Unthinking Space (formerly Design Feeling)

#036 - Service designer, facilitator, coach and a recent mum, Rachel Arthur discusses the challenges and growth that come with parenthood and how it can lead to increased self-awareness. We also talk about the importance of slowing down and how our constant busyness might distract us from meeting our deeper needs. Rachel also shares how becoming a parent, particularly a mother, can force a reconnection with the body and serve as a powerful transition for personal growth. Rachel also shares practical tips for reconnecting with your body at any moment during your busy day.

In this episode:

• The challenges and growth accompanying parenthood
• The discomfort of slowing down and the societal normalisation of busyness
• The "fixing mindset" of designers and its possible drawbacks
• The technique of ocean breathing
• Rachel’s program Mamma Kind to help mums connect with their needs

Shownotes

Connect with Rachel and Mama Kind

https://linktr.ee/mamma.kind

https://linktr.ee/designerjourneys

https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachel-sy-arthur

Material Journal

https://www.maternaljournal.org/

Show credits

Illustrations by Isa Vicente

https://www.instagram.com/isadezgz/

Music by Brad Porter

https://prtr.co/

Follow Design Feeling on social!

LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/company/designfeelingco

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https://www.instagram.com/designfeelingco/

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https://twitter.com/designfeelingco

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https://www.tiktok.com/@designfeelingco

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#035 - Nirish Shakya talks to his coach Kim Witten PhD. Kim shares her journey from working in the design industry in San Francisco to pursuing a PhD in sociolinguistics in the UK. Kim shares her insights on how to turn overthinking into a superpower by reframing it as curiosity. She emphasises the need to be curious and non-judgmental when experiencing negative emotions, and to try to befriend them. They also discuss the importance of focusing on the essentials to do less but do them better and celebrating wins, no matter how small they are. Tune in to this enriching conversation about managing anxiety, focusing on values, and achieving success.

In this episode:

• Importance of slowing down, noticing, and accepting one's feelings and bodily sensations
• Treating oneself as the user of one's own life
• Noticing patterns and using tools like affinity mapping to make sense of them
• Giving ourselves grace in the process
• and much more!

Shownotes

Get 30% off Kim’s 90 minute one-to-one “Design Your Time” workshop if you mention the Design Feeling Podcast

https://witten.kim/designfeeling

Subscribe to Kim’s ‘Hold That Thought’ newsletter

https://witten.kim/holdthatthought

Listen to Kim’s podcast

https://witten.kim/podcast

How to go from Overthinking to Expert Thinking by Kim Witten

https://medium.com/@KimWitten/how-to-go-from-overthinking-to-expert-thinking-1d409ba00901

Four Signs That Separate Deep Thinkers From Over Thinkers by Jano le Roux

https://medium.com/illumination/four-signs-that-separate-deep-thinkers-from-over-thinkers-a47c992324b3

Use this UX Method in Your Next Challenging Conversation

https://betterhumans.pub/use-this-ux-method-in-your-next-challenging-conversation-d0938cbec5d2?sk=abfb5c40b947a0fba24d17721c18a2d6

Show credits

Illustrations by Isa Vicente

https://www.instagram.com/isadezgz/

Music by Brad Porter

https://prtr.co/

Follow Design Feeling on social!

LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/company/designfeelingco

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https://www.instagram.com/designfeelingco/

Twitter
https://twitter.com/designfeelingco

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https://www.tiktok.com/@designfeelingco

Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/designfeelingco

#034 - Sex! It’s one of our most basic human interactions that also one that brings with it lots of complexities, unmet needs and plain awkwardness. What if you could approach it as a design challenge and simplify it a bit?

In this episode, Nirish Shakya talks with Nina McNamara, a design leader, entrepreneur, and activist, about the UX of sex. Nina is the founder of UX of Sex and is on a mission to help people consciously design their relationships and sex lives. Together, they discuss how to co-create a relationship and cultivate candid conversations about relationships, sexual experience, and desire. Nina also shares a tip on running a sex retro with your partner! Join in on the conversation and learn how to bring more intentionality, creativity and clarity into your relationships.

Key topics discussed:

• Using UX design in relationships
• The importance of communication, context and timing
• Understanding one's motivations and desires
• AI technology and dating apps
• Co-creation and empathy
• "Sex retro" exercise
• Applying intentional structures and rituals in relationships
• and more!

Shownotes

Get a seat at the table for the next UX of Sex event; ‘What can we learn from Kink?’

https://www.tickettailor.com/events/learnfromkink/871550

Connect with Nina

https://ninamcnamara.com/

https://www.instagram.com/uxofsex/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/nina-mcnamara/

Turning People into Teams by Mary and David Sherwin

https://www.askthesherwins.com/teams


Show credits

Illustrations by Isa Vicente

https://www.instagram.com/isadezgz/

Music by Brad Porter

https://prtr.co/

Follow Design Feeling on social!

LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/company/designfeelingco

Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/designfeelingco/

Twitter
https://twitter.com/designfeelingco

TikTok
https://www.tiktok.com/@designfeelingco

Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/designfeelingco

#033 - When was the last time you felt a sense of awe? Research shows that experiencing can make you happier, healthier and more humble. So often we tend to lose our awe we had as kids as we turn into adults and life becomes a busy routine. Kim Slade is trying to change that. He is the founder of Unlost Co, where he designs immersive adventures to help people recreate that childhood awe. In this episode, Kim shares his method for designing these immersive experiences that engages the 5 senses through every touchpoint. He also talks about his 4 step story framework to create moments of adventure, mindfulness and reflection in our busy lives.

In this episode

• How to design experiences - place, time, senses, story
• Using adventure and nature to find clarity and  creativity
• How to know where to work for different types of work
• and much more

Shownotes

Kim Slade

https://www.linkedin.com/in/kwslade/

https://www.instagram.com/unlostco

Happy Startup School Summercamp

https://happystartupsummer.camp/

Bill Gates’ think week

https://www.reservations.com/blog/resources/think-weeks/

Storytelling frameworks

https://www.forbes.com/sites/joankuhl/2018/11/12/it-takes-courage-to-share-and-grace-to-listen/

Show credits

Illustrations by Isa Vicente

https://www.instagram.com/isadezgz/

Music by Brad Porter

https://prtr.co/

Follow Design Feeling on social!

LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/company/designfeelingco

Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/designfeelingco/

Twitter
https://twitter.com/designfeelingco

TikTok
https://www.tiktok.com/@designfeelingco

Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/designfeelingco

#032 - How safe do you feel failing, learning and growing in your organisation? In this episode, I had a chat with my good friends Sinem Erdemli and Callum Goodwilliam who’re also the co-founders of Random Animal, a social impact company that’s on a mission to improve work for everyone through better access to learning, design and community.

Sinem and Callum emphasise the need to focus on the human aspect of work and creating conditions in organisations where teams and individuals thrive. They also talk about the importance of building safe spaces and communities where people can go to independent of their work, work on developing skills in a non-linear fashion, or get support from peers.

Shownotes

Random Animal

https://www.randomanimal.org/

Join Random Animal’s test with new ways of learning, organising and worknig

https://forms.gle/3ZsxzQYvgJVcUaPeA

Random Animal's resources on Notion
https://tinyurl.com/RandomAnimal-library

The Second Mountain by David Brooks

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40642458-the-second-mountain

Leadermorphosis Podcast

https://leadermorphosis.co/

Reinventing Organizations by Frederic Laloux

https://www.reinventingorganizations.com/

The Progress Principle by Teresa Amabile

http://www.progressprinciple.com/

The Range by David Epstein

https://davidepstein.com/the-range/

Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us by Dan Pink

https://www.danpink.com/books/drive/

What's Our Problem?: A Self-Help Book for Societies by Tim Urban

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/102146148-what-s-our-problem

Season 2 Episode 7: From Human-Centred Design to Life-Centred Design with Dr. Martin Tomitsch

https://www.designfeeling.co/s2e7

Show credits

Illustrations by Isa Vicente

https://www.instagram.com/isadezgz/

Music by Brad Porter

https://prtr.co/

Follow Design Feeling on social!

LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/company/designfeelingco

Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/designfeelingco/

Twitter
https://twitter.com/designfeelingco

TikTok
https://www.tiktok.com/@designfeelingco

Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/designfeelingco

#031 - The future can seem like a figment of our imagination and devoid of reality. Our mind naturally creates multiple scenarios of how the future might unfold but we either ignore them or get worried about them.

In this episode, I speak with designer, facilitator and futures literacy educator Lena Tünkers on futures literacy and how we can use the future to shape the present. Lena mentions how analysing alternate versions of the future can be a powerful exercise in making them a reality. Lena also shares simple techniques you can use to reframe your imagined futures.

In this episode:

• What is futures literacy and how you can get better at it
• Probably, desirable and alternative futures
• Reframing assumptions of the future
• Creating future personas
• Getting buy-in for future scenarios in organisations
• and much more!

Shownotes

Lena Tünkers

https://www.linkedin.com/in/lenatuenkers/

https://www.lenatuenkers.com/

Sign up to Lena’s course ‘Using Futures in Practice’ starting in March 2023

https://www.designfeeling.co/lena

Stefan Bergheim

https://www.linkedin.com/in/stefanbergheim/

Causal Layered Analysis Framework

https://medium.com/foresight-matters/using-causal-layered-analysis-for-transformational-change-51b461bbfffb

Backcasting

https://fourweekmba.com/backcasting/

Show credits

Illustrations by Isa Vicente

https://www.instagram.com/isadezgz/

Music by Brad Porter

https://prtr.co/

Follow Design Feeling on social!

LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/company/designfeelingco

Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/designfeelingco/

Twitter
https://twitter.com/designfeelingco

TikTok
https://www.tiktok.com/@designfeelingco

Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/designfeelingco

#030 - Do you leave a networking event or a conference with a stack of business cards but not much connection? That’s because most of our conversations are limited to small talk and stay on the surface.

In this episode, experience designer, facilitator, TEDx speaker and small-talk detoxer Jan Keck shares his advice on facilitating conversations that go deeper whilst building trust and connection.

In this episode:

• Having genuine curiosity as a facilitator
• Prioritising connection over content
• Facilitating silence
• Ice-melters over ice-breakers
• Starting conversations like starting a campfire
• and much more!

Shownotes

Connect with Jan

www.jankeck.com

www.linkedin.com/in/jankeck/

www.instagram.com/mrjankeck

Free app of Jan’s conversation starter cards

http://app.askdeepquestions.com

Google’s research on psychological safety

https://rework.withgoogle.com/guides/understanding-team-effectiveness/steps/foster-psychological-safety/

Follow Design Feeling on social!

LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/company/designfeelingco

Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/designfeelingco/

Twitter
https://twitter.com/designfeelingco

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https://www.tiktok.com/@designfeelingco

Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/designfeelingco

#029 - Are you a designer or problem solver who wants to be more creative but are stuck in the routine of the daily grind? In this episode, I chat with Radim Malinic. Radim is a designer, creative director and best selling author of multiple books on branding, creativity and mindfulness. Radim takes us on a journey into his creative mind and how he thinks and feels creativity and incorporates mindfulness to keep himself grounded in the messiness of creativity.

In this episode:

• Utilising your job titles but not be bound by them
• Giving yourself opportunities to explore
• Using feeling as a metric
• Nurturing your relationship with creativity
• Using mindfulness to give yourself perspective
• Using AI as a tool to enhance creativity

Shownotes

Radim Malinic’s books

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Radim-Malinic/e/B01KK74CNI/

Mr. Motivator

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mr_Motivator

1000 True Fans by Kevin Kelly

https://kk.org/thetechnium/1000-true-fans/

Alchemy: The Surprising Power of Ideas That Don't Make Sense by Rory Sutherland

https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/26210508-alchemy

Radim’s favourite resources

Works of Sir Ken Robinson, Author Brooks, Simon Sinek, Alain De Botton

Show credits

Illustrations by Isa Vicente

https://www.instagram.com/isadezgz/

Music by Brad Porter

https://prtr.co/

Episode edited by Niall Mackay

https://sevenmillionbikes.com/

Follow Design Feeling on social!

LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/company/designfeelingco

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https://www.instagram.com/designfeelingco/

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https://twitter.com/designfeelingco

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https://www.tiktok.com/@designfeelingco

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#028 - Welcome to Season 3! As designers, we are good at thinking and doing. But what about being? How does that look and feel like? In this first episode of Season 3, I spoke with Andrea (Andi) Mignolo, designer, executive coach and the President of the Interaction Design Association. Andi talks about self-awareness but also awareness of the system the self is part of.

In this episode:

• Ontology: a way of being
• Centering yourself
• How self-awareness makes you a better designer
• Embracing resistance as part of the creative process
• Uncoupling design and capitalism
• and much more!

Shownotes

Andrea on LinkedIn

https://www.linkedin.com/in/mignolo/

Method and Matter

https://methodandmatter.com/

The Interaction Design Association

https://www.ixda.org/

P N T S . U S: an ontological design studio

https://pnts.us/

Wordpress theme Andi designed

https://wordpress.com/blog/2010/08/16/new-theme-oulipo/

Andi writes a monthly newsletter about leadership, business, and being human, called Kitchen Party.

https://methodandmatter.com/kitchen-party/

Show credits

Illustrations by Isa Vicente

https://www.instagram.com/isadezgz/

Music by Brad Porter

https://prtr.co/

Episode edited by Niall Mackay

https://sevenmillionbikes.com/

Follow Design Feeling on social!

LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/company/designfeelingco

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https://www.instagram.com/designfeelingco/

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https://twitter.com/designfeelingco

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https://www.tiktok.com/@designfeelingco

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In this final episode of Season 2, Nirish recaps his top highlights and learnings from the 12 episodes of the season.

Share your ideas and suggestions with Nirish at [email protected]

Shownotes

Tim Yeo, the Quiet Achiever

https://www.thequietachievr.com/

Courtney Carlsson, Paradym app

https://theparadym.com/

Solve Problems That Matter: Design, Build & Launch Your Social Enterprise Idea by Ben Pecotich

https://dynamic4.com/solve-problems-that-matter/

Human-Powered Book by Trenton Moss

https://humanpoweredbook.com/

Matthew Bellringer

https://www.matthewbellringer.com/

Innovation capability paper -

https://www.qip-journal.eu/index.php/QIP/article/view/1596

Innovation ecosystems case-study -

https://journalsojs3.fe.up.pt/index.php/jim/article/view/2183-0606_006-003_0002

Organisational value of diversity -

https://academic.oup.com/jid/article/220/Supplement_2/S33/5552350

Joe Leech

https://mrjoe.uk

“Design, Think, Make, Break, Repeat” Book by Martin Tomitsch

http://designthinkmakebreakrepeat.com/

Sophia and Jed Lazar, Cozy Juicy Real

https://cozyjuicyreal.com/

12- Minute Method by Robbie Swale

https://www.robbieswale.com/the-12minute-books

Kate Pincott, Reality Prototyping

https://www.realityprototyping.com/

Dorsa Mokhtari

https://www.dorsamokhtari.com/

Egle Beliunaite

https://www.linkedin.com/in/egle-beliunaite/

Rafa Prada

http://rafa.madeabroad.io/

Sinem Erdemli

https://tinyurl.com/sinsplace

Follow Design Feeling on social!

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https://www.linkedin.com/company/designfeelingco

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