This week, Claire sits down with Jono Holt, founder of the communications and design studio Otherway. Founded in 2013, the agency now boasts a 75-strong team across London and New York, known for building brands such as Lucky Saint and Butternut Box, creating standout work for Smythson, Hylo, Strongbow, and Deliveroo, and nurturing long-term partnerships with icons like Fortnum & Mason.

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Otherway

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This week on the podcast, Claire is joined by Radim Malinic, creative director, designer, podcaster, and bestselling author. As the founder of Brand Nu and Brand Nu Books, Radim has worked with global names like Harry Potter, Adidas, and the London Film Museum. A regular keynote speaker at events including OFFF, Adobe MAX, and TEDx, he’s the author of six acclaimed books, with his seventh arriving in spring.

Radim shares his life in design from growing up in the Czech Republic, to moving to London and becoming a self-taught creative. He discusses the evolution of his creativity from design, to writing to publishing (we highly recommend his books!) and overcoming burnout along the way. He also shares the importance of not waiting for things to happen - but making your own opportunities, from starting his own studio, to publishing and even creating his own coffee company.

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Radim Malinic

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In our latest episode, Claire speaks to Helen Keyes, who was most recently the global head of brand, communications and digital design at Philips, where she was also part of the award-winning Philips Design leadership team. She has contributed to major brands along the way including Royal Mail, Mazda, Scandinavian Airlines, and the Ford Motor Company. Helen shares her life in design so far and some of the experiences that have shaped her along the way.

 On the podcast Helen shares her art school journey into first jobs and the mentors who have had such a significant impact on her life.

She talks about the far-reaching role and impact of design within Philips at every single touchpoint. 

And her parting shot to designers… stay curious.

Links:

Helen Keyes 

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This week, Claire sits down with Dave Recchia, Executive Creative Director at creative brand consultancy The Team. An award-winning creative director and author, Dave takes us on a journey from his early days in Australia to a 27-year career at The Team in London - shaping iconic brands like Heathrow Airport, McLaren Formula One, NatWest, Coca-Cola, and IBM. 

On the podcast Dave shares his early fascination with visual identities and the importance of curiosity and exploration in shaping a design career, the issue of free pitching and its implications for designers, and he shares advice for aspiring designers on authenticity, adaptability, and embracing new technologies.

Links: 

The Team

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In this episode, recorded live at the Northern Design Festival, Claire met up with Claire Parker, Group Creative Partner at The Chase. Claire shares her globe-trotting and award-winning career to date. With over 30 years in the industry, working in major cities including Sydney, Singapore, Hong Kong, Amsterdam and New York, Claire has led global teams, working at agencies including Design Bridge and Saatchi & Saatchi, she’s judged major awards like Cannes and D&AD, and worked on iconic brands including Johnnie Walker, Coca-Cola, Singapore Airlines, LEGO, and Mastercard.

Claire shares her journey into the design industry and the role her Mum played in supporting her path into design education. She talks about the role of strategy in the design process (the fun bit!), and she has some really excellent advice to all young designers on how to get ahead, create a career path, ask for pay rises – and being brave and be more Bowie!

Links:

The Chase

The Northern Design Festival

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Last week at in sunny Barcelona, My Life in Design was recorded live at OFFF with special guest: Marc Català. 

In this in-person episode, Marc shares the story behind co-founding Mucho - a global design agency with studios in Barcelona, San Francisco, and Melbourne, and a collective of 11 partners. With award-winning work for brands like Visa, Aeroméxico and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Barcelona, Marc is a creative force, teacher, and global speaker shaping the future of brand design. Marc shares his story of a life in design so far and some of the experiences that have shaped him along the way.

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Mucho

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EINA

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This week, Claire met up with Claire Robertshaw, Executive Creative Director at Design Bridge and Partners - the world’s most awarded brand design agency. Claire leads the London studio, overseeing creative excellence across one of the most dynamic teams in the industry. She's also a powerful advocate for gender equality, education, and mentorship in design.

Claire talks about the role of education, from GCSEs to foundation courses, in shaping a design career. Why written communication is just as vital as visuals, and the highs and hard truths of balancing motherhood and a senior creative role. 

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Design Bridge and Partners

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This week, Claire met up with the founding editor of Creative Boom, Katy Cowan. A huge creative industries cheer leader, Katy launched Creative Boom in 2009 as a platform to celebrate, support and inspire.

Katy shares how she transitioned from broadcast journalism to PR, to founding Creative Boom. Why engagement and community are essential to Creative Boom’s success, and she talks about the importance of being open to trying new things and learning along the way. 

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Creative Boom

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This week Claire sat down with Laura Stein, Chief Creative Officer at Bruce Mau Design. Laura’s work has earned recognition from D&AD and Cannes Lions. Beyond the studio, Laura has served on the board of the Advertising & Design Club of Canada and presented at leading conferences around the world, from Brand New to Design Thinking. She’s created brand identities for the likes of Sonos, Lululemon, ASX, Harvard, the Smithsonian and more.

Laura shares how her love for language, music, and art shaped her path into design – including a stint in a 90s indie guitar band!

How a pivotal moment in Central America that reignited her passion for visual storytelling, and on being part of the Sonos brand story, turning it from unknown to global brand.

Links:

Bruce Mau Design

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This week, Claire sat down with Spencer Buck, founder and chief creative officer of the global brand consultancy, Taxi Studio.

Spencer discusses the impact of support from key people in his life, from his parents, to art teachers, to industry professionals and his peers. Future trends in design, including the influence of technology and the need for meaningful work, and the meaning and importance of the word ‘alacrity’ on him, his work, and the Taxi Studio team.

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Taxi Studio

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This week, Claire met up with Debbie Millman, the renowned designer and the host of Design Matters. Debbie hosts one of the world's longest-running podcasts and the OG design podcast, which has featured nearly 700 influential creatives and won multiple prestigious awards. She is the author of eight books and has also received the Audio Vanguard Award and a Cooper Hewitt National Design Award, cementing her impact in the design and creative industries. 

In a first for Debbie, she invited Claire into her podcast studio, to record today’s ‘My Life in Design’ episode. Here’s your chance to hear Debbie’s side of the story and her life in design so far.

Debbie talks about her extensive career in design and branding – her time at Sterling Brands and the co-creation with Stephen Heller of the world’s first ever Masters in Branding program at the School of Visual Arts. She discusses personal projects and collabs including her work with Canva and her upcoming book ‘Love Letter to a Garden’ – a visual story of falling in love with gardening (published April 15). And she talks about the importance of business development ‘the pulse of an organisation’ in brand design agencies.

Links:

Debbie Millman | Love Letter To A Garden | Design Matters

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This week Claire met up with with design industry leader Jonathan Sands, former chair of Elmwood, who led the international brand design consultancy for 40 years, completing a management buyout in 1989 and selling the global business in 2021. 

Awarded an OBE in 2011 for services to the creative industries, he has worked with major brands like the BBC, Heineken, and Royal Mail and now serves as a trustee of the Royal Armouries in Leeds.

Jonathan shares the Elmwood ambition to become the world’s most effective design agency demonstrated through awards such as the DBA’s Design Effectiveness Awards, and he discusses the need for greater recognition and support for creative industries in education.

Links:

Jonathan Sands OBE

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Recorded at London Packaging Week, Chloe Templeman, ECD at Pearlfisher, joined Claire on the podcast to talk about her life in design so far. Chloe leads the creative vision of the London studio overseeing a diverse portfolio of brands across food & beverage, beauty, tech, healthcare and lifestyle. Her work during her career includes clients such as Fortnum & Mason, Smirnoff, Lipton Iced Tea, Tanqueray Ten, Wild Deodorant, Nivea and Heineken, and has been recognised with various accolades, including D&AD Pencils, Pentawards, FAB Awards and DBA Design Effectiveness Awards.

On the podcast Chloe shares her journey, from starting out in Scotland, to moving to London and building a successful career at top brand design agencies including Brand Union and Design Bridge, culminating in joining Pearlfisher 18 months ago.

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Pearlfisher

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This week Claire caught up with Vuokko Aro, the Chief Design Officer at Monzo. She helps the bank’s leadership team use design as a strategic lever across the company as it scales. This all helped Monzo win Marketing Society brand of the year in 2024. 

Vuokko discusses her unconventional path into her current career, from studying economics to working in journalism and eventually transitioning into design. She talks about her experience of working with startups like Citymapper before joining Monzo in 2017. She discusses Monzo's brand evolution and commitment to customer-centric design and shares how her side projects in fashion design and music are important creative outlets.

Links:

Vuokko Aro

Monzo

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In the first of a new season, Claire sat down with Kwame in front of a live audience in New York to share his life in design… so far. 

Kwame is the first US D&AD President, and also the co-founder of Kin, a creative company that drives positive change in business and culture. He shares his early influences in design and talks about his transition from working in finance to discovering the world of design.

Kwame talks about his role at D&AD in New York and some of the brilliant initiatives that D&AD is doing to support the creative community – today and for the future.

Links:

D&AD

Kin

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In the final episode of this series, Claire has the honour of speaking to Henry Steiner, founder of Steiner&Co, also known as the ‘Father of Hong Kong Graphic Design. Fresh from being the subject of a recent exhibition at the M+ gallery in Hong Kong, 90-year-old Henry shares his long and insightful journey in design, starting with being awe-struck by a piece of packaging design when he was only 3 years old!
He shares his formative years, from leaving his birth country of Austria under the threat of WWII and moving to the USA; to learning at Yale under the tutelage of graphic design legend Paul Rand. He talks about his design career in Hong Kong, founding Steiner&Co in 1963 and the design impact of his work on the look and feel of the growing city, including the iconic HSBC logo and designing Hong Kong’s bank notes!

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Steiner&Co

This week Claire meets up with Benji Wiedemann and Alex Lampe, who co-founded the design agency Wiedemann Lampe. They share their lives in design and the evolution of their studio working in the cultural space and the skill of being able to articulate intangible things.

They share their share the impact of starting their careers in the dot.com boom era of the early noughties… and the following crash. The huge influence of working and learning at iconic design agency Lewis Moberly, under the tutelage of Mary Lewis. And the role of design in branding and cultural narratives.

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Wiedemann Lampe | Instagram | Linkedin

This week Claire sat down with Julia Beardwood, founder of New York agency Beardwood&Co, to hear her unconventional journey into design, via mathematics and marketing, to advertising, then the switch to branding at Landor.
She shares the secrets behind her transition into the world of brand design (and her move to New York from the UK via Paris) The importance of honesty and direct communication in client relationships and talks about the leap into entrepreneurship by setting up her own agency.

Links:
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Beardwood&Co, 

This week on the podcast Claire sat down with Dick Powell, co-founder of product design and innovation agency Seymour Powell, to talk all things design. Dick talks about everything from design education to founding a business, working on designs for spaceships, and what ‘brand’ actually means to him. He shares his early interest in design and its evolution from architecture to industrial design, reflections on the current state and evolution of the design industry, and in-house design trends.

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Seymour Powell

This week Claire meets up with Fe Amarante founder and principal of Experimenta, whose career spans major companies like Coca-Cola, Danone, and The Hershey Company. Now running her own agency, Experimenta, focusing on sustainable creativity, she shared her life in design so far. Fe talks about the evolving perception of in-house creative roles and their potential for fulfilment, the thinking and ethos behind her agency Experimenta, and her thoughts on being terrified and doing it anyway!

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Experimenta

This week Claire meets up with design legend Ian Ritchie to talk about his life in design, from his early experiences of earning his way with signwriting, to art school and the evolution and growth of design agency JKR. 

Ian shares his story of JKR, from co-founding, to the challenges and the big decisions made to enable success. He talks about the relationship between design and advertising and the need for cross-disciplinary talent, and gives insights into what he’s doing post-JRK, including the design of a type face that will be launching later this year.

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JKR

This week Claire sits down with Jolene Delisle, founder and creative director of New York’s The Working Assembly.  
 
Jolene shares her journey into the design and branding industry, from internships, to founding The Working Assembly in 2017 with the goal of supporting the start-up scene in New York at the time. 

Jolene talks about her commitment to supporting emerging brands, especially those led by women and founders of colour which led to establishing her own agency. How becoming the owner of a 1950's ice cream shop called Cherries became the perfect team playground for creativity, providing entrepreneurial insights to better understand their clients. On being very intentional on the size of The Working Assembly and the type of projects they take on (and running a wait list!)

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The Working Assembly

This week, Claire meets up with Fred Gelli, co-founder and CEO of Brazil’s largest independent design agency, Tatil.  

Fred shares his journey from engineering, to discovering his passion for design and co-founding an agency, and working on major projects including the 2016 Rio Olympics, the Rio Carnival, and a 17-year collaboration with Coca-Cola. 

He talks about his informative experience working with the Body Shop’s Dame Anita Roddick, the importance of nature being a source of inspiration for good design, and he shares the impact of winning and delivering work for the Rio 2016 Olympics and the Rio Carnival.

Links:
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Tatil

This week, we’re coming live from Transform Tuesday at the Crown & Two Chairman pub in London’s Soho, with Simon Dixon, co-founder of DixonBaxi. 

Simon shares his journey from setting up his first agency straight out of an art foundation course, to where he is today running one of the best known branding agencies. 

He gives great advice on how to get noticed as a young person entering the industry. 

(NOTE - On Spotify, the chapter notes are auto-generated from the sound and it’s recording Aporva’s name as Apulva which is annoying!! I’m looking for ways to change or remove this, but in the meantime - it’s Aporva! 😀) 

Links : 

DixonBaxi

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This week Claire catches up with Joanne Chan CEO of Turner Duckworth.

Joanne shares her journey from fine arts to the world of design and working with some major brands like Coca-Cola and Amazon.

 She talks about how her background in fine arts helped lead to success in the competitive design industry.

How brands need to evolve and what distinguishes a truly iconic logo from the rest (including the Amazon story with a clear brief from Jeff Bezos and a clever solution by their designer at the time Anthony Biles)

On the importance of in-person collaboration for nurturing creativity. And Joanne’s thoughts on the changes in the competitive landscape of design agencies.

Links:
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Turner Duckworth

My Life in Design is back - recorded LIVE at the London Design Festival with designer Domenic Lippa, Pentagram partner (and chair) and Festival design director.

Earlier this week we had the absolute pleasure of hosting a LIVE podcast recording of ‘My Life in Design’ as part of the London Design Festival. Marking the 50th episode and start of series 6, Domenic sat down with host Claire in front of an audience at the gorgeous art’otel in Hoxton London to share his life in design so far… 

Domenic shares his journey into design, from a home full of creativity, to a focus on graphic design from an early age that no art teacher could shift! His early experiences working in agencies, forming a partnership with future Pentagram partner Harry Pearce, their agency Lippa Pearce, and joining the world’s best known design consultancy Pentagram.

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Pentagram

In the final episode of the series, Claire sits down with Mauro Porcini, Senior VP and Chief Design Officer at PepsiCo.

Mauro shares his journey of how he discovered design as a career, and how he arrived at PepsiCo with an ambition to reshape innovation at the company by leveraging design and introducing a design culture. He talks about how design can change the trajectory of a company and on thinking big and not being afraid to dream.

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Mauro Porcini

This week, Claire sits down with Ekaterina Solomeina, co-founder of Future London Academy. Ekaterina shares her life in design from Russia to London, from agency to in-house. She shares her discovery of design as a career through early experiences of coding and website design, and her experiences of working with two original design powerhouses - Michael Wolff and Donatella Versace. How both have influenced the way she works and thinks.

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Future London Academy

This week on Claire sits down with Alex Moulton, chief creative officer at Trollbäck+Company in NYC. Alex shares his life in design, from filmmaking and sonic branding, to full brand experience.

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Trollbäck+Company

This week Claire sits down with Alex Center, founder of design agency CENTER. Alex shares his life in design, from a dream internship working on the New York Knicks, to his time at the Coca-Cola Company building iconic drinks brands like vitaminwater and POWERAID, to the founding of CENTER in 2017.


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This week Claire chats with Joshua Breidenbach, from Vietnam’s Rice. Joshua shares his life in design, from early family influences, to the messages of punk music, and a pivotal project with Coca-Cola that marked the official founding of Rice.

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Rice

This week Claire chats with Hamish Campbell, VP executive creative director of Pearlfisher NYC. Hamish recounts his life in design and how a love for art evolved into a career in graphic design, blending the precision of engineering with the creativity of visual art.

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Pearlfisher

This week Claire chats with Kerry and Shaun, co-founders of B&B Studio, about their journeys into design and the founding of their award-winning studio. They share insights into their first client, Bear, which went on to win the DBA Grand Prix at the Design Effectiveness Awards.

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B&B Studio

Recorded at FutureBrand’s Amsterdam HQ, Queenie Lo, President of Spatial Design, joined Claire on the podcast to share her life in design so far. Queenie leads the global team to create immersive, insight driven brand experiences across retail, hospitality, and branded environments for global clients including LVMH brands such as Sephora and YYX, McDonald’s, Bentley, Bottega Veneta and Adidas.

Links:

FutureBrand

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This week Claire meets up with Emily Rickard, CEO of BUCK. 

Emily talks about her career journey, from filmmaking aspirations to fashion journalism and TV production in Australia, to leading a global creative powerhouse that is BUCK.

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BUCK

In the first episode of the new series, Claire meets up with design legend Mary Lewis, creative director of Lewis Moberly. Mary talks about her early years living on a farm and her fascination with branded goods. Going to art college and then moving down to art school in Camberwell, London. And her time as a graphic design teacher before discovering the ad industry and her love of packaging, then founding Lewis Moberly with her husband Robert.

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Lewis Moberly

In the final episode of the series episode, Claire meets up with digital artist Dines, co-founder and chief creative officer of Studio BLUP. He shares his journey from discovering his passion for design at a young age to establishing a successful creative company. Dines discusses the challenges he’s faced, the importance of resilience, and the role of his supportive friend and business partner, Alex. He also talks about his decision to buy back his company and rebrand it with a focus on digital art, innovation, and education of the next generation of creatives.

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Studio BLUP

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This week Claire meets up with Marina Willer, partner at Pentagram. Marina talks about growing up in a creative house in Brazil and being influenced by the politics and injustice there at the time. She talks about moving to the UK to study at the Royal College of Art, working at Wolff Olins, and becoming a partner at Pentagram.

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Marina Willer

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This week Claire meets up with Cat How, Founder & ECD of branding agency How & How. Cat talks about her route into design through journalism, ecommerce, and shared office spaces. She discusses her experience at Central St Martins studying for her Masters, and starting How & How during lockdown.

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How & How

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This week Claire meets up with Rejane Dal Bello. Rejane talks about how she thought she’d be a dentist as a child but found a love of art on an exchange year in the US. She talks about her time at NYC’s School of Visual Arts being taught by Milton Glaser, moving to the Netherlands and working at Studio Dumbar, setting up her own studio, and why you should follow your gut.

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Studio Rejane Dal Bello

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This week Claire meets up with a personal design hero of hers – Stefan Sagmeister. Stefan talks about his experiences of working with Lou Reed and The Rolling Stones, On the importance of finding something in your life that you’re good at, and working on it to be better, on creative sabbaticals (Stefan has one every 7 years) and his time working with Jessica Walsh.

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This week Claire meets up with Alan Dye and Nick Finney, founders of NB Studio. They talk about their ‘apprenticeship’ at Pentagram and how they founded NB Studio in the pub next door! Some great tips for young designers too.

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NB Studio

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This week Claire meets up with Sean Thomas, Executive Creative Director of JKR. Sean talks about how art was his sanctuary at school, his first roles in agencies Pearlfisher and The Core, through freelance and to JKR. 

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JKR
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This week Claire meets up with Robert Brunner, the product and brand designer who set up Apple’s first industrial design department, designed the first PowerBook, and went on to design the product and brand of Beats with Dr Dre and Jimmy Iovine. Robert discusses how he became an engineer after his father, how he moved on to become a product designer, and his ground-breaking work on Apple’s laptops and handheld computing.

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Joining the podcast this week is Christoph Lindner, President and Vice-Chancellor of the Royal College of Art. Recorded at the RCA’s innovative Battersea campus, Claire and Christoph have one of the most sensible and thought-provoking conversations about the wide-reaching possibilities of design and creativity in every aspect of our lives and work.

Christoph shares his design journey – from a liberal arts degree in Colorado, to a PhD in Scotland, via academia including the Amsterdam School for Cultural Analysis, to the University of Oregon, London’s Bartlett Faculty of the Built Environment, to joining the Royal College of Art in April 2024. He discusses the institution’s collaborative and leading approach to art and design; with the RCA’s ambition to become more accessible and future prepared. And he talks about how a creative life can take many different forms, and the advice that if you want a creative life… go for it!

Links:

Royal College of Art

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This week Claire meets up with Rowena Curlewis and Margaret Nolan of the drinks specialist agency - Denomination.

Row & Margaret talk about early beginnings at Lewis Moberly, on the importance of getting the culture right when you set up a business partnership, setting up studios around the world, and some great tips for junior designers.

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We kick off the fourth series of My Life in Design with Jim Sutherland. Jim founded the multi-award winning Studio Sutherl&, and is visiting professor at Norwich University of the Arts. Jim talks about how he got started in design, overcoming his shyness to make an impression and present work, and why you don’t need to wear a suit as a junior designer!

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This week, in the final episode of series 3, Claire meets up with Brian Collins, designer, creative director, educator, and co-founder of design firm COLLINS - named by Forbes as one of the companies transforming the future of brand building. Brian talks about his discovery of design and making the bold statement at the age of 17 that he wanted to run his own design agency. Brian also shares his design school experience (with nights at Studio 54!), to starting out on the COLLINS journey. He also touches on mental health, with advice to young designers on taking care of the mind. Series 4 will be back in October 2023 with more brand design leaders.

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This week, Claire speaks to Caspar Lam and YuJune Park, Founders of the award-winning Synoptic Office and Professors in Communication Design at the Parsons School of Design, NY. Caspar and YuJune talk about their discovery of design and their shared love of visualising ideas. They discuss how design is constantly evolving and the continued role for human input to ask the right questions.

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