A project that improves everyone’s work can also change the direction of your career. For Hannah Dreher, building a modular email design system was part of the journey from graphic design into product management.

Hannah shares how she developed digital skills, earned the trust of developers and learned from mentors who helped her move into a new role. We also explore why listening, relationships and openness to feedback matter as much as the work itself.

In this conversation:

• Building skills through real projects
• Finding advocates and learning from mentors
• Keeping customer needs at the center of design

Some of the most important things we design never appear on a screen. Juliana Proserpio explores the systems, services, strategies and business models that shape how people live and work.

Drawing on her experience building Echos and moving between Brazil and Australia, Juliana discusses how different cultures challenge a designer’s assumptions. It’s a conversation about connecting ideas, looking beyond familiar environments and understanding what design contributes beyond the software used to produce it.

In this conversation:

• Designing services and systems
• Learning from unfamiliar cultures
• Separating design judgment from software skills

Whose knowledge gets treated as universal in design education? Sarah El Khamsa reflects on studying European design traditions while seeing a different creative heritage around her in Tunisia.

We discuss what designers miss when they overlook local craft, culture and lived experience. Sarah shares an approach grounded in understanding context, learning with communities and recognizing the knowledge other people bring. She also describes introducing children to design as a way of thinking.

In this conversation:

• Questioning inherited design assumptions
• Learning through cultural immersion
• Making room for collective intelligence

Design research: http://metabolisme.design/

A design can look good and still miss the point. Renato Paixão explains why designers need to understand how their work helps users achieve their goals and contributes to the business.

We discuss finding the problem beneath the symptoms, resisting the urge to jump straight into solutions and connecting creative decisions to meaningful results. Renato also reflects on rejection, persistence and the opportunities that can change the direction of a design career.

In this conversation:

• Finding the root problem
• Connecting user needs with business goals
• Continuing through rejection

What happens when the career you’ve built no longer fits the life you want? Jonah Goldsaito shares why he left Google and began experimenting with different ways of living with his family.

Our conversation follows the varied projects and skills that shaped his path as a design generalist. We also discuss making presentations people can connect with, collaborating across disciplines and bringing more intention to the experiences we create, both in products and in our own lives.

In this conversation:

• Prototyping a different life
• Building a career across disciplines
• Telling stories that help ideas move forward

Understanding users is only part of the job. Your research also needs people inside the organization who understand it, care about it and can act on it.

Patricia Machado shares how she approaches the relationships behind effective user research. We discuss engaging stakeholders, speaking up before you feel completely comfortable and taking the initiative to connect with customers. Patricia also reflects on the value of a background that doesn’t follow a conventional design path.

In this conversation:

• Bringing teams into the research process
• Taking the risk of sharing an idea
• Using your different experiences as a strength

The layouts were ready. Then the content arrived, and much of the website needed to change. Sabeeha Banubhai shares a project lesson that reshaped how she thinks about designing content-driven experiences.

The developer turned design entrepreneur also explains why a process should serve the product, how running a business changed her advice to clients and why a simple way to test demand can be more useful than an elaborate custom build. We talk about choosing the work and life you want along the way.

In this conversation:

• Working with content before finalizing layouts
• Choosing useful design activities
• Testing demand with simpler tools

You can lead through your expertise before you have a senior title. Thaisa Fernandes reflects on the leadership opportunities she once avoided and what changed her perspective.

We follow her move from design into project and program management, exploring the strengths that carried across those roles. Thaisa shares why communication deserves deliberate practice, how personality shapes leadership and what it means to learn from mistakes in an environment that supports experimentation.

In this conversation:

• Recognizing opportunities to lead
• Building writing and presentation skills
• Changing roles as your strengths develop

A strong portfolio can get you considered. What helps convince a team that you can do the job? Koji Pereira shares a hiring manager’s perspective on the judgment, collaboration and product thinking behind successful design work.

Drawing on his experience working internationally, Koji discusses case presentations, building a support network and communicating what your background adds to a team. We also explore why he considers several employers during a job search and how comparing opportunities can inform negotiation.

In this conversation:

• Showing how your work reaches users
• Telling your story in interviews
• Evaluating opportunities and discussing compensation

Adrian Jankowiak approached design as a minimalist. Nairobi’s creative community expanded his sense of what good design could look and feel like.

Adrian traces a journey through industrial design, travel and community building that helped lead to Nairobi Design Week. We discuss learning from local talent, the possibilities of hands-on making and how African fabrics and maximalism challenged his familiar aesthetic. His story also raises a personal question: what do you want to make non-negotiable in your career?

In this conversation:

• Learning from Nairobi’s designers and makers
• Connecting a creative community
• Choosing a direction for your career