Who does design belong to, and who is it for? How does it serve us—all of us—and how can we learn to better understand its future, and our own?
On Design As— podcast from Design Observer—we’ll dig into all of this and more, in conversation with design leaders, scholars, practitioners, and a range of industry experts whose seasoned perspectives will help illuminate the questions as well as the answers. In our first season, we considered the topics of Culture, Complexity, and Citizenship in terms of their impact on the design practice and also in terms of how they themselves are being shaped by design today. In season two, recorded at the Design Research Conference 2024 in Boston, we gathered new round tables to discuss Design As Governance, Care, Visualization, Discipline, Humanity, and Pluriverse. Plus, our bonus episodes are exclusive recordings of conference panels!
Lee Moreau is the founding director of Other Tomorrows, a design and innovation studio based in Boston, and a Professor of Practice in Design at Northeastern University. He is also the host of The Futures Archive, a podcast from Design Observer that looks at the history of human-centered design with a critical eye to its future.
Albert Shum is a career design leader who retired from Microsoft as Corporate Vice President of Design in 2022. Albert has served as a mentor, partner, and leader in programs like the Adobe Design Circle and its Scholarship Fund, the Design for Inclusivity Industry Summit, the LEAP apprenticeship program at Microsoft, and in student design challenges with IxDA, AIGA, and the Emily Carr University of Art & Design. He currently serves as an advisor to the Dean of the Institute of Design.
Chelsea Mauldin is Director of Public Policy Lab, and an Adjunct Professor at Columbia University's School of International & Public Affairs.
David McGaw is is a Design Strategy & UX Research Lead at Google DeepMind.
Dietmar Offenhuber is Professor and Chair of the department of Art + Design at Northeastern University, with a secondary appointment in the school of Public Policy. He is also the author of Autographic Design – the Matter of Data in a Self-inscribing World
Don Norman is Distinguished Professor (emeritus), Founder and first Director of the Design Lab at the University of California, San Diego. He has been a Vice President of Advanced Technology at Apple and an executive at HP. He is co-founder of the Nielsen Norman group, a member of the National Academy of Engineering, fellow of numerous societies with honorary degrees from Delft, Padua, and San Marino. He has published 21 books translated into over 20 languages including Emotional Design and Design of Everyday Things. His latest book is “Design for a Better World: Meaningful, Sustainable, Humanity Centered.”
Elizabeth Christoforetti is Design Director of Supernomal, a design studio that creates architecture, urbanism, technology, and contemporary culture. She is also Assistant Professor in Practice of Architecture at the Harvard Graduate School of Design where she runs The Laboratory for Values in the Built Environment (ViBE Lab).
Ellie Kemery is Principal AL User Research Lead at SAP Business AI.
Frederick van Amstel is a tenured Associate Professor and Director of Graduate Studies in the Design & Visual Communications (MXD) Master of Fine Arts at the University of Florida. He is the co-founder of the Design & Oppression network and its local hub, the Laboratory of Design against Oppression (LADO) at UTFPR in Brazil.
Geoff Mulgan is Professor of Collective Intelligence, Public Policy and Social Innovation at, University College London, co-founder of The Institutional Architecture Lab, and the Former Chief Executive Officer of Nesta. He is the author of many books including Another World is Possible: How to Reignite Political and Social Imagination.
Jadalia Britto is the Head of Design for North America at Colgate-Palmolive. She also teaches Design Leadership in the Master’s Program at Georgetown University.
Kevin Bethune is Founder and Chief Creative Officer of dreams • design + life, a think tank that delivers design and innovation services using an empathic, holistic approach. He is the author of Reimagining Design: Unlocking Strategic Innovation and Nonlinear: Navigating Design with Curiosity and Conviction. His background spans engineering, business, and design in equal proportion, positioning him to help brands deliver meaningful innovations to enrich people’s lives.
Laura Forlano is Professor in the College of Arts, Media, and Design at Northeastern University. She is the co-author of Cyborg, a part of the MIT Press Essential Knowledge series.
Lesley-Ann Noel is the Dean of Design at OCAD University. She is also the author of Design Social Change, and a co-editor of The Black Experience in Design.
Liz Danzico is VP of Design at Microsoft AI, and the Founding Chair of the MFA Interaction Design Program at the School of Visual Arts. Previously, Liz was Senior Vice President of Digital and Vice President of Design for NPR, responsible for leading human-centered design across NPR’s products and platforms with a team comprising Product Design, Design Research & Strategy, and Design Operations, as well as helping to found the Public Radio Incubation Lab, a new path to bringing transformative ideas to life in public media.
Mahsa Ershadi is a UX Researcher at Microsoft AI.
Mariana Amatullo is co-founder and former Vice president of the Designmatters department at ArtCenter College of Design. She is currently Professor of Strategic Design and Management at Parsons School of Design. Her first monograph, Inflection Point: Catalytic Moments in Designers’ Lives, is forthcoming.
Paolo Ciuccarelli is Professor of Design at and Founding Director of The Center for Design at Northeastern University.
Rachael Dietkus is a social worker and the founder of Social Workers Who Design.
Renata Marques Leitão is an assistant professor in the Department of Human Centered Design at Cornell University and head of the Pluriversal Futures Design Lab.
Ruth Kikin-Gil is a Responsible AI strategist and Principal designer at Microsoft.
Ruth Schmidt is an Associate Professor at the Institute of Design focused on behavioral design.
Ryan Powell leads the UX Research & Design team at Waymo, a talented group of researchers and designers taking a human-centered approach to designing the world’s first driverless ride-hailing service. He is an accomplished design leader with deep experience in consumer products. His passion for people, design, and the belief that technology can improve everyday life have been the driving force of his career. Prior to joining Waymo, Ryan led teams at Google, Samsung, Xbox, and Motorola. He is especially adept at helping organizations figure out how to create simple, delightful and differentiated experiences that appeal to consumers across a variety of global markets. He earned a Master of Design from the IIT Institute of Design and a BS in Product Marketing from The Ohio State University.
Sheng-Hung Lee is a Ph.D. researcher at the MIT AgeLab. He also is a Board Director for IDSA, Industrial Designers Society of America.
Shin-pei Tsay is Director of The Mayor's Office of New Urban Mechanics (MONUM) for the City of Boston.
Sofie Hodara is an Assistant Teaching Professor in the College of Arts, Media, and Design at Northeastern University.
Susan Fabry is the VP, Design Research & Experience at the Fidelity Center for Applied Technology building capabilities in Innovation Strategy, Systems Thinking, and Design Research.
TB Bardlavens is chaotic good in its purest form. He is a Gay, Black man from the Carolinas; a highly regarded social intrapreneur and advocate for equity in technology and design. He is a Product Executive, Cultural Strategist, Diversity, Equity & Justice expert, a Co-Founder, a Writer and International Speaker & Facilitator.
For more than a decade, TB has dedicated his career to dismantling systemic barriers, building and scaling teams, and launching innovative digital products for companies like Microsoft, Meta (formerly Facebook) and Adobe. As an accomplished product leader and strategist he has been at the forefront of delivering more useful, impactful and equitable experiences for billions of people globally.
TB’s extensive experience and deep understanding of the intersection between technology, design, and social impact makes him an exceptional guide in our collective journey towards creating a more equitable and inclusive future.
A creative thinker, eternal learner and empathetic leader, Terry's career began in digital brand advertising more than 20 years ago and led to digital product development; always aligned with a passion for purposeful work.
In his role at RUSH, he helps clients identify the opportunities that technology can create to their needs and deliver something exceptional.
Terry maintains a strategic focus on client partnerships that align with RUSH’s dedicated problem spaces and draws on his years of deep, multi-industry experience to uncover opportunities which will make a proven positive impact on people’s lives.