Design To Be Conversation

In today’s episode, I speak with Bonnie Bakhtiari. Bonnie is a brand designer and strategist for creative entrepreneurs, as well as a coach for fellow graphic, brand, and web designers. She specializes in crafting high converting, strategic brands for her custom design clients. Bonnie currently teaches fellow designers how to generate consistent income and connect with their ideal clients through the Brand Strategy School, her signature program for designers.

We dive into learning how you can connect with your ideal clients from a place of ease and intention, how you can turn hustling into building a meaningful relationship with your clients through shared values that are aligned with your client goals, and steps to design effective solutions by understanding your client’s pain points through the lens of self-awareness and collaboration.

In today’s episode, I speak with Bonnie Bakhtiari. Bonnie is a brand designer and strategist for creative entrepreneurs, as well as a coach for fellow graphic, brand, and web designers. She specializes in crafting high converting, strategic brands for her custom design clients. Bonnie currently teaches fellow designers how to generate consistent income and connect with their ideal clients through the Brand Strategy School, her signature program for designers.

We dive into learning how you can connect with your ideal clients from a place of ease and intention, how you can turn hustling into building a meaningful relationship with your clients through shared values that are aligned with your client goals, and steps to design effective solutions by understanding your client’s pain points through the lens of self-awareness and collaboration.

In today’s episode, I speak with May-Li Khoe. May-Li is an interdisciplinary, quatricultural, twice-immigrant artist-researcher-designer-inventor who combines invention with cultural practices, bright colors, faces-on-things, and glitter. She brings over 20 years of experience in design, including serving as VP of Design at Khan Academy, co-founding two companies (Scribble Together and Sprout, formerly MakeSpace), and recently creating a music and dance toy-game for the new Playdate game platform. Before that, she worked on new technologies at Apple and other tech organizations ranging from IBM Research, the MIT Media Lab, and Dynamicland, to the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Universal Music Group, and Oakland Museum of California. She also DJs, dances, writes, makes art, speaks, teaches, plays music, and cultivates joyful ways to subvert the status quo.

We dive into what it means to manage and lead by understanding the emotions that drive people’s behaviors in an organization, the power and responsibility of being a manager versus influencing as an individual contributor, ways to communicate your true authentic voice as a new manager, and how EQ can help you manage more humanely and inclusively in the future. Check out links mentioned in the episode: Catt Small’s article, Should you become a design manager and Kat Vellos’s tweet on the Fast Co. article, The DEI disconnect between tech leaders and their teams.

In today’s episode, I speak with May-Li Khoe. May-Li is an interdisciplinary, quatricultural, twice-immigrant artist-researcher-designer-inventor who combines invention with cultural practices, bright colors, faces-on-things, and glitter. She brings over 20 years of experience in design, including serving as VP of Design at Khan Academy, co-founding two companies (Scribble Together and Sprout, formerly MakeSpace), and recently creating a music and dance toy-game for the new Playdate game platform. Before that, she worked on new technologies at Apple and other tech organizations ranging from IBM Research, the MIT Media Lab, and Dynamicland, to the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Universal Music Group, and Oakland Museum of California. She also DJs, dances, writes, makes art, speaks, teaches, plays music, and cultivates joyful ways to subvert the status quo.

We dive into what it means to manage and lead by understanding the emotions that drive people’s behaviors in an organization, the power and responsibility of being a manager versus influencing as an individual contributor, ways to communicate your true authentic voice as a new manager, and how EQ can help you manage more humanely and inclusively in the future. Check out links mentioned in the episode: Catt Small’s article, Should you become a design manager and Kat Vellos’s tweet on the Fast Co. article, The DEI disconnect between tech leaders and their teams.

In today’s episode, I speak with Priya Anant. Priya is a Senior Director at Google where she has led user-facing teams in fighting spam, abuse and fraud to deliver safe and delightful user experiences. She leads a multi-disciplinary UX team focused on scaling UX and user-centric product development across Search, Assistant, Shopping, Travel, Maps and Payments. Her expertise is in developing end-to-end connected and inclusive consumer experiences by harnessing the power of design systems, tools and analytics. Prior to Google, Priya spent 10 years in management consulting at Bain where she advised healthcare, technology and consumer goods companies on global growth strategies and operations improvement.

We dive into understanding the role of vulnerability in cultivating trusting relationships, how valuing your authentic self allows you to take ownership of your feelings, and how embracing curiosity and a growth mindset can help you overcome imposter syndrome.

In today’s episode, I speak with Priya Anant. Priya is a Senior Director at Google where she has led user-facing teams in fighting spam, abuse and fraud to deliver safe and delightful user experiences. She leads a multi-disciplinary UX team focused on scaling UX and user-centric product development across Search, Assistant, Shopping, Travel, Maps and Payments. Her expertise is in developing end-to-end connected and inclusive consumer experiences by harnessing the power of design systems, tools and analytics. Prior to Google, Priya spent 10 years in management consulting at Bain where she advised healthcare, technology and consumer goods companies on global growth strategies and operations improvement.

We dive into understanding the role of vulnerability in cultivating trusting relationships, how valuing your authentic self allows you to take ownership of your feelings, and how embracing curiosity and a growth mindset can help you overcome imposter syndrome.

In today’s episode, I speak with Jon Delman. Jon is a Director of Product Design at Twitter in San Francisco. He works within the design and research team focused on internal tools and product solutions. Jon offers tactical advice for young designers on how to approach learning by embracing the courage to fail through his article, Let it be a lesson to you, on Medium. He has over 20 years of professional design experience in both agency and in-house environments, working with brands such as Google, Apple, Splunk, and Samsung. Previously, he worked as Executive Creative Director at ueno, Group Creative Director at Beyond, and a Creative Director at Huge.

We dive into how to develop the courage to fail while also how to learn through failures to design your success, how you can weave more kindness and curiosity into your work through joyful relationships with others and yourself, as well as actionable ways to pursue greater learning by acknowledging when you fail and how to embrace your most authentic self.

In today’s episode, I speak with Jon Delman. Jon is a Director of Product Design at Twitter in San Francisco. He works within the design and research team focused on internal tools and product solutions. Jon offers tactical advice for young designers on how to approach learning by embracing the courage to fail through his article, Let it be a lesson to you, on Medium. He has over 20 years of professional design experience in both agency and in-house environments, working with brands such as Google, Apple, Splunk, and Samsung. Previously, he worked as Executive Creative Director at ueno, Group Creative Director at Beyond, and a Creative Director at Huge.

We dive into how to develop the courage to fail while also how to learn through failures to design your success, how you can weave more kindness and curiosity into your work through joyful relationships with others and yourself, as well as actionable ways to pursue greater learning by acknowledging when you fail and how to embrace your most authentic self.

In today’s episode, I speak with Rebecca Brooker. Rebecca is a queer woman of color born in Trinidad + Tobago and currently based in Buenos Aires. She is the co-founder of Queer Design Club, the global online community for LGBTQ+ designers where she spearheads the Queer Design Count which is the first and only survey of LGBTQ+ people in design. She’s an art director at Ghost Note Agency and designs across branding, print, and digital.

We dive into learning and understanding the challenges of queer designers in the industry, how data and research can inform inclusive and equity driven design, what community efforts can foster social awareness and collaboration among LGBTQ+ designers, and tactical ways to spark authentic conversations around inclusivity and creating safe spaces for all.

In today’s episode, I speak with Rebecca Brooker. Rebecca is a queer woman of color born in Trinidad + Tobago and currently based in Buenos Aires. She is the co-founder of Queer Design Club, the global online community for LGBTQ+ designers where she spearheads the Queer Design Count which is the first and only survey of LGBTQ+ people in design. She’s an art director at Ghost Note Agency and designs across branding, print, and digital.

We dive into learning and understanding the challenges of queer designers in the industry, how data and research can inform inclusive and equity driven design, what community efforts can foster social awareness and collaboration among LGBTQ+ designers, and tactical ways to spark authentic conversations around inclusivity and creating safe spaces for all.