Podcast · Arts & Books

Design Notes

by Liam Spradlin · English · Arts & Books

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 practi

New episodes: Monthly
Typical length: 37 min
Latest: 15 Jul 2026
Language: English

Latest episode

15 Jul 2026 · 37 min

There Is No Neutral Design: Megan Kasselberg, Senior UX Writer and Content Designer, Material Design

This episode, I talked with my coworker Megan Kasselberg, whose work as a senior UX writer and content designer touches billions of users through the Material Design system. In our conversation, Megan and I dug into the storytelling and strategy that goes into a design system as vast as Material, including the language of guidelines assets, the effect of earnest expression, and how UX writing is changing in an age of AI. Read a full transcript at interfacecafe.com. In the episode, Megan mentions psychologist and behavioral economist Daniel Kahneman , plus a shoutout to our colleagues Rux and…

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Earlier episodes 29 most recent

S3 · E12 · 17 Feb 2026 · 40 min
Beyond the Text Field: Louise Macfadyen, Author of Designing AI Interfaces
This episode, I got to sit down with my friend, podcast cohost on Away from Keyboard , and former coworker Louise Macfadyen as she prepares to launch her new book Designing AI Interfaces with Oreilly this Spring. We had a lot to talk about, from managing the conceptual distance between what AI actually does and what people imagine it can do, to the new skills designers, engineers, and PMs need to work with models, the potential harms of new technology, and some of the patterns designers can use to keep ethics and safety in the loop. Designing AI Interfaces is available from O'Reilly Media…
S3 · E11 · 25 Nov 2025 · 43 min
The Era of the Generalist: Rachel Been, SVP of Design for Expedia Group
In this episode, Liam speaks with Rachel Been, SVP of Design for Expedia Group, about her journey from photography to design leadership and why she believes this is "the era of the generalist." The conversation unpacks the recent launch of Expedia's new app on ChatGPT and what it means to design for "non-deterministic flows" and "infinite inputs." Rachel explains how AI is breaking old, linear design paradigms and why, in an age of potential "design slop," deep curiosity and human-centered craft are more important than ever. Read a transcript and check out more from me at interfacecafe.com…
S3 · E10 · 14 Oct 2025 · 38 min
Other Than Expected: Fabian Bircher on Combining Art, Architecture, and Code
In this episode, Liam speaks with Zürich-based architect and artist Fabian Bircher, whose work spans buildings, custom lighting, and interactive installations. Fabian discusses his unique creative process, where inspiration flows from both artistic concepts and the discovery of new technological possibilities. The conversation explores the materiality of light through his Buoy lamps and dichroic foil installations, the process of revealing hidden digital systems with his "Reporting Device," and the unexpected role of randomness in creating kinetic art. Find a full transcript and more at…
S3 · E10 · 9 Sep 2025 · 45 min
Design Can't Rely on Logic: Troy Leinster on Type Design and Human Perception
In this episode, I reconnect with my former instructor, type designer and design coach Troy Leinster. Troy shares his journey from graphic design to type design, and explains why learning to make letters makes you a better designer. We also dig into the importance of trusting the human eye over geometry, the productive friction of sketching by hand, and how understanding calligraphy builds a stronger perspective on type design. Troy discusses why, in the age of AI, the most important thing a designer can do is put their personal touch on the work.
S3 · E8 · 5 Aug 2025 · 43 min
The User Brings the Confetti: Rob Giampietro on Scaling a Human-Centered Brand
Rob Giampietro, Head of Creative at Notion and former Design Director at MoMA, returns to the show to unpack the story behind Notion Faces, the popular tool that allows users to create their own illustrated avatar. Rob details the project's journey from a beloved internal tradition to a major public launch, including the pivotal decision to scale with human illustrators instead of AI to maintain the brand's unique, handcrafted quality. The conversation explores how the team shifted its focus from "likeness" to "expression," the power of modularity in design systems, and the research process…
S3 · E7 · 1 Jul 2025 · 45 min
True is Better Than New: David Reinfurt on Evolving Graphic Design Education
In this episode, designer, educator, and author David Reinfurt returns to the show to discuss his latest book, A *Co-* Program for Graphic Design. Born from a series of lectures delivered remotely, online, and together with collaborators and cooperators, the new book builds on his earlier "spoken" book, exploring some unexpected and intuitive overlaps between design and the rest of the world around us. In conversation, Liam and David cover the power of hands-on learning, the importance of going against expectations as a designer, and the positionality of design—its closeness to everyday…
S3 · E6 · 10 Jun 2025 · 55 min
Material Design Gets Expressive: Inside Google's Emotion-Driven UX Update
This special episode digs into the latest evolution of Google's design system: Material 3 Expressive . Liam talks with Material Design's Android Product Manager Aneesha Kommineni, UX Researcher Michael Gilbert, and Creative Director Andy Stewart about the team's latest emotion-driven UX update. They reveal how this system is grounded in user research and how it offers both developers and users more flexibility. The group also chats about making design more than objective, connecting to users' emotional landscapes, and driving business outcomes — all while considering tooling, usability,…
S3 · E5 · 14 Jan 2025 · 52 min
Beauty Across the Board: Rich Fulcher on Making Beauty a UX Priority at Google
This season's special series celebrating ten years since the launch of Material Design closes out with Rich Fulcher, former Google UX director and Material design lead. Fulcher remembers the career-defining journey of creating Material, what it was like to make beauty a UX priority, how to pressure test a system, and what he's learned about world-building across disciplines. Today, he's creating board games, continuing to apply the design-thinking and problem-solving skills developed during his time at Google. Leave us a rating, and subscribe so you don't miss new episodes with creative…
S3 · E4 · 9 Dec 2024 · 54 min
Breaking Silos (and Metaphors): A 'Roving Engineer' on Design & Engineering Collaboration
This season's special series celebrating ten years since the launch of Material Design continues with Adrian Secord, who describes himself as a "roving engineer." Adrian has over a decade of experience building systems and tools that transform design into robust product engineering at scale. Plus, a PhD in Computer Graphics. Here, he reflects on the evolution of Material Design and the (potentially) exciting possibilities for AI-driven UI. He shares insights on the complexities of large-scale design systems and highlights the need for designers and engineers to find common ground.
S3 · E3 · 21 Oct 2024 · 44 min
Code, Creativity, Performance: Will Larche on Engineering as 'Creativity with Constraints'
This season's special series celebrating ten years since the launch of Material Design continues with Software Engineering Manager and Musical Theater Writer Will Larche, who talks about his path to become an engineering manager at Google. Larche, a self-proclaimed "design fan," describes engineering as "creativity with constraints." Here, he explains how the development of Material over the years has led to closer collaboration between design and engineering, and imagines how new AI experiments might open up a new era of "Star Trek design."
S3 · E2 · 9 Sep 2024 · 45 min
Fab Components: Bethany Fong on Designing Material's Signature Floating Action Button
This episode is part of a special series celebrating ten years of Material Design. In the episode, Liam speaks with Bethany Fong, a Design Director at Meta who was a pivotal figure in the creation of Material Design. During her time at Google, Fong was responsible for designing the first set of Material components (including Material's signature Floating Action Button), and went on to become a design Lead on the team. In their conversation, Liam and Bethany talk about the tactile nature of design, the importance of keeping a notebook, and how the heady early days of Material unfolded. 👉 Read…
S3 · E1 · 15 May 2024 · 45 min
Facing Our Interfaces: Matías Duarte on the Future of Individualized Design
This season begins with a special series celebrating ten years since the launch of Material Design, which will explore the inception, evolution, and future of Google's design approach. The first episode features the founder of Material Design and Design VP Matías Duarte, whose work on the system has pushed design forward at Google and across devices everywhere. In their conversation, Liam and Matías unpack how interfaces are made, used, and understood—and identify opportunities to move them further into the future via a highly crafted, individualized design approach. 👉 Read a full transcript…
S2 · E8 · 14 Mar 2023 · 42 min
Designing Better Code: How Google Engineers Make Coding a Creative Practice
Liam speaks with Googlers Connie Shi, a software engineer on Material Design, and Matvei Malkov, a software engineer on Jetpack Compose, and the trio unpack what makes coding a creative practice, and which creative choices are required when you build a design system for other developers around the world. The wide-ranging conversation turns from complex problem solving and technical logic to the concept of creativity as the question-provoking quality of a thought. 📝 Read a full transcript 📻 Subscribe to Design Notes
S2 · E7 · 31 Jan 2023 · 37 min
How Fonts Change the World: Dave Crossland on Digital Type and Emotional Expression
Liam and Google Fonts Specialist Dave Crossland explore what digital type can teach us about digital production, emotional expression, and where we fit in the world as designers; and how – with a little imagination – we might unlock new possibilities. 📑 Read a full transcript 📻 Subscribe to Design Notes
S2 · E6 · 20 Dec 2022 · 37 min
Coding (and Decoding) Social Spaces: Judith Donath on the Future of Life Online
In this episode, Liam speaks with Judith Donath, the founder of MIT's Sociable Media Lab, inventor of e-cards, and author of The Social Machine: Designs for Living Online. Donath's work offers crucial insights into the sociality of digital products and platforms, and the opportunities we have as digital producers to make things that truly meet sociable ends. In the episode, Donath unpacks some of this work, exploring potential futures for life online and the joy of learning (and sharing) something new. 📑 Read a full transcript 📻 Subscribe to Design Notes
S2 · E5 · 22 Nov 2022 · 29 min
Fearless Design: Aline Borges on Composition and Creative Career Changes
Liam speaks with Aline Borges, a Zürich-based floral designer who's made the leap from fashion coordination for magazines like Vogue and Harper's Bazaar to independent floral design and installations. The conversation covers what it's like to move between different creative fields (and countries), how to think about composition to tackle almost any creative challenge, and the courage and community it takes to start on a new venture. 📑 Read a full transcript 📻 Subscribe to Design Notes
S2 · E4 · 25 Oct 2022 · 31 min
⏮️ How Machines Help Us See Ourselves: Harvey Moon on Art Made Through Machine Collaboration
In this episode, we revisit a conversation from Season 1 with new media artist Harvey Moon, recorded in his San Francisco studio. Liam and Harvey discuss how Moon's work reveals unseen properties of the world around us, the process of creating one's own creative tools, and the kind of art that's only made possible through collaboration with machines. The conversation expands on ideas about the way the world around us is designed and redesigned, and where that places us as designers. Read the full transcript: https://www.iamli.am/design-notes-podcast/harvey-moon-new-media-artist Subscribe to…
S2 · E3 · 11 Oct 2022 · 45 min
The Impact of Shared Space: Ignacio Ciocchini on Designing NYC's Public Furniture
Liam speaks with streetscape and public space designer Ignacio Ciocchini, who's created much of the public furniture that New Yorkers encounter every single day – from benches that provide personal space, to entire built landscapes for Bryant Park, to chargers for electric vehicles and more. The conversation ranges from the materiality of the built environment, to the ways in which it expands, constrains, and informs our experiences of life and socialization in a city, with a look toward the more human-focused future that Ciocchini envisions. Read the full transcript:…
S2 · E2 · 27 Sep 2022 · 23 min
⏮️ Learning From Your Virtual Twin: Kerry Murphy on Digital Fashion and Virtual Embodiment
In this episode, we revisit a conversation from Season 1 with Kerry Murphy, co-founder of digital fashion house The Fabricant. We uncover how data are spun into virtual threads, and how virtual embodiment can foster self-actualization. In designing couture that doesn't—or can't—exist in physical space, The Fabricant also explores ideas of embodiment and self-actualization. Murphy pushes these concepts even further, by interacting with his own "virtual twin," composed from 3D-scans of his body. Read the full transcript:…
S2 · E1 · 13 Sep 2022 · 34 min
Digital Anthropology: Tom Boellstorff on How Virtual Worlds Shape Our Actual Lives
Liam speaks to Tom Boellstorff, Anthropologist and UCI Professor, whose ethnographic work in Second Life (documented in his book, Coming of Age in Second Life ) provides important insights into how virtual space – and our interface with it – informs and interacts with our lives in actual space. In virtual worlds like Second Life, inhabitants exist only through their own acts of creation, which also serve as a primary mode of experiencing life in virtual space. Full transcript + images: https://www.iamli.am/design-notes-podcast/tom-boellstorff-virtual-anthropology Subscribe to Design Notes: 👉…
S1 · E47 · 30 Aug 2022 · 2 min
Welcome Back to Design Notes: Season 2 Trailer
It's been a while, but Design Notes is coming back for Season 2 uncovering even more of what inspires and unites us in our work. Make sure to subscribe so you don't miss new interviews with practitioners working on public furniture, the culture of virtual space, and more. Follow @DesignNotespod on Twitter for updates! Subscribe to Design Notes 👉 Google Podcasts 👉 iTunes 👉 Spotify 👉 Pocket Casts 👉 RSS
S1 · E43 · 8 Jun 2021 · 34 min
[SF Design Week] Julian Zigerli on Expressive, Un-Gendered Fashion Design
In this episode, part of San Francisco Design Week's Digital Edition, Liam speaks with Julian Zigerli, a designer in Zürich, Switzerland creating clothing that allows everyone to decide how what they wear expresses who they are . In the interview, Zigerli describes how the rich culture of Switzerland impacts his work, what it means when someone asks for "straight" clothes, and how his creative practice adapted in a time of pandemic. Content warning: In this episode, the word "queer" is used in a reclaimed manner. Find out more about SF Design Week at sfdesignweek.com Subscribe to Design…
S1 · E42 · 20 Apr 2021 · 21 min
Theming with Moooi: Creating an Immersive Digital Flagship (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. Moooi, winning the award for Material Theming, focuses on aesthetic fundamentals like type, color, and imagery to create an immersive and expressive experience for their digital flagship. In the interview, Liam is joined by Margot Gabel and Rémy Barthez taking an in-depth look at how Moooi implemented an award-winning themed experience. 👉 PDF Transcript Subscribe to Design Notes 👉 Google Podcasts 👉 iTunes…
S1 · E41 · 20 Apr 2021 · 21 min
Dark Theme with KAYAK: How Dark Mode Revolutionized a Brand's Approach to Color (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. KAYAK has taken their comprehensive price comparison and travel booking experience to the next level by translating their brand into a dark theme. In the interview, Liam learns from Aleksandra Safarova and Mike Scopino how building a dark theme revolutionized KAYAK's entire approach to color. 👉 PDF Transcript Subscribe to Design Notes 👉 Google Podcasts 👉 iTunes 👉 Spotify 👉 Pocket Casts 👉 RSS
S1 · E40 · 20 Apr 2021 · 20 min
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 motion meaningfully, guiding users living with Epilepsy through critical tasks to better their quality of life. In the interview, Liam is joined by Jennifer Stott and Marco Peluso to break down Epsy's approach to designing - and prioritizing - motion. 👉 PDF Transcript Subscribe to Design Notes 👉 Google Podcasts 👉 iTunes 👉 Spotify 👉 Pocket Casts 👉 RSS
S1 · E39 · 21 Apr 2020 · 32 min
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 collaborating with one another on virtual art. In the interview, Best describes the reflective opportunities and editorial impact created by a bot-created body of work numbering in the tens of thousands. Subscribe to Design Notes 👉 Google Podcasts 👉 iTunes 👉 Spotify 👉 Pocket Casts 👉 RSS
S1 · E38 · 17 Mar 2020 · 30 min
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 an aesthetic—and a career—around "making mistakes on purpose." Learn how chaos and collage can come together to reveal unexpected creative potential, and let Rosenwald help make sure you're never alone with a blank page. Subscribe to Design Notes 👉 Google Podcasts 👉 iTunes 👉 Spotify 👉 Pocket Casts 👉 RSS
S1 · E37 · 18 Feb 2020 · 22 min
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 that doesn't—or can't—exist in physical space, The Fabricant also explores ideas of embodiment and self-actualization. Murphy pushes these concepts even further, by interacting with his own "virtual twin," composed from 3D-scans of his body. Subscribe to Design Notes 👉 Google Podcasts 👉 iTunes 👉 Spotify 👉 Pocket Casts 👉 RSS
S1 · E36 · 21 Jan 2020 · 35 min
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* Program for Graphic Design . Together they explore the fluid notions of personal, corporate, and graphic identity throughout Reinfurt's career, the importance of learning through practice, and the relationship between design and art. Subscribe to Design Notes 👉 Google Podcasts 👉 iTunes 👉 Spotify 👉 Pocket Casts 👉 RSS

About Design Notes

Design Notes is a English arts & books podcast from Liam Spradlin. Melo plays each episode straight from the publisher's own feed — no ads added, no account needed — and remembers where you stopped, in this browser only.

Publisher: Liam Spradlin
Language: English
Category: Arts & Books
New episodes: Monthly
Typical length: 37 min
Latest episode: 15 Jul 2026
Feed: RSS — paste into any podcast app
Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1040955947

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