Deeply Human Design is a podcast about the emotional, messy, and often unspoken realities of working in design.
Hosted by Danny, each episode is a candid conversation with fellow designers. Not polished interviews, but honest reflections on what it feels like to do this work. From impostor syndrome to burnout, from proud moments to tough rejections, we go behind the scenes of the design life.
If you're tired of the same thought leaders and crave real talk from real people, you're in the right place.
Site
RSS
Apple
Data updated on 08/10/2026
Recent rankings
Latest chart positions across Apple Podcasts and Spotify rankings.
Shared links between episodes and podcasts
Links found in episode descriptions and other podcasts that share them.
#21 AI,
intersectionality,
and the future
of women in
tech | Meg Porter
Season 1 · Episode 21
Monday, October 5, 2026 • Duration 57:09
“You cannot innovate if you don't have diverse thinking.”
Summary
In this episode, we explore the winding creative journey of Meg Porter, a designer turned product leader and founder, who shares how her artistic roots evolved into a passion for solving complex human problems. She candidly opens up about navigating corporate environments as a neurodivergent woman, facing systemic biases, and the exhaustion of trying to fit traditional workplace molds.
Meg discusses her work with The Female Product Lead community, advocating for truly inclusive leadership and psychological safety across tech. She also details the creation of Unfold, her new app designed to help neurodivergent individuals manage executive dysfunction through nervous system and emotional regulation. Throughout the conversation, Meg highlights the immense value of radical self-knowledge over conventional career frameworks.
Chapters 00:00 Introduction and Welcome 01:38 Meg's Origins in Physical Graphic Design 04:43 Navigating Subjectivity and Finding Structure in Design 08:23 Expressing Personal Empathy Through Art Projects 10:17 Transitioning into Corporate Tech and Healthcare Design 14:12 Clashing Values and Systemic Politics in Enterprise Roles 18:35 Fostering Psychological Safety and Diverse Perspectives 22:57 Empowering Underrepresented Voices with Female Product Lead 26:27 Experiencing the Glass Ceiling and Micro-Behaviors 32:25 Finding Core Purpose and Showing Up Authentically 37:14 Building Unfold for Neurodivergent Emotional Regulation 43:58 Developing the MVP and Co-Founding with Family 46:23 Tackling Executive Dysfunction and Rejection Sensitivity 51:21 Prioritising Self-Knowledge Over Skill Sets in Leadership
#20 You can't out-think uncertainty: Resilience in the age of AI | Stuart Booth
Season 1 · Episode 20
Friday, September 11, 2026 • Duration 48:14
"People massively overestimate the amount of change that's going to happen in two years, and they underestimate the amount in five to 10 years."
Summary
In this episode, we explore the journey of Stuart, a psychologist who moved from cognitive research into digital transformation and is now working in government. We trace his path from the back streets of Liverpool to a PhD in human computer interaction, augmented reality research in Italy, and six years in research and design leadership at Expedia. Stuart reflects on social mobility, on the confidence and experience it buys as much as the income, and on leaving school in a year when not one of the jobs he has since done actually existed. We discuss why organisations resist AI, where he honestly lands between its promise and its threat, and the psychology of resilience when uncertainty simply cannot be researched away. This conversation is a deep dive into staying proactive rather than passive, experimenting deliberately, and treating your own career as a product you can design.
#19 Navigating Tech Burnout, AI Anxiety | Andy Hix
Season 1 · Episode 19
Thursday, August 27, 2026 • Duration 52:19
"The pressure to move faster in the tech industry creates an environment where presence and mental well-being are often sacrificed for speed.”
Summary
In this episode, leadership consultant Andy Hix joins us to share insights from his interviews with 85 tech leaders on the pressures they face, what keeps them up at night, and what separates those thriving in 2026 from those burning out.
Together, we unpack the intersection of tech, mental health, and well being, tackling everything from AI addiction and early adopter anxiety to how human centered leadership can bring joy back into the corporate workplace.
#18 Reclaiming the heart in design | Fionn Tynan O'Mahony
Episode 18
Wednesday, April 29, 2026 • Duration 51:37
Reclaiming the Heart in Design
“There’s so much heart in some of these things that you’re putting in heart in that space and I find it very hard to detach some of those.”
Summary
In this episode, we explore the creative journey of Fionn, a partner at the design futures studio Andthen . We trace his evolution from the tactile world of furniture making to leading large-scale design teams within the corporate banking sector . Fionn reflects on the emotional friction of maintaining personal values in transactional environments and the toll of multiple burnouts. We discuss his shift toward "slow decisions" and how design can be used to influence long-term policy and societal change . This conversation is a deep dive into reclaiming professional purpose and the human heart within a technical industry .
00:00 Reconnecting and the Purpose of Human Conversations
02:08 Designing the Intangible: Introducing Andthen
#17 Be a kind designer | Craig Jamieson
Sunday, March 8, 2026 • Duration 01:02:42
“Sometimes the best thing you can do is just be the kindest person in the room.”
Summary In this episode, we explore the profound impact of leading with kindness and humility in the high-pressure world of design and advertising. Guest Craig Jamson joins Danny Hearn to reflect on his journey from a self-taught Flash designer in South Africa to a Creative Director at Ogilvy. They discuss the transition from a "brutal" leadership style to one focused on empowering others, drawing inspiration from the book Multipliers. The conversation dives deep into the importance of maintaining calm in "crisis mode," the challenges of the current job market, and how personal mental health practices shape professional presence. Together, they advocate for a more supportive industry culture where seasoned professionals lift up those who are most vulnerable.
“There are many, many things that AI can do, AI cannot dream, it cannot truly create, and it cannot think. And I just think the random messiness of the human spirit is just so perfect for creativity.”
Summary
In this episode, we dive into the career of Sienne Veit, a leader who has consistently operated at the "pointy end" of innovation. We explore her journey from studying linguistics and journalism in South Africa to spearheading the first transactional mobile website for Marks & Spencer during the dawn of the iPhone era. Throughout our conversation, we discuss the art of navigating corporate "no’s" by building resilient teams and maintaining an experimental mindset. We reflect on the importance of serendipity in the workplace and why "human messiness" remains our greatest advantage in an AI-driven future. Together, we uncover how a high tolerance for chaos and a commitment to solving real-world problems can transform enterprise design.
01:29 From Lecturer to Product Leader: A Weavy Journey
04:19 Linguistics: The Foundation of Meaning and HCI
07:43 Early Mobile Adoption: From WAP to South African Banking
10:49 Sony and the Cusp of the iPhone Revolution
12:12 Building M&S’s First Mobile Transactional Site
15:01 Early Failures: QR Codes and Text-Based Loyalty
#15 Trauma, relationships & social health in design | Alla Weinberg
Episode 15
Wednesday, January 7, 2026 • Duration 49:40
“The quality of our relationships is the only factor linked to how long we live — and how well we live.”
Summary In this episode, Alla Weinberg and I explore psychological safety, workplace culture, and why the quality of our relationships shapes not just how we work, but how we live. Alla shares her 20-year journey through the design industry — from information architecture to coaching — and the lived experiences that led her to write A Culture of Safety. We talk about toxic and “too nice” cultures, the pressure to “crank out” design, how unsafe environments shut down our ability to think, and what leaders can do to model honesty with kindness. We also look ahead to the AI era and why Alla is building a social health organization to help people rebuild connection, community, and human-centered ways of working.
Chapters 00:00 Social health, relationships, and what the research suggests 00:40 Alla’s journey through design — and why she turned to coaching 04:35 Lived experiences of unsafe culture and “crank it out” design pressure 09:20 What toxic work really communicates about people vs. profit 12:34 Hope vs. reality: why design evangelism rarely shifts power15:14 Building a social health organisation and what it’s for20:16 What healthy relational culture looks like (skills, repair, honesty)22:52 Transactional vs. relational culture — especially in remote work34:53 Mental health, trauma, and how unsafe leadership shuts us down47:03 AI, the erosion of humanity, and choosing a different future
#14 Design, craft and optimism for
changing times | James Box
Episode 14
Friday, December 26, 2025 • Duration 01:07:33
“What would it take for design to have its vinyl moment — and reclaim its power beyond JIRA tickets and design systems?”
Summary
In this episode, Danny sits down with James Box, designer, author, and co-founder of Berst - to talk about the changing shape of design careers, the realities of agency vs. product team life, and why so many designers feel trapped in “mechanistic” delivery work. James reflects on his years at ClearLeft, the culture of autonomy and learning that shaped his practice, and the role of communication and uncertainty in good design. They explore Berst’s work with startups and scale-ups, including experiments with equity-based engagements, and discuss how innovation can get dampened as companies grow. The conversation turns to AI: how it’s collapsing the gap between insight and delivery, what “AI-native” products feel like, and why designers need to hold both optimism and skepticism at once. James closes with a hopeful challenge, for designers to embrace entrepreneurship, use new tools to tackle bigger problems, and help design rediscover what it’s uniquely good at.
00:00 Design careers, JIRA tickets, and the fear of “factory design”
01:21 James Box’s journey: agency roots, entrepreneurship, and writing a UX book
#13 Peak designer, AI, uncertainty and what’s next | Andy Budd
Episode 13
Tuesday, December 2, 2025 • Duration 01:08:59
"As soon as tools exist that don’t require Figma’s learning curve, a very large number of designers will find themselves out of work"
Summary Today I’m sharing a wide-open, deeply honest conversation with Andy Budd — designer, founder, conference creator, coach, investor, and one of the most quietly influential forces behind the UK design and product community. If you’ve worked in UX anytime in the last two decades, you’ve almost certainly felt Andy’s impact: Clearleft, UX London, dConstruct, Leading Design, CSS Mastery, the Brighton Digital Festival… the list is long for a reason.
In this episode, we dig into the questions so many designers are quietly wrestling with; Have we already passed “peak designer”? And what does a meaningful, sustainable design career look like on the other side?
We explore why 2020–21 marked the high-water point for UX hiring, how AI and automation are reshaping the work, and why “Figma operator culture” was always a dead end. Andy maps the design chaos from identity crisis many designers are feeling, the discomfort of reinvention, and why embracing uncertainty is now a core skill. We also journey through his experiences with the early web, Clearleft, building communities, leadership — and the ongoing search for new personal S-curves.
If you’re feeling energised, anxious, confused, optimistic (or all of the above) about where design is heading, this one will resonate deeply.
#12 Champagne and razor blades: Inside design recruitment
Episode 12
Monday, November 24, 2025 • Duration 01:00:03
“What does it mean to recruit in a turbulent UX market — and where is the industry heading?”
Summary In this episode, Danny speaks with long-time UX and design recruiter Nick Grantham about the realities of today’s hiring landscape. Nick shares his journey from studying design to becoming a specialist design recruiter, the emotional side of matchmaking candidates and teams, and why the last few years have reshaped expectations for designers, hiring managers, and recruiters alike. They discuss the impact of interest rates, AI, internal talent teams, CV myths, candidate overwhelm, and how to stay resilient while navigating a challenging market. Nick brings clarity, honesty, and grounded optimism to a conversation many designers need right now.
Guest Nick Grantham Nick is an Associate Director at Zebra People, who are a long-standing, digital specialist recruitment agency. Nick himself has been leading UX and product design recruitment across start-ups, scale-ups, and major brands for the past 15 years. With deep experience shaping design teams and advising on hiring strategy, Nick brings a no-nonsense approach to his trade and had even started his career in design before switching to recruitment.
Chapters00:00 Why bring a recruiter into a design podcast02:02 Nick’s journey from transport design to UX recruitment08:27 What recruiters actually do (and how matchmaking really works)10:14 The human side of recruitment, emotions, and life-changing moves13:51 “Champagne and razor blades”: the highs and lows of placements23:22 Why this downturn feels different: interest rates, budgets, and AI30:21 Adapting as a designer: UX, product, research, and service design35:26 Specialising, doubling down on strengths, and applying strategically38:33 Tasks, process design, and the impact on diversity and inclusion54:17 The future of recruitment, AI, and cautious optimism for the market
Related Shows Based on Content Similarities
Discover shows related to the deeply human design podcast, based on actual content similarities. Explore podcasts with similar topics, themes, and formats, backed by real data.
Chapters 00:00 Have We Reached “Peak Designer”? The Hiring Boom and Slowdown 01:08 Introducing Andy — Designer, Founder, Investor, Pilot, Diver, “Shark Wrangler” 01:42 Origin Story — Geeky Kid, Early Web, and Falling in Love with the Internet 04:35 From Dive Instructor in Asia to Self-Taught Web Designer 07:26 Discovering UX and Helping Bring User Experience Design to the UK 10:34 Meeting Rich and Jeremy, Web Standards, and the Birth of Clearleft 18:43 Inside Clearleft — Culture, Community, and a Different Way to Run an Agency 22:15 Burberry, “Hyper-Alignment,” and How Clearleft Actually Worked Day to Day 32:24 UX London, Leading Design, and the “Accidental Design Leader” 47:16 Broken Web, AI, the Future of Design — S-Curves, Uncertainty, and Learning to Flow
