#22 | Dan Harden | Driving positive impact for people and business

A special episode: I was honoured with the amazing opportunity to talk to Dan Harden, one of the most recognised global design leaders grated over 500 patents and over 300 design awards. Fast Company magazine featured Dan as a Master of Design and called him “design’s secret weapon”. After designing with Steve Jobs as the VP and President of Frog, Dan founded Whipsaw in California over 20 years ago - a highly acclaimed design firm driving innovation for Intel, Google, Samsung, Sony, Uber and more.

#21 | Hector Silva | Driving design communities and education

In this episode we collaborate with Advanced Design’s Context Podcast: I talk with Hector Silva, Founder of Advanced Design & Research Associate Professor at the University of Notre Dame about the future of design education and bring value to design communities. I also share a bit about my personal journey and mission behind Designdrives.

#20 | Chris Jackson | Driving strategic foresight and shape futures

In this episode I talk with Chris Jackson, Founder and Director of We Create Future in New Zealand. We touch on why future thinking is important and why there is not the “one future” but rather a plurality of futures but also why and how we as designers should consider the long term consequences in of our design decisions in times of design sprints and increasingly fast design circles.

#19 | Paul Hatch | Driving innovation in connected AI products

In this episode, I talk with Paul Hatch - CEO of Teams Design USA. We talk about the journey of scaling a design studio and why it is important to specialise and be known for a certain skill and topic. We also dive into how Industrial Design was influenced by UX and how ID will change in the future considering topics like AI-driven tools and generative design. The main topic certainly was the topic of IoT: how connected products and the process and thinking around these changing the role of design and the importance of having designer involved early in the process.

#18 | Laura Silva | Driving accessibility and inclusive design

It was was an inspiring conversation with Laura Silva - VP Accessibility Technology - UX Design Lead at Bank of America as well Mentor at Girls Who Code and formerly UX Designer at Amazon. She shares outstanding insights on the importance of accessibility, inclusivity and diversity - and why it is key to drive impact as a designer.

#17 | Qin Li | Driving more human experiences with technology

In episode 17, I talk with Qin Li, VP of Design at Fuseproject in San Francisco and the Chair of the Board of Directors at Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA). In Chicago we sat together to learn about her experience on humanising technology through design and why design is important when it comes to driving innovation - especially looking at aspects like robotics and new technologies.

#16 | Kathleen Brandenburg | Driving strategy through design

In episode 16, I talk with Kathleen Brandenburg, Co-founder and Chief Design Strategy Officer at IA Collaborative - a global design and innovation agency in Chicago and Los Angeles. She is also part of the Innovation Council at Northwestern University, Board Member at Chicago’s IIT Institute of Design, Board of Trustees Member at IIT, and also recently co-taught Design for Social Innovation as a visiting professor at Harvard University.

#15 | Brett Lovelady | Driving design entrepreneurship

In the newest episode, I got the honour to sit together Brett Lovelady, Founder & CEO of ASTRO Studios in San Francisco. Brett is one of the world's top design leaders by directing some of the world’s most culturally relevant programs, helping clients generate over $60+ billion in new revenue worldwide and advocating for design in many influential situations. He shares his perspectives on the intersection of design and business, learning from his experience founding startups like ASTRO Gaming, Minus-8 Watch and serving as a VP to frog and Lunar.

#14 | Chris Lovin | Driving digital/physical product experiences

Chris Lovin, a hybrid designer working on the intersection of Interaction and Industrial Design on the impact of design. Currently he works as an Experience Design Lead at athenahealth and previously at frog, Honeywell, Mixer Design Group and others o connected product experiences.

#13 | Dan Grossmann | Driving innovation across industries

In episode 13, I talk with Dan Grossmann, Associate Design Director at Smart Design in New York. Dan and I sat together at the recent IDC Conference in Chicago and chat about his learnings around why, how and what design drives forward. Dan shares from his experience and impressive body of work: before his role at Smart Design, he was Director of Industrial Design at Bark but also worked at Peloton, Martha Stewart Living, Prime Studios, 4sight Inc., Project H Design and many other places.

#12 | Michael DiTullo | Driving impact at Nike, Jordan, Frog, Sound United and more

In episode 12, I talk with Michael DiTullo, one day after he received his Personal Recognition Award by IDSA during IDC 2019 in Chicago. With Michael, I talk about the what he learned designing and prototyping with Michael Jordan working at Nike, risk and opportunities for the future of design and industrial design, why kids should be taught in schools about design and how to report as a VP of Design directly to the board and talk to business.

#11 | Chris Livaudais | Driving the future of IDSA

In this episode, I talk with Chris Livaudais, Executive Director at IDSA. We sat together at the recent IDC (International Design Conference) hosted by IDSA in Chicago USA. The conferences highlighted speaker from various areas of Design and especially Industrial Design talking about the future of the discipline, the impact, challenges, recent case studies and more. As a speaker and attendee myself I had an absolutely amazing experience.

#8 | Michael Seum | Driving design leadership

This episode I talk with Michael Seum on design leadership and his career from in-house experiences in the USA and Italy to startup and consulting work at Minimal and Lunatik but also his roles afterwards in design leadership at Pepsi and most recently Grohe. Michael gives important design advice for young talents when it comes to building up a career and some of the things he learned at different stations in his career. We also talk about the difference between a good designer and a good design leader.

#3 | Joey Zeledón | Driving desirable innovations through emotional ergonomics

In this episode, we talk with Joey Zeledón who just founded his own Design Studio. Prior to that, he was Design Principle at Steelcase, driving the intersection of spacial healthcare experience and furniture design. He is also the author of the book “Touchy/Feely” and Co-founder of Mothership. Before joining Steelcase Joey gained experience at Smart Design in New York, Continuum and even in footwear design through his time at New Balance.

Industrial DesignSebastian GierApril 30, 2019design, uxdesign, uidesign, industrial design, umea, uid, ideo

#2 | Siri Johansson | Driving new paths between Interface and Industrial Design

We talk with Siri Johansson, who is working as a Senior Designer at Spotify. We talk about her transition from design agency IDEO to in-house design at Spotify and her personal transition from Industrial to Interaction Design - and how both sides can learn from each other.

Interaction DesignSebastian GierApril 13, 2019spotify, design, uxdesign, uidesign, industrial design, umea, uid, ideo

EPISODES

Explore futures.

We interviewed design entrepreneurs and progressive design minds who gained their experience at the most innovative work cultures, creative teams or own startups and ventures - to explore why, how and what designers drive forward.