This episode, listen in as Studio Emmi founder Emmi Salonen, chats with mindcoach, Corine Roesner about creative leadership and management skills, as well as diving deep on burnout - from their own personal experiences with it, to crafting environments that might better prevent it, and the importance of addressing the root issues. Thank you to Emmi…

Listen in as Arielle Bodenstein, Senior Storyteller chats with Claudia Henderson, Strategy Director. These two co-workers/friends dive into everything from handling perfectionism in creative work to acknowledging problems and their importance — plus an insider’s view on life at For The People. Make sure to check out their conference talks via The D…

Listen in as Tarra van Amerongen, Head of Design at Atlassian, chats with Patrick Guerra, Founder & CEO of Re, and APAC Lead at M&C Saatchi Consulting. They dish out some quick fire home truths about the industry, as well as discussing leadership of creatives, dealing with urgency from clients, fostering the space for creativity while steering clea…

Tune in to a conversation between BATE and Martin, founders of ⁠By Fiction⁠, and Casey, the founder of ⁠Play⁠. They really get into the nitty-gritty of starting and scaling a studio — with plenty of practical insights throughout. Thank you BATE, Martin and Casey, and thank you to ⁠The Design Conference⁠ (TDC) for having us. If you liked this episod…

Listen in as Mat Bogust, Design & Managing Director of Think Packaging, chats with Kelvin Soh, founder of DDMMYY. They share their experiences in packaging design, reflect on the early days of their careers, and discuss the challenges of planning projects that aim to last from 100 to 1000 years. Make sure to check out their conference talks via The…

Listen in as Julie Solvstrom, Illustrator and lettering artist chats to Guillermo Flores, art director, illustrator and graphic designer. They discuss setting and crossing boundaries as a creative practitioner, building support systems and the importance of community, and being a part of something bigger than yourself. Check out Julie's work: julie…

Listen in as Carmen Angelillo, co-founder and creative director at Niceshit studio, chats with type designer and animator Mat Voyce. Join them as they discuss their work, how they sustain or regain motivation in both personal and client projects as well as the ways they manage frustration, and the red and green flags they look for in a project. Tha…

Listen in as Richie Meldrum, the founder of Bare Brand Strat, chats to Paul Balfe and Kiel Tillman from Pennybridge Creative. Join them as they talk about all things brand and strategy - from their ways of managing client feedback, to sharing stories in advertising. Thank you Richie, Paul and Kiel for being a part of it, and to Matthew Haynes and T…

In this episode we sat down with Mary Faber, brand & product designer at Josephmark, ahead of her talk at AtypI Brisbane 2024. Mary speaks with co-hosts Amaani Thassim and Grace Pointon about the evolution of design inspiration, the font design process, how AI shapes up in generating fonts today, and how it might impact the future of the discipline…

In this episode, we sit down with two well-loved creatives and content creators - Kel Lauren and Elliot Ulm. Listen in as they discuss the graphic design content space, the balance between success and self-worth when collaborating with big names, and reminisce about their favourite design software over the years. This episode was recorded at Canva …

For our last episode in the series, we’re speaking with Alex Naghavi, Partner and Executive Creative Director at Josephmark. In this episode, we dig into Josephmarks evolution and practical strategies to foster connection in a remote work environment; we talk about leadership and the importance of trust, as well as diving into Josephmark’s work wit…

In episode two of our mini-series asking 'How can design be used to tackle disconnection?' we’re speaking with Leah Heiss, a Melbourne-based designer and the Besen International Research Chair in Design at Monash University. Through collaborative projects, Leah has brought human-centred design to technology to improve and save lives. We speak to Le…

Today we are hearing from Jessica Watson, independent user experience consultant for the built environment. This episode is the start of a new mini-series featuring co-host, Pip Kennedy who asks 'How can design be used to tackle disconnection?'. Jess is on a mission to revolutionise the way we design and build our places based on radical inclusion …

In our final episode of the TDC 2023 series, we hear from three heads behind digital product company, Nightjar. Listen in as Co-Founders Ahmed Meer, Christine Sultana & Bonnie MacTavish, discuss their studio processes, working towards effective collaboration across disciplines, detail their work on THE ICONIC, and more. Don't forget to let us know …

Listen in as Robyn & Campbell Butler discuss starting a studio, branding process, remote collaboration and much more. Robyn & Campbell are the founders of Lovework Studio, a branding and digital design studio based in Redcliffe Australia. They’re two incredibly talented creatives and it’s fascinating to hear them share their journey with Lovework. …

Today we’re hearing from Evi-O & Yah-Leng Yu at The Design Conference in 2023. Evi-O is a multidisciplinary designer and artist at Evi-O.Studio and Yah-Leng Yu is the creative director of Foreign Policy. Listen in as they discuss connection and how we can foster a healthy, safe, and flourishing design industry. They cover a lot, from perceptions an…

In this episode we hear from Alistair McCready, founder of Monolith, a typographic design practice based out of Auckland, New Zealand. Alistair speaks with co-hosts Frankie Young and Matt Leach about about what type designers are like and the momentum you need when designing type. It’s a fascinating and wide ranging chat, covering everything from a…

In this episode we’re dropped into a conversation between two friends, Annette Harcus and Andrew Ashton. Annette is the founder, CEO and Creative Director of Harcus Design and Andrew is the CD of Ashton Design, previously with Edison Agency, Work-Art-Life and Studio Pip and Co. Their chat took us places you wouldn’t usually get in a design podcast.…

We’re back and beyond excited to share this fascinating conversation between Jasmin, CEO of Innocean Australia and Founder of Fck the Cupcakes, and Kevin from TheSumOf — friend of the podcast and branding expert. Listen in as they talk the culture of conferences, commercialising creativity and the silent war between design and advertising departmen…

Our last episode on positivity (as part of Adobe MAX 2021) has Sumita and Matt talking with Ve Dewey in London about how she’s remained positive in her squiggly-line career. Ve has worked for Adobe, Mattel, ReDesign Business and most recently as co-creator for Never Not Creative. In this discussion we look at how she ended up in London, being a ‘se…

Our Adobe MAX21 mini-series rolls on with co-host, Sumita Maharaj interviewing Kris Andrew Small on his backstory, how his process is changing and what it means to be a role model for younger creatives. Having worked for many large clients like Nike, Apple, Adidas, Channel 4, WeTransfer, Reebok and more, he’s also exhibited internationally at insti…

1st episode in a new mini-series based on Adobe MAX and their 2021 theme of positivity. Co-host Sumita Maharaj interviews Josie Young about her work, living with chronic illness and stepping away from Christopher Doyle & Co. to start her own thing. Go here to listen. Make sure you tune into her presentation at Adobe MAX, aptly titled, ‘Notes on Inv…

I really love doing ReIssue episodes. Pulling old soundbites and getting original guests to comment on them — it’s like digging up a time capsule. This episode we have Jo Roca and Jason Little from For The People looking at our 5th episode. Jo was just ‘the girlfriend’ and Jason had just opened a studio with two mates. In the time between, FTP has …

This is our final episode in the mini series on ‘how design can help combat stigma’ with co-host, Myla Yeomans. This time we have the pleasure of talking with Olivia Chen and Sam Wearne about the work they do with Studio ChenChen. We spend a bit of time talking about Chattii, a dating app that prioritises humanity and safety in rejecting the stigma…

This is our 2nd episode in a mini-series that looks at how design can help combat stigma. For this episode we are again at the Design Conference in Brisbane, sitting on the turbine hall stage chatting with Peter Brennan, Founder & Creative Director of Electric & Analog and co-founder and head of brand for non-alcoholic beer Heaps Normal. Pete has h…

The start of a new mini-series, where co-host, Myla Yeomans, asks the question, ‘how can design help combat stigma?’ In this first episode, we speak to Keisha Leon, Founder and Director at Leon Design. Keisha cut her teeth in magazine design before taking up a senior position at Lorna Jane. In 2018 she moved to Carbon Creative before deciding it wa…

This time we’re doing something a little different, with our first ReIssue. This means rewinding to an old episode, pulling out a few soundbites, and getting the original guest to comment on them. The original guest in question is Christopher Doyle who joined us way back at the start, on our 2nd show. Chris has been an ADR guest a few times so it w…

In our last episode with Co-host, Stephanie Foti, and her mini-series on ‘what makes a great designer teacher,’ Steph and Matt talk to Nicki Wragg, the Chair of Communication Design at Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne. If you work in design education in Australia, there is a good chance you’ve come across Nicki. She is a leader in th…

Part two in ‘what makes a great design teacher’ and this time, Matt and co-host, Stephanie Foti, are talking to Felix Oppen from Tiliqua Press and Tiliqua Studio, makers of the award-winning Ligature Journal. Felix has taught in Universities for over 10 years and has a passion for teaching traditional techniques, specifically where type is involved…

And we’re back! We’ve had a bit of a break while we started new full-time work, parented, and thought about what the future of ADR might look like. One of the big changes we’ve made is a new format that explores one topic over three episodes with three different guests. On this episode, Matt is joined by Stephanie Foti to interview our favourite cr…

This episode we chatted with Joyce N Ho, Associate Creative Director at BUCK in New York. If you had to describe what Joyce does, which is incredibly diverse, you’d probably settle on creative direction and motion design, but we’d suggest going and checking out her personal website, joycenho.com — just to see the range of stuff she’s been involved …

This episode we got to speak to James (Gilmore) Duru, Creative Director at DesignStudio — a branding and digital agency, originally from London, now all over the world, with James running the Sydney studio. You’ll know their work when you think about some of their clients like AirBNB, deliveroo, English Premier League and British Airways, just to n…

In this episode we spoke to Dr Sam Bucolo, design strategist and executive chair of The Australian Design Council.Sam is based in Brisbane and it was during a lockdown so apologies in advance for the bad audio quality. What we spoke about was amazing though, everything from what Sam’s PhD was all about, to his book about design leading the way and …

In this episode, we spoke with Dan Agostino, Head of Design at The Brand Agency. Hailing from Perth, Dan joined The Brand Agency in 2007 and over the years his role has grown to Head of Design. The 150+ people agency has offices in Perth, Melbourne and Auckland and covers project management, creative and design, content and production, brand activa…

This episode we had the pleasure of chatting with Ros Moriarty from Balarinji, an Aboriginal-owned strategy and design agency, based in Sydney. Ros started the business with her husband, John, over 37 years ago and during that time has seen a lot of changes in the industry and how Aboriginal design is perceived.Their work includes everything from b…

It’s been a while but this is our first remote episode, where we were in three different states. On this one, we spoke to Monique Kneepkens, Creative Director at Carbon Creative. A Brisbane studio devoted to making an impact in social change.We speak all about what it means to ‘do good’ and how they work with their clients. We look at shining a spo…

Michael Wong (aka Mizko) joins us in the studio to talk about entrepreneurism, start-up culture and growing up a hustler. Professionally he’s a UI/IX expert, internationally known and awarded. He’s recently formed Raw Studio, with his good friend Philippe Hong, so we get into that and go deep on their process, looking at how they build relationship…

In this episode, we spoke with Andrew Hochradel.Andrew is a brand identity designer from Los Angeles, CA, who creates visual systems that are sustainable, innovative, and engaging. He's often found speaking, teaching and entertaining at physical and online events like Adobe Live, CreativeMornings, Creative South and Circles. Andrew's ability to ent…

This episode we are teaming up with Andrew Johnstone from TAKE Magazine to interview the Chief Photographer of The Sydney Morning Herald, Nick Moir. Known as the ‘fire guy’, Nick has built a reputation on capturing award-winning imagery and being in the right place, at the right time. He passes it off as being lucky, but the passion of his descript…

In this episode, we spoke with Alex Skougarevskaya, Design Manager for Atlassian Design System. Alex has had just about every job title designer can have, from her start as a 'graphics monkey' to a 'speck' in the big world of Advertising before the Global Financial Crisis. She's been a web, visual, graphic and interactive designer before moving her…

In this episode, we spoke with Tegan Wotton, Design Director at Space Between in Melbourne. Tegan has an interesting career path which we get stuck into straight away, growing up in the bush has given her a strong connection to her home and what the idea of home can be. Unsurprisingly she has found herself working with a band of likeminded designer…

EP117 WITH Johanna, Matt and FlynIt’s that time of the year when everyone is winding down for Christmas… who are we kidding, everyone is frantically trying to get things finished before the enforced shut down. Either way, the ADR crew decided to sit down and chew the fat (as a vegetarian, Matt finds that somewhat offensive), review the year, pinpoi…

EP116 with Craig BlackIn this episode, we spoke with Craig Black a graphic designer, lettering artist and typographer.Craig is Scottish born and after spending some time in London, he currently runs his own design studio in Gourock, Scotland. He has a diverse style and doesn’t seem to be tied down to any single medium or aesthetic. This has led to …

EP115 with Andrew AshtonWhen it comes to the Australian design industry, there are few as supportive and as accomplished as Andrew Ashton. Across his 30+ professional years, he has consistently advocated on behalf of Aussie creatives and built an international reputation that has seen him awarded many times over. At 34, Andrew was made one of the y…

In this episode, we spoke with Nick Gower and Saakshi Muralidhar of Mentally Friendly.Mentally friendly is a group in Sydney that works with health, education, finance, and government to deliver wellbeing at scale. Nick is one of the founders of the business and an advisor to senior product leaders and clients, Saakshi is a senior organisational de…

This episode, Flyn is in conversation with Head of Endineering, Joe Macleod.With a 20+ year career in product design, both digital and tangible, Joe has a wealth of experience in UX and HCD. During his time at Nokia and as Head of Design at UsTwo, Joe became concerned about the end of the customer journey and started a campaign to make off-boarding…

In this episode, we spoke with Chi Ryan National Experience Strategy Lead at PwC.Chi Ryan makes meaningful products, services and experiences for humans, and humanity — and she’s passionate about empowering others to do the same. She has worked with many of the big names in service design including Fjord, Isobar and Idean and she is now the experie…

This episode sees us sitting with Steve Baty, co-founder and principal of Meld Studios.Let’s just get this out of the way, Steve is a mad cyclist, so we begin there before he expertly links it back to service design, user experience and how to solve ‘dumb shit’ quickly. Steve has an uncanny ability to see the core of the problem and we talk through…

In this episode, we spoke with Benni Weller and Mikey Hart of Hulsbosch.Benni and Mikey are both Creative Directors at Hulsbosch based in Sydney. Hulsboch is known for creating iconic brands and working with big-name clients throughout Australia and Mikey and Benni find themselves today as creative leaders. We spoke about their different paths to w…

In this episode, we spoke with Kenjiro Kirton, Co-Founder and Creative Director at Hato. It’s Saturday afternoon on the last day of The Design Conference in Brisbane. The beers are flowing, the heads are sore and the minds overloaded. Still, we found time to sit down with Kenjiro Kirton, Co-Founder and Creative Director at Hato.Hato is a unique stu…