Wake Up Excited!

Brad Frost
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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 through life with intention, authenticity, creativity, kindness, and enthusiasm. And they do this despite the deeply inperfect world we inhabit. This podcast is an attempt to learn from these people. Through wide-ranging conversations, Wake Up Excited explores guests' passions, interests, enthusiasms, and philosophy of life.

  1. 6 hr ago

    Pottery, Theater, CSS Collaboration, and the Ethics of AI with Miriam Suzanne

    Brad chats with Miriam Suzanne about pottery, theater, CSS, and why we shouldn’t just accept AI as the way. Miriam describes their through-line as collaborative creativity across pottery, theater, client work, and CSS standards, arguing process shapes results and that CSS is inherently collaborative with users, browsers, and devices. She critiques rigid notions of originality and authenticity, emphasizing growth and multiplicity. Miriam rejects “results over process” arguments, challenges claims of democratization amid surveillance, environmental costs, and corporate control, and calls for collective agency to imagine and build better tools and systems.  Topics: (00:00) - Waking Up Excited (02:26) - Returning to Pottery (04:51) - Theater as Hybrid Art (07:00) - Inviting the Audience In (11:14) - Questioning Authenticity (17:20) - Theater in Prisons (28:36) - Facilitating Collaboration Everywhere (38:06) - Why CSS Feels Fuzzy (53:01) - AI for Early Prototypes (01:01:05) - Fix Orgs Not Tools (01:08:10) - Using AI Without Hype (01:17:40) - Uneasy Benefits Tradeoff (01:26:10) - AI's Original Sin And Accountability (01:36:28) - Vision And Agency (01:45:22) - Music Recommendation (01:48:09) - Where To Follow And CSS Courses Links:oddbird.netgrapefruitlab.commiriamsuzanne.comcourses.oddbird.netBalsamiqHarvestClaudeChatGPTDiscordThe Rolling StonesVelvet UndergroundLou ReedParliament-Funkadelic (P-Funk)Maggot Brain by FunkadelicTeacup GorillaEmily Rogers"Franchise" by Isaac AsimovWalt WhitmanJohn Allsopp — "Dao of Web Design"Busch GardensRiverdance"12 Angry Men"Timnit GebruEmily Bender

  2. 6 Aug

    UX, AI Hype Cycles, and Rebuilding the Web with Scott Jenson

    Scott Jenson joins Brad to chat about how UX designers thrive in ambiguity and why wrestling with confusing, failing experiments, especially around AI, can signal real progress. The conversation covers open source’s multiplier effect, the need for sustainable funding, and Scott’s work with Mastodon. Jenson also describes practical AI value for prototyping and coding, while emphasizing nuance, trust, and asking questions over online pile-ons. Topics: (00:00) - Why Ambiguity Excites (06:33) - Designers and the Messy Unknown (10:45) - Tech vs Capitalism (14:23) - Compromise and Stability (18:29) - Fixing Social Media Conversations (28:50) - Persistence and Craft Over Time (36:29) - Open Source as a Model (39:48) - Mastodon and Lowering Costs (46:54) - Consulting and Client Trust (52:38) - Designers vs Programmers (01:08:02) - Open Web vs AI Incentives (01:15:51) - Music Picks (01:19:22) - Where to Find Scott Jenson Links:◉ Your Money or Your Life by Vicki Robin ◉ The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion by Jonathan Haidt ◉ Finding Nemo (Pixar, 2003) ◉ Jurassic Park (1993) ◉ Die Hard (1988) ◉ Pluribus (Apple TV+) ◉ Take Five – Dave Brubeck (Time Out album) ◉ Fleeting Future by Aksumi ◉ Sax Pax for a Sax by Moondog

  3. 31 Jul

    Paul Boag on AI, UX Democratization, and Building a Life-First Career

    Paul and Brad discuss how AI has reintroduced “Wild West” chaos to the web, which Paul finds energizing after years of predictable maturity in the industry. Drawing parallels to past disruptions like desktop publishing, CSS/web standards, and the dot-com bust, Paul argues that panic about AI replacing specialists will settle as organizations realize quality still matters. They emphasize learning through sharing, rejecting performative content marketing, and valuing humility over guru certainty. The conversation explores consulting as amplifying in-house teams’ knowledge, the need to adapt rigid UX processes, and how AI can help democratize UX by empowering non-specialists through playbooks, design systems, and easier access to research. Paul shares how he intentionally built a lifestyle business enabling RV travel, and closes on resilience, change, and optimism. Topics: (00:00) - Hello Chaos (04:10) - Tech Cycles And Jobs (07:27) - Letting Go To Grow (11:01) - Learning By Sharing (25:07) - Process Myths In UX (35:42) - Democratizing UX With AI (43:47) - AI As Meeting Facilitator (59:19) - Kill Handoff With AI (01:04:40) - Is Paul Retiring? (01:13:46) - Business Serves Life (01:33:16) - What Music Does Paul Want You to Know About? Links:◉ Jeffrey Zeldman ◉ Ethan Marcotte ◉ Steve Krug ◉ Jakob Nielsen ◉ boagworld.com ◉ Atomic Design ◉ Starlink ◉ Perplexity ◉ Material Design ◉ Double Diamond design process ◉ Desktop publishing history ◉ Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band ◉ Against the Wind (Spotify) ◉ Against the Wind (YouTube)

  4. 23 Jul

    Nathan Curtis on AI, Design Systems Architecture, and Staying Aligned Beyond Figma

    Nathan Curtis discusses how his work has shifted over the past two years from leading design system teams to focusing on strict architecture and building tools that communicate design intent to engineering, energized by faster iteration enabled by AI. He reflects on his long history in design systems, including his 2009 book “Modular Web Design”. Curtis addresses why teams may feel threatened by AI amid layoffs and rapid tool adoption, arguing that system thinking, governance, and coordination remain essential even as non-deterministic workflows grow. He explains building an evolved Specs tool that extracts structured data from Figma via plugin and CLI for repeatable, cross-platform specifications, while cautioning against using agents where deterministic processes are more precise. They explore flexibility vs lockdown culture, Figma’s role as a typed database, ecosystem interoperability, and advice on writing, consulting, and choosing work that sustains energy. Links: Modular Web Design: Creating Reusable Components for User Experience Design and Documentation [Book]Directed Edges / Nathan CurtisWake Up Excited! | Ben Callahan on Building Community, Your Values, and the Power of ConnectionCenter CentreFROSTAPALOOZAMax Richter - On the Nature of Daylight - YouTubeMellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness (Remastered 2012) - YouTubeSpecsDirectedEdges/specs: Schema, types, and command line tools to record and manage UI component specifications.nathanacurtis on GitHubTopics: (00:00) - Introduction (04:56) - Motion Meets AI (07:06) - Threats and Layoffs (14:44) - Flexibility vs Governance (20:21) - Determinism vs Prediction (25:21) - Agentic UX Ergonomics (35:46) - Building the Specs Toolchain (49:52) - Sharing Versus Capitalism (56:05) - Finding Your Voice (01:00:23) - What's the Future Of Design Systems? (01:14:10) - Advice For New Consultants (01:23:23) - Breadth Versus Depth (01:27:26) - Wrap Up And Gratitude

  5. 16 Jul

    I Feel Like I Have Lightning in My Fingertips with Ridd

    Ridd feels like he’s having more fun than ever as a designer because he can now code and close the gap using Claude to build features with full control over pixels, animations, and interactions. Brad and Ridd discuss how AI shrinks learning barriers, helps translate vague intentions into technical language, and enables individuals to realize ideas with less reliance on others, while complicating collaboration and threatening specialized roles. They explore problem-finding, local/community applications, hybrid service-plus-software models, anxiety about oversupply and discoverability, and Ridd’s deliberate optimism and early-adopter mindset. Links:◉ Jitter · A fast and simple motion design tool on the web◉ Dive Club 🤿◉ Ridd 🤿 (@ridd_design) / X◉ Emancipator◉ Layup Chapters: (00:00) - Introduction (01:38) - Coding Unlocks Control (13:16) - AI's Original Sin (26:48) - Oversupply And Taste (29:36) - Rebuilding Local Culture (35:37) - Software As A Gift (42:41) - Designers As Problem Finders (51:46) - Design Identity Shift (01:01:53) - Teaching The First Step (01:10:36) - Flattened Hierarchies Opportunity (01:15:18) - Optimism As Strategy (01:21:44) - Music Picks And Playlists

  6. 9 Jul

    Docs First, AI-Ready Design Systems with Afyia Smith

    Afyia Smith talks about her separation from Epic Games and choosing optimism by exploring the city and visiting new coffee shops, even amid anxiety and uncertainty. Afyia explains her work as a design systems documentation specialist, arguing that documentation is becoming foundational, especially with AI and agentic workflows, because it captures rationale, behaviors, edge cases, and shared truth across teams. Topics: (00:00) - Meet Afyia Smith (00:55) - Coffee Shop Reset (01:56) - Epic Departure Fallout (03:39) - Choosing Optimism Daily (07:27) - Docs Finally Matter (22:21) - Docs as Team Alignment (28:41) - Facilitating with Neutrality (33:24) - From Solo to Collaborative (36:02) - Docs First Humanity (46:58) - Career Reinvention Mindset (54:18) - Music Picks and Memories (01:00:55) - Where to Connect with Afyia Smith Links: ◉ Michael Jackson — Off the Wall◉ Michael Jackson — Bad ◉ Michael Jackson — Thriller ◉ Xscape — Who Can I Run To ◉ Lauryn Hill — The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill ◉ Michael Jackson biopic (Michael) ◉ afyiasmith.co ◉ LinkedIn — Afyia Smith ◉ ChatGPT ◉ Figma ◉ Storybook ◉ Jira ◉ Google Docs ◉ Epic Games ◉ Tower Records ◉ AI and Design Systems course

  7. 2 Jul

    Mountain Biking, Parenting, and AI’s Breakneck Evolution with Luke Wroblewski

    Luke Wroblewski talks about what’s waking him up excited these days and draws an analogy between trail building and product building, emphasizing prototyping and especially maintenance. The conversation shifts to parenting teens and Luke’s view that people should find their own path, criticizing cookie-cutter career thinking and overly mechanical approaches to life and design. They discuss AI’s rapid, compounding evolution, the widening gap between those keeping up and those not, and how automation should free humans to focus on purpose. Luke shares concerns about awareness and control in agentic systems, shows examples of interfaces for visibility, and argues for collaboration-focused workspaces.  Chapters: (00:00) - Intro (03:41) - Trails are a lot like products (10:28) - Purpose over process (15:57) - AI moving at warp speed (23:15) - What interfaces look like next (27:53) - Keeping the web open (32:34) - Writing with AI (44:47) - Can you trust what agents do (53:13) - Did AI steal the training data? (57:52) - Building an ethics harness for AI tooling (01:13:30) - Luke's work on a shared AI tool workspace for teams (01:22:47) - Grit, incentives, and the mess left behind (01:28:16) - Music picks from Luke (01:32:12) - Where to find Luke online Links:CodexGmailOutlookSlackFigmaNotionClaude CodeRev (rev.art)lukew.commaggieappleton.comtheatlantic.comHomageBig Ears Festivalbillfrisell.comjulianlage.comClaude's Constitution

  8. 30 Jun

    Creative Unblock, Ethical Tensions, and Pragmatism with Luke Murphy

    Luke and Brad discuss feeling newly unblocked by today’s tools which enable rapid experimentation, which must be done at a human level. Exploring nuance over binary positions, comparing reactions to AI to stages of grief, and exploring baking harm reduction and accessibility into systems. Links: Try This At Home by Frank TurnerTHE 17 GOALS | Sustainable DevelopmentFuture TeensAce of Cups - Luke Murphy's personal websiteLuke Murphy (@lurkmoophy.bsky.social)Luke Murphy (@lurkmoophy) • Instagram (00:00) - Introduction (03:25) - ADHD And Unfinished Ideas (12:06) - Using Suno to unlock ideas (23:46) - Nuance In Roles (33:19) - Living With Contradictions (39:28) - Systems Over Symptoms (44:22) - An idea: AI Through Grief Stages (56:11) - Techno Pragmatism And Activism (59:49) - Luddites And Worker Rights (01:02:02) - Baking Ethics Into Workflows (01:08:40) - UN Goals As Software Lint (01:18:02) - Luke's Music Pick And Where To Follow

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About

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 through life with intention, authenticity, creativity, kindness, and enthusiasm. And they do this despite the deeply inperfect world we inhabit. This podcast is an attempt to learn from these people. Through wide-ranging conversations, Wake Up Excited explores guests' passions, interests, enthusiasms, and philosophy of life.

Information

  • Creator
    Brad Frost
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    30
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2025
  • Show Website
    Wake Up Excited!
  • Provider

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