Design Of Podcast

For 25 years, Larry Harper has been a beacon of hope for children, teens, and families within the Bay Area by providing them the chance to play, learn, and grow. Get ready to meet a man who believed in hard work and dreaming big. Listen to his journey and how three of his role models became good friends as they sought to give tens of thousands of kids the opportunity to dream bigger and brighter.

Charles Adler is an incredible mash-up of experiences and interests. He’s an East Coast kid who grew up digging street art, skateboarding, break dancing, and all the forms of music that aligned with those interests: punk, hip-hop, and electronic. He was also an Eagle Scout. He loves exploring the outdoors and cycling. Add his curiosity with technology and his skill as a designer, and you have a story about a college dropout who became one of the founders of the world's largest and most successful crowdfunding platform and an entrepreneur who continues to explore the juncture of creativity, community, and technology.

Marty Neumeier has lived a pretty amazing life. His brushes with fame, celebrity, and how a season of failure pushed him into becoming a bestselling author is a fascinating story. Marty’s mission is to bring the principles and processes of creativity to industry. He is a sought-after teacher, speaker, and one of the leading authors on creativity and business. His book Zag was named one of the “top 100 business books of all time,” and The Brand Gap is considered a the foundational text for modern brand-building. Marty has worked with top companies such as Apple, Netscape, HP, Adobe, and Google, but most impressively he is an engaging, caring, and exceptional person. Enjoy hearing the story of a truly great thought leader.

Bill Gardner is one of those people that you are just happy to be around. He is the creator of Logo Lounge in addition to being a natural entertainer, entrepreneur, creative, teacher, and author. He is extremely thoughtful and has even experienced a little magic in his life. Listen to this episode and hear the story of an authentic Kansan who followed his DNA-destined career as he lives each day with a spirit of humility and gratefulness.

Chris Harris (PCH) is a self-proclaimed son of the soil within the Bronzeville community, a historic neighborhood near the South Side of Chicago. Decades ago, Bronzeville was the destination for thousands of black southerners migrating North to find better employment, education, and living opportunities. Harris has spent his life living and working alongside the South Side community as they continue to tackle many of the social issues that plague low-income residents, including unemployment. As a leading community pastor, Harris has worked tirelessly to unite faith leaders in the community as well as starting a 501c3 named Bright Star Community Outreach. Don’t miss his dynamic story and the tellings of the realities many face everyday in the Bronzeville community https://www.brightstarcommunityoutreach.com/

Emily is articulate, passionate, and not afraid to tell it like it is. As an extremely successful consultant for leading design firms, Emily is a thought leader in the world of design and just a lot of fun to talk to. Emily was raised to be fearless when her father encouraged eight-year-old Emily to take the train from Long Island to New York City…by herself. That courageous spirit has more than benefitted her in throughout her adulthood and business pursuits. Whether you’re a designer, business leader, or just someone who enjoys good conversation, Emily’s captivating personality provides an engaging story that we are excited to share.

Kristin Ellison is an author, editor, content creator, and collaborator at LinkedIn Learning. She is a thoughtful and compassionate human being that is enthusiastic about the things she believes in. Some of our favorite characteristics about Kristen is that she has an adventurous drive to enjoy life, she is always there when you need her, and she is someone who has been on some amazing journeys. Get ready as we share a couple of those awesome stories with you in this episode.

Matthew Hoffman is a Chicago based artist & designer whose public works have been exhibited internationally. His ideas and work have been included in Good, the New York Times Magazine, and Ready Made. Justin and Wills visited Matthew in his studio to see some of his work firsthand, and to hear more about the man behind the message.

In this episode, we're inaugurating a new tradition of starting each season with a recap and check of the previous season's guests. Listen in as Wills and Justin share updates from some of our most popular guests from Seasons 1-3, plus a bonus segment on how one kid spent an evening thinking he had become temporarily invisible.

Tanner Woodford wanted to create new opportunities for people to experience the power and impact of design. As Executive Director of the Chicago Design Museum, Tanner is working to preserve and showcase how design has shaped and is shaped by this great city. This is our last episode of Design Of Season 3! We look forward to sharing more stories of people and process in 2018.

Greg Wittstock took his childhood passion of turtles, ponds, and the outdoors to create a Fortune 500 company. As Founder and CEO of Aquascape, a leading manufacturer of water gardens, water features, and products for backyard ponds, Greg is serious about giving everyone the enjoyment of a pond in their own backyard and living life to the fullest.

From an early age, Kim Nevels has been driven by a hope for equality in her hometown of Chicago. As the Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity Center Director at the Department of Housing and Urban Development, Kim fights injustice in the form of discriminatory housing practices and policies. We traveled to Kim's office to hear more about her journey to this point, and her vision for a more inclusive Chicago.

Daniel Lerner doesn't easily fit into defined categories. Following an impressive career as an agent in the classical music industry, Dan decided to follow a life-long passion to explore how people can flourish in career and life. Dan's answers to that question, informed by years of academic research and real-life experience, have placed him in front of Fortune 100 executives, classrooms of graduate students, professional athletes, and musicians around the world.

For over a decade, Nate has toured the US college circuit as one of the busiest working magicians in the country. He’s given a TEDx Talk, lectured at the world-famous Oxford Union, and in 2018 the Harry Potter-famed Bloomsbury Publishing will release Nate’s memoir in bookstores worldwide. Here is Real Magic follows Nate's evolution from obsessed wunderkind to disillusioned wanderer, and tells the story of his rediscovery of astonishment—and the importance of wonder in everyday life—during a trip to the India, where he infiltrated a 3,000-year-old clan of street magicians. Justin and guest host, Bob Davidson, travelled to Nate's hometown in Iowa City, Iowa to learn more about this student of wonder and the lengths he goes for a moment of amazement.

Kelsey Timmerman is the New York Times Bestselling author of Where Am I Wearing? A Global Tour to the Countries, Factories, and People That Make Our Clothes and Where Am I Eating? An Adventure Through the Global Food Economy. His writing has appeared in places such as the Christian Science Monitor and has aired on NPR. Kelsey is also the cofounder of the Facing Project, which seeks to connect people through stories to strengthen community. Kelsey stopped by the global Rule29 headquarters to help us understand a bit more about the man that sees a mailing address as a necessary evil.

Justin and Wills hang out with Karen Sabo – a humble midwesterner with a unique hobby: she's an American Ninja Warrior. We learn about how an ASU soccer star went from the field to the Ninja pit, and how she's using her passion to inspire the next generation of Ninjas.

How many hours do you spend on Facebook per week? Afraid to say? Now imagine you're the person creating the Facebook experience that 1.3 billion people use every day. On this episode of Design Of, we speak with Josh Higgins, one of Facebook's top Creative Directors, and how he went from playing punk rock in San Diego, to designing for the 2012 Obama presidential campaign, to leading creative teams for one of the most prominent brands in the world.

Von Glitschka is principal of Glitschka Studios, a boutique design firm located in the Pacific Northwest. His diverse range of illustrative design has been used by some of the most respected brands in the world. He creatively collaborates with ad agencies, design firms, in-house corporate art departments, and small businesses to produce compelling visual narratives.

Pete Docter’s imagination is capable of some pretty incredible things. As a director at Pixar Animation Studios, it brought us Toy Story, Monsters Inc., and UP. It makes us wonder, it makes us dream. Justin and Wills travel to California to sit down with Pete and learn about how these films originate in his imagination and end up on the big screen.

As the Obermann Public Scholar at the University of Iowa, David Gould helps students plot the course to their dream career and a fulfilling personal life. He previously led a collaboration with Zappos CEO, Tony Hsieh in rebuilding the social and economic structure of downtown Las Vegas.