AIGA Design Podcast

Democratizing Foresight: Who Gets to Shape the Future? with Tameka Vasquez, Founder, The Future Quo

In this episode, hosts Giulia Donatello and Lee-Sean Huang welcome Tameka Vasquez, futurist, leadership strategist, and founder of The Future Quo. Drawing on over a decade in tech, including serving as the first Head of Marketing at Sidewalk Labs inside Google, Tameka breaks down why foresight isn't fortune-telling or prediction, but a practical decision-making mindset. Together, they explore how to democratize futures thinking, push back against corporate greed, and establish human-centered "rules of engagement" as AI rapidly transforms creative practice. In This Episode ⚬ Challenging the status quo. Tameka shares how a desire to tell stories and shape new possibilities connects her journey through corporate communications, tech marketing, Sidewalk Labs, academia, and independent foresight work. ⚬ Becoming a futurist. Tameka recalls studying AI’s impact on the corporate workforce back in 2015—a decade before it became mainstream—and getting certified in strategic foresight at the University of Houston. She defines a futurist as someone who assesses emerging possibilities to make more intentional decisions in the present. ⚬ Democratizing foresight. Tracing foresight back to its roots in military strategy, Tameka explains why futures thinking shouldn't be confined to elite consulting decks. She advocates for putting these tools into everyday hands so everyone can participate in co-creating the future. ⚬ Setting rules of engagement for AI. Addressing the short-term corporate greed driving current tech adoption, Tameka rejects the idea that AI’s trajectory is inevitable. She compares AI to a child or a guest in a home: it only knows what we teach it, and humans must establish the collective rules of the house. ⚬ Lessons from entrepreneurship. Reflecting on her transition from startups to founding her own advisory firm, Tameka discusses suspending conventional rules with purpose, capturing market "vibes" through signal scanning, and learning to navigate profound independence and uncertainty. ⚬ Practicing "futuring" as a daily verb. Tameka outlines daily habits to hone foresight, such as taking stock of subconscious observations, asking probing questions, and being a student of history. Resources ⚬ The Future Quo – https://thefuturequo.com ⚬ Between Shifts (Substack) – https://betweenshifts.substack.com ⚬ Tameka Vasquez on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/tamekavasquez ⚬ The Future: A Very Short Introduction by Jennifer Gidley – https://amzn.to/45P11Cq ⚬ AIGA Design Podcast Feedback – podcast@aiga.org

Crafting Your Narrative: From Hackathons to AI with Sally Chung, Founder, Designpreneurs

In this episode, hosts Lee-Sean Huang and Giulia Donatello sit down with Sally Chung, a designer, startup founder, professor at Parsons School of Design, and former faculty member at SVA. From her early days as a founding designer at Saks Fifth Avenue to building an SMS AI beauty chatbot in 2016 and leading zero-to-one ventures at BCGX, Sally has continuously navigated the balance between corporate scale and entrepreneurial agility. She shares how she founded the Designpreneurs Hackathon to build a thriving ecosystem connecting designers, universities, and tech founders, and offers an insider’s look at how AI is reshaping interaction design education and hiring expectations at Parsons. In This EpisodeBuilding AI before the hype. Sally reflects on co-founding Hello Ava in 2016—an SMS AI beauty advisor—years before ChatGPT went mainstream. The experience taught her that technology alone never wins; true product-market fit comes from listening directly to user frustrations rather than focusing on the tech itself. Designing a career narrative. From corporate in-house teams to living in a co-worker's basement to launch a startup, Sally discusses why designers must stop apologizing for a "zigzag" career path and proactively craft their own strategic narrative. The survivor mindset in innovation. Drawing on her work launching ventures at BCGX, Sally outlines why smart ideas fail and what keeps surviving companies alive: rapid market adaptability, relentless testing loops, smart distribution channels, and a founder's resilience. Cultivating an ecosystem through hackathons. Sally breaks down how a weekend project to help her SVA students build portfolios evolved into the Designpreneurs Hackathon—a tight-knit community that pairs hackers with senior mentors from IDEO, Meta, and Spotify, resulting in real hires, startup acquisitions, and venture funding. The shift in design hiring. Sally reveals why a "pixel-perfect" portfolio no longer guarantees a job. As execution becomes automated, top design leaders are hiring for strategic systems thinking, multi-stakeholder navigation, and versatility across non-UI or agentic experiences. Rethinking design education at Parsons. Advising on curriculum changes, Sally emphasizes that design schools should stop teaching software tools that students can learn on TikTok, and return to analog craftsmanship, strategic problem-solving, and a foundational creative eye. What remains human. Reflecting on her panel at South by Southwest, Sally highlights that while AI can optimize toward goals, only humans can choose which goals matter. She stresses that real, in-person community is the ultimate antidote to digital loneliness. ResourcesSally Chung's Official Website – http://sallyhychung.comSally Chung on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/sallyhchung/Sally's Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/sallyinutopiaDesignpreneurs – https://www.designpreneurshackathon.com/Same As Ever: A Guide to What Never Changes by Morgan Housel – https://amzn.to/4qpoTWMAIGA Design Podcast Feedback – podcast@aiga.org

AI’s Magic Wand in the No-Collar Economy with Martin LeBlanc, Chief Experience Officer at Magnific

In this episode, hosts Lee-Sean Huang and Giulia Donatello welcome Martin LeBlanc, Chief Experience Officer at Magnific (the AI creative platform formerly known as Freepik). A designer and entrepreneur with 25 years of experience across computer science, business, and creativity, Martin founded Iconfinder—which grew into a global design asset marketplace before being acquired by Magnific. Together, they explore how generative AI is shifting creative execution, why large organizations struggle to adapt to systemic changes, and how designers can retain control of their creative authorship. Martin also provides a live walkthrough of Magnific's node-based canvas, illustrating how generative AI can be integrated into repeatable, professional design systems without training on user data. In This Episode Empowering vs. disrupting design. Reflecting on his 25 years in design, Martin acknowledges that AI disrupts old workflows while empowering creators to reinvent how they build. He stresses that designers historically adapt and win when they actively direct new technology. The "Magic Wand" product philosophy. Magnific balances two priorities: keeping tools simple for beginners via auto-settings, while embedding granular, professional controls just beneath the surface for advanced directors. Rewriting the rules of production. AI lowers financial and technical barriers for independent creators. Complex ad campaigns and visual effects that once required massive studios or green screens can now be produced by solo creators or small teams. Designing repeatable systems. Demonstrating Magnific's node-based canvas ("Spaces"), Martin shows how prompts, manual edits, vector design, and automated translations combine to form shareable, repeatable production pipelines. The "Tsunami" moment and pivot. Martin details how Freepik navigated its shift to an "AI-first" company and rebrand to Magnific. Seeing how AI would disrupt traditional stock assets, the company launched an internal "Labs" unit to develop future-facing tools. The "No-Collar Economy" and taste. As AI lowers technical hurdles, a designer’s true value shifts to discernment, curation, and taste—knowing what to keep, what to scrap, and how to refine the final 20% of a piece. IP, authorship, and data privacy. Magnific protects user rights with full commercial licenses, zero customer data training, and a downloadable "lineage" metadata trail to help designers prove human authorship. Getting started through side projects. For designers overwhelmed by rapid AI updates, Martin advises focusing on hands-on side projects and workflow mechanics rather than chasing tool hype. Resources Magnific (30% AIGA Community Discount on Annual Premium Plans) – https://referral.magnific.com/aiga?mz Martin's Podcast Demo Workflow (Magnific Space) – https://www.magnific.com/app/spaces/a243c19e-c681-4e82-ad7e-4b28a66f9599/invite?payload=eyJpdiI6Ikg1VWhOZzlla2RoTGNLQzB6QjlRRkE9PSIsInZhbHVlIjoidlRHMjNKR01kRVRPSS83MUtsZEt2bUFIWk1SYWRLcnF4NWNXRk1GdzBFdzlxMDQ2OTJnWnluaHcyMkJnWExOckFCN0JxME1UTUpUZEZOb0FrWXRaemd6cGw0Rkx3b1RENU1VRWFiYk5ncnJCNEdqYTRzZ1gxeWEyTUZaRUZXRDYiLCJtYWMiOiI3M2IwODYzYTY2MmY0YzkzZGYzNjJjNjRiZDg5MWZiOTM2ODJlM2Q3YWE3MjQyYzcwZTkyOTA3YjY0NzdlZTVlIiwidGFnIjoiIn0 The No-Collar Economy White Paper – https://www.reasonwhy.es/media/library/no-collar-white-paper.pdf Magnific Academy Tutorials – https://www.magnific.com/academy AIGA Design Podcast Feedback and Voicemails – podcast@aiga.org

Norm Design: The Invisible Architecture of Social Challenges with Jeff Leitner

In this episode, hosts Lee-Sean Huang and Giulia Donatello sit down with Jeff Leitner, the co-founder of UX for Good, architect of Norm Design, and a partner to organizations ranging from the US State Department and NASA to Harvard Medical School. Together, they unpack the core ideas behind his Summer 2026 Stanford Social Innovation Review article, "The Science of Norm Design," exploring why smart, well-funded initiatives fail roughly 70% of the time. Jeff shares his extensive experience studying the "invisible architecture" of social environments. He offers a critical challenge to the design industry, inviting practitioners to look past boilerplate briefs and standard user research to systematically uncover and design for the unwritten rules that dictate human behavior. In This Episode Here is the section trimmed down by 25% for a faster, punchier read, with all text formatted in plain text: The definition of norm design. Jeff defines norm design as an essential layer built on top of traditional research to uncover a group's informal, unwritten rules. Because every solution lands within a complex social ecosystem, these hidden dynamics ultimately dictate whether a design succeeds or fails. The 70% organizational failure rate. Stagnant for decades, the standard failure rate for organizational change is famously high. The uncomfortable reality is that most interventions fail because they inadvertently obey the exact same unwritten rules as the problems they are trying to fix. The New Orleans musicians' paradox. Partnering with UX for Good to help local musicians, who average $24,000 a year, the team found that standard financial literacy training routinely failed. A norm-based approach revealed that musicians viewed asking for tips as humiliating. By bypassing the ask and adding a tipping line directly to club receipts, they successfully transferred thousands of dollars to bands. Unwritten rules vs. employee manuals. Social norms are rarely documented. To find a company's true constraints, Jeff suggests asking employees what they would tell a best friend over drinks about "how the place really works," rather than what's printed in the onboarding manual. The structural empathy trap. While designers champion empathy, leaning too deeply into a user's perspective can cause researchers to absorb the same invisible constraints that the target group can't see, effectively blinding the designer to the overarching social norms. Empathy vs. compassion in Rwanda. At the Kigali Genocide Memorial, the team challenged the default industry strategy of showing horror to inspire action. Brain research shows that witnessing suffering floods our pain circuits, causing distress, fatigue, and shutdown. By profiling ordinary heroes, they engaged the brain's compassion networks to cultivate the will to act. How success derailed NASA. Jeff discovered that 100% of interviewed NASA staff anchored their operational norm to JFK's 1962 "Moonshot" speech. However, waiting for a singular political figure to rally the public blinded the agency to the modern reality of private spaceflight, turning a historic triumph into a systemic roadblock. Resources The Science of Norm Design by Jeff Leitner (Stanford Social Innovation Review) – https://ssir.org/articles/entry/the-science-of-norm-design Leitner Studio Official Website – leitnerstudio.com UX for Good Nonprofit – uxforgood.org Cracking the Code of Change by Nitin Nohria and Michael Beer, the original source of the 70% failure rate of change initiatives (Harvard Business Review) – https://hbr.org/2000/05/cracking-the-code-of-change AIGA Design Podcast Feedback and Voicememos – podcast@aiga.org

The Small Stuff: How to Lead a More Gratifying Life with Ian Bogost

In this episode, hosts Lee-Sean Huang and Giulia Donatello sit down with Ian Bogost, a writer, designer, media scholar, contributing writer at The Atlantic, and professor at Washington University in St. Louis. Together, they explore the concept of "dematerialization" and the core ideas behind his latest book, This Small Stuff: How to Lead a More Gratifying Life. Ian shares how his multifaceted career, navigating both software design and cultural criticism, functions as a dialectical machine for understanding how human meaning is constructed. He challenges contemporary design dogmas around "frictionlessness" and outcomes-based UX, offering a refreshing invitation for designers to embrace mundane constraints, celebrate accidental experience, and reconnect with the sensory enchantment of everyday life. In This Episode The designer-critic dialectic. Ian describes his career as a perpetual cycle between making and criticizing. For him, creating an object or game is a method of asking a question, while writing criticism is a vehicle for answering it—both serving the ultimate mystery of how humans derive meaning. Happiness vs. satisfaction vs. gratification. Ian breaks down three tiers of contentment. While happiness looks at long-term macro circumstances, satisfaction focuses on the pride of completing a project, and gratification is the fleeting, immediate sensory enchantment of the present moment—like ice clinking in a water bottle. The "wicked problem" of the modern door. Revisiting Don Norman's famous concept, Ian argues that modern doors don't fail due to bad design, but from an accumulation of competing successes. Fire codes, ADA compliance, and motorized automation layer, so many good intentions that the physical object ends up resisting us. The outcome trap of experience design. Ian observes that as design became heavily filtered through the computing sector, fields like interaction and UX design slowly stopped prioritizing actual experience. Instead, they focused intensely on business outcomes and optimized targets for organizations. Why "meaningful friction" is the wrong answer. Addressing the push to bring back "meaningful friction" to combat ultra-smooth glass screens, Ian calls the trend wrongheaded. Users don't want a task to be harder; they want a tactile loop of sensory connection to the machine, like a knob turning in defined physical increments. The vicarious gratification of ASMR. Reflecting on digital phenomena like ASMR and online "drain-clearing" videos, Ian views these creators as heroes. By treating ordinary objects with deep respect, they model a curiosity that can transform how viewers interact with their own everyday environments. Living life sideways through orthogonality. Ian advocates for "orthogonality"—diversifying one’s diet of sensory encounters by crossing boundaries into entirely different fields. True innovation arises from deeply exploring secondary constraints and productively marrying two completely unrelated domains. Resources Ian Bogost's Official Website – https://bogost.com/ This Small Stuff: How to Lead a More Gratifying Life by Ian Bogost – https://amzn.to/4ypiHBR The Design of Everyday Things by Don Norman – https://amzn.to/4gWhSd8 Persuasive Games: The Expressive Power of Videogames by Ian Bogost – https://amzn.to/4p5IQBf Play Anything: The Pleasure of Limits, the Uses of Boredom, and the Secret of Games by Ian Bogost – https://amzn.to/4eZwgyD Julian Bleecker – https://julianbleecker.com/ Bruce Sterling – https://bruces.medium.com/ Listener feedback and voicemails – podcast@aiga.org

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Design and Hope with Rinat Sherzer

In this episode, hosts Lee-Sean Huang and Giulia Donatello welcome back Rinat Sherzer—a biotech engineer, transdisciplinary designer, artist, and adjunct professor at Parsons School of Design whose work sits at the intersection of science, technology, and social justice. Together, they discuss the deep human construct of hope, unpacking how it differs from mere wishful thinking and exploring how designers can act as vital conduits for it. Rinat shares her journey from scientific training to social innovation, the unpredictable ripple effects of her global projects, and how she balances multi-sensory design, teaching, and motherhood through an intentional quarterly focus. In This Episode The logic of the backward glance. Rinat shares her journey from biotechnology engineering into tech and ultimately to design for social innovation. Mirroring Steve Jobs' famous sentiment, she notes that the dots of a multidisciplinary career can often only be connected in hindsight. The history and bad rep of hope. When researching the framework of hope for her PhD, Rinat was struck by its historical negativity. From Plato viewing it as an unreliable guide to Nietzsche labeling it the worst of all evils, it wasn't until Viktor Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning in 1946 that hope was structurally recognized as a vital resource for human survival. The three dimensions of hope framework. Moving beyond Richard Snyder's purely cognitive, goal-oriented approach, Rinat's framework treats hope as an embodied, immersive experience. It breaks down into three dimensions: the extreme moment (crisis or joy) where hope is born, the greater social good if that hope comes to fruition, and the concrete, physical action an individual can take. Breaking bread and multi-sensory co-design. Rinat breaks down her immersive project, The Rebirth of Hope, which utilizes sound and taste to tap into primal, nonverbal memories. By choosing raw ingredients that resonate with their personal dimensions of hope, participants create a literal "bite of hope" to consume collectively, bridging the deeply personal with the universal synergy of a group. Translating data into human music. The Rebirth of Hope project actively translated participant choices into real-time visual musical scores. By mapping hope attributes to chords, rhythm, and melody, a live band performed the collective, experimental music of the exhibition's audience. The accountability gap in design education. As a faculty member at Parsons, Rinat addresses the split between the theory of "design for good" and the messy reality of execution. She argues that standard academic design thinking often leaves prototyping and testing to the very end, missing the vital skills of real-world implementation, business case development, and multi-team collaboration. The organizing cadence of a year. To juggle a global teaching schedule, running her studio (The Creative Lab), artistic output, and raising her son Luca, Rinat rejects daily micromanagement. Instead, she structures her life by dividing the year into quarters, allowing herself to intensely focus on one major priority at a time while setting strict, non-negotiable boundaries for family. Resources Rinat Sherzer's Official Website – renatsherzer.com Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl – https://amzn.to/4geMQgv The Creative Act: A Way of Being by Rick Rubin– https://amzn.to/4aukCdW The Bloody Taboo with Power to Change the World (Rinat's TEDx Talk) – https://www.ted.com/talks/rinat_sherzer_the_bloody_taboo_with_the_power_to_change_the_world AIGA Design Podcast Feedback and Voicemails – podcast@aiga.org

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Seth Johnson on Earning the Right to Change Things

What does it actually take for design to matter inside a massive organization? In this episode, hosts Giulia Donatello and Lee-Sean Huang sit down with Seth Johnson to talk about design at enterprise scale, and what designers get wrong about building influence. Seth Johnson is Design Director at IBM's Chief Data Office, where he leads a team driving AI-first enterprise data transformation. Over a 12-year tenure at IBM, his work has evolved from designing artifacts and experiences toward designing the conditions under which good design can happen at scale. Before IBM, he founded a Minneapolis-based design practice. He has served as president of AIGA Minnesota and as an adjunct faculty member at Parsons School of Design. In This Episode From a used bookshop to IBM. Seth's path to design started at age 12, flipping through Dorfsman & CBS in a used bookshop, and seeing for the first time what design could look like as a system at scale. That same impulse, he says, is what he's still chasing at IBM, just at a different altitude. Design as infrastructure. At IBM's Chief Data Office, Seth's team exists to provide the company with a single, trusted view of how the business is performing. Design's role there is turning data from something people dread into something they rely on every day. The business doesn't care about design. And it shouldn't. Seth's most provocative argument: design only earns influence when it connects itself to outcomes leadership actually cares about: revenue, risk, speed, and fewer defects. Designers are always outnumbered. That means assimilating into the organization's dominant rhythms before earning the right to ask anyone else to change. Treat your team like volunteers. Seth's core leadership philosophy, drawn from years of running AIGA Minnesota: talented people decide every day how much energy and creativity they're willing to invest. You might get the work, but you won't get the commitment. And you definitely can't fake caring at scale. The era of the lone genius is over. On design education: Seth argues that schools still do a reasonable job of preparing designers to work independently, but fall short in preparing them to lead within teams. Design is a team sport, and design students should be partnering across disciplines—biology, nursing, public policy—before they ever step into practice. Resources Mentioned Dorfsman & CBS by Dick Hess and Marion Muller - ⁠https://amzn.to/4unbsHT⁠ (out of print; available secondhand) Humanizing Data Through Design with Giorgia Lupi (AIGA Design Podcast on YouTube) - ⁠https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZZIR8W9AlY⁠ Giorgia Lupi on the AIGA Design Podcast (Other Platforms) - ⁠https://creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/aigadesign/episodes/Humanizing-Data-Through-Design-with-Giorgia-Lupi-e3fi3h1/a-acg9jrh⁠ Seth Johnson & Jenny Price: How AIGA Leadership Changed Everything - ⁠https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12f7g-YG8cY⁠ Designing Change in Bureaucracy with Ivan Boscariol (YouTube) - ⁠https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-f5zESGtKb8⁠ Designing Change in Bureaucracy with Ivan Boscariol (Other Platforms) - ⁠https://creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/aigadesign/episodes/Designing-Change-in-Bureaucracy-with-Ivan-Boscariol-e32eemt⁠ Corita Kent, 2016 AIGA Medalist Video - ⁠https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tivdlh2mhIU⁠ IBM Design - ⁠https://www.ibm.com/design ⁠ Subscribe to the AIGA Design Podcast on YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts: ⁠https://creators.spotify.com/pod/show/aigadesign ⁠ Send us your questions, comments, and voicemails at ⁠podcast@aiga.org⁠.

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Has Design Lost Its Bite? With Benjie Wilhelm

Designers today face massive challenges around education, certification, pay, and power. In this episode, hosts Giulia Donatello and Lee-Sean Huang sit down with Benjie Wilhelm to name the elephant in the room and talk about what it would actually take to fix the structural issues. Benjie is an Assistant Professor of Design at Arizona State University (ASU), Director of Strategic Initiatives at UCDA, and a brand strategist "hellbent on making the world a better place." Together, they examine what a design association should look like over the next decade and discuss why designers need to stop thinking of themselves as artists and start acting like tradespeople. In This Episode The flattening of the profession. About 80% of designers today are self-taught or bootcamp-trained, while 90% of design work is freelance. Benjie argues this isn't just a workforce trend. It's a sign of a profession without a floor, and the consequences run from pay compression to ethical accountability gaps. Artists vs. tradespeople. Benjie's central provocation: designers need to stop identifying as artists and start thinking of themselves as tradespeople. An architect can't build a building that falls down. A plumber can't flood your house. But designers can build platforms that undermine democracy and currently face no professional consequences for doing so. The RGD model. Canada's Registered Graphic Designers designation began as a provincial act in Ontario when a group of designers organized, lobbied, and had their certification standards ratified. Benjie sees it as a repeatable model and has been studying it closely as a possible path for the US. Certification, unions, and collective action. AIGA's Professional Designer and Design Leader certifications are a start, but Benjie argues the industry needs something closer to a union model, where certification has legal weight, pay floors are enforced, and designers have the standing to say no to harmful work. "Your concerns are beneath me." Lee-Sean shared that during the SVA unionization campaign, one colleague dismissed the effort entirely because they could afford to treat teaching as charity work. Benjie uses this as a window into a deeper problem: a succession crisis in design, where prestige and platform stay concentrated in the same hands, and the people most affected by broken systems are the ones least able to fix them. The broken pipeline. The Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis's Talent Disrupted report found that 52% of college graduates are underemployed at initial labor-market entry and that 45% remain underemployed 10 years later. Benjie sees this firsthand, teaching portfolio and professional practice at ASU, and refuses to pretend the path is clearer than it is. Resources Talent Disrupted report, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis - https://www.stlouisfed.org/open-vault/2025/aug/jobs-degrees-underemployed-college-graduates-have RGD (Registered Graphic Designers of Ontario) - https://www.rgd.ca AIGA Professional Designer & Design Leader Certifications - https://www.aiga.org/certification Jenn Stucker at BGSU - https://www.bgsu.edu/arts-and-sciences/school-of-art/faculty-staff/jenn-stucker.html Jenn Stucker on a 2024 episode of the show - https://creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/aigadesign/episodes/Community-Engagement--Cultural-Change-with-Jenn-Stucker-e2lhodo Heated Rivalry on HBO Max - https://www.hbomax.com/shows/heated-rivalry/50cd4e99-04ee-427b-a3b4-da721ed05d9c Critical Form - https://www.instagram.com/critical_form/ Benjie's Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/benjiewilhelm/ Benjie on Threads - https://www.threads.com/@benjiewilhelm Send us your questions, comments, and voicemails at podcast@aiga.org.

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Design the Context, Not the Object with Todd Bracher, Three-Time International Designer of the Year

What if the designer's real job isn't to design the object at all? In this episode, hosts Giulia Donatello and Lee-Sean Huang sit down with Todd Bracher -- industrial designer, founder of Bracher and BetterLab, and author of two books -- to dig into a practice built on removing ego from the design process and letting context drive the answer. From a Pratt exam that accidentally changed his career, to a decade across four European countries, to unlocking a NASA scientist's 25-year-old patent, Todd makes the case that design's most powerful move is understanding the system before touching the object. In This Episode The accidental industrial designer. Todd originally applied to Pratt Institute as an illustrator. A complex respirator brief on a Pratt entrance exam made him ask, "What is this thing?" The answer was industrial design, and he never looked back. Designing the context, not the tree. Todd's framework, laid out in his book Design in Context, argues that designers make a fundamental mistake when they start designing the object without first mapping the "governors" -- finance, legal, supply chain, competition, human needs -- that will ultimately determine the output. His metaphor: a tree's shape isn't an opinion, it's the result of its ecosystem. Design should work the same way. BetterLab and the patent moat problem. Many of the world's most promising scientific breakthroughs sit unused -- stuck in litigation, sitting in drawers, or bought up by companies with no intention of using them. BetterLab is Todd's venture platform to change that. One example: partnering with a former NASA scientist whose UVC light patent for hand sanitization had been sitting unused for 25 years. Visionary execution. The BetterLab manifesto holds that visionary solutions don't spread on merit alone; they require visionary execution. Getting design into the room with scientists, not just at the end of the process, is the intervention. Ergonomics as wellness. After nearly 20 years collaborating with Humanscale, Todd traces the shift from ergonomics as basic human measurement to ergonomics as a long-term health discipline. Humanscale's gravity mechanism does away with knobs and levers entirely, using the sitter's own body weight to instantly adjust the chair. Legacy brands in the age of AI. The competitive threat for heritage companies often isn't a competitor's product -- it's the experience gap. Consumers who use Spotify and Airbnb every day bring those expectations to every brand. Links & Resources Todd Bracher - https://toddbracher.com/ Observations, Research, and Design (Phaidon monograph) -- https://www.phaidon.com/en-us/products/observations-research-and-design | Use code NEW20 for a discount Design in Context framework - https://toddbracher.com/book Field Notes: "The De-Evolution of a Business" -- https://toddbracher.com/field-notes/the-de-evolution-of-a-business BetterLab - https://betterlab.com The Measure of Man - https://ia801906.us.archive.org/34/items/TheMeasureOfManDreyfuss/The%20Measure%20of%20Man%20%28Dreyfuss%29_text.pdf 99% Invisible, "On Average" - https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/on-average/ Humanscale - https://www.humanscale.com/ Action Office - https://www.hermanmiller.com/products/workspaces/workstations/action-office-system/ About Todd Bracher Todd Bracher is an industrial designer and founder of Bracher, a Brooklyn-based studio, and BetterLab, a research and design hub at the intersection of science and design. Named International Designer of the Year three times, he has designed products for Herman Miller, 3M, Zanotta, and Issey Miyake, holds over two dozen patents, and has brought more than 200 products to market. His 2025 book Design in Context is his framework for strategic differentiation through context-based design. His Phaidon monograph, Observations, Research, and Design, covers 25 years of insights, failures, and lessons learned.

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The Future of Design Education: Building a Global Studio with Bryan Clark (Falmouth University)

How can design education bridge the gap between global digital collaboration and local physical making? In this episode of the AIGA Design Podcast, we sit down with Bryan Clark, Head of Graphic Design at Falmouth University, to discuss why online learning is a deliberate "feature" for the modern designer, and not just a fallback. In this episode, we explore: - The Global Studio Concept: How Falmouth leverages a global cohort to create a "hybridized" professional practice environment that mirrors the modern design industry. - Geo-Tagged Making: How students build a "collective map" of physical making facilities, like bookbinding shops and 3D printing labs, in their own local cities. - Intercultural Problem Solving: Why having a student in New York solve a design challenge for someone in Mumbai is a critical skill for the 21st-century designer. - AI & Creative Curiosity: Bryan’s perspective on navigating the "hot topic" of AI with a balance of healthy skepticism and fascinated curiosity. - Interdisciplinary "Surprise": A look at unique collaborations, including a project that turned typographic systems into musical compositions. About Our Guest: Bryan Clark leads Graphic Design at Falmouth University in the UK. With a career split between high-level industry practice (Pentagram spin-offs, Lewis Moberly) and design education, he is uniquely positioned to discuss where design is headed. Timestamps: 0:00 – Intro to the AIGA Design Podcast & "Eyes on Design" 1:40 – Bryan’s journey: From Pentagram spin-offs to Falmouth University 5:33 – Why online design education is "a feature, not a fallback." 10:45 – Designing for the 21st Century: "Design can save the world." 23:12 – The Geo-Tagged Map: Connecting global students to local making 31:11 – Interdisciplinary projects: Turning typography into music 38:07 – Facing the AI question: Curiosity over fear 50:17 – Redesigning the status quo: Food, health, and legislation Discount for AIGA members: AIGA members can receive a £1,000 GBP (approx. $1,346 USD) tuition discount on any part-time, online master's degree from Falmouth University, including their MA Graphic Design (Online). This would make total tuition over two years £11,150 (approx. $15,186).* Terms and conditions apply, contact Falmouth University for more details. MA Graphic Design (Online): online.study@falmouth.ac.uk *USD-GBP conversion accurate May 2026. Tuition fees applicable for 2026 entry. ⁠https://www.falmouth.ac.uk/study/online/postgraduate/graphic-design?utm_source=aiga&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=onlinestudy&utm_term=podcast&utm_content=newsletter⁠ Thumbnail graphics by Falmouth students Dalal Elsamannoudi (center) and Tove Martens (right) This video is part of our "Eyes on Design" season, inspired by the legacy of the Eye on Design magazine. We are exploring the critical, connecting, and future lenses of design practice. Subscribe to AIGA Design for more conversations with design leaders. Leave a review or get in touch at podcast@aiga.org Watch and subscribe to the video versions of the AIGA Design Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLBsiKvJPy6IFH0oasM3T0KsGrnnLoKhSK

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Sustainability, education, and the iF Design Awards with Lisa Gralnek

In this episode, we speak with Lisa Gralnek, Managing Director of iF Design USA and Global Head of Sustainability and Impact at iF Design. We cover the scale and rigor behind the iF Design Award, one of the world's most recognized design competitions since 1953, and how iF has made sustainability a core, embedded criterion in its judging process. We also discuss the launch of the iF Design Academy, what it means to close the gap between design and business fluency, and the risks of outsourcing critical thinking to AI tools. Plus, we reflect on why design thinking became its own victim, what head-heart-hands means in an age of AI, and what we might be collectively unlearning as machines take on more of the work. TOPICS : - Lisa's path from political science and fashion to design leadership - How the iF Design Award jury process works across 93 categories and 9 disciplines- Why sustainability now accounts for 20% of the iF scoring criteria — and what that shift has taught applicants and jurors alike - The circular economy and the "R ladder" of repairability, reusability, and recyclability - iF Design's two free-entry competitions: the iF Design Student Award and the iF Social Impact Prize, both aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals - The launch of the iF Design Academy and why designers need more than design education to lead- The upcoming course AI Strategy for Design Leaders (June 2026) — led by Tey Bannerman, former McKinsey partner- Why design thinking became a buzzword without operationalization — and what it would take to bring it back - What the documentary Modernism, Inc.: The Eliot Noyes Design Story says about the long history of design and corporate power - The tension between AI efficiency and the tactile, hands-on learning that makes designers designers- What we might be collectively "unlearning" as AI tools take on more of the creative process RESOURCES MENTIONED: - iF Design: https://ifdesign.com/en/ - iF Design Award: https://ifdesign.com/en/if-design-award-and-jury - iF Design Academy: https://ifdesign-academy.com/ - iF Design Trend Report (5th annual edition releasing April 28): https://ifdesign.com/en/trend-report - iF Design Student Award: https://ifdesign.com/en/if-design-student-award - iF Social Impact Prize: https://ifdesign.com/en/if-social-impact-prize - Future of XYZ podcast: https://ifdesign.com/en/podcast-future-of-xyz-by-if-design - Lisa Gralnek, "Where Are All the Designers?" (Fast Company): https://www.fastcompany.com/91374558/where-are-all-the-designers - Ellen MacArthur Foundation: https://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/ - Modernism, Inc.: The Eliot Noyes Design Story (2023): https://www.imdb.com/title/tt29215800/ - UN Sustainable Development Goals: https://sdgs.un.org/goals - AIGA + Yale SOM: Business Perspectives for Creative Leaders: https://www.aiga.org/professional-development/business-perspectives-for-creative-leaders - Subscribe to the AIGA Design Podcast: https://creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/aigadesign/ - Questions or feedback? Email us at podcast@aiga.org

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Branding as a Cultural Force with Robin Landa

In this episode, hosts Lee-Sean Huang and Giulia Donatello welcome distinguished professor, author, and creativity expert Robin Landa. Recently honored with the 2025 Stephen Heller Prize for Cultural Commentary, Landa discusses her prolific career as the author of 27 books and her evolving philosophy on design’s role in society. The conversation spans Landa’s origin story: from designing Barbie clothes as a child to honing her craft as a writer. We also explore her latest work, which frames branding not merely as a commercial tool, but as a significant cultural force with ethical responsibilities. Major Themes Branding as a Cultural Actor: Landa argues that modern brands have moved beyond simple differentiation and positioning. They are now cultural participants that influence public discourse, equity, and inclusion, carrying a responsibility to contribute positively to the communities that sustain them. The Evolution of Design Writing: Landa reflects on how writing began as a practical necessity for academic promotion but became a core part of her identity. She emphasizes the importance of design commentary as a form of cultural commentary that should live beyond the "silo" of the design community. Redesigning the Learning Environment: As an educator, Landa advocates for a shift from the "talking head" factory model of education to active, flexible, and social spaces. She suggests that classrooms should be designed for engagement and participation rather than compliance. AI and the Human Element: Discussing the rise of AI in the creative workflow, Landa notes that while students need technical fluency, the true value of a designer now lies in judgment, ethics, and lived experience—qualities AI lacks. Diversity as a Creative Catalyst: Innovation happens at the "edge" where different disciplines and backgrounds meet. Landa highlights the need for structural diversity in creative leadership to move beyond symbolic References Branding as a Cultural Force: https://amzn.to/3PH80IC Leadership by Design: https://amzn.to/47QOm37 MasterCard’s Where to Settle: https://www.mastercard.com/news/europe/en/newsroom/press-releases/en/2023/mastercard-s-where-to-settle-platform-to-offer-new-features-job-listings-and-apartment-rentals/ Sheba Reef Builders: https://www.shebahopegrows.com/en-en?&=681856277402&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=20799781648&gbraid=0AAAAAC66XqpqSC0WC1oRrgVID3xKi880H Man Ray - When Objects Dream: https://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/man-ray-when-objects-dream

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Humanizing Data Through Design with Giorgia Lupi

In this episode of the AIGA Design Podcast, hosts Lee-Sean Huang and Giulia Donatello sit down with Giorgia Lupi to explore her journey from an architecture student and musician in Italy to a pioneer of data humanism and partner at Pentagram in New York City. Giorgia discusses her latest books, her Love Letter to the New York City subway, and why she recently broke up with ChatGPT. Whether you're a seasoned designer or a curious learner, Giorgia’s insights invite us to see data as a profoundly human, creative, and essential storytelling tool. TIMESTAMPS 00:00 - Introduction to Giorgia Lupi and her focus on data humanism 02:00 - Giorgia’s early influences: architecture, music, and data collection at her grandmother’s tailor shop 05:00 - Spark moments: designing band album artwork and transitioning into data visualization 06:40 - Discussing her book Speak Data and the process behind it 09:00 - The human stories within data: interviews with leading thinkers on data’s meaning 13:15 - The Dear Data project: weekly postcards and framing personal data conversations 16:00 - Inspired by data visualizations and how personal relationships shape data storytelling 18:00 - Data as a love letter to the NYC subway system: poetic visualization of transit data 25:00 - Designing data for children: This Is Me and Only Me and engaging young audiences 27:30 - The challenge of complex data: finding human stories in big or aggregated datasets 30:20 - Designing the data set: choosing what to include and how to add context 32:00 - Combining qualitative and quantitative data: mentoring teams and storytelling strategies 34:30 - The evolving role of data in design and how to navigate cross-disciplinary data practices 38:00 - Perspectives on AI: cautious optimism, data as a resource, and preserving human creativity 43:00 - Inspirations and making for the sake of making: art exhibitions, painting, and experimentation 45:30 - Final thoughts: cultivating critical thinking and curiosity in a data-driven world REFERENCES Our previous episode of the AIGA Design Podcast with Giorgia Lupi from 2020: https://creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/aigadesign/episodes/Giorgia-Lupi-on-Data-Humanism-ecs2f7 Giorgia Lupi’s personal website: https://giorgialupi.com/ Pentagram – The World’s Largest Independent Design Consultancy: https://www.pentagram.com/ Speak Data: Artists, Scientists, Thinkers, and Dreamers on How We Live Our Lives in Numbers: https://amzn.to/4qXAQl4 Dear Data: https://amzn.to/3Msgrqj This is Me and Only Me: https://amzn.to/46pMrlH A Data Love Letter to the Subway: https://www.mta.info/agency/arts-design/digital-art/data-love-letter Two Craigs Take on a 1-Year Performance Challenge (2025 AIGA Design Conference): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdjkZu_qvDM 2Craigs: https://www.2craigs.com/ Ruth Asawa, A Retrospective: https://www.moma.org/calendar/exhibitions/5768 Wifredo Lam, When I Don’t Sleep I Dream at MoMA: https://www.moma.org/calendar/exhibitions/5788 Alfred Jensen at the Pace Gallery: https://www.pacegallery.com/artists/alfred-jensen/

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Why paper still matters in the age of digital and AI

In this episode, Lee-Sean Huang and Giulia Donatello host Andy Curson and Rob Slowe from Arctic Paper as they dive into sustainable papermaking, the role of print in a digital age, and collaborations with emerging designers. Discover how Arctic Paper balances environmental responsibility with innovation, and how print continues to evolve as a meaningful medium for creativity and storytelling. Arctic Paper’s portfolio: mills in Sweden and Poland, offering coated, uncoated, book, and high-end papers The relationship between Arctic Paper and the Munken Design Brand, and insights into their global activities Collaborations with European design schools for over 20 years, fostering youth creativity The evolution of agenda design: flexibility, interactivity, and the shift from static to fluid layouts The value of physical books and print in an era dominated by screens, emphasizing quality and sensory experience Arctic Paper’s sustainability initiatives: FSC, Cradle to Cradle, CO2 reduction, water conservation, and environmental stewardship Challenges in translating digital files to print, ICC profiles, and ensuring color fidelity Digital tools like Munken Sans font and Munken Creator for hybrid design approaches The future of print: high-end books as niche luxury items, akin to vinyl records The impact of AI on design and print, emphasizing the importance of tactile, slow media for deep engagement Resources & Links: Arctic Paper Official Website: https://www.arcticpaper.com Munken Paper: https://www.arcticpaper.com/brands/munken/ Munken Sans Typeface: https://colab.munken.com/munken-sans Munken Creator Web Tool: https://colab.munken.com/munkencreator FSC Certification: https://fsc.org Timestamps: 00:00 - Introduction to the Eyes on Design theme and guests from Arctic Paper 02:29 - Arctic Paper’s global presence and product offerings 04:09 - Clarification of Arctic Paper and Munkin Brand relationship 05:34 - The backgrounds and careers of Andy and Rob in the paper industry 11:34 - Long-standing collaboration with European art and design schools 14:32 - Big shifts in youth design practices: flexibility and interactivity 16:33 - How COVID influenced innovative student projects and engagement with paper 19:04 - Challenges of translating digital files to print on uncoated paper 21:03 - The role of paper quality in creating memorable experiences 24:47 - Arctic Paper’s commitments to sustainability and environmental impact 27:31 - Innovations in reducing water and energy consumption in papermaking 30:14 - The physical environment as part of sustainability and community well-being 31:24 - How Arctic Paper bridges expectations between digital and print media 34:41 - Digital tools and experiments like Munken Sans font and Munken Creator platform 39:24 - The future of luxury books and print as a niche market akin to vinyl records 41:59 - The timeless value of physical books and passing on treasured works 42:35 - AI's role in design, print, and storytelling: preserving tactile skills amid digital growth 45:09 - Looking ahead: embracing both digital and physical mediums, fostering new creatives

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Introducing "Eyes on Design," AIGA's 2026 Programming Theme

Join co-hosts Lee-Sean Huang and Giulia Donatello as they kick off a brand-new season of the AIGA Design Podcast. We’re diving deep into our new programming theme, "Eyes on Design." Whether you’re a long-time listener or brand new to the show, Lee-Sean and Giulia take a moment to (re)introduce themselves and share the backgrounds (and biases) they bring to design discourse. Have a story to tell? We’re scouting for guests! Send your pitches to podcast@aiga.org. Join the conversation: We love hearing from you. Drop us an email or a voice message with your thoughts on the new season The AIGA Design Podcast is 100% member-supported. Join AIGA today at aiga.org to support our work and connect with our community of design professionals, educators, and leaders.

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Designing for the World We Live In: Aleksey Fedorov on Meaning, Performance, and Brand Impact

In this episode of the AIGA Design Podcast, hosts Lee-Sean Huang and Giulia Donatello sit down with Aleksey Fedorov, Director of Global Brand Marketing at Microsoft, for a wide-ranging conversation on branding, performance, and the evolving role of design in society. Aleksey reflects on his nonlinear career path and how moments of tension, uncertainty, and failure have shaped his creative practice. Together, they unpack how brands can move beyond metrics to create meaning, build trust, and reflect the complexity of the world we live in. The conversation also explores the role of AI in creative work, the importance of inclusion and representation in brand systems, and what it means to design not just visuals, but immersive, living worlds. Drawing on his experience at Microsoft and his involvement with AIGA, Aleksey shares insights on how institutions and brands must continue to evolve, embracing discomfort and staying grounded in human values to remain relevant and impactful. Episode Recommendation: Book: Art Since 1900 Newsletter: Benedict Evans Movie: Her Show: Andor

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The Human Element People First: Devika Menon on Participatory Service Design

In this episode of the AIGA Design Podcast, Lee-Sean Huang and Giulia Donatello engage in an inspiring conversation with Devika Menon, a service design and delivery lead at the City of Philadelphia. They explore Devika's diverse career journey, from her early days in animation film design to her current role in civic design. The discussion highlights the importance of human-centered design, the challenges of working within government systems, and the significance of participatory service design. Devika shares insights on navigating uncertainty, the impact of cultural experiences on design thinking, and the value of collaboration in creating sustainable change. Episode Recommendations: Book: Good Services: Decoding the Mystery of What Makes a Good Service Book: Braiding Sweetgrass

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Shaping Your Path: Kevin Flores on Career Growth, AI and Design Leadership

In this episode of the AIGA Design Podcast, Lee-Sean Huang and Giulia Donatello engage in a thought-provoking conversation with Kevin Flores, an experienced product and design leader, founder and coach. They delve into Kevin's diverse career journey, from his early days in Silicon Valley to his experiences with major corporations like LinkedIn and Verizon. The discussion highlights the importance of adaptability in design careers, the evolving role of design leaders, and the significance of personal branding. Kevin shares insights on navigating the challenges of the design industry, the impact of AI on design processes, and the value of cultivating a unique design sense. He reminds designers that even as AI evolves, maintaining a sharp critical lens remains an essential skill. Episode Recommendations: Kevin's Book: Design Career Handbook Short Film: Powers of Ten Book recommendation: Orbiting the Giant Hairball

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Balancing Anger and Hope: George Aye on Pissed Off Optimism in Design

In this episode of the AIGA Design Podcast, Lee-Sean Huang and Giulia Donatello speak with George Aye, co-founder of Greater Good Studio⁠, about his concept of “pissed off optimism”, the tension between acknowledging what’s broken and believing in the possibility of meaningful change. The conversation explores the power of community, the realities of navigating race and identity in the design profession, and the transitions and trade-offs that come with moving from designer to business owner. George also reflects on the principles that guide his studio, the importance of ethics in design education, and the role designers can play in supporting social change. The episode concludes with inspirational media recommendations and a call to action for designers to connect with local nonprofits.

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Navigating Intersections: Sahar Chung on Design, Performance, and Inclusivity

In this insightful episode of the AIGA Design Podcast, hosts Lee-Sean Huang and Giulia Donatello are joined by Sahar Chung, Director of Product Strategy at Multiplayer. Sahar shares her unique career journey, from her early days as a NASA contractor to becoming a leader in the UX field. The conversation delves into the evolution of UX research as a strategic partner, the importance of building inclusive methodologies, and the critical role of relationship-building in design. Learn about Sahar's co-founding of Confetti Q&A, a platform for community-driven discussions on industry challenges. Connect with Sahar Chung: https://saharchung.com/ Linkedin Sahar’s recommendation: Fantasy High Join us for the 2025 AIGA Design Conference, October 9-11 in Los Angeles, California – ⁠⁠⁠https://www.aiga.org/design/aiga-design-conference Watch the video version of this podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MscLQyFFwVI

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