074. Kevin Kelly: Living with Technology
Remake
TODAY'S GUEST One of the most tragic aspects of the accelerating pace of change, and rapid evolution of new technologies — is that we as humanity have lost our elders. We begin to see older generations as detached from the current world of innovation, and have to discount advice and experiences gained in an age that feels so different from our own. Whereas prior generations could count on a world pretty similar to that of their ancestors, when we look to the future, pretty much the only thing we’re sure of is that it’s not going to look like the past, or even the present. But we still...
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026. Rabbi Amichai Lau-Lavie: Community, Ritual, and Creativity
Remake
TODAY'S GUEST Rabbi Amichai Lau-Lavie is an Israeli-born, Jewish educator, writer, and performance artist. He's the creator of Storahtelling, Inc. and the founding spiritual leader of Lab/Shul in NYC, an artist-driven, everybody friendly, God-optional, pop-up experimental community for sacred Jewish gatherings. Amichai is a member of the Global Justice Fellowship of the American Jewish World Service, a founding member of the Jewish Emergent Network, serves on the Leadership Council of the New York Jewish Agenda, the Advisory Council of the International School for Peace - a Refugee Support...
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047. Jerry Colonna: Why Better Humans Make Better Leaders
Remake
TODAY'S GUEST Jerry Colonna is the CEO and co-founder of Reboot.io, an executive coaching and leadership development firm whose coaches and facilitators are committed to the notion that better humans make better leaders. For nearly 20 years, he has used the knowledge gained as an investor, an executive, and a board member for more than 100 organizations to help entrepreneurs and others to lead with humanity, resilience, and equanimity. He’s been called the CEO Whisperer and the Coach with the Spider Tattoo, and has taken refuge in the Buddhist dharma tradition. ...
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006. Kathy Davies: Design Your Life to Get Unstuck
Remake
TODAY’S GUEST Kathy Davies wears many hats - she’s a Design Lecturer at Stanford University. She's the Managing Director of the Stanford Life Design lab, where she and her team have trained 150 universities globally to use the life design processes on their campuses to help students design, prototype, and test the right career paths for them. She is also a Cofounder and CEO at DYL Consulting where she uses design thinking and life design principles to build a better world. EPISODE SUMMARY In this episode we discuss: [02:56] Challenges during the...
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062. Vicki Tan: Intuition and Bias
Remake
TODAY'S GUEST Vicki Tan is a Product Designer, a public speaker, a student of Behavioral Psychology, and a dog mom based in Brooklyn. She currently works at Spotify, and has previously worked at Headspace, Lyft, and Google. She cares deeply about the human aspects of design, and the insights that data cannot provide. In her spare time, she's working on an illustrated book on cognitive bias. We spoke in mid-July 2022, and I was excited to talk to Vicki because she's been at the center of designing some really delightful digital experiences in Headspace, Lyft, and Spotify, and...
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061. Geci Karuri-Sebina: Our Urban Future
Remake
TODAY'S GUEST Dr. Geci Karuri-Sebina is a futurist, urban planning thinker, and the author of Innovation Africa: Emerging Hubs of Excellence. She's a faculty member at Singularity University South Africa with a focus on urban futures, including smart cities, networks, urban planning, governance and development, and innovation systems. She's an associate of The South African Cities Network and had worked with The National Treasury, the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, the Human Sciences Research Council of South Africa, and the University of California, Los Angeles...
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052. Dan Formosa: The Joy of Design
Remake
TODAY'S GUEST Dan Formosa consults with companies and organizations worldwide on design and innovation. He was an early proponent of “design for all” (a.k.a. Inclusive Design). He lectures internationally on design, research, and the future of design, and is the recipient of numerous design awards. Dan holds degrees in product design, ergonomics, and biomechanics. He co-founded the Masters in Branding Program at the School of Visual Arts in New York. He is the host of the very successful YouTube series Well Equipped, produced by Epicurious for Condé Nast, critiquing in a...
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057. Greg Hoffman: Emotion by Design
Remake
TODAY'S GUEST Greg Hoffman is Nike's former Chief Marketing Officer, a global brand leader, advisor, and speaker, and the author of Emotion by Design: Creative Leadership Lessons From a Life at Nike. In his book, Greg shares lessons and stories on the power of creativity drawn from almost three decades of experience within the company. It's a celebration of creativity and a call-to-arms for brand-builders to rediscover the human element that makes consumer bonds. EPISODE SUMMARY In this conversation we talk about: How he developed his love of art and design...
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058. Richard Bartlett: Decentralized by Design
Remake
TODAY'S GUEST Today, I'm speaking to Richard D. Bartlett, aka Rich Decibels. During the Occupy movement in 2011, Rich caught a glimpse of a different way of being together — more compassionate, more intelligent, more creative, inclusive, and animating than he'd experienced as a student worker or citizen up to that point. Since then, he's been on a mission. In 2012 he co-founded Loomio, a digital tool for deliberation and decision-making in groups of 3-300 people. In 2016 he co-founded The Hum, a management consultancy for organizations without managers. The Hum has...
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053. Irene Au: Bridging Design and Technology
Remake
TODAY'S GUEST Irene Au is Design Partner at Khosla Ventures, where she works with early-, mid-, and late-stage startup CEOs. She is dedicated to raising the strategic value of design and user research within software companies through better methods, practices, processes, leadership, talent, and quality. Irene has unprecedented experience elevating the strategic importance of design within technology companies, having built and led the entire User Experience and Design teams at Google, Yahoo!, and Udacity. She began her career as an interaction designer at Netscape Communications,...
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Dan Formosa consults with companies and organizations worldwide on design and innovation. He was an early proponent of “design for all” (a.k.a. Inclusive Design). He lectures internationally on design, research, and the future of design, and is the recipient of numerous design awards.
Dan holds degrees in product design, ergonomics, and biomechanics. He co-founded the Masters in Branding Program at the School of Visual Arts in New York. He is the host of the very successful YouTube series Well Equipped, produced by Epicurious for Condé Nast, critiquing in a semi-serious way the design and usability of various kitchen gadgets.
He also co-founded 4B Collective, a group focused on design and gender, and recently established ThinkActHuman to reflect his goal of design for a better world.
EPISODE SUMMARY
In this conversation we talk about:
- Growing up in the 1950's in the US, and seeing segregation and the opposite of inclusion.
- The superficial design of the television era — designing to increase perceived value, and to increase purchases based on looks.
- His experience designing on a computer in the 70's.
- Designing kitchen gadgets.
- The need for multidisciplinary thinking, ergonomics, psychology, and other fields of knowledge.
- What makes a good designer?
- The importance of asking questions and being uncomfortable.
- The connection of design and religious studies, with meditation and mindfulness as tools for a designer.
- Design and inclusion.
- The 4B Collective — gender and design.
- The model of collective versus agency, and the difference between a process-based approach versus a knowledge-based approach in design.
- Qualitative versus quantitative metrics.
- And the death of the brand.
We talked in the middle of April 2022, and I was looking forward to chatting with Dan when I watched his hilarious and informative product review videos he's done with Epicurious, where he takes a kitchen gadget and critiques every aspect of its design, ergonomics, and function. We also had a short prep call before the interview, where it became clear to me what a serious design thinker he is, and how much we can all learn from him. It was really a joy to talk to Dan and explore his way of seeing the world and his unique approach to design.
This conversation with Dan is one of a dozen or so weekly conversations we already have lined up for you with thinkers, designers, makers, authors, entrepreneurs, and investors who are working to change our world for the better in some meaningful way. So follow this podcast on your favorite podcast app, or head over to remakepod.org to subscribe.
And now, let's jump right in with Dan Formosa.
TIMESTAMP CHAPTERS
[5:15] Life in the Present
[6:45] Early Childhood Driving Forces
[9:39] A Journey to Design
[16:46] The Joy of Design
[20:18] A Glimpse Into a Designer's Mind
[21:57] What is Design?
[24:27] A Superficial View of Design
[28:06] Ergonomics and Biomechanics
[31:51] Other Types of Knowledge
[33:02] What Makes a Good Designer?
[43:24] The 4B Collective
[53:24] Quantitative Versus Qualitative
[57:49] Death of the Brand
[1:02:13] A Short Sermon
EPISODE LINKS
- Dan's Links
- Other Links
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