Seeing Senses with Sarah Hyndman
Seeing Senses. Where there’s more than meets the eye.
“Recommend this podcast. Be the one who spotted it first. That puts you in the room with brilliant original thinkers”
Join Sarah and her pioneering cross-industry guests to discover the incredible things we can learn when we escape from our silos. Uncover the hidden role multi-sensory perception plays in emotion, meaning and memory. Starting at first sight to all the senses from sound, scent, touch and taste to humour and synaesthesia. From the colour of sound to shapes that taste sweet, each episode brings you into conversation with perfumers, scientists, writers, chefs, artists, designers who are multi-sensory pioneers across different disciplines.
Join Sarah to explore how what we see connects to what we sense and why this matters for how we communicate, create, and connect.
Whether you’re a curious creative, an experience designer, or a business owner wanting to shape stories that resonate on a sensory level, this podcast helps you tap into the magic where science meets feeling.
Links:
More Seeing Senses content & info.
Book Sarah Hyndman to speak at your event.
Sarah’s the founder of Type Tasting and the curator of The Sensologists briefings .
Find Sarah on LinkedIn and on Instagram.
Seeing Senses with Sarah Hyndman
Designing for laughs with Design Week editor Rob Alderson
Designing for laughs with Rob Alderson
Seeing humour: Timing, tension and the sensory surprise of laughter
“There aren’t many creative practices where that’s so short: that connection and that sort of intensity between the audience and the artist.” Rob Alderson
What do graphic design and stand-up comedy have in common?
In this episode of Seeing Senses, writer, editor, and occasional comedian Rob Alderson joins Sarah to explore how both design and humour tap into fast, emotional reactions, often before we’re able to explain them. They discuss how structure, timing, and risk shape both visual communication and live performance.
You’ll hear how iconic magician’s assistant Debbie McGee became an accidental mascot for a comedy show, what a sign on a fridge can teach you about tone, and why parsnips are the perfect metaphor for creative expectations. The episode also touches on the shifting role of design in an AI-powered world, and the value of embracing humour to create moments that connect.
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Listen if you're curious about:
- Why design and humour often bypass logic and speak to feeling
- How graphic design shapes everyday interactions
- What comedy can teach us about vulnerability, timing, and creative risk
- The challenge of explaining the value of design
- Why ephemeral experiences can leave lasting impressions
- What happens when a live audience rewrites your show
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Key themes & takeaways:
- Humour reveals emotional truths we can’t always articulate
- Design is everywhere, even if people don’t see it
- Comedy and design share structure, tension, and payoff
- Ephemeral moments in comedy mirror fleeting but resonant design choices
- Memory is unpredictable—what we remember isn't always what we planned
- Parsnips and creative disappointment are oddly related
- Good design needs better storytelling to show its value
- Audience feedback reshapes creative direction in real time
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Guest:
Rob Alderson is the editor of Design Week, the UK’s oldest design magazine (designweek.co.uk). He previously held creative leadership roles at It’s Nice That, WeTransfer and Vimeo. However, the British Comedy Guide website says very simply “Rob Alderson is a comedian”.
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Bonus for multi-sensory thinkers:
Head to Seeing Senses on Substack for updates and extras.
You’ll find sense-hacking experiments and book recommendations from the guests. Become a paid subscriber to support the making of this podcast (with extra episodes and content).
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Host:
Sarah Hyndman is a designer/researcher, author and speaker. You can book her for a talk or workshop about Multi-Sensory Thinking here via Type Tasting. Sarah is the founder of Type Tasting, curator of The Sensologists and author of the bestselling book Why Fonts Matter (Penguin/Virgin).
Seeing Senses. Where there’s more than meets the eye.
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Theme music by AudioKraken. Thank you to Radim Malinic for the inspiration to make a podcast, and to podcasters Mili Tharakan, Klaudia Mitura and Suze Cooper for your generous advice.