Design Better
Episodes
Video Rewind: Cassie McDaniel: How Medium eliminated its PM function and started moving faster
24 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
We’re taking a holiday break, so we’re rewinding to one of our favorite episodes this year with Cassie McDaniel, Medium’s head of design. We’...
Aaron Draplin: Field Notes co-founder on what skate culture taught him about design
17 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
A larger than life figure in the creative world, Aaron Draplin has been designing everything from logos to posters since 1995. Few designers are as pr...
Jessica Hische and Chris Shiflett: Designing business tools that support how creatives actually work
09 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Jessica Hische and Chris Shiflett first crossed paths at Studiomates, a Brooklyn based co-working space where some of New York’s most talented desig...
2025 Holiday Gift Guide
04 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
It’s that time of year again—our favorite episode to put together. A moment to look back at the objects, experiences, and ideas that sparked creat...
Phil Gilbert: Making a 114-year-old, 400,000 person company care about design
25 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Changing the culture of a 400,000-person company isn’t just hard—it’s the kind of transformation most leaders wouldn’t even attempt. But when ...
Cecilia Brenner: Moving beyond design theater to measurable impact
18 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
We’ve talked to many design leaders who have burned out after a decade or more of corporate work. But after 17 years at Philips designing health inn...
Video Rewind: Jordan Mechner: Pioneering game designer on creating Prince of Persia, Karateka, and a new graphic novel memoir
14 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This is a preview of a premium episode. You can find a video version of the full episode on our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3d...
Ben Swire: Author of "Safe Danger" on the hidden reason team building efforts fail
05 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
As educators, we’ve grown wary of the term “safe spaces,” especially when what many students really need is a space to engage with “dangerous”...
Jeremy Faludi: Sustainability professor on why most sustainable design fails before it starts
28 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Design is a problem solving discipline. We research user needs, explore solutions, make things, and ship them. But one important stakeholder is often ...
Alison Rand: Leading with radical humanity instead of radical candor
21 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
We’ve worked alongside people for years, only to realize that we know nothing about their personal life. And it probably affected our working relati...
The Brief: How our recent past should prepare us for the age of AI
20 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this issue of The Brief, we’re reflecting on what we learned about the past and future of design from our conversation with Paola Antonelli (T...
Fitz and the Tantrums: Finding your creative voice in your 40's and why success feels different than you think
15 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This is a preview of a premium Design Better episode. Visit our Substack to hear the whole interview, for bonus content, and more: https://designbe...
Bonus Episode: 30 years of design with Wert&Co, live in NYC featuring Paola Antonelli, Mark Wilson,Kate Aronowitz, Mike Davidson, and Meaghan Choi
10 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Visit our Substack for bonus content and more:https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/bonus-episode-30-years-of-design Today we celebrate 30 years of Wert&...
Rewind: Paola Antonelli: How design shapes culture
01 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Visit our Substack for bonus content and more: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/rewind-paola-antonelli Design Better has been on the road recently, ...
Keith Sawyer: Become more creative by learning to see
24 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This is a preview of a premium episode on Design Better. To listen to the whole episode, head to our Substack: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/keit...
Jae Park: Designing a new generation of vehicles at Ford, and why friction matters in the creative process
23 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Visit our Substack for bonus content and more: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/jae-park As designers and creatives, many of us spent years of our c...
Astro Teller & Ivo Stivoric: Why moonshots require unlearning everything you know
10 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This is a preview of a premium episode. To hear the full episode, head to our Substack: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/astro-teller-and-ivo-stiv...
Henry Modisett: Perplexity’s VP of Design on embracing ambiguity and leading with curiosity
03 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Find bonus content and more on our Substack: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/henry-modisett AI isn’t just another layer in our digital toolkit—...
Elizabeth Lin: Rethinking design education in the age of AI
26 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This is a preview of a premium episode on Design Better. Head to our Substack to get access to the full episode: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/eli...
Nick Foster: Could, Should, Might, Don't—a new way to think about designing for the future
20 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Most designers are comfortable in the world of known problems—we talk to users, gather insights, iterate based on feedback. But what happens when yo...
Tim Brown: Allbirds co-founder on mission-driven design and entrepreneurship
14 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This is a preview of a premium episode. Head to Design Better to hear the whole thing: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/tim-brown Sometimes your ca...
Matt Raw: Balancing legacy and innovation at The New York Times
06 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Visit our Substack for bonus content and more: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/matt-raw Matt Raw, Interim VP of Design at The New York Times, and h...
The Brief: Microscopes and telescopes
30 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Microscopes and telescopes By Aarron Walter A friend and former colleague called me recently to catch up and get my perspective on an important ques...
Rhiannon Bell: Designing the future of search at Google
23 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This is a preview of one of our premium Design Better episodes. To listen to the whole episode, head over to our Substack and subscribe: https://desi...
Bonus Episode: Inside Sonos's distributed research & design process for the Arc Ultra
17 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
For many creative people, music is a central part of life. Count us in that camp. We’ve long admired Sonos products for their quality and easy integ...
Noah Levin: AMA with Figma's VP of Design on their latest releases
16 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Figma is central to most designers' workflow these days (certainly is here at Design Better). So it's important to get familiar with all of the latest...
Design Better Live AMA at The New York Times
09 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
We were recently invited to the The New York Times where we spoke with Matt Raw, the interim head of design at the Times. Eli and I are accustomed to ...
Video Rewind: Kamasi Washington: A jazz genius on collaborative lessons learned from Kendrick Lamar, Snoop Dogg, Lauryn Hill, and more
02 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This is the second installment in our series of video rewind episodes, with an interview featuring jazz legend Kamasi Washington. Watch the full episo...
Josh Clark and Veronika Kindred: Sentient Design and the future of interfaces
25 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This is a premium episode of Design Better. You'll hear a preview of the episode here, but head over to our Substack and become a premium member if yo...
Bonus Episode: Shani Sandy, VP, Experience Design at IBM, live in NYC for UserTesting's THiS Connect Tour
17 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Maybe you’ve already heard, but we’re in the midst of significant global and technological change. It will be a struggle for many businesses to ad...
The Brief: Stop specializing—live a multidisciplinary creative life
11 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
by Eli Woolery If there’s one thing we’ve learned from the multitude of people we’ve interviewed for Design Better, it’s that the most innova...
Christopher Lyons: From producing music to venture capital, and why EQ beats IQ in building the future
10 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This is a preview of a premium episode. To get access to the full episode, head to our Substack: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/christopher-lyons ...
Bonus Episode: Champ Bennett, co-founder of Capsule, on making motion design easy and scalable
04 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
We are living through a Cambrian explosion of new tools, powered by generative AI. It can be tough to wade through the sea of options in front of us, ...
Cassie McDaniel: How Medium eliminated its PM function and started moving faster
30 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This is a preview of a premium episode. Visit our Substack to get access to the full episode: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/cassie-mcdaniel Cassi...
The Roundup: AI creative workflow, vibe coding, ethics, agents, and more
21 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Find bonus content and more on our Substack: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/the-roundup-ai-creative-workflow Rarely do we get the chance to pause ...
Bonus Episode: Amy Lokey, Chief Experience Officer at ServiceNow, live in SF for UserTesting's THiS Connect Tour
13 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This interview was recorded live on May 1st for UserTesting’s ThiS Connect City Tour. Interested in joining us for our next live show? We’re joini...
Video Rewind: John Cleese: A cheerful guide to creativity
07 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Hi everyone! We recently surveyed our audience and learned that many of you would like to see more video. So, we’re kicking off a new run of video ...
Marco Suarez: From designer to coffee entrepreneur ☕
29 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
A special sponsored episode of the Design Better Podcast It’s a tough job market out there right now for designers and other creative technologists...
Susan Magsamen and Ivy Ross: Your Brain on Art
24 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Visit our Substack for bonus content and more: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/susan-magsamen-and-ivy-ross In school, art is often positioned in cu...
Rewind: OK Go: Making the impossible possible
16 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Visit our Substack for bonus content: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/rewind-ok-go Aarron and Eli are traveling with their families for Spring Brea...
Jordan Mechner: Pioneering game designer on creating Prince of Persia, Karateka, and a new graphic novel memoir
08 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Visit our Substack for bonus content and more: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/jordan-mechner As a kid in the 80’s, Eli fell in love with games o...
Brad Frost: Design systems are about human relationships
03 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Visit our Substack for bonus content and more: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/brad-frost Design systems are the foundation of nearly every piece o...
Heidi Trost: Human Centered Security
25 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Visit our Substack for bonus content and more: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/heidi-trost Designing a good security experience is hard. Every time...
The Brief: Afraid of losing your job? Become irreplaceable
20 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Becoming an irreplaceable designer By Aarron Walter The software industry is in a tough contraction phase. Teams are downsizing, and companies are pri...
Trenton Doyle Hancock: An artist’s process for creating order from chaos
18 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Visit our Substack for bonus content and more: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/trenton-doyle-hancock Aarron’s friend Trenton Doyle Hancock did ...
Dan Harden: Form follows emotion—industrial design lessons from George Nelson to Steve Jobs
12 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Visit our Substack for bonus content and more:https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/dan-harden If you were mapping out the most amazing career in industri...
Kristen Berman: Behavioral economics expert on designing products that change behavior
11 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Visit our Substack for bonus content and more: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/kristen-berman Many of the most successful products launched in Silic...
The Brief: What designers can learn from writers and storytellers
28 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Words are worth a thousand pictures by Eli Woolery How does Sir Jony Ive, the famed former head of design at Apple, start every project? If, like me, ...
Gareth Hinds: A golden age for the graphic novel
26 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Visit our Substack for bonus content and more: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/gareth-hinds Graphic novels are experiencing something of a renaissan...
From your inbox to your ears: Audio versions of The Brief
21 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Every month, our premium subscribers receive our newsletter The Brief , which assembles wisdom gleaned from interviews with creative thinkers. It’...
Kevin Bethune: Nonlinear—Navigating Design with Curiosity and Conviction
19 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Visit our Substack for bonus content and more: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/kevin-bethune-returns One core strength that good designers cultivate...
Scott Belsky: Adobe's Chief Strategist on navigating the creative Cambrian Explosion
11 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Visit our Substack for bonus content and more: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/scott-belsky We live in an era where it’s easy to get overwhelmed b...
Idris Brewster: Bringing history to life with augmented reality
04 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Find bonus content and more on our Substack: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/idris-brewster In Berlin, there are memorials to the Holocaust called ...
Jake Knapp: Click—How to make what people want
28 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Design sprints have become a staple of the creative process at companies around the world and an indispensable tool in the pursuit of innovation. We o...
Jenny Blackburn: Google's VP of UX for Gemini on how generative AI can improve our workflows
22 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
We live in an era where the boundaries are beginning to blur between roles like designers and developers. Generative AI tools are making it easier for...
Scott Berkun: Why Design is Hard
15 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
As designers, we sometimes get caught up in our egos. I’m the creative one on the team. I’m the one who should have the final say on these designs...
Marcus Bell: Producer and songwriter for Nicki Minaj, Snoop Dogg, and Timbaland on music and creativity in the age of AI
07 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
There aren’t many kids who start a record label when they’re 12 years old. Or play piano professionally at the age of six. But our guest today, Ma...
Reconsidering: Mastering change with Brad Stulberg
01 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Our podcast network, The Curiosity Department, has a new show called Reconsidering. Though design and your work are a big part of who you are, you are...
Rewind: Jonathan Hoefler: Typography legend on type history, philosophy, and entrepreneurship
24 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Hi folks! We hope you’re having a wonderful holiday season, and have plenty of opportunities to relax and spend time with friends and family. This w...
Alastair Simpson: From professional soccer to leading design at DropBox
17 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Alastair Simpson is accustomed to adaptation. The first half of his life was spent in the pursuit of a professional football career (or soccer as we c...
Bonus Episode: Jason Giles, VP of Product Design at UserTesting, live in Austin
10 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Jason Giles is tuned into the habits of successful product design teams, not only because he’s been leading them for 15 years, but also because his ...
Bishop Briggs: Award winning singer-songwriter on creative transformation after loss
04 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Sometimes, a creative transformation occurs after a painful experience in our lives. This certainly happened for our guest today, Bishop Briggs, who l...
Design Better 2024 Holiday Gift Guide
26 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We're at the holidays once again and that means it's one of our favorite episodes, our Design Better holiday gift guide for designers, creatives, and ...
Live at Savannah College of Art and Design, with Kate Aronowitz, Steve Johnson, Kat Holmes and Jaime Lopez
19 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
When Aarron was in college studying painting and drawing, he had an absolute certainty about the path my career would take. He was going to move to Ne...
Bonus Episode: Gali Erez, head of Wix Studio
14 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This is a special sponsored episode of the Design Better Podcast Gali Erez, Head of Wix Studio at Wix, has had quite a journey, from a background i...
Kamasi Washington: A jazz genius on collaborative lessons learned from Kendrick Lamar, Snoop Dogg, Lauryn Hill, and more
12 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Jazz is a constantly evolving art form, offering some of the richest lessons in creative collaboration. A melody and chord progression provide the fou...
Adam Moss: The Work of Art
06 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We’re students of the creative process, and so is Adam Moss, author of The Work of Art: How something comes from nothing. Formerly the editor-in-chi...
Andrew Evans: Design & magic 🪄
30 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
One of Aarron’s first jobs as a kid was performing magic shows, and it taught him a surprising amount about creativity. Magic is, at its core, the a...
Diane Hoskins and Andy Cohen: Design for a Radically Changing World
23 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We don’t know about you, but we spend more time than we’d like to admit worrying about our future. Central to our concerns is how we’re respondi...
Jason Chatfield: New Yorker cartoonist on his creative process
15 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The New Yorker has great writing, but Aarron and I are pretty sure we’re not the only ones who flip through the magazine before reading any articles...
Mattias Hollwich: AI & Architecture
09 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
If, like us, you’ve been tinkering with the plethora of AI tools that have emerged recently, chances are it’s changing your workflow and creative ...
Skye Waterson: Creative work and ADHD
01 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We’ve talked with people across many creative disciplines on Design Better, and there’s a red thread that keeps popping up—many are neurodiverge...
Enrique Allen: Design and entrepreneurship at Designer Fund
24 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Until Designer Fund was founded by Enrique Allen and Ben Blumenrose, venture capital investments rarely considered design strategy when investing. Com...
Design Better Trailer
17 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Design Better co-hosts Eli Woolery and Aarron Walter explore the intersection of design, technology, and the creative process through conversations wi...
Yashar Kassai: Artwork and production design for Spiderman: Into The Spider-Verse, TMNT, and more
17 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
One of the great things about being a dad is getting to watch your favorite movies again with your kids and experience them through a new point of vie...
Shirley Kurata and Mimi Haddon: Palace Costume and costume design for "Everything Everywhere All at Once"
12 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Costume design plays an important role in filmmaking. Films like Austin Powers, Lala Land, Boogie Nights, Black Panther, and Malcolm X transport us to...
Brendan Boyle: Toy design, play, and the creative process
04 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Eli first met Brendan Boyle when Brendan was his instructor in the undergraduate Product Design program at Stanford, where Brendan has taught for many...
Rewind: Vicki Tan: Learning from new voices
28 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This week, we’re rewinding to one of our favorite episodes from our 6th season, with Vicki Tan. Vicki is a designer and author, who is now a staff ...
Connor Moore: Sound design for Tesla, Uber, Peloton and more
20 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Sound is the unsung hero of interaction design. The iconic chorus you hear as you boot up your Mac, the double knock of an arriving Slack message, and...
Matt Abrahams: Think Faster, Talk Smarter
13 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Becoming a better communicator is one of the best ways to level up your career. Being able to think on your feet and communicate ideas effectively is ...
Quilt + Mike & Maaike: Designing for sustainability
06 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Design has the potential to help us solve some of the world’s most pressing problems. But few designers and entrepreneurs recognize that potential. ...
Rewind: Julie Zhuo: Facebook's former VP of Product Design on what she got right and wrong as a leader
06 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Hi folks! We hope your summer is going well. Aarron and I are traveling and spending some time with our families this week, so we thought we’d rewin...
Roger Horrocks: My Octopus Teacher's cinematographer on shaping story and cultivating patience
23 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Over the years, Eli spent a lot of time diving and doing photography—from designing underwater photography equipment, to running an underwater photo...
Steve Portigal: The art of interviewing users
16 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
There’s an art to interviewing customers. It’s so much harder than just asking a few people some questions. If we’re not careful, bias can throw...
Dan Mall: Scaling design systems
09 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
There’s a reason why we’ve been talking about design systems for a number of years now—it’s the key to collaboration at scale. Few people get ...
Rewind: Sara Seager: Astrophysicist pushing the boundaries of collaboration while discovering exoplanets
03 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Find full show notes, bonus content and more on our Substack: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/rewind-sara-seager It’s a holiday week—happy 4th o...
Carissa Carter and Scott Doorley: Assembling Tomorrow
25 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Find show notes, transcripts, and bonus content on our Substack: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/carissa-carter-scott-doorley Most of us are too bus...
Celene Aubry: 100+ years of designing for legendary musicians at Hatch Show Print
18 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Get access to the full episode on our Substack: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/celene-aubry Back in 2010, Aarron visited Hatch Show Print, a small ...
Special Episode: "Say More" Feed Drop from The Boston Globe with guest Cal Newport
14 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Hey, everybody. We're sharing something special today from our pals over at the Say More podcast, where in a special series, Boston Globe columnist Sh...
Hillary Coe: Emmy Award-winning designer, certified commercial pilot, astronaut candidate, and drag-racing record holder on designing for SpaceX and Vast
11 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Visit our Substack for a video of the live interview, transcript, and more: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/hillary-coe This is our 100th episode of...
Bonus: AI and the Creative Process
04 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Generative AI is finding its way into the tools and processes that power creative work. Exciting? Terrifying? Maybe a little of both. Adobe has been n...
Ben Clymer: Hodinkee founder on watch design and creating a compelling content brand
28 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Get access to the full episode on our Substack: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/ben-clymer Aarron fell down a rabbit hole when the Apple Watch came ...
Natsai Audrey Chieza: Designing with biology
21 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
View show notes, transcript, and more on our Substack: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/natsai-audrey-chieza Steve Jobs perfectly described the creat...
Pablo Stanley: A creative force of nature on the importance persistence and hustle
14 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Get access to the full episode, show notes, transcript and more on our Substack: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/pablo-stanley Pablo Stanley’s cre...
Tasha Golden: Avoiding burnout while pursuing creativity with passion
07 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Find full show notes, transcript, and more on our Substack: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/tasha-golden As designers and creatives, we often find o...
Jonathan Adler: Famed potter and designer on bringing creativity into all aspects of life
30 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Visit our Substack to get access to the full show: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/jonathan-adler We’ve admired Jonathan Adler’s work for a long...
Making Design Better—better—with weekly episodes, an enhanced newsletter, and more
24 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Tldr; We’re transitioning to weekly episode releases, publishing an enhanced newsletter, and simplifying our premium subscription which will now be...
Brian Tyler, composer for Yellowstone, Crazy Rich Asians, Mario Brothers, and more, on his creative process
09 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Find the transcript, full show notes, and more on our Substack: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/brian-tyler Our conversation today takes us further ...
Bonus: Eric Snowden, Head of Adobe Design, on AI + Design
02 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Find the transcript, show notes, and more on our Substack: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/eric-snowden Adobe has been the big wrench in our creativ...
Kate Aronowitz: Shaping the story of design in business
26 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Visit our Substack for transcript, show notes, and more: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/kate-aronowitz Few designers have an instinct for busine...