Design Better By cover art

Design Better

By: The Curiosity Department LLC
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  • Summary

  • Design Better co-hosts Eli Woolery and Aarron Walter explore the intersection of design, technology, and the creative process through conversations with inspiring guests across many creative fields. Whether you’re design curious or a design pro, Design Better is guaranteed to inspire and inform. Episodes are released semi-weekly. Vanity Fair calls Design Better, “sharp, to the point, and full of incredibly valuable information for anyone looking to better understand how to build a more innovative world.”
    © The Curiosity Department, LLC 2023
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Episodes
  • Making Design Better—better—with weekly episodes, an enhanced newsletter, and more

    Making Design Better—better—with weekly episodes, an enhanced newsletter, and more
    Apr 24 2024
    Tldr; We’re transitioning to weekly episode releases, publishing an enhanced newsletter, and simplifying our premium subscription which will now be on Substack. Read the details below … Upgrade to paid Weekly episodes For years, we’ve been on a semi-weekly cadence for new episodes, but this schedule is proving too limiting for the amount of interviews we’re producing. Starting today, we’re shifting to a weekly release schedule for our premium subscribers who will receive a new episode every Tuesday morning. Simpler pricing model, more affordable We’re also simplifying our pricing model based on feedback we’ve received. There’s now just one tier that gets you access to bonus content and new ways to learn. For $7/month or $72/year (15% discount), subscribers get 2 extra episodes per month, access to our monthly AMAs (Ask Me Anything) events with big names in design and tech, recordings from all past AMAs, ad-free episodes, and our new enhanced newsletter The Brief that compiles salient insights, quotes, readings, and creative processes uncovered in the show. One plan, one price, you get everything we have to offer to support your personal and career growth. If you’re between jobs, a student, or otherwise on a budget that puts a $7/month subscription out of reach, get in touch at subscriptions@thecuriositydepartment.com. We’ll happily set you up with a free subscription. Subscriptions through Substack We’ve loved publishing through Substack. It’s a platform that can help us spread our wings as we expand our offerings and engage our community more. Going forward, all our premium subscriptions will happen through Substack. We’re very grateful for our early subscribers who have already supported us through DB+. As a small token of our gratitude, for subscribers currently on our Accelerated Learner plan, we’ll be making you Founding Members and extending your subscription by a year. Our Power Listeners will be transitioned to our premium plan on Substack and given an additional 6 months free. Why subscribe We have exciting episodes coming soon with Jonathan Adler (famed potter and furniture designer), Roger Horrocks (My Octopus Teacher cinematographer), Hillary Coe (former SpaceX head of design), Natsai Audrey Chieza (bio-designer), and Ben Clymer (founder of Hodinkee) to name a few. Plus, we have AMAs coming with Greg Hoffman (former CMO of Nike), John Maeda (Microsoft AI), James Buckhouse (Sequoia Capital), Scott Doorley (Stanford d.school), and more. By subscribing you ensure you never miss any opportunity to learn from the people who are pushing the bounds of creative thinking, design, and technology. Expense it If you have a learning and development budget at work, we’ve made subscribing to Design Better affordable enough that this line item won’t raise any eyebrows. We’ve even put together a helpful expense template (thanks to the ByteByteGo newsletter for the inspiration). We’re proud of what Design Better has become over the last seven years, but the best is yet to come. Invest in yourself and in your design community by becoming a paid Design Better subscriber. Thank you so much for your support. Upgrade to paid Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    5 mins
  • Brian Tyler, composer for Yellowstone, Crazy Rich Asians, Mario Brothers, and more, on his creative process

    Brian Tyler, composer for Yellowstone, Crazy Rich Asians, Mario Brothers, and more, on his creative process
    Apr 9 2024
    Find the transcript, full show notes, and more on our Substack: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/brian-tyler Our conversation today takes us further into the creative process across different mediums. If you’re a fan of Yellowstone, Crazy Rich Asians, Iron Man 3, or the recent Mario Brothers movie, then chances are good that one of the soundtrack clips in the trailer below is familiar to you. And today on Design Better we speak with the person behind them all: Emmy-award nominated composer Brian Tyler. We talk to Brian about his childhood influences, growing up in an artistic family, and how he finds the starting threads of a score. Bio Brian Tyler is a multiple BAFTA and Emmy Award nominee, platinum-selling recording artist, and has been a composer and conductor on over 100 feature films. Tyler’s scoring credits include Joss Whedon's Avengers: Age of Ultron, James Wan’s Furious 7 and F. Gary Gray’s Fate of the Furious as well as others in the Fast and the Furious franchise, Shane Black’s Iron Man 3, Alan Taylor’s Thor: The Dark World, Jon Chu’s Crazy Rich Asians, for which he was voted to the 2019 Oscar shortlist for Best Original Score. Brian also tours as a successful electronic artist and producer, playing major festivals such as EDC and Hardfest, and he recently launched "Are We Dreaming", a completely immersive audio-visual experience created by Tyler himself, which debuted in October 2021 on the 400-foot Main Stage at Lost Lands Music Festival; an epic two-hour midnight performance for a crowd of 30,000 people. *** Visiting the links below is one of the best ways to support our show: Methodical Coffee: Roasted, blended, brewed, served and perfected by verified coffee nerds 🤓. We have our very own Design Better roast at Methodical, grab some here to fuel your creativity: https://methodicalcoffee.com/products/design-better-coffee American Giant: Makers of the best hoodie on the planet, their clothing is American-made, ethically produced, and built to last. What more could you ask for? Save 20% off your first order with American Giant using our promo code DESIGNBETTER at checkout. dbtr.co/americangiant Crashplan: You may have heard horror stories of people being locked out of their Apple or Google accounts, and losing decades worth of precious files like family photos. That’s why we’ve been using Crashplan for a decade and a half now to back up all of our important files. Visit Crashplan.com/DESIGNBETTER for 50% off your first year of CrashPlan. Uplift Desks: For people like us who spend countless hours at our desk, ergonomics are an essential consideration. A standing desk from Uplift Desk can help you avoid the negative effects of sitting all day by improving circulation and reducing strain. Design Better can get a special deal by visiting UPLIFTDesk.com. Use the code DESIGNBETTER5 at checkout for 5% off your order. Free shipping, free returns, and an industry-leading 15-year warranty. They’re a great company. Gusto: We’re big fans of Gusto, who make it easy to run payroll, set up healthcare and other benefits for your business. They’ve made setting up the HR infrastructure for Design Better a breeze. Gusto is also one of the best designed SaaS tools out there. Design Better listeners get 3 months free once they run their first payroll - Go to gusto.com/designbetter to sign up. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    44 mins
  • Bonus: Eric Snowden, Head of Adobe Design, on AI + Design

    Bonus: Eric Snowden, Head of Adobe Design, on AI + Design
    Apr 2 2024
    Find the transcript, show notes, and more on our Substack: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/eric-snowden Adobe has been the big wrench in our creative toolbox for decades. But there’s a new tool shaking up our workflow —Generative AI. Eric Snowden, leader of Adobe’s design team, sees a big opportunity for designers to extend and enhance the creative process by folding generative AI into each of our tools and we wanted to get his take on what’s around the corner. We spoke with Eric about his journey from Atlantic records during a period of upheaval in the music industry and what he learned there, to his time on the Behance product team and working his way up through leadership roles at Adobe. Eric leads a team of over 600 people, so we also talk about finding the right size for teams (and Amazon’s “Two Pizza Team” framework), as well as how R&D works at Adobe. Bio Eric Snowden is the Vice President of Design at Adobe overseeing a multidisciplinary team of designers responsible for the Creative Cloud & Document Cloud suite of product and services. His team is responsible for the Digital Video & Audio, Digital Imaging, Design & Web, Documents, Mobile, Portfolio, and Services across web, desktop, and mobile surfaces. *** Visiting the links below is one of the best ways to support our show: Methodical Coffee: Roasted, blended, brewed, served and perfected by verified coffee nerds 🤓. We have our very own Design Better roast at Methodical, grab some here to fuel your creativity: https://methodicalcoffee.com/products/design-better-coffee American Giant: Makers of the best hoodie on the planet, their clothing is American-made, ethically produced, and built to last. What more could you ask for? Save 20% off your first order with American Giant using our promo code DESIGNBETTER at checkout. dbtr.co/americangiant Crashplan: You may have heard horror stories of people being locked out of their Apple or Google accounts, and losing decades worth of precious files like family photos. That’s why we’ve been using Crashplan for a decade and a half now to back up all of our important files. Visit Crashplan.com/DESIGNBETTER for 50% off your first year of CrashPlan. Uplift Desks: For people like us who spend countless hours at our desk, ergonomics are an essential consideration. A standing desk from Uplift Desk can help you avoid the negative effects of sitting all day by improving circulation and reducing strain. Design Better can get a special deal by visiting UPLIFTDesk.com. Use the code DESIGNBETTER5 at checkout for 5% off your order. Free shipping, free returns, and an industry-leading 15-year warranty. They’re a great company. Gusto: We’re big fans of Gusto, who make it easy to run payroll, set up healthcare and other benefits for your business. They’ve made setting up the HR infrastructure for Design Better a breeze. Gusto is also one of the best designed SaaS tools out there. Design Better listeners get 3 months free once they run their first payroll - Go to gusto.com/designbetter to sign up. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    49 mins
Art Economics
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Featured Article: The Best Design Podcasts for a Fresh Creative Perspective


There’s no shortage of wonderful design podcasts spanning every aspect and kind of design—from how-to graphic design podcasts to podcasts that blend history and culture with design theory. Whether you’re looking to learn a new skill or you want to stay up to date on the latest design trends, we’ve got you covered. Aspiring designers, interested amateurs, and professional creatives alike are sure to find their next listen, full of new ideas and practical advice.

Featured Article The Best Design Podcasts for a Fresh Creative Perspective

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