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AIGA Design Podcast

AIGA Design Podcast

By AIGA, the professional association for design

The official podcast feed of AIGA, the oldest and largest professional association for design in the United States
We explore various facets of the design discipline, profession, and industry to help our listeners learn about the past and present and prepare for the future.
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Lee-Sean gives an update and discusses design and storytelling with Anne-Laure Fayard

AIGA Design PodcastOct 21, 2020

00:00
28:09
Crafting a Career Roadmap with Sarah Doody

Crafting a Career Roadmap with Sarah Doody

How do you package your unique career journey?


In this episode, Sarah Doody, founder of Career Strategy Lab™, and Lee-Sean Huang, senior director of learning and programs at AIGA, delve into the intricacies of crafting a career roadmap to navigate your professional journey. Join us as we explore the importance of setting short and long-term goals, building your compass statement, and leveraging unique strategies to stand out in the design industry.


Topics include:

1️⃣ Crafting a career roadmap: Discover the value of setting short and long-term goals to guide your professional journey.

2️⃣ Building your compass statement: Learn how to articulate your vision and filter opportunities that align with your career aspirations.

3️⃣ The power of anti-networking: Explore strategies for building meaningful relationships and standing out in a crowded job market.


🤝 Sarah Doody is the founder of Career Strategy Lab™, a program that helps UX and product professionals at all career stages navigate their job search and articulate their skills and experience through individualized and group coaching. She is also the host of the Career Strategy Lab podcast.


Since 2021, professionals who have worked with Sarah have increased their salaries by 40% on average and have been hired at prestigious brands such as Microsoft, Amazon, Salesforce, Nordstrom, Spotify, Blue Origin on average in 3.5 months. The program has been so successful since it’s launch that the combined salary of program graduates hired topped nearly $6 million.


Sarah has been named a Future of Work expert by Forbes and is a regular Forbes.com contributor. She has also been featured in Fast Company, Insider, Fox Business, and more. Sarah is also to author her first book, The Product of You: How to Design, Market, and Sell Yourself in Your Career, forthcoming in 2024.


✨ Connect with Sarah on YouTube, LinkedIn, Instagram, or Twitter.


📫 Subscribe to AIGA newsletters for the latest podcast and content news.

Mar 18, 202443:07
Clip: Designing Your Career with Sarah Doody

Clip: Designing Your Career with Sarah Doody

On the next episode of the AIGA Design Podcast, guest Sarah Doody discusses applying product design principles to your career, crafting a career roadmap, and more. Full episode release: March 18, 2024.

🤝 Sarah Doody is the founder of Career Strategy Lab, a program that helps UX and product professionals at all career stages navigate their job search and articulate their skills and experience through individualized and group coaching. She is also the host of the Career Strategy Lab podcast.

Topics include:

1️⃣ Crafting a career roadmap: Discover the value of setting short and long-term goals to guide your professional journey.

2️⃣ Building your compass statement: Learn how to articulate your vision and filter opportunities that align with your career aspirations.

3️⃣ The power of anti-networking: Explore strategies for building meaningful relationships and standing out in a crowded job market.

Mar 07, 202401:30
Why design research is stuck with Danny Spitzberg and Humphrey Obuobi

Why design research is stuck with Danny Spitzberg and Humphrey Obuobi

Has design research hit a plateau?


In this episode, Danny Spitzberg and Humphrey Obuobi, two design researchers in the San Francisco Bay Area, and Lee-Sean Huang, senior director of learning and programs at AIGA delve into the challenges and explore the gap between personal and professional learning in design research.


Topics include:

  1. the value of co-design catchphrases and why they keep resurfacing

  2. the challenges and rewards of collaborating with marginalized communities on designing solutions that address their needs

  3. how design and policy can intersect more effectively to address social challenges and promote equity


🔍 Danny Spitzberg, a user research expert in the cooperative economy, co-founded the Workers’ Algorithm Observatory. He sheds light on auditing algorithms for workers and allies, advocating for concrete improvements in digital technology standards.


🔍 Humphrey Obuobi, founder of LETS Studio, focuses on building infrastructure for a healthier democracy. A student-researcher with UC Berkeley’s Possibility Lab, Humphrey is dedicated to local, community-powered social innovation.


📖 Read Danny and Humphrey's Q&A article published on AIGA.org


🙋 LETS Studio, Humphrey's professional practice, invites collaborations and volunteers at letsstudio.org.


🔬 The Workers’ Algorithm Observatory advocates for algorithmic accountability; explore their studies at wao.cs.princeton.edu.


📫 Subscribe to AIGA newsletters for the latest podcast and content news.

Feb 20, 202447:29
Clip: Why Design Research is Stuck

Clip: Why Design Research is Stuck

Preview clip of our upcoming episode with Danny Spitzberg and Humphrey Obuobi on Why Design Research is Stuck. Full episode release on February 20, 2024.

Feb 14, 202400:60
Welcome to the 2024 Season of AIGA Design Podcast: MARGINS
Feb 05, 202406:44
Clip: Colton Schweitzer on UX bootcamps and gaps in design curricula
Dec 12, 202305:23
Colton Schweitzer on Kickass UX

Colton Schweitzer on Kickass UX

In this episode Colton Schweitzer, co-founder of Kickass UX and Lee-Sean Huang, senior director of learning and programs at AIGA talk about:

  • How Banksy inspired Colton to get into graphic design 
  • How creating a board game introduced Colton to UX and landed him a job 
  • The differences between a design bootcamp and a college degree program  
  • How to identify and address common gaps in UX design education
  • How recent design graduates can make their portfolios stand out and some hope for current UX job seekers
  • What makes the Kickass UX program different and how graduates of the program have found success
  • Why graphic designers should learn UX even if they aren’t planning a career pivot 
  • How can designers overcome subjectivity when dealing with stakeholders 
  • What are the  “Treasure Map” and “Kung Fu Master” metaphors for the UX process and how do they make you a more powerful designer with a “why skillset”
  • How Colton applies UX principles to designing the pedagogy and business model for his venture, Kickass UX
  • And more! 

Use code AIGA75 for $75 off your first month of Kickass UX's UX/UI Expert course

AIGA's Design Futures research referenced in the episode

Colton's cartoon alter ego, ⁠Kitty AF⁠ recently released a holiday book How the Cat Ruined Christmas

Irish Bouzouki clip by PhotoCapeBreton via Pixabay 

This is the final episode of 2023. Happy holidays! See you next year.

Dec 04, 202347:51
Maigen Thomas on career changes and starting a new design job

Maigen Thomas on career changes and starting a new design job

Maigen Thomas is a senior UX designer, career switcher, and "Maven of Mentoring" for fellow UI/UX bootcamp graduates. In this episode, Maigen and Lee-Sean discuss leveraging life experiences into design, what to do in the first 30 days of a new job to set yourself up for success, gamification, and more!


Maigen's Real World Experience Workshop:  https://maigenux.gumroad.com/l/real-world-exp-workshop

Octalysis Prime: https://join.octalysisprime.com

Nov 09, 202345:45
Pentagram 50 at the 2023 AIGA Design Conference

Pentagram 50 at the 2023 AIGA Design Conference

Debbie Millman interviews Pentagram partners Emily Oberman, Giorgia Lupi, Marina Willer, Natasha Jen, and Paula Scher. Recorded LIVE at the 2023 AIGA Design Conference in New York City!

Oct 28, 202350:41
Clip: Steven Steiner on Designer Archetypes
Sep 27, 202304:21
Steven Steiner on designer archetypes, career coaching, and communicating your value

Steven Steiner on designer archetypes, career coaching, and communicating your value

What is your designer archetype? Are you a generalist, strategist, researcher, architect, artist, author, or design operations person? How does knowing your archetype help you progress in your career? We discuss these archetypes and more in this episode of the AIGA Design Podcast with our guest Steven Steiner.

Steven Steiner is a Career Coach for Designers who helps them get what they want next with the right levels of industry knowledge, rigor, and moral support.

Steven’s career achievements include 15+ years as an award-winning designer, manager, and educator. He’s held roles in-house, start-up, and agency teams for international and regional brands where he delivered results for TV, kiosk, responsive web, and mobile experiences.

Now, he wants to help YOU reach YOUR career goals.

Visit careercoachfordesigners.com to learn more about how Steven can help you right now and join the Career Community for Designers that he hosts on Slack

Connect with Steven on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevensteiner/

Sep 20, 202338:38
FEED SWAP: Yellow Glitter, Collective Change and Community-Centered Design with Lee-Sean Huang
Aug 22, 202301:03:45
Learning with Ritesh Gupta, Useful School
Jul 20, 202336:55
From the Archives: Matt Groening at the 2002 AIGA Design Conference

From the Archives: Matt Groening at the 2002 AIGA Design Conference

In this episode, we present a clip of Matt Groening, creator of The Simpsons and Futurama, speaking at the 2002 AIGA Design Conference in Washington DC. This footage has not been seen or heard publicly for over 20 years. Groening shares a story he had never told before, explains why he values design conferences, gives advice to fellow illustrators, reveals the namesake of Homer Simpson, and divulges some of the things the Fox Network censored from his shows.

Watch the video version of this podcast on Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/814432149/f56404d0b2

Connect in person with your design community at the 2023 AIGA Design Conference, October 12-14 in New York City. Prepare to get inspired and re-energized while learning in community from designers at the cutting edge of today's hot topics. https://www.aiga.org/design/aiga-design-conference


Apr 04, 202313:26
Rodrigo Canales and Michael Bierut on Business Perspectives for Creative Leaders
Feb 15, 202308:31
Hugh Dubberly on design as finding balance in systems and why problem solving is not enough
Feb 09, 202306:22
The Black Experience in Design: Identity, Expression & Reflection with Anne H. Berry, Jennifer Rittner, and Kelly Walters (RECORDED LIVE in Seattle at the AIGA Design Conference)

The Black Experience in Design: Identity, Expression & Reflection with Anne H. Berry, Jennifer Rittner, and Kelly Walters (RECORDED LIVE in Seattle at the AIGA Design Conference)

The Black Experience in Design: Identity, Expression & Reflection spotlights teaching practices, research, stories, and conversations from a Black/African diasporic lens. 

Lee-Sean Huang, AIGA's director of design content and learning interviews editors Anne H. Berry, Jennifer Rittner, and Kelly Walters about the purpose, people, and processes behind the book. This episode was recorded live at the AIGA Design Conference in Seattle in October 2022.

Fast Company recently named The Black Experience in Design one of the best design books of 2022.




Dec 05, 202237:52
FEED SWAP - Did I Do That? - The Surreal World with Lee-Sean Huang
Nov 28, 202254:11
FEED SWAP - The Futures Archive S02E10: Automatic Door

FEED SWAP - The Futures Archive S02E10: Automatic Door

AIGA has just wrapped our season of Design Adjacent. In the meantime, we will be posting some bonus materials to our feed while we figure out the future format of our shows. Our first feed swap is with The Futures Archive. 

The Futures Archive is a podcast from Design Observer that looks at the history of human-centered design with a critical eye to its future. You can subscribe on Apple podcasts, or your favorite podcatcher

On this episode, host Lee Moreau and co-host Sloan Leo discuss the automatic door, and how we can design thresholds of all kinds to be inviting to all people with additional insights from Laurent StalderBess WilliamsonWendy Ju, and David Gissen
You can view a complete transcript and find more information about this episode here.

Nov 07, 202241:29
Design Adjacent with Shauna Carey, Chief Executive Officer, IDEO.org on gratitude, social impact, finding the best solutions, challenges, curving paths, and small steps to the future

Design Adjacent with Shauna Carey, Chief Executive Officer, IDEO.org on gratitude, social impact, finding the best solutions, challenges, curving paths, and small steps to the future

Shauna Carey currently serves as Chief Executive Officer, leveraging her deep expertise in both design and social impact to oversee the strategy and vision for IDEO.org. Previously, in her role as Executive Design Director & Chief Communications Officer, Shauna worked alongside design teams and communities to surface insights to unlock new possibilities, create narratives that inspire action, and share stories about the impact of design. Over the past nine years at IDEO.org, Shauna has worked on projects and programs focused on advancing health equity, criminal justice reform, refugee rights, gender equality, and climate resilience. She also previously served as Managing Director and co-lead of our New York studio.

Prior to joining IDEO.org, Shauna worked to expand access to quality education and health care at organizations like Room to Read and the San Francisco AIDS Foundation. She also helped launch and grow a number of mission-driven startups in Europe and the San Francisco Bay Area. A social scientist at heart, Shauna holds a bachelor’s degree in Linguistics from the University of California, Santa Cruz. Outside of work, she’s happiest barefoot on a beach somewhere or at home in Brooklyn, where she can usually be found wandering around with a strong cup of coffee in hand.

About AIGA Design Adjacent

AIGA Design Adjacent is a monthly podcast series with AIGA’s Executive Director, Bennie F. Johnson, in conversation with industry leaders who are innovating and designing the future. These conversations expand beyond the design community, encompassing industries and areas that intersect with design and shift the ways in which we think about and interact with each other and the world around us.

About Bennie F. Johnson

Bennie F. Johnson is the Executive Director of AIGA, the professional association for design. Bennie thrives on the connections between marketing, technology, education, and innovation. With experience in strategic and consumer marketing, brand management, and innovation management, he is drawn to opportunities that allow him to lead and create new modes for business engagement. He has broad experience growing brands, businesses, and organizations with a special focus on venture launch and brand relaunch business environments.

Oct 25, 202225:19
Design Adjacent with Rebecca Tegtmeyer and Marty Maxwell Lane on collaboration, importance of seeing people in person, shared values and goals, and working through challenges

Design Adjacent with Rebecca Tegtmeyer and Marty Maxwell Lane on collaboration, importance of seeing people in person, shared values and goals, and working through challenges

Our guests are authors of the book, “Collaboration in Design Education: Case Studies & Teaching Methodologies” which you can learn more about here: https://collabdesigned.com/.

Rebecca Tegtmeyer is a graphic design educator and practitioner. Through her active research, writing, making, and teaching agenda she investigates the role of a designer and the creative process through a variety of forms – from static to dynamic, time-based to print. Working both individually and collaboratively, she approaches design as a catalyst in facilitating systems that challenge and inspire – further extending the capabilities and responsibilities of a designer in today’s complex world. Current collaborative research projects focus on prioritizing the student experience and strengthening the values of design education. She is also examining the role of hand sewing in designing data visualizations that bring awareness to the economic inequities of motherhood.

Currently, Rebecca is an Associate Professor and the Associate Chairperson in the Department of Art, Art History, and Design at Michigan State University. She teaches undergraduates and graduates in the areas of interaction design, motion design, typography, user experience, and branding design. She is an active contributor to both the BFA in Graphic Design and the BA in Experience Architecture degree programs.

Marty Maxwell Lane is a graphic design educator, maker, researcher, and writer. Her research focuses on design that facilitates learning and empowerment through investigations pertaining to design pedagogy, collaboration, and participatory design. Her active role in the design community has led her to present at competitive conferences in Cyprus, Berlin, London, Rome, Toronto, and the United States. Marty served as a regular contributor to the design magazine Parse (subsidiary of How magazine) and several other academic journals, magazines, and books such as Failing Forward and Type Rules! The Designer’s Guide to Professional Typography. As a long-time AIGA member, Marty has served on numerous boards, including as Director of Education for the Kansas City Chapter, Co-chair of the national AIGA Design Educators Steering Committee, and AIGA National Board Member. She is currently an advisor for the Northwest Arkansas Chapter.

Marty is currently an Associate Professor of Graphic Design in the School of Art at the University of Arkansas, where she also serves as the Director of the School. She specializes in human-centered design, design pedagogy, and leadership.

About AIGA Design Adjacent

AIGA Design Adjacent is a monthly podcast series with AIGA’s Executive Director, Bennie F. Johnson, in conversation with industry leaders who are innovating and designing the future. These conversations expand beyond the design community, encompassing industries and areas that intersect with design and shift the ways in which we think about and interact with each other and the world around us.

About Bennie F. Johnson

Bennie F. Johnson is the Executive Director of AIGA, the professional association for design. Bennie thrives on the connections between marketing, technology, education, and innovation. With experience in strategic and consumer marketing, brand management, and innovation management, he is drawn to opportunities that allow him to lead and create new modes for business engagement. He has broad experience growing brands, businesses, and organizations with a special focus on venture launch and brand relaunch business environments.

Oct 20, 202233:10
Design Adjacent with Zachary Kaiser, Associate Professor of Graphic Design and Experience Architecture at Michigan State University on design and technology, privacy, and writing

Design Adjacent with Zachary Kaiser, Associate Professor of Graphic Design and Experience Architecture at Michigan State University on design and technology, privacy, and writing

Zachary Kaiser is Associate Professor of Graphic Design and Experience Architecture at Michigan State University, USA. His research and creative practice examine the politics of technology and the role of design in shaping the parameters of individual, social, and political possibility. His work has been featured in national and international exhibitions, and his writing, on topics ranging from the future of the arts in higher education to dream-reading technologies, appears in both scholarly and popular publications.

About AIGA Design Adjacent

AIGA Design Adjacent is a monthly podcast series with AIGA’s Executive Director, Bennie F. Johnson, in conversation with industry leaders who are innovating and designing the future. These conversations expand beyond the design community, encompassing industries and areas that intersect with design and shift the ways in which we think about and interact with each other and the world around us.

About Bennie F. Johnson

Bennie F. Johnson is the Executive Director of AIGA, the professional association for design. Bennie thrives on the connections between marketing, technology, education, and innovation. With experience in strategic and consumer marketing, brand management, and innovation management, he is drawn to opportunities that allow him to lead and create new modes for business engagement. He has broad experience growing brands, businesses, and organizations with a special focus on venture launch and brand relaunch business environments.

Oct 18, 202236:32
 Design Adjacent with Camille Finan, Host and Producer of Remodel Your Life Podcast on false assumptions, finding allies in your space, over meeting expectations, and internalizing functionality

Design Adjacent with Camille Finan, Host and Producer of Remodel Your Life Podcast on false assumptions, finding allies in your space, over meeting expectations, and internalizing functionality

For more than 25 years, Camille Finan has been building kitchens and helping women create something beautiful. She started her journey in a rather unexpected way though. She was a business development consultant and taught marketing to graduate students in California, and while she loved helping people start and grow small businesses, she didn’t feel she had the chance to be very creative with her hands. She shut down her business and went back to the basics. She dug ditches and hung drywall in the beginning but slowly over time, she realized she really loved carpentry and joined the carpenters union. That led her down a path of exploring different kinds of carpentry, eventually falling in love with kitchens.

About AIGA Design Adjacent

AIGA Design Adjacent is a monthly podcast series with AIGA’s Executive Director, Bennie F. Johnson, in conversation with industry leaders who are innovating and designing the future. These conversations expand beyond the design community, encompassing industries and areas that intersect with design and shift the ways in which we think about and interact with each other and the world around us.

About Bennie F. Johnson

Bennie F. Johnson is the Executive Director of AIGA, the professional association for design. Bennie thrives on the connections between marketing, technology, education, and innovation. With experience in strategic and consumer marketing, brand management, and innovation management, he is drawn to opportunities that allow him to lead and create new modes for business engagement. He has broad experience growing brands, businesses, and organizations with a special focus on venture launch and brand relaunch business environments.

Oct 13, 202244:02
Design Adjacent with Paul Taylor, Chief Creative Officer and Founding Partner, BrandOpus on cracked eggs and iconic brands

Design Adjacent with Paul Taylor, Chief Creative Officer and Founding Partner, BrandOpus on cracked eggs and iconic brands

Paul Taylor is the Chief Creative Officer and Founding Partner at global branding agency BrandOpus. Founded in 2007, BrandOpus creates meaningful and connected brand experience for some of the world's most revered brands. Fusing wisdom with wonderment, his role today is to lead all creative output across the London, New York, Chicago and Melbourne studios. Paul has served brand experience for a wide portfolio of brands including Nestlé, Kraft Heinz, McCain, Britvic and First Direct. His work has been recognized by the likes of D&AD, The Design Business Association, Pentawards and The Drum.

About AIGA Design Adjacent

AIGA Design Adjacent is a monthly podcast series with AIGA’s Executive Director, Bennie F. Johnson, in conversation with industry leaders who are innovating and designing the future. These conversations expand beyond the design community, encompassing industries and areas that intersect with design and shift the ways in which we think about and interact with each other and the world around us.

About Bennie F. Johnson

Bennie F. Johnson is the Executive Director of AIGA, the professional association for design. Bennie thrives on the connections between marketing, technology, education, and innovation. With experience in strategic and consumer marketing, brand management, and innovation management, he is drawn to opportunities that allow him to lead and create new modes for business engagement. He has broad experience growing brands, businesses, and organizations with a special focus on venture launch and brand relaunch business environments.

Oct 11, 202237:15
Design Adjacent with Chris Hervochon, Better Way CPA, virtual CFO for marketing and creative agencies and nonprofit organizations

Design Adjacent with Chris Hervochon, Better Way CPA, virtual CFO for marketing and creative agencies and nonprofit organizations

On this episode of AIGA Design Adjacent…Moving from hobby to work, taking advantage of the experts in your corner, value of a business coach, investing in yourself, making data work for you, and being helpful with Chris Hervochon, Better Way CPA, Virtual CFO for marketing and creative agencies and nonprofit organizations

Chris Hervochon, CPA, CVA is the sole proprietor of his CPA firm. Chris Hervochon provides outsourced accounting and tax preparation for small businesses and individuals. Before starting his own CPA firm, Chris spent ten years between forensic accounting and corporate accounting and finance. He has been featured in publications such as the Journal of Accountancy, Accounting Today, AMEX Open Forum, Parakeeto Podcast, The Agency Management Institute Podcast and the Digital Marketing Agency Builders Podcast for his industry knowledge and accounting expertise.

Chris' passion for the accounting and finance industry is evident by a number of extra-curricular programs. He volunteers as a committee member of the AICPA Young Member Leadership Committee, and lead of the Retention Task Force.  Chris is a member of the Business & Industry and Government Affairs Committees, as well as the CPE Facility Task Force of the South Carolina Association of CPAs.

About AIGA Design Adjacent

AIGA Design Adjacent is a monthly podcast series with AIGA’s Executive Director, Bennie F. Johnson, in conversation with industry leaders who are innovating and designing the future. These conversations expand beyond the design community, encompassing industries and areas that intersect with design and shift the ways in which we think about and interact with each other and the world around us.

About Bennie F. Johnson

Bennie F. Johnson is the Executive Director of AIGA, the professional association for design. Bennie thrives on the connections between marketing, technology, education, and innovation. With experience in strategic and consumer marketing, brand management, and innovation management, he is drawn to opportunities that allow him to lead and create new modes for business engagement. He has broad experience growing brands, businesses, and organizations with a special focus on venture launch and brand relaunch business environments.

Oct 06, 202236:22
Design Adjacent with AIGA Medalist Archie Boston on design spirituality, art, culture, and industry, learning for the sake of knowledge, capturing history, and helping others through design

Design Adjacent with AIGA Medalist Archie Boston on design spirituality, art, culture, and industry, learning for the sake of knowledge, capturing history, and helping others through design

Archie is a nationally known art director, designer, author, business owner, and educator. He was chair of the Graphic Design Program at California State University Long Beach for 12 terms and was named Outstanding Professor of the Year in 2004. He has also operated his design-consulting firm, Archie Boston Graphic Design, since 1972. He was the first African American recipient of the prestigious AIGA Fellows Award from the Los Angeles Chapter of AIGA in 2007. The Fellows Award recognizes individuals who have made a significant contribution to raise the standards of excellence in practice and conduct within their local or regional design community. In 2021, he was the recipient of the AIGA Medal for expanding voice—he was recognized for his longstanding commitment to his students as an educator, mentor, and profound influence on the community of Los Angeles, as well as his bold, funny, polemical designs from a lifetime body of work.

Archie and his brother, David, are the creative force that created the 2016 documentary, Black Pioneers of the Sunshine City, which has been shown on WEDU in the Central Florida area during Black History Month, since 2017. He was also interviewed and his posters were featured in the documentary, The Real Mad Men of Advertising of the 1960’s, which was donated to The Smithsonian Museum in 2018.

As one of the few African-American graphic designers in California, he impacted generations of designers as an educator, writer, and designer.

About AIGA Design Adjacent

AIGA Design Adjacent is a monthly podcast series with AIGA’s Executive Director, Bennie F. Johnson, in conversation with industry leaders who are innovating and designing the future. These conversations expand beyond the design community, encompassing industries and areas that intersect with design and shift the ways in which we think about and interact with each other and the world around us.

About Bennie F. Johnson

Bennie F. Johnson is the Executive Director of AIGA, the professional association for design. Bennie thrives on the connections between marketing, technology, education, and innovation. With experience in strategic and consumer marketing, brand management, and innovation management, he is drawn to opportunities that allow him to lead and create new modes for business engagement. He has broad experience growing brands, businesses, and organizations with a special focus on venture launch and brand relaunch business environments.

Oct 04, 202240:36
Fireside Chat with Robin Petravic, Co-owner and Managing Director of Heath Ceramics

Fireside Chat with Robin Petravic, Co-owner and Managing Director of Heath Ceramics

AIGA Executive Director Bennie F. Johnson talks with today's leaders in design, business, and technology, focused around the topics of leadership growth, the future of work, and creating a culture of design. Join us in welcoming Robin Petravic, Co-owner and Managing Director of Heath Ceramics.

Heath Ceramics is the 2022 AIGA Corporate Leadership Awardee. Founded in 1948 in Sausalito, California, is an American maker of goods for the home. The company is best known for its handcrafted tableware and architectural tile in distinctive glazes. Led by husband and wife, Robin Petravic and Catherine Bailey, who are shaping the relationship we have to things we own, and the way we come to own them.

Sep 22, 202244:44
Design Adjacent with Llisa Demetrios, Chief Curator, Eames Institute on infinite curiosity, chain reactions, design as a method of action, addressing needs, creating connections, and sustainability

Design Adjacent with Llisa Demetrios, Chief Curator, Eames Institute on infinite curiosity, chain reactions, design as a method of action, addressing needs, creating connections, and sustainability

Sep 20, 202237:12
Fireside Chat with Rick Griffith

Fireside Chat with Rick Griffith

AIGA Executive Director Bennie F. Johnson talks with today's leaders in design, business, and technology, focused around the topics of leadership growth, the future of work, and creating a culture of design. Join us in welcoming Rick Griffith, the 2022 AIGA Design Conference Chair, who will share his vision and the theme for this year’s upcoming conference in October taking place in Seattle, WA.

Rick Griffith has been a full-time designer, occasional writer, teacher, activist and printer, who produces, collects and loves artifacts (often made of paper) that are sometimes qualified to be discussed as art. He also participates in a studio called MATTER, and every Saturday he works in the shop at MATTER; these are both enterprises and collaborations with his Partner Debra Johnson.

Sep 13, 202252:59
Design Adjacent with Elise Schuster, Co-Founder and Executive Director, okayso on being a problem solver, standing the gap, creating safe spaces, and building a human first organization.

Design Adjacent with Elise Schuster, Co-Founder and Executive Director, okayso on being a problem solver, standing the gap, creating safe spaces, and building a human first organization.

Elise Schuster is a sexuality educator with 15 years of experience in youth development and pleasure-based sex education. Elise has a masters in public health from Columbia University with a specialization in sexuality and health. Elise began their work in public health at Physicians for Reproductive Health, training doctors to provide adolescent-friendly reproductive health care. They also spent many years teaching workshops at Babeland and having thousands of one-on-one educational pleasure-based sexual health conversations.

After their MPH, Elise spent almost a decade at a premiere NYC youth development center serving over 11,000 marginalized young people every year. Elise had several roles here including running intake and assessment for over 30 new young people every day, overseeing capacity building work, managing 30 student volunteers, starting a professional training institute, and a youth council, and overseeing a $6.5 million wraparound services grant with twelve subgrantee partners.

Elise also serves as a trainer on LGBTQ+ competency issues and regularly facilitates workshops for healthcare professionals, educators, artists, corporations, and more.

About AIGA Design Adjacent

AIGA Design Adjacent is a monthly podcast series with AIGA’s Executive Director, Bennie F. Johnson, in conversation with industry leaders who are innovating and designing the future. These conversations expand beyond the design community, encompassing industries and areas that intersect with design and shift the ways in which we think about and interact with each other and the world around us.

About Bennie F. Johnson

Bennie F. Johnson is the Executive Director of AIGA, the professional association for design. Bennie thrives on the connections between marketing, technology, education, and innovation. With experience in strategic and consumer marketing, brand management, and innovation management, he is drawn to opportunities that allow him to lead and create new modes for business engagement. He has broad experience growing brands, businesses, and organizations with a special focus on venture launch and brand relaunch business environments.

Sep 06, 202242:21
Design Adjacent with Margot Bloomstein, Author, Principal of Appropriate, Inc. on interpersonal relationships, leading with the human side, what a company can do to demonstrate trust

Design Adjacent with Margot Bloomstein, Author, Principal of Appropriate, Inc. on interpersonal relationships, leading with the human side, what a company can do to demonstrate trust

Margot Bloomstein is one of the most prominent voices in the content strategy industry. She is the  author of Trustworthy: How the Smartest Brands Beat Cynicism and Bridge the Trust Gap and Content Strategy at Work: Real-World Stories to Strengthen Every Interactive Project and the principal of Appropriate, Inc., a brand and content strategy consultancy based in Boston. As a speaker and strategic adviser, she has worked with marketing teams in a range of organizations over the past two decades. The creator of BrandSort, she developed the popular message architecture-driven approach to content strategy. Margot teaches in the content strategy graduate program at FH Joanneum University in Graz,  Austria, and lectures around the world about brand-driven content strategy and designing for trust.

About AIGA Design Adjacent

AIGA Design Adjacent is a monthly podcast series with AIGA’s Executive Director, Bennie F. Johnson, in conversation with industry leaders who are innovating and designing the future. These conversations expand beyond the design community, encompassing industries and areas that intersect with design and shift the ways in which we think about and interact with each other and the world around us.

About Bennie F. Johnson

Bennie F. Johnson is the Executive Director of AIGA, the professional association for design. Bennie thrives on the connections between marketing, technology, education, and innovation. With experience in strategic and consumer marketing, brand management, and innovation management, he is drawn to opportunities that allow him to lead and create new modes for business engagement. He has broad experience growing brands, businesses, and organizations with a special focus on venture launch and brand relaunch business environments.

Aug 23, 202236:50
Design Adjacent with Meg Mothershed, Strategy Guru and Wordsmith, Mothershed Design Co. on being an entrepreneur, what it means to be chief champion for yourself, work life balance and more

Design Adjacent with Meg Mothershed, Strategy Guru and Wordsmith, Mothershed Design Co. on being an entrepreneur, what it means to be chief champion for yourself, work life balance and more

Aug 09, 202228:20
Design Adjacent with Diana Barnes, Chief Brand Officer and Creative Director at Munchkin on unleashing storytelling in branding, human connectivity, and being the change you want to see in the world

Design Adjacent with Diana Barnes, Chief Brand Officer and Creative Director at Munchkin on unleashing storytelling in branding, human connectivity, and being the change you want to see in the world

Diana Barnes (DB)  is the Chief Brand Officer and Creative Director at Munchkin. Under her leadership, Munchkin’s Brand Design team has won over 80 top international design awards for 360 designs, the highly coveted Red Dot Award among the latest. A passionate advocate for trees, animals, and the environment, she created and leads all Munchkin CSR initiatives such as partnerships with The Whale Sanctuary Project, Trees for the Future and IFAW (The International Fund for Animal Welfare) and Radiant Colors. Before joining Munchkin, she served as the Global Director of Brand Design for Dell, Inc. In this key role, she led global teams in Austin, India, and Asia. Prior to this, her career actually began in music and entertainment, holding executive creative positions at Sony and EMI, as well as several global ad agencies.

About AIGA Design Adjacent

AIGA Design Adjacent is a monthly podcast series with AIGA’s Executive Director, Bennie F. Johnson, in conversation with industry leaders who are innovating and designing the future. These conversations expand beyond the design community, encompassing industries and areas that intersect with design and shift the ways in which we think about and interact with each other and the world around us.

About Bennie F. Johnson

Bennie F. Johnson is the Executive Director of AIGA, the professional association for design. Bennie thrives on the connections between marketing, technology, education, and innovation. With experience in strategic and consumer marketing, brand management, and innovation management, he is drawn to opportunities that allow him to lead and create new modes for business engagement. He has broad experience growing brands, businesses, and organizations with a special focus on venture launch and brand relaunch business environments.

Jul 26, 202234:24
Fireside Chat with Art Chantry

Fireside Chat with Art Chantry

Fireside Chat with design leader and 2017 AIGA Medalist Art Chantry and AIGA Executive Director Bennie F. Johnson. They discuss best practices and learnings from their career in representing yourself in your work and approaching graphic design as a language we all speak.

This episode was originally livestreamed as part of the third annual AIGA Portfolio Festival in July 2022. 

Jul 20, 202252:12
Design Future Live with Beat Baudenbacher

Design Future Live with Beat Baudenbacher

This episode is a recording of a livestream on 7/12/2022 with Lee-Sean Huang, AIGA's Director of Design Content and Learning and Beat Kaspar Badenbacher, Chief Creative Officer of loyalkaspar and author of the upcoming book, Somewhere Yes: The Search for Belonging in a World Shaped by Branding.

Beat is known for designing the brand identities for Peacock, Paramount+, MTV, ESPN, Comedy Central, and many more over the entertainment and media space. The book is about how the tools of branding, which naturally bring people together, have been weaponized by our culture around ideals and causes that have put us on a dystopian trajectory... and they may be the same tools to help us recover from that trajectory. The book also isn’t walls of text either, or a dissertation on branding, it’s a visual exploration, blanketed with illustrations, photography, symbols, and design—inspired by the graphic sensibilities of Marshall McLuhan (The Medium is the Massage) and Paul Arden (It's Not How Good You Are, It's How Good You Want to Be).

Jul 15, 202230:30
Design Adjacent with Dave Garrett, Chief Strategy & Growth Officer at PMI on articulating a vision, co-developing solutions, changing methodology, and having impact

Design Adjacent with Dave Garrett, Chief Strategy & Growth Officer at PMI on articulating a vision, co-developing solutions, changing methodology, and having impact

Dave Garrett, Chief Strategy & Growth Officer, drives PMI’s growth strategy by working across the organization to define, test, and deliver solutions that enable individuals and organizations to create impact and propel change. Dave was the co-founder, President and CEO of ProjectManagement.com (formerly Gantthead.com), an online community for project professionals, established in 2000 and acquired by PMI in 2014. Since joining PMI, he has held several leadership roles, including dual role as Director of Digital Presence and CEO of ProjectManagement.com. Dave’s passion for project management led him to serve in multiple volunteer positions for PMI prior to becoming employed by the organization. Earlier in Dave’s career, he also created Project Pain Reliever, a just-in-time handbook for managing projects and has published and bylined dozens of articles related to project management, technology trends, and more.

About AIGA Design Adjacent

AIGA Design Adjacent is a monthly podcast series with AIGA’s Executive Director, Bennie F. Johnson, in conversation with industry leaders who are innovating and designing the future. These conversations expand beyond the design community, encompassing industries and areas that intersect with design and shift the ways in which we think about and interact with each other and the world around us.

About Bennie F. Johnson

Bennie F. Johnson is the Executive Director of AIGA, the professional association for design. Bennie thrives on the connections between marketing, technology, education, and innovation. With experience in strategic and consumer marketing, brand management, and innovation management, he is drawn to opportunities that allow him to lead and create new modes for business engagement. He has broad experience growing brands, businesses, and organizations with a special focus on venture launch and brand relaunch business environments.

Jul 12, 202233:10
Design Adjacent with Ritesh Gupta, Founder of the Useful School on re-visioning design education, radical changes, impact of design, and finding a coach

Design Adjacent with Ritesh Gupta, Founder of the Useful School on re-visioning design education, radical changes, impact of design, and finding a coach

Ritesh Gupta is the founder of Useful School, the world’s first pay-what-you-can online design school for people of color. He specializes in product design, product management, branding, typography, and growth analytics. Ritesh has collaborated or worked for companies including Wieden+Kennedy, Mother Design, 2 Shark Tank companies, Sagmeister & Walsh, R/GA and Cooper Hewitt. His work has been featured in Adweek, AIGA Eye on Design, It’s Nice That, Wallpaper, Print Mag, Brand New, The Dieline, and more. He is also a volunteer for Where Are The Black Designers?.

About AIGA Design Adjacent

AIGA Design Adjacent is a monthly podcast series with AIGA’s Executive Director, Bennie F. Johnson, in conversation with industry leaders who are innovating and designing the future. These conversations expand beyond the design community, encompassing industries and areas that intersect with design and shift the ways in which we think about and interact with each other and the world around us.

About Bennie F. Johnson

Bennie F. Johnson is the Executive Director of AIGA, the professional association for design. Bennie thrives on the connections between marketing, technology, education, and innovation. With experience in strategic and consumer marketing, brand management, and innovation management, he is drawn to opportunities that allow him to lead and create new modes for business engagement. He has broad experience growing brands, businesses, and organizations with a special focus on venture launch and brand relaunch business environments.

Jun 28, 202238:45
Design Adjacent with Lisa Sasaki, Interim Director of the Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum on field trips, creating connections between people and objects, and museums without walls

Design Adjacent with Lisa Sasaki, Interim Director of the Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum on field trips, creating connections between people and objects, and museums without walls

Lisa Sasaki is currently the interim director of the Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum. The new museum was established by Congress in late 2020 as part of the Smithsonian. Lisa was appointed interim director in March 2021and before joining the Smithsonian, she was the director of the Audience and Civic Engagement Center at the Oakland Museum of California. Lisa was the director of program development at the Japanese American National Museum (JANM) in Los Angeles from 2003 until 2012, where she directed major institutional projects. During her tenure at JANM, she supervised the museum’s curatorial, public programs, web, education and collections departments and managed and led the strategic planning for programs, exhibitions, audience development and fundraising.

About AIGA Design Adjacent

AIGA Design Adjacent is a monthly podcast series with AIGA’s Executive Director, Bennie F. Johnson, in conversation with industry leaders who are innovating and designing the future. These conversations expand beyond the design community, encompassing industries and areas that intersect with design and shift the ways in which we think about and interact with each other and the world around us.

About Bennie F. Johnson

Bennie F. Johnson is the Executive Director of AIGA, the professional association for design. Bennie thrives on the connections between marketing, technology, education, and innovation. With experience in strategic and consumer marketing, brand management, and innovation management, he is drawn to opportunities that allow him to lead and create new modes for business engagement. He has broad experience growing brands, businesses, and organizations with a special focus on venture launch and brand relaunch business environments.

Jun 14, 202236:53
Design Adjacent with Regina Bain on preserving a legacy, musical storytelling, clown class, and what it means to listen and respond

Design Adjacent with Regina Bain on preserving a legacy, musical storytelling, clown class, and what it means to listen and respond

Regina Bain is the Executive Director of the Louis Armstrong House Museum (LAHM). She is an artist, leader, facilitator and program designer with over 16 years of experience building non-profit capacity for organizational growth. Before joining LAHM, she served as Associate Vice President of the Posse Foundation. Posse is a national leadership and college access program which helps to send teams of students or “Posses” to top colleges and universities. Regina is committed to social justice. She facilitates and trains others to facilitate conversations on social identity, leadership and group dynamics. She is currently the co-chair of Culture @3’s anti-racism subcommittee. She serves on the national advisory council of Urban Bush Women (UBW). UBW is a dance company that galvanizes artists, activists and audiences through performances, artist development and community involvement. She produces The Drama Podcast, leads the Yale Black Alumni Association and serves on the Yale Board of Governors.

About AIGA Design Adjacent

AIGA Design Adjacent is a monthly podcast series with AIGA’s Executive Director, Bennie F. Johnson, in conversation with industry leaders who are innovating and designing the future. These conversations expand beyond the design community, encompassing industries and areas that intersect with design and shift the ways in which we think about and interact with each other and the world around us.

About Bennie F. Johnson

Bennie F. Johnson is the Executive Director of AIGA, the professional association for design. Bennie thrives on the connections between marketing, technology, education, and innovation. With experience in strategic and consumer marketing, brand management, and innovation management, he is drawn to opportunities that allow him to lead and create new modes for business engagement. He has broad experience growing brands, businesses, and organizations with a special focus on venture launch and brand relaunch business environments.

May 31, 202234:15
Fireside Chat with Bennie F. Johnson and Lynda Decker, Creative Director at Decker Design
May 19, 202242:16
Design Adjacent with Catherine Clark, Founder and Paul McDowall on changing spaces, designing around people, and not being perfect

Design Adjacent with Catherine Clark, Founder and Paul McDowall on changing spaces, designing around people, and not being perfect

In 2001, Catherine and Paul joined forces to create an original agency concept, built around the idea that true collaborative thinking and different perspectives can solve brand challenges holistically—and better. Together, with their talented team of brand architects, they partner with some of the world’s most forward-looking brands. Their strategic and creative guidance has helped brands better our world by tackling the important topics such as sustainability, health and wellness, and empowerment head on.

Catherine sets the vision for the business and shapes the strategic direction for the work. Growing up in Paris as a child of parents who worked for the United Nations, she was brought up in an international community, steeped in colorful stories, beliefs, and values. That ultimately fueled her passion for entrepreneurship and the potential she sees in people and businesses to make our world better.

Paul is the creative force behind the business. He grew up in Liverpool, UK, a hotbed of creativity with many musicians, writers and artists. His surroundings shaped his perspective and created a deep-seated curiosity to create, make and explore the potential in things. His guidance inspires new ideas and unlocks new ways of thinking.

About AIGA Design Adjacent

AIGA Design Adjacent is a monthly podcast series with AIGA’s Executive Director, Bennie F. Johnson, in conversation with industry leaders who are innovating and designing the future. These conversations expand beyond the design community, encompassing industries and areas that intersect with design and shift the ways in which we think about and interact with each other and the world around us.

About Bennie F. Johnson

Bennie F. Johnson is the Executive Director of AIGA, the professional association for design. Bennie thrives on the connections between marketing, technology, education, and innovation. With experience in strategic and consumer marketing, brand management, and innovation management, he is drawn to opportunities that allow him to lead and create new modes for business engagement. He has broad experience growing brands, businesses, and organizations with a special focus on venture launch and brand relaunch business environments.

May 17, 202247:15
Fireside Chat with Bennie F. Johnson and Michael Bierut, Partner at Pentagram
May 13, 202250:44
Fireside Chat with Bennie F. Johnson and Katrina Alcorn, General Manager, Design at IBM
May 05, 202246:60
Design Adjacent with Bret Recor on shifting the agency model, being a true partner, and environmental impact

Design Adjacent with Bret Recor on shifting the agency model, being a true partner, and environmental impact

Bret is an industrial designer, entrepreneur, and investor. He is the founder and director of the award-winning design studio, Box Clever, which is renowned for creating physical products and experiences that delight consumers and build category-leading brands. The studio is responsible for designing best-selling products including Away luggage, Caraway cookware, and July air conditioners.

The San Francisco-based design practice operates at the intersection of industrial design, brand strategy, and investment. Bret’s expertise lies in balancing creative vision with real-world experience and engineering prowess. He understands the nuances of taking an idea from concept to market. Specializing in consumer products, and with focus on the creation of

physical experiences that enhance human relationships, Box Clever operates under the belief

that anything can be successfully designed.

He is committed to executing a challenge to its most brilliant realization. To do this, he balances creative vision with real-world experience of industrial design, brand strategy, and business ventures.

About AIGA Design Adjacent

AIGA Design Adjacent is a monthly podcast series with AIGA’s Executive Director, Bennie F. Johnson, in conversation with industry leaders who are innovating and designing the future. These conversations expand beyond the design community, encompassing industries and areas that intersect with design and shift the ways in which we think about and interact with each other and the world around us.

About Bennie F. Johnson

Bennie F. Johnson is the Executive Director of AIGA, the professional association for design. Bennie thrives on the connections between marketing, technology, education, and innovation. With experience in strategic and consumer marketing, brand management, and innovation management, he is drawn to opportunities that allow him to lead and create new modes for business engagement. He has broad experience growing brands, businesses, and organizations with a special focus on venture launch and brand relaunch business environments.

May 03, 202241:19
Design Future Live with JoAnn Holmes on Intellectual Property and Web3

Design Future Live with JoAnn Holmes on Intellectual Property and Web3

This episode is a recording of an interactive livestream hosted by Lee-Sean Huang, AIGA's director of design content and learning, in conversation with JoAnn Holmes, an IP and digital asset attorney and host of the "Your Business Ally" podcast. Jo helps creators develop smart Web3 strategies to monetize intellectual property. Her expertise helps clients navigate a range of IP and Web3 topics, including , NFTs, blockchain tech, regulations, taxes, and contracts.  

Jo will also be doing a workshop on intellectual property and Web 3.0 at the AIGA Design + Business Conference, May 4-6 (Online). Join us: https://www.aiga.org/design/design-conferences/aiga-design-business-conference

Watch the video version of this episode here: https://vimeo.com/703971387 

Apr 28, 202233:55
Design Adjacent with Minal Bopaiah on being stewards of equity, storytelling, and being a reluctant entrepreneurship

Design Adjacent with Minal Bopaiah on being stewards of equity, storytelling, and being a reluctant entrepreneurship

Minal is an author, speaker, and strategic consultant with more than 20 years of professional experience. Her areas of expertise include human-centered design, behavior change science, and the principles of diversity, equity, and inclusion as they relate to media, marketing and communications, and organization design.

As the Founder and Principal Consultant of Brevity & Wit, Minal is passionate about designing for equity. Her work includes working with NPR’s news managers to design a system for diversifying news sources. She is also the creator and facilitator for the DEI Executive Forum, a six-month cohort learning experience for general managers in public media that helps them become more equitable leaders and develop a strategic plan to accomplish their DEI goals.

Minal’s previous work includes being an educational content specialist for Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit behind Sesame Street and its international co-productions, and a press intern for Doctors Without Borders. She is a sought-after keynote speaker, and her thought leadership has been published in the Stanford Social Innovation Review and TheHill.com.

About AIGA Design Adjacent

AIGA Design Adjacent is a monthly podcast series with AIGA’s Executive Director, Bennie F. Johnson, in conversation with industry leaders who are innovating and designing the future. These conversations expand beyond the design community, encompassing industries and areas that intersect with design and shift the ways in which we think about and interact with each other and the world around us.

About Bennie F. Johnson

Bennie F. Johnson is the Executive Director of AIGA, the professional association for design. Bennie thrives on the connections between marketing, technology, education, and innovation. With experience in strategic and consumer marketing, brand management, and innovation management, he is drawn to opportunities that allow him to lead and create new modes for business engagement. He has broad experience growing brands, businesses, and organizations with a special focus on venture launch and brand relaunch business environments.

Apr 19, 202242:12
Design Adjacent with Steven Heller on first days, joys of incompetence, and the tentacles of design

Design Adjacent with Steven Heller on first days, joys of incompetence, and the tentacles of design

Steven is graphic designer, art director, design critic and author. He has held the position of senior art director at New York Times Book Review and is also a prolific writer, having authored and co-authored over 200 books about the history and practice of typography, illustration, graphic design, popular culture and propaganda. He also worked as an editor for the prestigious AIGA Journal of Graphic Design.

He is the co-founder and co-chair (with Lita Talarico) of the MFA Designer as entrepreneur program at the School of Visual Arts in New York, where he lectures on the history of graphic design and teaches a writing class in SVA Design Writing, Research and Criticism. He also was co-director for ten years of SVA’s Modernism & Eclecticism: A History of American Graphic Design symposiums.

With Seymour Chwast, he co-founded Push Pin Editions, a packager of visual books, including the forthcoming "Hell: The People & Places" illustrated by Chwast; and with his wife Louise Fili he has produced over twenty books and design products for Chronicle Books, PA Press and other publishers.

Steven is the recipient of the Smithsonian Institution National Design Award for "Design Mind," the AIGA Medal for Lifetime Achievement, among other honors. And in 2017, the annual Steven Heller Prize for Cultural Commentary was created to spotlight individuals who best exemplify the tradition of prolific writing and boundless curiosity.

In Fall 2022 his book, "Growing Up Underground: A Memoir Of Counterculture New York" will be published by PA Press.

About AIGA Design Adjacent

AIGA Design Adjacent is a monthly podcast series with AIGA’s Executive Director, Bennie F. Johnson, in conversation with industry leaders who are innovating and designing the future. These conversations expand beyond the design community, encompassing industries and areas that intersect with design and shift the ways in which we think about and interact with each other and the world around us.

About Bennie F. Johnson

Bennie F. Johnson is the Executive Director of AIGA, the professional association for design. Bennie thrives on the connections between marketing, technology, education, and innovation. With experience in strategic and consumer marketing, brand management, and innovation management, he is drawn to opportunities that allow him to lead and create new modes for business engagement. He has broad experience growing brands, businesses, and organizations with a special focus on venture launch and brand relaunch business environments.

Apr 05, 202245:49
Design Adjacent with Matt Mullenweg on working remote vs distributed work, music, distractions, and augmented reality

Design Adjacent with Matt Mullenweg on working remote vs distributed work, music, distractions, and augmented reality

About Matt Mullenweg

Matt Mullenweg, founding developer of WordPress, the Open Source software used by over 40% of the web, including this site. WordPress is a part of who Matt is; he can’t not work on WordPress. The company celebrated 15 years in 2018. The project touches a lot of people, something he’s recently begun to appreciate and he considers himself very lucky to be able to work on something he loves so much.

In late 2005, Matt left WordPress to found a company called Automattic, which is now the force behind WordPress.com, Jetpack, WooCommerce, Simplenote, Longreads, The Atavist, and many other products. The company’s mission—make the web a better place.

About AIGA Design Adjacent

AIGA Design Adjacent is a monthly podcast series with AIGA’s Executive Director, Bennie F. Johnson, in conversation with industry leaders who are innovating and designing the future. These conversations expand beyond the design community, encompassing industries and areas that intersect with design and shift the ways in which we think about and interact with each other and the world around us.

About Bennie F. Johnson

Bennie F. Johnson is the Executive Director of AIGA, the professional association for design. Bennie thrives on the connections between marketing, technology, education, and innovation. With experience in strategic and consumer marketing, brand management, and innovation management, he is drawn to opportunities that allow him to lead and create new modes for business engagement. He has broad experience growing brands, businesses, and organizations with a special focus on venture launch and brand relaunch business environments.

Mar 22, 202246:38
Michael Arndt on Snails & Monkey Tails: A Visual Guide to Punctuation & Symbols

Michael Arndt on Snails & Monkey Tails: A Visual Guide to Punctuation & Symbols

Join host Lee-Sean Huang for Design Future Live, an interview show about how the design industry is changing as a discipline and opportunities this creates for the design community. In this episode, we will be talking with Michael Arndt about his upcoming book, Snails & Monkey Tails A Visual Guide to Punctuation & Symbols. This interview was originally livestreamed on Tuesday, March 15, 2022.

Order Snails & Monkey Tails from Amazon or wherever you get books: amzn.to/3JhYqEh

Michael Arndt is an award-winning graphic designer and author and illustrator of several books including Cat Says Meow and other animalopoeia, My Heart Grows, Minimal New York City: Graphic, Gritty, and Witty, One Yellow Sun, Thoughts Are Air, and rAinbowZ. His love of language and typography inspired this book. Michael lives in New York City with his dog Clooney and his cat Greta. In his spare time, he can be found online correcting other people’s punctuation.


Mar 17, 202230:20
Ian Lynam on the Impossibility of Silence: Writing for Designers, Artists & Photographers

Ian Lynam on the Impossibility of Silence: Writing for Designers, Artists & Photographers

Join host Lee-Sean Huang for Design Future Live, an interview show about how the design industry is changing as a discipline and opportunities this creates for the design community. In this episode, we will be talking with Ian Lynam about his book, The Impossibility of Silence: Writing for Designers, Artists & Photographers. This interview was originally livestreamed on Wednesday, March 9, 2022.

Watch the video version of the interview here: https://www.aiga.org/inspiration/talks/ian-lynam-design-future-live-with-ian-lynam

Buy The Impossibility of Silence on Artbook.com. Use code AIGAMEMBER25 for 25% off: https://www.artbook.com/9789493148390.html 

From the publisher of The Impossibility of Silence:

Despite the seemingly common expectation that art should be able to speak for itself, creators are often asked to explain the process behind their work, their experiences in their vocation, and, perhaps most dauntingly, the meaning conveyed by any particular piece. Drawing upon his own unique career trajectory across multiple fields as a writer, designer and teacher, Tokyo-based artist Ian Lynam offers readers a variety of approaches to writing about creative fields.Called “the Hunter S. Thompson of design writing,” Lynam uses his industry knowledge and sharp sense of humor to convey his philosophy on writing specifically in a professional creative setting. This volume is not so much a straightforward how-to guide on how to write an artist’s statement as it is an honest meditation on how difficult—and how important—it is for creators to have the facilities to articulate the ethos behind their own work. Lynam encourages readers to think of the blank page as another sort of canvas, a space of potential, a landscape on which an artist may explore themselves and their work farther than they thought possible. Lynam provides both inspirational text as a jumping-off point for readers as well as concrete techniques in terms of craft.
Mar 15, 202238:09