The Design Podcast The Design Podcast

We're delighted to be joined by Daina Lightfoot, a Lead Designer at Shopify, Creative Director and Offline Creator.

Daina has led and crafted brand identities and experiences for some of the tech industry's most adored brands, including Disney, Slack, Hootsuite, Dropbox and Abstract.

Today Daina works with Shopify as a Lead Designer, shaping brand and product marketing experiences for their global portfolio of financial products.

In our conversation, we explore Daina's origin story to the present day, revealing insights about work ethic, graft and passion, and the choice between pursuing a path of management or a track focused on craft.

If that wasn't enough, we explore the realities of the creative process and the nuisances of building successful brands and campaigns. We also discuss Daina's current role at Shopify and how the business retains a creative and productive culture as a globally distributed team.

Let's get into it!



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We're joined by David Schwarz, a multi-award-winning Creative Leader, Entrepreneur and Founding Partner of HUSH.

David has spent his career designing brand experiences that integrate content, interactivity, architecture, and technology.

After graduating from Art Center College of Design, he worked for notable creative studios, interactive agencies, and design firms in Los Angeles and New York.

Since founding HUSH, David has developed numerous projects across technology, corporate, sport, luxury, beauty, and entertainment categories, most notably for Google, Equinox, Meta, Nike, Barclays, Sonos, and Uber, among others. He also serves as a mentor at New, Inc., the New Museum's incubator program for art, technology, and design.

Thinking about starting your own business? Or simply curious about what it takes to run a design studio? We have you covered. This is an epic episode focusing on creative entrepreneurship with insights from one of the industry's most exciting studios.

Let's get those headphones on (or speaker ready, listeners choice) and get you tuned into this convo with the fantastic David Schwarz!



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In this episode, we’re joined by WMP’s multi-award-winning Director of Product Design, Hugo Martin.

Hugo leads a multidisciplinary creative team taking a holistic approach to design, addressing industrial, brand, film, packaging, and digital experiences. A strategy that's seen the studio's work shape successful outcomes for Wahl, Bolin Webb, Salomon, OCLU and Doro, receiving multiple awards at Red Dot, CES, iF Design Awards.

This wonderful conversation explores a diverse range of topics from Hugo’s personal journey to WMP’s success story and an in-depth look at his work with OCLU, a GoPro competitor that takes a fresh angle to the user experience, from form factor, mounting and film production.

Naturally, we couldn’t resist diving into the studio’s culture and Hugo’s approach to developing client relationships.

Kindly, Hugo, helps us answer some of the big questions for consultants “how do we price our work?” and “can we diversify our revenue streams?”. Hugo talks us through how his transparent approach to pricing and talent sourcing has led to multiple long-term relationships and how that has diversified the studio’s revenue streams.

All this and so much more! Let’s get into it!



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We are delighted to welcome Jonas Zieher, Partner and Design Director at Spin.

Over the last decade, Jonas has dedicated himself to shaping an eclectic portfolio through graphics, communication and motion design.

Prior to Spin, Jonas spent time at the world-renowned Pentagram and ran his own studio; Studio Jonas Zieher, with his work featured at the Espoo Museum of Modern Art and Guggenheim Museum in New York.

Today Jonas leads the creative efforts of Spin alongside partners Tony Brook and Patricia Finegan.

The studio has worked with impressive clients, including Apple, BBC, MUBI, Samsung, Nike and Tate Modern, shaping identity systems across digital, print and physical environments.

In this episode, we explore Jonas's personal journey into the creative fields, the role of a Design Director and unpack the creative rituals behind Spin's thriving culture and success.

This is a fascinating conversation for any designer, but particularly for those of you leading and building design teams. Jonas kindly talks us through the studio's work ethic, the importance of cooking and eating together, and how a strict routine enables space for creativity.

Naturally, how could we not explore some of Spin's work? Jonas kindly talks us through the creative journey for 'Waste Age', created for The Design Museum.

That's enough from us, let's hear from Jonas. Headphones on and play...



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We're joined by the lovely Leon Barrett, Product Director at the award-winning product agency 383.

Leon trained initially in software engineering and grew his career to Director of Engineering before transitioning into a Product Leadership role. Over his 14 year career, he has created digital products for government, hospitality, finance, automotive, education and retail brands.

Leon currently leads the Product team at 383. Where he and his team of Business Analysts, Product Owners, Product Delivery Leads and Strategists have created experiences for Hilton, Chevrolet, VWFS, Busy Bees, Jaguar Land Rover, E.ON, HomeServe, The AA, National Express and Adidas.

A passionate advocate for Product, Leon engages in public speaking, mentoring and coaching. He is also Curator for the Canvas conference and a Trustee at Awesome BHX.

We discuss Leon's career path, unpack some of the secrets behind 383's success and hear his advice on all things Product. As Leon is our first Product leader on the show, we couldn't resist talking about that vital collaboration between Designers and Product Managers.

We loved the conversation with Leon and share an affinity with perspectives on the Product and Design relationship - it will be music to many creative's ears.

Let's get into it!



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We are thrilled to be joined by a former award-winning Industrial Designer, now UX Researcher, Catherine Suen.

And yes, Catherine works closely with our Creative Director at Smart Tech - as we've said before when you have access to a pool of incredible talent, why not share their stories and experience with the world?

With her career spanning just a decade, Catherine has already created an impressive portfolio, designing experiences for Microsoft, RCA, Honda, Jaguar, Hive and most recently, Vodafone Smart Tech.

Catherine trained initially as an Industrial Designer and worked for a design studio in her home town of Hong Kong before moving to London and completing a double Masters degree in Innovation Design and Engineering. She then went on to work as an Innovation Consultant and helped set up a design lab in Tokyo before returning to the UK and transitioning into UX Research.

Catherine's work has received global recognition picking up awards from Core77, HKDA Global Design Awards, Red Dot and iF! She is also passionate about inspiring others and works as a guest lecturer for the Royal College of Arts.

In our conversation, we discuss Catherine's academic and professional path. What fuels her work and has driven her to try a variety of creative roles.

Naturally, we couldn't have her on the show without giving you expert guidance on UX Research practices. Catherine very kindly shares practical advice that you can bake into your own process.

What are you waiting for? Let's get into it.



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Instagram: @design_podcast

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All episodes are available on:

www.designpodcast.co