photography, Brand Films, & More for Fortune 500 Companies and Start-Ups.

Shockingly, only 0.1% of creative agencies are founded by women. After designing and leading teams at Nike and PepsiCo for ten years, Kristen created MLTI NYC to tell compelling visual stories and powerfully bring brands to life to build brand love — all from a diverse, global, and female-led perspective.

MLTI NYC is a team of visionary thinkers and relentless craftspeople with great taste and a modern aesthetic. We strive to consistently deliver aspirational, culturally relevant results and pack a bold (and sometimes playful!) punch. MLTI NYC clients include PepsiCo, FootLocker, Nike, and Amazon, as well as a series of funded Start-Ups. Aside from MLTI NYC, Kristen also recently launched a women's running apparel brand, DWNTWN Run Co., which merges function and style for modern female runners. 

In this episode, Kristen shared her journey into creative entrepreneurship and spoke about her challenges as a creative entrepreneur. We then discussed how she balances her work's creative and business parts and what techniques she employs to maintain her commitment to her artistic vision while establishing a prosperous business. Later she shared insights on how she stays on top of industry trends and advancements and what strategies she uses to ensure your work remains relevant and innovative.

Takeaways - Journey of a creative entrepreneur, How to stay relevant and innovative, How to balance personal and business life being a creative entrepreneur

Books recommended by Kristen

A New Earth and The Power of Now — Eckhart Tolle

The War of Art — Steven Pressfield

It's Not How Good You Are, It's How Good You Want To Be — Paul Arden

Thank you for listening to this episode of Nodes of Design. We hope you enjoy the Nodes of Design Podcast on your favourite podcast platforms- Apple Podcast, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, and many more.

If this episode helped you understand and learn something new, please share and join the knowledge-sharing community #Spreadknowledge.

This podcast aims to make design education accessible to all. Nodes of Design is a non-profit and self-sponsored initiative by Tejj.

Susan Weinschenk has a Ph.D. in Psychology and is the Chief Behavioral Scientist, and CEO at The Team W, Inc. Susan consults with Fortune 1000 companies, start-ups, governments, and non-profits, and is the author of several books, including 100 Things Every Designer Needs To Know About People, 100 MORE Things Every Designer Needs To Know About People and How To Get People To Do Stuff. 

Dr. Weinschenk’s area of expertise is the brain and behavioral science applied to the design of products and services. Her clients include Medtronic, Disney, the Mayo Clinic, Zappos, the European Union, Discover Financial, and United Health Care. Susan is co-host of the HumanTech podcast and writes her blog and a column for Psychology Today online.

In this episode, Susan shared great insights on the Brain and Creativity and how we could train our brains to produce the best creative solutions. What are different frameworks to rewire our brain to for creativity? We then spoke on the role of perception in enhancing the brain. And how designers can use the same to improve the user experience. We concluded the show with resources and frameworks on behavioral sciences. 

Takeaways - Building creating, the role of perception in enhancing the brain, Methods to improve creativity. 

Books by Susan Weinschenk 

Thank you for listening to this episode of Nodes of Design. We hope you enjoy the Nodes of Design Podcast on your favorite podcast platforms- Apple Podcast, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, and many more.

If this episode helped you understand and learn something new, please share and be a part of the knowledge-sharing community #Spreadknowledge.

This podcast aims to make design education accessible to all. Nodes of Design is a non-profit and self-sponsored initiative by Tejj.

Iain McConchie is an award-winning digital product designer and design executive whose career started in 2000, working for MTV in London. Entertainment and cultural media have always been a core influence in his design approach, emphasizing the emotional experience as the utility of a digital product or service. 

He has worked for brands and clients such as Disney, VISA, McLaren F1, Transport for London, News UK, Netflix, and Headspace and is currently the senior director of product design at chow now. 

In the last decade, he has focused on people management supporting talented UX, UI, and Product Designers to deliver best-in-class products and services for their intended audiences. As a visual creative, Iain encourages teams to play, remix, and look at things sideways - pushing on brand and using storytelling to create a differentiated product experience while remaining accessible for all.

In this episode, Iain shared great insights into how designers could bring creativity and differential experiences to any digital product. What is the structure/framework that one must follow to get uniqueness in experiences while solving business problems? We then discussed, as creatives, how we could stay focused on the outcome without thinking/stressing too much about metrics and data. What different ways to train oneself to explore beyond typical design patterns? And how to deliver excellent, fun, interactive products to the end user?

Takeaways - Thinking unique, How to train yourself to think beyond the ordinary, Building a culture to bring creativity and uniqueness to the teams. 

Resources mentioned in the show by Iain McConchie

Emotion By Design - Greg Hoffman 

Creativity Inc - Ed Catmull

The Steal Like An Artist Audio Trilogy

Thank you for listening to this episode of Nodes of Design. We hope you enjoy the Nodes of Design Podcast on your favorite podcast platforms- Apple Podcast, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, and many more.

If this episode helped you understand and learn something new, please share and be a part of the knowledge-sharing community #Spreadknowledge.

This podcast aims to make design education accessible to all. Nodes of Design is a non-profit and self-sponsored initiative by Tejj.