Reconsidering explores how to navigate your career, relationships, and the values that guide you through the inevitable changes of life. Co-hosts Bob Baxley, Meredith Black, and Aarron Walter talk with deep thinkers who’ve figured a few things out about living a satisfying life filled with meaning and show you how you can too.
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Aarron Walter Podcasts
Design Better co-hosts Eli Woolery and Aarron Walter explore the intersection of design, technology, and the creative process through conversations with guests across many creative fields, helping you hone your craft, unlock your creativity, and learn the art of collaboration. Whether you’re design curious or a design pro, Design Better is guaranteed to inspire and inform. Vanity Fair calls Design Better, “sharp, to the point, and full of incredibly valuable information for anyone looking to ...
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Inspiring conversations with exuberant humans about how to live a creative, fulfilling, and authentic life. Hosted by enthusiasm enthusiast, Brad Frost. We experience a brief moment of truth when we first wake up in the morning. Before the cold shower of reality, our infinite to-do lists, and macro-level woes seize our consciousness. We experience a brief moment of excitement — and this pure moment tells us something important about ourselves. There are people out there who seem to move thro ...
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Conversations, presentations and more, from deep thinkers in designing technology. Brought to you by Conffab, the platform for conference presentations
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Exploring Life's Design with Aarron Walter
1:19:10
1:19:10
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1:19:10Brad chats with Aarron Walter, co-host of the Design Better and Reconsidering podcasts, and author of several design books. We cover topics like personal growth, the significance of curiosity, the philosophy of 'super activities', the role of money in achieving life goals, and the importance of living an examined life. Aarron shares his journey fro…
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Microscopes and telescopes By Aarron Walter A friend and former colleague called me recently to catch up and get my perspective on an important question. He leads a product team at a major tech company and the design team had just been moved under him. He’s an exceptional product thinker with a sharp grasp of engineering systems and shipping proces…
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Rhiannon Bell: Designing the future of search at Google
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21:15This 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://designbetterpodcast.com/p/rhiannon-bell We all rely on search—sometimes dozens of times a day—to make sense of the world around us. But behind that simple white box is a vast, dynamic system that has to un…
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Episode 49: Values and what matters with Valerie Tiberius
46:43
46:43
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46:43In this episode, we sit down with philosopher Valerie Tiberius to explore the surprisingly complex topic of values—how we develop them, how they change over time, and how to align them with our actions in a chaotic world. Valerie, a professor of philosophy at the University of Minnesota, shares insights from her decades of research and writing, off…
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Bonus Episode: Inside Sonos's distributed research & design process for the Arc Ultra
33:52
33:52
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33:52For 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 integration into our homes, and everything they design is beautiful. The integration of design and technology is often a challenge for companies. From the outside, it would seem that Sonos has something figu…
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Unlocking Creativity and Positivity with Jessica Hische
1:29:11
1:29:11
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1:29:11Brad talks with Jessica Hische who is known for her work ranging from illustrated children's books to designing iconic logos and her new venture, Studio Works, a software and community for creative professionals. We delve into a wide array of topics including the power of positivity, the challenges of ADHD and mental health, balancing personal and …
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Restoring Cast Iron as a Pathway to Creativity with Denise Jacobs
1:13:59
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1:13:59Brad talks with author Denise Jacobs. Denise shares her insights on restoring cast iron, building connections between past and present passions, and navigating today's challenging environment. They also delve into the importance of empowerment through creativity and highlight Denise's incredible backyard garden as a sanctuary. Additionally, Denise …
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Noah Levin: AMA with Figma's VP of Design on their latest releases
1:03:43
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1:03:43Figma 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 features. Who better to give us the back story of the releases announced at Config than Noah Levin, VP of Product Design at Figma. Join us for a conversation with Noah and a closer look at how Figma …
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Hosted by enthusiasm enthusiast, Brad Frost, welcome to Wake Up Excited! I believe that we experience this brief moment of truth in the morning when we first wake up before our calendars, our responsibilities, and the often depressing state of the world takes over and steals our attention away. We have this very brief window of time where we're exc…
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Design Better Live AMA at The New York Times
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49:42We 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 interviewing, but this was a different experience for us as this time we were the ones telling our story. Matt and the Times design team were curious about the origin story of Design Better, what we’v…
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Video Rewind: Kamasi Washington: A jazz genius on collaborative lessons learned from Kendrick Lamar, Snoop Dogg, Lauryn Hill, and more
1:04:15
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1:04:15This is the second installment in our series of video rewind episodes, with an interview featuring jazz legend Kamasi Washington. Watch the full episode on our Substack: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/video-rewind-kamasi-washington-a Jazz is a constantly evolving art form, offering some of the richest lessons in creative collaboration. A melod…
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Episode 48: AI, algorithms and the battle for your mind with Simon McCarthy Jones
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53:12
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53:12What if the next frontier of human rights isn’t out in the streets but inside your own head? We talk with Dr. Simon McCarthy-Jones, Associate Professor of Psychology at Trinity College Dublin, about the modern fight for freedom of thought. Simon unpacks how everything from social media algorithms to brain-reading technologies are reshaping not just…
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Josh Clark and Veronika Kindred: Sentient Design and the future of interfaces
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36:51This 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 you'd like to access the full episode: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/josh-clark-and-veronika-kindred As designers, we’re entering a new era. AI isn’t just a tool we use behind the scenes, but a coll…
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Bonus Episode: Shani Sandy, VP, Experience Design at IBM, live in NYC for UserTesting's THiS Connect Tour
27:47
27:47
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27:47Maybe 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 adapt, but IBM is a company that’s no stranger to change. Time and again, they’ve reimagined, restructured, and refactored their business to stay relevant. Our guest today, Shani Sandy, is playing an import…
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Episode 47: The last human jobs with Allison Pugh
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46:00
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46:00What happens when the work that makes us most human—caring, listening, connecting—is increasingly outsourced, automated, or pushed to the margins? As AI enters every aspect of our lives, it’s ever more imperative to answer the question, “what does it mean to be human?” Sociologist Allison Pugh has been thinking deeply about that question. In her ne…
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The Brief: Stop specializing—live a multidisciplinary creative life
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13:48by 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 innovative creators of our time share an unlikely trait: they refuse to stay in their lane. While conventional wisdom pushes specialization, these polymaths build careers by following curiosity across fields—from nu…
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Christopher Lyons: From producing music to venture capital, and why EQ beats IQ in building the future
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18:25This is a preview of a premium episode. To get access to the full episode, head to our Substack: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/christopher-lyons Some careers have clear through lines: pick a college major, get a job in that industry. Others take serendipitous turns. Christopher Lyons is the latter, but with some surprising twists. Chris started…
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Bonus Episode: Champ Bennett, co-founder of Capsule, on making motion design easy and scalable
50:15
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50:15We 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, and find platforms that actually help us in our workflow instead of being a distraction. That’s why it was so refreshing to discover the tool Capsule a little over a year ago. We use it to create moti…
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Cassie McDaniel: How Medium eliminated its PM function and started moving faster
28:08
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28:08This is a preview of a premium episode. Visit our Substack to get access to the full episode: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/cassie-mcdaniel Cassie McDaniel, Medium’s head of design, is someone with a clear vision for how a design team should work. She believes team members should have a breadth of skills, craft should be the foundation of produ…
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Episode 46: Liz O'Donnell on caring for elderly parents
50:28
50:28
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50:28We don’t talk enough about caregiving. Especially the kind that unfolds quietly while juggling jobs, parenting, and the slow, disorienting decline of aging parents. But Liz O’Donnell is changing that. In this deeply moving episode, Liz—founder of Working Daughter and author of the book by the same name—shares her story of navigating career ambition…
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The Roundup: AI creative workflow, vibe coding, ethics, agents, and more
48:49
48:49
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48:49Find bonus content and more on our Substack: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/the-roundup-ai-creative-workflow Rarely do we get the chance to pause and reflect on the conversations we’ve been having—and to spot the red threads that run through them. But that’s exactly what we’re doing today. We’re trying out a new format—we’re calling it The Round…
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Bonus Episode: Amy Lokey, Chief Experience Officer at ServiceNow, live in SF for UserTesting's THiS Connect Tour
31:40
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31:40This 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 joining an incredible lineup at #THiSConnect in NYC (including former Design Better guest Seth Godin), where we’ll talk about customer experience, innovation, and the real impact of AI. 📍 Catch us in New York …
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Episode 45: The art of noticing with Rob Walker
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48:00
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48:00Noticing the details in life is eminently satisfying, yet surprisingly hard to do. Bird migration patterns, the moon phase, the details of a rearranged room all go unnoticed by most of us because our attention is fragmented. When the pandemic hit the pause button on life, many of us realized just how much we were missing everyday. Our attention is …
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Video Rewind: John Cleese: A cheerful guide to creativity
37:22
37:22
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37:22Hi 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 episodes, beginning with our interview featuring John Cleese—actor, writer, comedian, and author of Creativity: A Short and Cheerful Guide. You can watch the interview on our Substack, or on Youtube. Enj…
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Episode 44: Rethinking cancer fears with David Ropeik
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53:40Few health risks conjure deeply held fears as effectively as cancer. Most of us have someone close to us who has been taken by the disease, but risk communications expert David Ropeik wants us to reconsider the scope of our fears. Drawing on decades of research and his new book, Curing Cancerphobia, David unpacks why cancer—now a treatable or chron…
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Marco Suarez: From designer to coffee entrepreneur ☕
49:32
49:32
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49:32A special sponsored episode of the Design Better Podcast It’s a tough job market out there right now for designers and other creative technologists. Many of us are wondering if there are other ways we might be able to use our skills, and some of us are considering an entrepreneurial path. Our guest today has done just that. Marco Suarez has had an …
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Susan Magsamen and Ivy Ross: Your Brain on Art
49:31
49:31
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49:31Visit our Substack for bonus content and more: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/susan-magsamen-and-ivy-ross In school, art is often positioned in curricula as an enrichment subject, not a core skill like math or language arts. But those of us who pursue the arts instinctually recognize that there is something in creative expression that is foundat…
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Episode 43: Family estrangement with Dr Karl Pillemer
54:03
54:03
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54:03Family estrangement is a silent epidemic affecting millions, yet it's rarely discussed openly. In this episode of Reconsidering, we sit down with Dr. Karl Pillemer, a leading sociologist and gerontologist, to explore the complexities of fractured family relationships. Drawing from his extensive research, including the Cornell Family Reconciliation …
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Rewind: OK Go: Making the impossible possible
57:35
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57:35Visit our Substack for bonus content: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/rewind-ok-go Aarron and Eli are traveling with their families for Spring Break, so we’re bringing back one of our favorite episodes from 2023 with the band OK Go. In the time since we recorded the interview, they’ve come out with a new album, and with several new music videos, …
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Jordan Mechner: Pioneering game designer on creating Prince of Persia, Karateka, and a new graphic novel memoir
25:22
25:22
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25:22Visit 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 on computers like the Apple II, Commodore 64, and later the Amiga and Macintosh. One of the very first games he played was called Karateka, which was inspiring for the realistic movements of its digital k…
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Brad Frost: Design systems are about human relationships
1:12:48
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1:12:48Visit our Substack for bonus content and more: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/brad-frost Design systems are the foundation of nearly every piece of software we use. No one has had a greater influence on the philosophy and tactics of building design systems than Brad Frost, author of Atomic Design. After helping countless companies craft design s…
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