The Blueprint Of A Designer - Details, episodes & analysis

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The Blueprint Of A Designer

Dean Heasman

Arts

Frequency: 1 episode/96d. Total Eps: 7

Hosted by Dean Heasman, a seasoned product designer with experience at Meta and Booking.com, The Blueprint of a Designer delivers actionable insights for hands-on product design leaders. Through expert interviews, this podcast dives into the strategies and stories behind impactful digital products. Perfect for those leading the craft of product design, it offers practical advice to sharpen your skills and elevate your career. YouTube: @theblueprintofadesigner IG: @theblueprintofadesigner TikTok: @theblueprintofadesigner

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https://www.linkedin.com/in/natashawu/
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https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidmatthewjones/
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https://www.linkedin.com/in/mohammadsayyar/
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The Only Designer at an AI Startup – Designing for Agents & Shipping Code | Isha Maggu, CodeWords

Season 1 · Episode 7

Tuesday, August 11, 2026 • Duration 56:16

What does design actually look like when you're the only designer at an AI startup — and you ship your own features?In this episode of The Blueprint of a Designer, I sit down with Isha Maggu, product designer at Codewords, an AI workflow automation tool. We get into what it really means to design for agents rather than screens, why she often skips Figma entirely and builds straight in Cursor, and why she still believes design is the differentiator when anyone can build anything.We also cover the death of per-seat pricing, how she filters the endless stream of new AI tools, the blurring line between designer and engineer, and the honest trade-offs of working solo versus on a proper design team.We dig into:- Designing agent behaviour — what to show, what to hide, and when to interrupt the user- Why "talk about the problem, not the solution" led to shipping voice mode- Isha actual workflow: v0 → user feedback → Figma → Cursor (and when Figma gets skipped)- Why building is easy now but maintaining and scaling still isn't- What happens to SaaS when everyone can build their own tools- Working without a PM, and how product decisions get made in a nine-person team- The best and worst parts of an AI startupChapters00:00 Cold open01:20 Intro & guest greeting01:30 What is Codewords?02:01 A simple example: scraping and enriching03:02 The most common use cases right now05:02 WhatsApp automation06:05 The differentiator — 2,000 integrations06:36 Voice mode: talk about the problem, not the solution07:08 What a designer actually designs at an AI company08:09 Designing states and agent personality09:11 What's most exciting about the work10:13 Building Custom UI — putting a face on automations13:35 Personal software and the SaaS sentiment13:58 The Substack-to-audio tool she built in a car16:29 Is per-seat pricing dead?17:34 Building is easy — maintaining is hard18:07 Her design workflow and tools19:36 Prototyping in v021:15 Granola, Notion and why she doesn't use her own product21:55 If anyone can build, what's the differentiator?22:46 Design as a USP for companies24:06 When she goes to Figma — and when she doesn't25:20 Skipping Figma and going straight to Cursor26:26 Using the Figma MCP28:04 From copy changes to shipping full features29:14 Building voice mode herself29:55 The design engineer role is blurring30:22 No PM — how decisions get made31:56 Work-life balance at an AI startup33:32 Keeping up without drowning in new tools36:06 Hype vs relevance37:29 Advice for joining an AI startup39:05 Working solo vs having a design team39:59 The worst thing about an AI startup41:53 A design belief that changed42:09 Design is what you don't see43:32 The capability-first approach44:49 What's next for Isha46:56 Isha asks Dean: the view from big tech50:26 The future of the designer role52:12 Role consolidation53:36 Managing agents instead of making55:23 Question for the next guest► Subscribe for more episodes: https://www.youtube.com/@TheBlueprintOfADesignerFollow us on:📸 Instagram: @theblueprintofadesigner🎵 TikTok: @theblueprintofadesigner🙏 Huge thanks to Isha for such an open and practical conversation!🔗 Connect with Isha: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ishamaggu/🔗 Codewords: https://www.codewords.ai/#ProductDesign #AIDesign #DesignEngineer #AgentDesign #UXDesign #Cursor #Figma #Startups #TheBlueprintOfADesigner

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Why Designing for AI is Like “Pottery” - Mastering a Stochastic Medium | Timothy Achumba, Microsoft

Season 1 · Episode 6

Tuesday, March 24, 2026 • Duration 01:05:02

In this episode, I speak with Timothy Achumba, Design Director at Microsoft, about AI-first product design, leadership, and the future of design.

We discuss his journey from Wunderlist to Meta to Microsoft, how his team explores AI through rapid prototyping, and why the role of design is shifting toward judgment, taste, and experimentation.

We also cover mechanical keyboards, mentoring, and what designers need to focus on to stay relevant in an AI-driven world.

Chapters

00:00 Intro
01:06 Timothy Achumba intro
01:15 Config London and speaking on stage
03:26 How Timothy got into mechanical keyboards
04:44 Keyboards as a surface for expression
06:17 Designing custom keycaps
09:01 Timothy’s role at Microsoft Design Lab
09:57 Prototyping first and using the scientific method
11:24 How AI changes knowledge work
12:53 Why chat interfaces are powerful but limited
16:21 The Wunderlist story
20:18 What happened after Microsoft acquired Wunderlist
23:07 Microsoft vs Meta
25:10 The role of design at Microsoft vs Meta
26:47 The intensity of working at Microsoft
28:08 Quick fire round
29:49 How incubation teams influence larger organisations
34:27 Being a director and staying hands-on
36:58 Mentoring designers and career growth
38:56 Should designers learn to code?
39:53 Why design is becoming more like pottery
43:11 How designers can build AI work for their portfolio
45:38 If everyone can prototype, what is the value of design?
49:29 Why craft matters even more now
52:03 What stops senior designers becoming principal or director
55:54 Managing time, meetings, and focus
57:30 Why traditional design processes can hold teams back01:00:34 Why the scientific method matters in design01:01:47 Why designers still matter in the AI era01:04:41 Final thoughts

How AI + XR Will Change Product Design Forever — with Oleg Frolov (LIV)

Season 1 · Episode 5

Monday, December 22, 2025 • Duration 01:18:05

How will AI and XR transform the future of product design? In this episode, I chat with Oleg Frolov — design engineer at LIV — about spatial computing, hand-tracking, mixed reality, and why the next era of interaction design goes far beyond screens, cursors and controllers.

We explore Oleg’s project Boxel XR, the future of controller-free input, Quest vs Vision Pro constraints, AI as a learning companion, and why hybrid design engineers will shape the next decade of product craft. We also talk social VR, spatial presence, R&D mindset, prototyping workflows, and what an “XR-native generation” might look like.

If you’re a designer wondering whether to invest in XR, Unity, spatial computing or AI skills — this episode offers a grounded, honest and optimistic view of what’s coming next.

• How AI accelerates coding + prototyping (without replacing designers)
• Why XR interaction design is the real frontier
• The future of hand-tracking + body-based interfaces
• What LIV does to capture VR + MR experiences
• Why design engineers will redefine product quality
• Why now is the best moment to enter spatial design

00:00 — Introduction
01:31 — Boxel XR + voxel editing for VR
04:04 — Future of hand-based interaction
08:18 — Voice vs hands vs speed
11:41 — Finding ideas + R&D mindset
15:00 — What is a design engineer?
17:08 — Tools: Figma, Blender, Unity, Xcode
19:00 — Learning to code with AI support
22:06 — AI as “modern Aristotle”
23:16 — What LIV actually does
26:00 — Gorilla Tag + game friction
29:06 — Why social VR feels real
31:01 — XR-native generations
36:04 — Oleg’s end-to-end process
39:20 — Quest vs Vision Pro45:12 — Will AI replace designers?50:03 — Future of design engineering52:03 — Beyond UI vs UX54:01 — Device-agnostic interaction55:38 — XR + smart home convergence59:57 — Muji pens + idea value1:04:12 — Creative + philosophical influences1:06:01 — Storytelling + communication1:12:07 — AI slop + trust in craft1:17:35 — Closing thoughts

The Truth About AI + Design (with Miro’s Head of Design for AI – Matt Jones)

Season 1 · Episode 4

Monday, September 22, 2025 • Duration 01:29:03

What does it actually look like to weave AI into products people already love—without slapping on “sparkle buttons”? In this episode of Blueprint of a Designer, I sit down with Matt Jones — a design leader at Miro working on AI (previously Google, Lunar Energy, and BERG) — to unpack designing with intelligence as a material, not a gimmick.

Chapters
0:00 Cold open — AI, flows & vibe coding
1:27 Intro & guest greeting
1:40 Light-painting photo & the garage
2:16 Why light painting? Perception & trails
3:02 Visualizing radio fields (RFID/Oyster)
4:54 Light-painting the invisible field
5:50 Team fun: centaur model of AI
6:51 What Matt calls himself (interaction design)
10:27 From architecture school to the early web
12:15 What most misunderstand about AI in design
13:47 On-device “mini intelligences”
15:14 Designing with mature, cheap tech
19:33 Material thinking: subjectivity + objectivity
32:36 Clarifying Matt’s role at Miro (AI group)
33:02 Weaving AI into Miro (multiplayer, multimodal)
39:29 The “explain it over the phone” test
41:24 Screens live in our heads: designing for cognition
44:57 The thought-bubble storyboard trick
50:29 Vibe coding / vibe designing
52:36 Future-proofing designers (sort of)
57:02 Curiosity over rounded rectangles
1:00:45 Pushing systems beyond the mean
1:12:17 Google: Creative Lab → Research
1:14:09 Why Lunar Energy; Project Sunroof; home solar
1:16:42 Zero→One at a climate startup (hardware + software)
1:17:58 Dogfooding at Miro; slides + boards
1:18:49 Tools shape us; whiteboards & flow
1:21:05 Pace at Miro: EPD trios & hackathons
1:23:50 What’s in the garage (3D printers, etc.)
1:25:24 Remote hardware prototyping from the workshop1:28:16 Data-center murals & wrap-up

How to Be an Irreplaceable Designer in the Age of AI – Oriol Valldeperas (Wise)

Season 1 · Episode 3

Tuesday, April 22, 2025 • Duration 01:07:14

In this episode of The Blueprint of a Designer, I sit down with Oriol Valldeperas, a product designer at ‪ @Wise to unpack what it really takes to thrive as a senior designer in today’s product teams - especially in fast-moving, trust-critical spaces like fintech.We dig into the invisible parts of the job: how senior designers can find and fight for scope, demonstrate value without relying on polish, and build real influence - even when you’re not “the loudest in the room.” Oriol opens up about the pressure of adding value, the art of crafting one-pagers and visions that actually drive change, and why leading by example (not just frameworks) matters more than ever.We also talk AI - what it threatens, what it enables, and how to stay irreplaceable. Oriol shares an honest perspective on navigating imposter syndrome, the need for healthy competitiveness, and the emotional side of making high-stakes decisions that ripple across millions of users.Whether you're stepping into a senior role, shaping platform strategy, or wondering how to future-proof your design career, this conversation is packed with honest insights.📌 Chapters00:00 Intro – Who is Oriol Valldeperas?17:30 Finding Scope as a Senior Designer20:30 Fighting for Scope – Why It Matters23:51 Do Internal Tools Need Good Design?27:46 The Pressure to Add Value38:00 How to Build Influence Without Authority40:51 Driving Change with Your Superpower42:50 Leading by Being Brilliant – Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods & More48:19 Is AI a Threat to Designers?51:00 Staying Irreplaceable in the Age of AI53:50 Be Competitive - But Stay Kind1:00:05 The Hardest Part About Being a Designer1:07:05 Final Thoughts + Career Growth at Wise► Subscribe for more episodes: / @theblueprintofadesignerFollow us on: 📸 Instagram: @theblueprintofadesigner🎵 TikTok: @theblueprintofadesigner🙏 Huge thanks to Oriol for his openness and depth!📲 Follow Oriol: https://www.instagram.com/ovall/🔗 LinkedIn: /oriolvalldeperas#ProductDesign #Wise #Fintech #DesignLeadership #Scope #DesignInfluence #AI #UX #TheBlueprintOfADesigner

The Blueprint Of A Designer - Details, episodes & analysis

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The Blueprint Of A Designer - Details, episodes & analysis

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