Patterns Podcast
Welcome to the Patterns Podcast. Each episode we sit down with the leaders and builders defining how modern digital products come to life. From systems and tools to culture and decision making, we dig into what’s driving real impact today and shaping the future of how teams build.
Episodes
143 episodes
Designing the Learning Loop: Context, AI, and Compound Systems
In the first episode of Patterns, Chris Strahl sits down with Dave Brown, design leader at Qualtrics, to explore what modern systems thinking looks like in an AI-driven product landscape. Moving beyond traditional notions of software d...
Inside the Alaska–Hawaiian Merger: Shipping a Multi-Brand Experience in 10 Months
The Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines merger came with physical and regulatory deadlines that dictated an inflexible 10-month delivery window for digital and design work. With the timeline tied to real-world change, combined design, product...
Building Trust: Designing Product Ecosystems in the Age of AI
Digital products no longer exist as standalone apps. They live inside complex ecosystems of interfaces, AI systems, legacy infrastructure, and workflows that all have to work together. In this episode of Patterns, Chris Strahl talks wi...
Building in the Age of Agents with Alex Wilson, Engineering Leader at T. Rowe Price.
Software teams are operating in an environment where the job description changes every two months. As agentic AI moves from novelty to real engineering capability, the assumptions that have held enterprise software together — long SaaS contract...
DSP 110. The Evolution of ServiceNow's Design System with Meredith Van Lier
Today on the podcast, we talk to Meredith Van Lier, the director of product management at ServiceNow. Chris and Meredith discuss the unique evolution of ServiceNow's design system and its shift towards a more flexible and user-centric design ap...
DSP 111. How AI is Revolutionizing Design Systems and Customer Experiences with Dave Calleja
Chris Strahl welcomes Dave Calleja back to the podcast to discuss the changing nature of design systems, integrating AI into the human creative process, and how to use behavior data for real-time design adaptations. Dave shares his views on the...
DSP 112. Creating Effective Design Systems for Small and Mid-Size Companies: Apiture’s Journey
Today’s episode features Ashley Willard and Sarah Kimball (Skim) from Apiture, a smallish fintech company with big enterprise ambitions for its design system. Host Christ Strahl chats with Ashley and Skim about the challenges and opportunities ...
DSP 113. Config 2024: Highlights and Hot Takes with Jina Anne and Adekunle Oduye
Recording during Config 2024, this bonus episode of The Design Systems Podcast features long-time friends of the Pod, Jina Anne and Adekunle Oduye. They share their fresh takes on the latest Figma keynote, including the buzz around AI-generated...
DSP 114. Design Systems and Ways of Working: Nick Hahn on Collaboration, Adoption, and AI
This week we are joined by Nick Hahn to explore how designers, engineers, product managers, and entire organizations have changed the way they think about and work with design systems. Nick shares insight from his experiences at IBM, InVision, ...
DSP 115. Design System Sources of Truth: Transparency and Collaboration with Dropbox’s Mark Shuster
It’s all just opinions, man! In this episode of the Design Systems Podcast, Mark Shuster talks about the shift away from enforcing strict guidelines through design systems towards enabling good design and production practices in a more transpar...
DSP 116. Designed for success: How Guy Segal Built a Design System that Product Teams Want to Use.
In this episode of The Design Systems Podcast, Chris Strahl welcomes Guy Segal, the director of digital ecosystem and design systems at Thomson Reuters. Guy shares his experience of building a design system that serves over 150+ brands and the ...
DSP 117. Why Kate Moran Thinks Humans Are Essential to the Future of Generative UI and AI.
What does the future of UX look like? In today's episode, our host, Chris Strahl, sits down with Kate Moran, the VP of Research and Content at Nielsen Norman Group. They explore the promise of hyper-personalized experiences, the challenges of r...
DSP 118. Reusability, Collaboration, and Empathy: Catalina Manea on Bridging Design and Development to Build Applications with Design Systems"
On today's episode of the Design Systems Podcast, we hear from Catalina Manea, Senior Designer at Spelunk, about the crucial intersection of design and development. Catalina shares her journey from graphic design to product and systems design, ...
DSP 119. Rethinking Design Consistency: Debating Tokens vs. Components with ADPs Alice Preisler
Are components a necessary part of a design system? In this episode of The Design Systems Podcast, Alice Preisler, the Product Owner of Design System at ADP challenges the idea that all design systems start with a component library. Alice and h...
DSP 120. From Designer to Design System Leader: Insights from Allison Shaw's Career Journey
On today's episode of The Design Systems Podcast, Allison Shaw, Director of Design at Adobe, shares insights from her expansive journey in design systems. From her early days modernizing Yelp’s desktop experience to her pivotal roles at Zendesk...
DSP 121. The Intersection of Urban Planning and Design Systems: Insights from Andii Hei
Explore the unique parallels between urban planning and design systems with Andii Hei. Discover how cities and digital landscapes share principles of structure, adaptability, and creative constraints. Andii offers insights into how these connec...
DSP 122. Creating Cohesion from Chaos: The Role of Language and System Design with Ben Callahan
Language shapes the way we think and structure the world we build. On this episode of The Design Systems Podcast, Chris Strahl sits down with Ben Callahan, co-founder of Sparkbox, to explore the critical role of language and communicat...
DSP 123. Adoption, Efficiency, and Value: insights from KickstartDS’s Jonas Ulrich and Daniel Ley
In this episode, Chris talks with Daniel Ley and Jonas Ulrich from KickstartDS, a framework designed to simplify design system creation and drive meaningful adoption. They dive deep into what adoption really means, moving beyond metrics like co...
DSP 124. From Ideas to Impact: Chris Strahl and Evan Lovely on Five Years of Design Systems Innovation
In this special episode of the Design Systems Podcast, co-founders Chris Strahl and Evan Lovely celebrate five years of the podcast and reflect on their journey from agency work to building Knapsack. They discuss the evolution of design systems...
DSP 125. Inside H-E-B’s Digital Transformation: Adriana Morales on Design Systems That Empower Teams
In our first episode of 2025, Chris Strahl sits down with Adriana Morales, Design Principal at H-E-B, to explore the evolution, challenges, and triumphs of design systems in organizations at different stages of maturity. Adriana shares her jour...
DSP 126. Scaling Avalara's Design System to Support a Growth-By-Acquisition Strategy
Many enterprise organizations face the challenge of scaling their design systems as the scope of product support expands through adoption and acquisition.In this episode of the Design Systems Podcast, host Chris Strahl speaks with Will R...
DSP 127. Building a Unified Design System for Instacart’s Multi-Product Ecosystem: Lessons for Success from Miranda Bouck
Increasingly, design systems need to support multi-product ecosystems with a diverse array of consumers and stakeholders. This week, Chris Strahl sits down with Miranda Bouck from Instacart to explore the intricacies of managing a multi-faceted...
DSP 128. Rewind | Emily Campbell: Design and code convergence
in this episode Knapsack's VP of Design Leadership, Richard Banfield takes a look back at a conversation between Chris Strahl and Emily Campbell. They discuss the convergence of design and code, and what that actually looks like. They walk thro...
DSP 129. Mashup | The Future of AI and Digital Production
In this episode of The Design Systems Podcast, guest host Richard Banfield takes us on a journey through the intersection of artificial intelligence and design systems. We revisit some of the most compelling discussions featuring experts David ...
DSP 130. Jon Warden on How GSK Uses Design Systems to Balance Scale, Flexibility, and Innovation
In this episode of the Design Systems Podcast, guest host Andrew Rohman sits down with Jon Warden to explore how GSK leverages design systems to drive consistency, innovation, and efficiency across a highly complex global organization. With mul...
