Design Notes
Design Notes is a podcast about creative work and what it teaches us. Hosted by Liam Spradlin, a Senior UX Designer at Google focused on the philosophy of the user interface, the show features conversations with people from unique creative fields, uncovering what inspires and unites us in our practice. Tune in to learn how UX design connects to creative work across disciplines and around the world.
Find episodes on your favorite platform at design-notes.show
- Update frequency
- every 24 days
- Average duration
- 29 minutes
- Episodes
- 61
- Years Active
- 2017 - 2025
Motion Design with Epsy: Using Meaningful Motion for Better Health Outcomes (2020 Material Design Awards)
This episode is part of a special series of three interviews, recorded remotely with the winners of the 2020 Material Design Awards, exploring what goes into creating an award-winning app.
Epsy uses …
The Surprising Poetry of AI: BJ Best on Teaching Computers to Create Art
In this episode, Liam speaks with BJ Best, a poet who teaches computers to do what humans can’t in the name of art. His network of ArtyBots is part of a vibrant scene of robots creating, sharing, and…
The Magic Question for Creativity: Laurie Rosenwald on Making Mistakes on Purpose
Design Notes is a show about creative work and what it teaches us. In this episode, Liam speaks with illustrator, editorial designer, and author Laurie Rosenwald about how she’s managed to cultivate …
Learning From Your Virtual Twin: Kerry Murphy on Digital Fashion and Self-Actualization
In this episode, Liam speaks with Kerry Murphy, co-founder of digital fashion house The Fabricant, to learn how ones and zeros are spun, woven, and stitched into virtual couture.
In designing couture…
A Prompt for Creative Renewal: David Reinfurt on A New Program for Graphic Design
Design Notes is a show about creative work and what it teaches us. For the first episode of 2020, Liam speaks with David Reinfurt, founder of O-R-G, half of Dexter Sinister, and author of A *New* Pro…
Reflectly: Pushing the Boundaries of Material Motion (2019 Material Design Awards)
This episode is part of a special series of four interviews with the winners of this year’s Material Design Awards, exploring what goes into creating an award-winning app.
Reflectly, a unique journal…
Ruff: Building an Expressive Brand Identity with Material Theming (2019 Material Design Awards)
This episode is part of a special series of four interviews with the winners of this year’s Material Design Awards, exploring what goes into creating an award-winning app.
Ruff is a focused note-taki…
Trip.com: Designing a Universal Travel App for Global Users (2019 Material Design Awards)
This episode is part of a special series of four interviews with the winners of this year’s Material Design Awards, exploring what goes into creating an award-winning app.
Trip.com is a travel app th…
Scripts: Using Creative Interactions to Make Learning Feel Accomplished (2019 Material Design Awards)
This episode is part of a special series of four interviews with the winners of this year’s Material Design Awards, exploring what goes into creating an award-winning app.
Scripts won this year’s awa…
The Psychedelic Spark: GMUNK on His Aesthetic and the Importance of Creative Discomfort
In this episode, Liam speaks with Bradley Munkowitz, also known as designer/director GMUNK, unpacking Munkowitz’s scintillating psychedelic aesthetic — inspired by actual psychedelic experiences — an…
Vulnerability, Technology, and Art: Qianqian Ye on Creative Coding and Shared Futures
In this episode, Liam speaks with interdisciplinary artist and creative coder Qianqian Ye in her San Francisco studio. The duo traces her journey from wielding calligraphy brushes to building a hand-…
How Machines Help Us See Ourselves: Harvey Moon on Collaborating with Technology for Art
In this episode, Liam speaks with new media artist Harvey Moon in his San Francisco studio. The duo discuss how Moon’s work reveals unseen properties of the world around us, the process of creating o…
Art as Survival: Conor Grebel on Using Creative Work to Heal
In this episode, Liam speaks with Conor Grebel about how lived experiences inform and are conveyed through creative work.Our conversation traces Conor’s journey toward creative work and the “ingredie…
I Hate Music Videos: Bayonet Records on Sonic Design and Releasing Music on Your Own Terms
In this episode, Liam speaks with Katie Garcia and Dustin Payseur, who together run independent music label Bayonet Records.Garcia and Payseur (who also leads the band Beach Fossils) break down the c…
What We Can Learn From Our Work: Host Liam Spradlin on the Themes of Design Notes
In this episode, guest host Barbara Eldredge turns the tables, interviewing regular host Liam Spradlin about his own creative journey and reflecting on the themes that unite the first 25 episodes of …
The Most Transformative Job in the World: MoMA's Rob Giampietro on Design's Unseen Impact
In this episode, Liam speaks with Rob Giampietro, Design Director at the Museum of Modern Art. Giampietro shares his journey from studio designer to design manager, explores the unseen details of a m…
“What Do You See; How Do You Feel?”—Vanity Fair's Clinton Cargill on Visual Storytelling
In this episode, Liam speaks with Clinton Cargill, the current visual director at Vanity Fair and former photo director at Bloomberg Businessweek. Cargill describes how he mastered the art of critica…
Owning Your Values: Ksenya Samarskaya on How Typography Encodes and Decodes Identity
In this episode, Liam speaks with New York-based type designer Ksenya Samarskaya, exploring how type absorbs influence from its place in time, space, and culture. Samarskaya unpacks how typography re…
You Cannot Be What You Cannot See: Panimation on Building Community in Motion Design
In this episode, Liam speaks with Bee Grandinetti and Hedvig Ahlberg—two thirds of the trio that founded Punanimation, a community and platform for women, trans, and non-binary folks working with ani…
Material Design Awards 2018: Winners from Lyft, Anchor & More on Building Expressive Products
In this episode, Liam sits down with the winners of the 2018 Material Design Awards—Anchor, KptnCook, Lyft, and SimpleHabit—to discuss how they each adopted and extended Material to build expressive,…