Design Notes
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. ๐ ๐ป
info_outline Dave Crossland, Google FontsDesign Notes
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 โ with a little imagination โ we might unlock new possibilities. ๐ ๐ป
info_outline Judith Donath, Founder, MIT Sociable Media GroupDesign Notes
In this episode, Liam speaks with Judith Donath, the founder of MITโs Sociable Media Lab, inventor of e-cards, and author of The Social Machine: Designs for Living Online. Donathโs 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. ๐ ๐ป
info_outline Aline Borges, The FloristDesign Notes
Liam speaks with Aline Borges, a Zรผrich-based floral designer whoโs made the leap from fashion coordination for magazines like Vogue and Harperโs Bazaar to independent floral design and installations. The conversation covers what itโs 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. ๐ ๐ป
info_outline โฎ๏ธ Harvey Moon, New Media ArtistDesign Notes
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 Moonโs work reveals unseen properties of the world around us, the process of creating oneโs own creative tools, and the kind of art thatโs 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: Subscribe to Design Notes: ๐ ๐ ๐ ๐ ๐
info_outline Ignacio Ciocchini, Streetscape + Public Space DesignerDesign Notes
Liam speaks with streetscape and public space designer Ignacio Ciocchini, whoโs created much of the public furniture that New Yorkers encounter every single day โ 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: Subscribe to Design...
info_outline โฎ๏ธ Kerry Murphy, Co-founder, The FabricantDesign Notes
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 doesnโtโor canโtโexist in physical space, The Fabricant also explores ideas of embodiment and self-actualization. Murphy pushes these concepts even further, by interacting with his own โvirtual twin,โ composed from 3D-scans of his body. Read the full transcript: Subscribe to Design Notes: ๐ ๐ ๐ ๐ ๐
info_outline Tom Boellstorff, Anthropologist, Coming of Age in Second LifeDesign Notes
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 โ and our interface with it โ 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: Subscribe to Design Notes: ๐ ๐ ๐ ๐ ๐
info_outline Welcome Back to Design Notes: Season 2 TrailerDesign Notes
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 on Twitter for updates! Subscribe to Design Notes ๐ ๐ ๐ ๐ ๐
info_outline SF Design Week: Julian Zigerli, Zรผrich Fashion DesignerDesign Notes
In this episode, Liam speaks with Julian Zigerli, a designer in Zรผrich, Switzerland creating clothing that allows everyone to decide how what they wear expresses who they are. In the interview, Zigerli describes how the culture of Switzerland impacts his work, what it means when someone asks for "straight" clothes, and how his practice adapted in a time of pandemic.
info_outlineThis episode is part of a special series of four interviews with the winners of this yearโs Material Design Awards, exploring what goes into creating an award-winning app.
Ruff is a focused note-taking app that won this yearโs award for theming, building an expressive identity through the consistent application of color, typography, and shape. In the interview, Liam and developer/designer Bardi Golriz talk about what itโs like to add new features without losing focus, and how Material Theming impacts the process of developing an app.
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