Designing in the Wild: The Industrial Design Podcast

Robert Irwin
  • 4.0 (3)
  • Design
  • Updated Weekly

Designing in the Wild is the podcast where industrial designers, inventors, and changemakers reveal how they turn messy, real-world constraints into market-ready solutions. Each episode unpacks the mindsets, methods, and aha-moments behind sustainable innovation—whether it’s re-thinking plastics, hacking circular supply chains, or simply sketching faster under pressure. If you’re passionate about design’s role in a resilient future (and can’t resist a good behind-the-scenes story), this is your campfire. “Real-world design stories for a world that needs better ones.”

  1. 5d ago

    How to Do Better Design Research with Jill Bohaboy | S3E02

    What separates useful design research from simply asking people what they want? In this episode of Designing in the Wild, Rob sits down with longtime friend and colleague Jill Bohaboy, owner of Trek Solutions, to explore the craft of consumer and design research, and how better observation, better questions, and a willingness to explore can uncover needs people may not be able to articulate themselves. Jill brings years of experience conducting research across an enormous range of industries and product categories. Together, Jill and Rob revisit some of the research they've conducted over the years and unpack the methods behind it—from observational research and shop-alongs to qualitative interviews, quantitative studies, co-creation, and hands-on "build-it" sessions. They also get into one of the biggest challenges in research: bias. How do you ask questions without steering the answer? How do you identify the right people to speak with? And how do you get beyond what someone says to understand what their behavior is actually telling you? For designers and smaller teams, Jill also makes an important case that meaningful research doesn't necessarily require a Fortune 500 budget. Sometimes it starts by simply getting out from behind the computer, watching people interact with the world, and asking a thoughtful question. In this episode: • Qualitative vs. quantitative research • Observation and contextual research • Finding latent needs and compensating behaviors • Co-creation and "build-it" sessions • Avoiding bias and asking better questions • Recruiting the right research participants • Bringing clients into the research process • Conducting useful research on a limited budget • Turning consumer insight into better products As Jill puts it: don't let research become a roadblock—let it become a launch pad. Welcome back to Designing in the Wild, Season 3. Have ideas or just want to say hi, shoot me a note. Support the show

    How to Do Better Design Research with Jill Bohaboy | S3E02

  2. Season 3, Episode 1 Trailer

    We're BACK! Industrial Design, Biomimicry & More: Designing in the Wild Season 3 (Trailer) | S3E01

    Designing in the Wild is back for Season 3 — and this time, we're going video. This season, I'm sitting down with designers, researchers, biomimicry experts, sustainability consultants, software modelers, design directors, manufacturing professionals, and other people doing genuinely interesting work across the design world. We'll get into everything from industrial design and manufacturing to Rhino and Grasshopper, biomimicry, sustainability, emerging tools, design leadership, and the realities of building things in the real world. I've spent more than 20 years working as an end-to-end industrial designer, on projects ranging from Amazon's smart shopping carts to net-zero tiny homes and consumer products. Designing in the Wild is my opportunity to step outside my own practice and learn from people with different perspectives, disciplines, and experiences — and bring those conversations back to the wider design community. The goal is simple: useful conversations with interesting people that leave you with new ideas, skills, perspectives, or inspiration you can take back into your own work. Season 3 will feature 10 episodes, released weekly. And for the first time, you'll be able to watch the conversations as well as listen. Subscribe and follow Designing in the Wild so you don't miss the new season. Let's get after it. Have ideas or just want to say hi, shoot me a note. Support the show

    We're BACK! Industrial Design, Biomimicry & More: Designing in the Wild Season 3 (Trailer) | S3E01

  3. 05/01/2024

    #012 Season 2: Robert Irwin - Senior Industrial Designer, Founder of LearnIndustrialDesign.com, Principal Sustainability Consultant at irwindesigned

    Senior Industrial Designer Rob Irwin charts two decades of sustainable practice, from biomimetic lawn-dart redesigns to net-zero houses with $12 power bills. Along the way he demystifies lifecycle thinking: extraction, processing, manufacturing, distribution, use, upgrades, end-of-life, and transport. Rob critiques the limits of current LCA tools—“CO₂ is not the whole story”—and spotlights hidden health impacts like polyester microfibers. He closes with a challenge to designers: treat environmental criteria as a primary design requirement, right alongside cost, form, and function. Have ideas or just want to say hi, shoot me a note. Support the show

    #012 Season 2: Robert Irwin - Senior Industrial Designer, Founder of LearnIndustrialDesign.com, Principal Sustainability Consultant at irwindesigned

  4. 09/28/2023

    #011 Season 2: Jason Belaire - IDSA Chair(2021-2022) | Belworld Creative, INC. Talks of living abroad, childhood abuse, empathy, social projects around the world, and sustainability

    In this episode we speak to Jason Belaire about being different, cultural shock, designing amidst new cultures, sustainability, and the need for more to be educated on the direct impact the industrial design profession has on our environment, communities, and thought process. Have ideas or just want to say hi, shoot me a note. Support the show

    #011 Season 2: Jason Belaire - IDSA Chair(2021-2022) | Belworld Creative, INC. Talks of living abroad, childhood abuse, empathy, social projects around the world, and sustainability

  5. 03/01/2022

    #010: Andre Brown - Principal Engineer on Amazon's Transportation Sustainability Team - Digital vs. Physical Prototyping, Creating Flat Hierarchies within Teams, Innovating Faster, Designing in Virtual Reality, Eggs and Vacuum Cleaners, Procedural Desig

    Digital vs. Physical: When to Prototype—and When to Simulate Andre Brown, Principal Engineer on Amazon’s Transportation Sustainability team (and former Shark/Dyson R&D lead), joins Rob to unpack the art of knowing which problems need cardboard, which need CFD, and which belong in VR. From drag-cutting truck fairings and crowd-sourced race-car CAD to Dyson’s “egg-inspired” robot vacuum, Andre shows why flat hierarchies, cross-discipline sketch-offs, and procedural design tools accelerate innovation. If you juggle human factors, aerodynamics, and sustainability, this episode is your playbook. Have ideas or just want to say hi, shoot me a note. Support the show

    #010: Andre Brown - Principal Engineer on Amazon's Transportation Sustainability Team - Digital vs. Physical Prototyping, Creating Flat Hierarchies within Teams, Innovating Faster, Designing in Virtual Reality, Eggs and Vacuum Cleaners, Procedural Desig

  6. 02/21/2022

    #009 - Unleashing Creativity Through User-Driven Storytelling - Sam Feller - Human-Centered Engineering, Team Management, Tracking Deliverables, Tactics for Problem Solving

    Have ideas or just want to say hi, shoot me a note. Support the show

    #009 - Unleashing Creativity Through User-Driven Storytelling - Sam Feller - Human-Centered Engineering, Team Management, Tracking Deliverables, Tactics for Problem Solving

  7. 02/14/2022

    #008: Blood In The Water: Americas Assault on Innovation - Kip Doyle - Patent Process, Product Innovation, Defending Patents, Napkin Sketch to Manufacturing

    We sit down and speak with the amazing, Kip Doyle - Author, Inventor, Patent Defender. We talk about her painful story of inventing a product and then going up against Big Tech to defend her patents. She offers up invaluable insights on how to go about protecting your IP, which lawyers to hire, and her new book release, Blood In The Water: America's Assault on Innovation. BOOK LINK: https://amzn.to/3LxUm3Y CONTACT Email: ANGRYMOB@BLOODINTHEWATER.COM Instagram: @cardsharkwalletskin OTHER REFERENCES USInventor.org cardsharkskin.com Have ideas or just want to say hi, shoot me a note. Support the show

    #008: Blood In The Water: Americas Assault on Innovation - Kip Doyle - Patent Process, Product Innovation, Defending Patents, Napkin Sketch to Manufacturing

  8. 02/07/2022

    #007: It's Time We Start Thinking Beyond the User - Dan Griner - Director of Design, Innovation, and Strategy at University of Colorado Denver

    Dan comes to the interview with a level of humility for design that we all should aspire. In this episode we walk the path of Dan's story from accident to excellence. We talk about the responsibility that designers have to go beyond just making the pretty object and expand into realms of meta-design to go beyond just the end user and truly think in terms of a products life cycle, cradle to cradle. Contact Info  Dan Griner daniel.griner@ucdenver.edu / https://www.linkedin.com/in/dangriner/ www.theidpodcast.co https://www.patreon.com/theIDpodcast Have ideas or just want to say hi, shoot me a note. Support the show

    #007: It's Time We Start Thinking Beyond the User - Dan Griner - Director of Design, Innovation, and Strategy at University of Colorado Denver
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About

Designing in the Wild is the podcast where industrial designers, inventors, and changemakers reveal how they turn messy, real-world constraints into market-ready solutions. Each episode unpacks the mindsets, methods, and aha-moments behind sustainable innovation—whether it’s re-thinking plastics, hacking circular supply chains, or simply sketching faster under pressure. If you’re passionate about design’s role in a resilient future (and can’t resist a good behind-the-scenes story), this is your campfire. “Real-world design stories for a world that needs better ones.”

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