Design Notes

Oct 21 2024 56 ep. 27 mins 487

Design Notes Podcast artwork

Design Notes is a podcast about creative work and what it teaches us, hosted by Google's Liam Spradlin. Each episode we talk with people from unique creative fields to discover what inspires and unites us in our practice. Find episodes on your favorite platform: pod.link/designnotes

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Code, Creativity, Performance: Will Larche, Engineering Manager, Google

Oct 21 2024 43 mins

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

Fab Components: Bethany Fong, Design Director

Sep 09 2024 45 mins

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

Facing Our Interfaces: Matías Duarte, Google

May 14 2024 44 mins

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 conversa

Designing Better Code: Connie Shi + Matvei Malkov, Google Material Design

Mar 14 2023 42 mins

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

How Fonts Change the World: Dave Crossland, Google Fonts

Jan 31 2023 36 mins

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

Coding (and Decoding) Social Spaces: Judith Donath, Founder, MIT Sociable Media Group

Dec 20 2022 36 mins

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, Don

Fearless Design: Aline Borges, The Florist

Nov 22 2022 28 mins

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 th

⏮️ How Machines Help Us See Ourselves: Harvey Moon, New Media Artist

Oct 25 2022 30 mins

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

The Impact of Shared Space: Ignacio Ciocchini, Public Furniture Designer

Oct 11 2022 44 mins

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 w

⏮️ Learning From Your Virtual Twin: Kerry Murphy, Co-founder, The Fabricant

Sep 27 2022 23 mins

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.