Designer & Designer (Brian Fling, Joe Alterio)

The Dunning-Kruger Effect
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect

The Continuity Girl
https://womensfilmandtelevisionhistory.wordpress.com/2014/02/21/continuity-girl/

Joe's Latest Web Comic, The Custodian
https://goodwork.is/TheCustodian/

Design is Storytelling, by Ellen Lupton
https://www.cooperhewitt.org/publications/design-is-storytelling/

"Everyone thinks they have a sense of humor and good taste, but we can't all have good taste"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZW8zvaTRuGo

Medieval Guilds
https://www.thoughtco.com/medieval-guilds-4147821

Outro Song
Et moi et moi et moi - Jacques Dutronc 

 

Got something to say to us, good, bad or ugly? You can always email us at designer@designer.fm

Mentioned

• What Was the TED Talk?​ from our super smart friend Jay Fienberg (who you should hire!)

Topics Discussed

• Why don't designers learn how to present design?
• Do's and Don't for design presentations
• To Neg or Not to Neg? That is the question.
• The exhausting reality of "performing"

Pull Quotes

• "Amateur hour is when someone spends all their bullets in the first minute... You got to keep some in reserve." –Joe
• "If you act like you've done this so many times that you know what the problem is and you are bored by the details, you have convinced someone already that you can solve it." –Joe
• "People gather artifacts and data when they don't trust themselves to actually have the answer." –Joe
• "I continue to believe that we have the hardest job out of anyone in technology because we have to balance so many different things." –Brian
• "It's the job." –Brian

Connect with Joe & Brian

• Website: designer.fm
• Email: designer@designer.fm
• Don't forget to leave us a review on Apple Podcasts!

Outro music: How To Get Your Ass Kicked by Sparks

Got something to say to us, good, bad or ugly? You can always email us at designer@designer.fm

Kelli Goto's Web ReDesign:
https://www.powells.com/book/web-redesign-20-workflow-that-works-9780735714335

Gen Z Searches For Online Content Differently
https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/how-gen-z-searches-for-content

Eli Parser's Filter Bubbles TED Talk:
https://www.ted.com/talks/eli_pariser_beware_online_filter_bubbles?language=en

James Burke's The K-Web
http://k-web.org/

O'Reilly's Information Architecture (The Polar Bear Book)
https://www.oreilly.com/library/view/information-architecture-4th/9781491913529/

Ask A Librarian:
https://ask.loc.gov/

Stuart Brand's How Buildings Learn
https://www.powells.com/book/-9780140139969/17-4

Jessie James Garret's The Elements of UX
http://www.jjg.net/elements/#:~:text=Jesse%20James%20Garrett%20gives%20readers,create%20a%20successful%20user%20experience.

Edward Tufte:
https://www.edwardtufte.com/tufte/books_vdqi

Got something to say to us, good, bad or ugly? You can always email us at designer@designer.fm

Mentioned

• Oranssi Pazusu
• MIke Sugarman
• Blackgaze
• Context Collaspe
• Designing for the Pluriverse
• Enshittification
• ProSocial Media
• Kala, the Suburban Miner

Topics Discussed

• How did we get to this place of totally siloed communal activity?
• Big Rooms and Small Rooms
• Where the Weird Still Is
• Making the web civic-minded again

Ethan Link's

• Ethan's Personal Website
• The Initiative for Digital Public Infrastructure
• Freq.Social
• Gobo.social

Connect with Joe & Brian

• Website: designer.fm
• Email: designer@designer.fm
• Don't forget to leave us a review on Apple Podcasts!

Outro music: Delirium Tremens by Protector

✌️When in doubt, PLUR.✌️

Got something to say to us, good, bad or ugly? You can always email us at designer@designer.fm

LinkedIn People who talk about this topic:

Hang Xu
https://www.linkedin.com/in/haxuco/

Peter Merholz
https://www.linkedin.com/in/petermerholz/

Manuel Lima
https://www.linkedin.com/in/mslima/

Erika Hall
https://www.linkedin.com/in/erikahall/

-

Indeed UX Job Report
https://indeed.design/article/ux-job-listings-plunged-in-2023

Joe’s Small Jobs, Small Dreams
https://uxdesign.cc/small-jobs-small-dreams-7ed46faf46b0

Facebook is Chairs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSzoDPptYNA

Runway AI Motion Genertationhttps://runwayml.com

Got something to say to us, good, bad or ugly? You can always email us at designer@designer.fm

Mentioned in this episode:

• Amanda Gorman's inaugural poem
• Episode 1: Design Thinking
• The Highly Sensitive Person
• Episode 21: Observation in Design

Got something to say to us, good, bad or ugly? You can always email us at designer@designer.fm

Mentioned in this episode:

• Stephen Gates Crazy Ones Podcast

Got something to say to us, good, bad or ugly? You can always email us at designer@designer.fm

Burn Victims

• FAANG as a validator
• FAANG's lack of innovation
• Armchair Logo Art Direction
• Amateur hour in the design space
• MAU/DAU is a broken concept
• Uber is the ultimate example of enshittification
• An attempt to not look at my phone
•"Chimping"
• Text messaging needs a reinvent
• What's App is terrible
• "Founder Mode"
• Alegria Art is an abomination
 

Pull Quotes

"I've seen incredibly talented people passed on because they don't have a FAANG background."
"If tomorrow they found out burning kittens in a barrel would make their stock price go up four points, they would do it so fucking fast."
"I think you can make something extremely valuable, that you don't touch a lot."
"Uber has made the world worse in every conceivable way"
"Can you stand still and look around for 10 minutes? I bet you can't."
"Founder Mode is just a new term for micromanagement"
"Teaching is thing the that taught me how to be a better leader."


Connect with Joe & Brian

Website: designer.fm

Email: designer@designer.fm

Don't forget to leave us a review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen to us!

Outro music: Rumors by Lizzo (ft. Cardi B)

Got something to say to us, good, bad or ugly? You can always email us at designer@designer.fm

You can find more about Jacob Covey and his work at https://www.unflown.com

Got something to say to us, good, bad or ugly? You can always email us at designer@designer.fm

Mentioned in this episode:

• Against Empathy: The Case for Rational Compassion by Paul Bloom
• Stop Whining About Big Government by Kara Swisher featuring Mariana Mazzucato
• /r/learnart & /r/drawing

Got something to say to us, good, bad or ugly? You can always email us at designer@designer.fm

In this episode, Brian and Joe welcome back Dave Miller from Design Citizen to discuss the evolving landscape of design as a profession and what the future designer might look like. Dave shares insights from his recent LinkedIn article exploring design from 2025 through 2040, discussing how AI and accessible tools are transforming creative capabilities and what skills tomorrow's designers will need to thrive in an increasingly competitive market.

Mentioned

• What’s Next for Design? Predictions for 2025 to 2040 - Dave's article on how design will evolve over the next 15 years as AI transforms the field.
• How are we doing out there? (Designer&Designer Episode 30) - Previous episode with Dave
• Design Citizen - Dave's company website where you can learn about his coaching services
• r/pressurewashingporn - Ooooh yeah!

Topics Discussed

• Dave's recent LinkedIn article about the future of design that "blew up"
• The shift from specialist designers to "Omni designers" who can do a bit of everything
• How AI and accessible tools are breaking down barriers to creativity
• The changing economic landscape for designers and the job market
• The value of design education in today's world
• The challenges of cross-disciplinary collaboration between design, engineering, and product
• How design can become a key differentiator in a world of sameness
• The future of design leadership and who will be in charge of creative vision

Pull Quotes

• "Everything's changed. I think everything's gonna change every year apparently." - Dave Miller
• "I found myself all of a sudden seeing that I was exploring adjacent areas of what I'm technically qualified to do and not doing a bad job at it." - Dave Miller
• "The hottest thing in the market right now is essentially the player coach. It's the adult in the room that could manage... but they are particularly skilled in the craft." - Dave Miller

About Dave

Dave Miller is the founder of Design Citizen, a recruiting and coaching firm dedicated to helping designers thrive. With over 20 years of experience in the creative industry, he draws on the insights and trends he uncovers through conversations with the remarkable people and companies he collaborates with. For more of Dave’s perspectives on the ever-evolving world of design, follow him here on LinkedIn.

Connect with Joe & Brian

• Website: designer.fm
• Email: designer@designer.fm
• Don't forget to leave us a review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen to us!

Outro music: Pressure Washer vs Techno by @Klangphonics 

Got something to say to us, good, bad or ugly? You can always email us at designer@designer.fm

Mentioned

• Mythic Quest episode: Dark Quiet Death
• The pram in the hall
• Tim Van Damme
• XOXO Festival
• Crazy Boat!

Topics Discussed

• The delicate balance between following established patterns and advocating for innovative design solutions
• How life circumstances (family obligations, debt, financial security) fundamentally change our relationship with risk
• The consulting advantage: why outside perspectives have more freedom to propose radical ideas
• The shifting landscape of design opportunities from the mobile revolution to today's uncertain AI frontier
• Why designers often self-censor their most authentic work out of fear or practicality

Pull Quotes

• "Every big moment in my career was when I took one of those big swings."
• "My job is to represent the user...even if it puts me at odds with my team."
• "Every single good piece of work comes from a genesis of a personal experience."
• "Risk is a clarification of one's priority list."
• "I would never do anything to risk my family or my children...nothing would be worth it."

Connect with Joe & Brian

• Website: designer.fm
• Email: designer@designer.fm
• Don't forget to leave us a review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen to us!

Outro music: Play At Your Own Risk (12" Version) by Planet Patrol

Got something to say to us, good, bad or ugly? You can always email us at designer@designer.fm

Mentioned in this episode:

- Black Designers of Seattle

- Institutionalized Racism: A Syllabus

- Ta-Nehisi Coates on the Ezra Klein Show

- So you want to talk about race by Ijeoma Oluo

- White Fragility: Why it's so hard for white people to talk about racism by Robin Diangelo

Additional resources:

- Black Lives Matter &  Black Lives Matter Seattle

- How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi

- Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates

- Anti-racist reading list for designers

- Resources In Defense of Black Lives

- What Not To Say To Your Black Colleagues Right Now

- Blacks Who Design

- Support Black Owned Businesses

Got something to say to us, good, bad or ugly? You can always email us at designer@designer.fm

• Find Dave at designcitizen.com
• Dave's Original Linkedin Post
• Jared Spool Tweet

Got something to say to us, good, bad or ugly? You can always email us at designer@designer.fm

• Draplin Design Co.
• Pretty Much Everything by Aaron James Draplin
• Field Notes
• Pick up Draplin Design Co. merch

Got something to say to us, good, bad or ugly? You can always email us at designer@designer.fm

• Adobe buys Figma
• Missing Kara Swisher content
• A simple way to make HTML websites
• Org Design for Design Orgs
• Why Designers Quit
• Why corporate America broke up with design thinking
• The T-Shaped Designer

Got something to say to us, good, bad or ugly? You can always email us at designer@designer.fm

Temple Grandin: Society Is Failing Visual Thinkers, and That Hurts Us All
American schools are screening out too many of our visual and spatial thinkers.

A Comparative Study of Colour Effects on Cognitive Performance in Real-World and VR Environments
This research explores the influence of colour on cognitive performance and intellectual abilities (i.e., logical and lateral thinking abilities and people’s attention to detail) in a conventional laboratory setting and an approximately identical ...

Visual Thinkers Online Test

Buy Temple's book here!

Got something to say to us, good, bad or ugly? You can always email us at designer@designer.fm

"Meta’s Terrible AI Profiles Are Going Viral":
https://lifehacker.com/tech/instagram-has-official-ai-accounts-and-they-are-weird

AI2:
https://allenai.org/

The Singularity Reddit:
https://www.reddit.com/r/singularity/

Charles Baudelaire on Photography:
https://www.csus.edu/indiv/o/obriene/art109/readings/11%20baudelaire%20photography.htm

Klout:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klout

A Gentleman in Moscow:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Gentleman_in_Moscow

Sam Altman's Popped Collars
https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/people/sam-altman-sama

Outro Song
Time Hard - The Pioneers
 

Got something to say to us, good, bad or ugly? You can always email us at designer@designer.fm

Show Notes

Workism Is Making Americans Miserable 
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/02/religion-workism-making-americans-miserable/583441/

Some decent Job Boards
https://www.ixda.org/jobs/
https://www.uxjobsboard.com/
https://dribbble.com/
https://www.earlystagedesignjobs.com/
https://www.krop.com/creative-jobs/ux-ui-designer/
https://jobs.smashingmagazine.com/jobs/

If you ever want a portfolio review, email us! designer@designer.fm

Stay strong out there ❤️

Got something to say to us, good, bad or ugly? You can always email us at designer@designer.fm

"Generative AI fuels creative physical product design but is no magic wand"
https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/mckinsey-digital/our-insights/generative-ai-fuels-creative-physical-product-design-but-is-no-magic-wand

"Graphic design among most at-risk jobs from AI – report"
"https://www.designweek.co.uk/graphic-design-among-most-at-risk-jobs-from-ai-report/"

"Dieter - Your Virtual Head of Design"
https://chatgpt.com/g/g-LQEv5avuV-dieter-your-virtual-head-of-design



 

Got something to say to us, good, bad or ugly? You can always email us at designer@designer.fm

Find more information about Josh Glenn and his work in semiotics at http://semiovox.com

Got something to say to us, good, bad or ugly? You can always email us at designer@designer.fm

Ep 40 Show Notes 

• CZ is Going to Prison
• R/workreform
• The Need for Climate Optimism
• The Economy, Stupid
• The Strauss-Howe Generational Theory
• You’re Can’t Let Mom’s Death Be An Excuse for Getting the Ol Job Done
• How the Internet Makes Money by Making Us Feel Bad
• Library of Congress, Cartoon Collection
• The Electric Wire Panic
• N/N: “AI: First New UI Paradigm in 60 Years”
• Jakob’s Law 
• Frutiger Aero
• Painter Bill Braun
• That Dickhead VC Dude
   
• Song Credit: “Auld Lang Sign” Wheedle's Groove: Seattle's Finest In Funk & Soul 1965-75
  https://lightintheattic.net/products/wheedles-groove-seattles-finest-in-funk-soul-1965-75

Got something to say to us, good, bad or ugly? You can always email us at designer@designer.fm

Mentioned in this episode:

- Natasha Jen's talk "Design Thinking is Bullsh*t"

- Design thinking origin story by Jo Szczepanska

- Khoi Vinh's "In Defense of Design Thinking, Which Is Terrible"

Recorded at Cloud Studios in Seattle.

Got something to say to us, good, bad or ugly? You can always email us at designer@designer.fm

Recorded at Cloud Studios in Seattle.

Got something to say to us, good, bad or ugly? You can always email us at designer@designer.fm

Recorded at Cloud Studios in Seattle.

Got something to say to us, good, bad or ugly? You can always email us at designer@designer.fm

Recorded at Cloud Studios in Seattle.

Got something to say to us, good, bad or ugly? You can always email us at designer@designer.fm

Recorded at Cloud Studios in Seattle.

Got something to say to us, good, bad or ugly? You can always email us at designer@designer.fm

Recorded at Cloud Studios in Seattle.

Got something to say to us, good, bad or ugly? You can always email us at designer@designer.fm

Recorded at Cloud Studios in Seattle.

Got something to say to us, good, bad or ugly? You can always email us at designer@designer.fm

Recorded at Cloud Studios in Seattle.

Got something to say to us, good, bad or ugly? You can always email us at designer@designer.fm

Recorded at Cloud Studios in Seattle.

Got something to say to us, good, bad or ugly? You can always email us at designer@designer.fm

Recorded at Cloud Studios in Seattle.

Got something to say to us, good, bad or ugly? You can always email us at designer@designer.fm

Recorded at Cloud Studios in Seattle.

Got something to say to us, good, bad or ugly? You can always email us at designer@designer.fm

Recorded at Cloud Studios in Seattle.

Got something to say to us, good, bad or ugly? You can always email us at designer@designer.fm

Recorded at Cloud Studios in Seattle.

Got something to say to us, good, bad or ugly? You can always email us at designer@designer.fm

Recorded at Cloud Studios in Seattle.

Got something to say to us, good, bad or ugly? You can always email us at designer@designer.fm

Recorded at Cloud Studios in Seattle.

Got something to say to us, good, bad or ugly? You can always email us at designer@designer.fm

Mentioned in the episode:

- Design Gigs for Good

Recorded at Cloud Studios in Seattle.

Got something to say to us, good, bad or ugly? You can always email us at designer@designer.fm

Mentioned in this episode:

- Frank Chimero's Burnout List is a great primer for this discussion

- The iPad Awkwardly Turns 10 by John Gruber

- Second Wave Gentrification by Charles Mudede

- Designers’ job satisfaction is plummeting. But why?

Recorded at Cloud Studios in Seattle.

Got something to say to us, good, bad or ugly? You can always email us at designer@designer.fm

Connect with Bekah Marcum on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/rebekahmarc/

And if you are a black designer in Seattle, be sure connect with Bekah's group https://www.linkedin.com/groups/13668366/

Special thanks to Catleah Cunanan for producing this episode. Recorded at Cloud Studios in Seattle.

Got something to say to us, good, bad or ugly? You can always email us at designer@designer.fm

Special thanks to Catleah Cunanan for producing this episode. Recorded at Cloud Studios in Seattle.

Got something to say to us, good, bad or ugly? You can always email us at designer@designer.fm

Mentioned in this episode:

- Are you asking enough from your design leaders?

- Design Maturity Model by InVision

- Future of Design in Start-Ups

- There's no guarantee your product strategy will work. Here's how to de-risk it

Special thanks to Catleah Cunanan for producing this episode. Recorded at Cloud Studios in Seattle.

Got something to say to us, good, bad or ugly? You can always email us at designer@designer.fm

Mentioned in this episode:

- Joe's Original Post, Observation As A Prerequisite For Design (https://formidable.com/blog/2019/design-observation/)

- Ira Glass on the Taste Gap (https://vimeo.com/85040589)

- History of the Ampelmann (https://www.ampelmann.de/en/a-brand-with-a-history/)

Recorded at Cloud Studios in Seattle (www.cloudstudiosseattle.com).

Got something to say to us, good, bad or ugly? You can always email us at designer@designer.fm