From 2012–2015, I co-hosted and co-produced Fresh Tilled Soil's podcast alongside my colleagues Tim Wright and Steve Hickey. Over the course of 150+ episodes we interviewed extraordinary leaders from Pentagram, Twitter, NASA JPL, Adobe, Etsy, Mozilla, Basecamp, Shopify, and more.
Our goal was to produce an engaging and timeless resource for product desigers, entrepreneurs, and developers, carefully balancing education and entertainment.
Notable Episodes
This week on The Dirt, we sat down with the large man of tall tales, Mr. Aaron Draplin himself. Aaron reveals how to transform the passion that feeds your soul into a passion that feeds your… stomach… Brought to you by three designers, one developer, and some magnificent facial hair. In all seriousness, if you hear a crackling noise on the track, that’s Aaron’s beard.
This week we sit down with Chris Noessel, author of Make It So: Interaction Design Lessons from Science Fiction to talk about fictional UI. Steve actively exposes how much of a dork he is throughout this epic Dirt episode.
Today: a special super-sized episode of The Dirt featuring Colin Bendell, Director in the CTO Office at Akamai. In this wide-ranging discussion, we explore the performance implications of responsive design, the role of CDNS in major world events, and much, much more.
Be sure to listen through the closing music for a bonus, extra-long, extra-thrilling after-show conversation. We had so much fun with Colin, we simply wouldn’t let him get back to work! Seriously, this is a good one, folks.
This week Mark and Steve interview Jesse Kriss of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory about designing for space exploration. Seriously. This episode is about designing for space exploration. Yes, that sound was Steve’s heart exploding from happiness.
This week on the show, we sit down with Lara Hogan, the Senior Engineering Manager of Performance at Etsy and author of Designing for Performance. We chat about the importance of performance in experience design, how to get it into our design processes, and how to sell it as part of the culture at a company.
For the third chapter of our “Designing Your Career” series, Larry Goldberg takes us through his long career in accessibility, from nearly 30 years at WGBH to his current role as Director of Accessible Media at Yahoo. Listen in for Larry’s take on building a fulfilling career as well as conclusive proof that Steve is the most gullible person you know.
This week on the show we are humbled to sit down with pillar of the design community Paula Scher, Partner at Pentagram. We continue our series on designing a successful product with a conversation about the importance of branding. Paula has, in some way, affected all our careers and we’re thrilled to have the opportunity to sit down with her for this show.
In part 2 of our series entitled Creating a Successful Product, we sit down with Tom & Dan from Studio Neat. Studio Neat is a design shop for physical and digital products. We chat with them about marketing, positioning and pricing a product to succeed in the marketplace!
The Dirt live at UX Fest 2014. From left to right: Tim, me, & Steve
More Podcasts & Events
How to Draw a Startup is a new personal project of mine, a podcast miniseries about the evolving role of illustration in the tech industry. I spoke with over a dozen illustrators, designers, art directors, educators, and more to understand why illustration is used, how illustrated brands are crafted, and where illustrators fit in creative teams.
From 2014–2017, I helped run Refresh Boston, a free meetup for Greater Boston's design and development community, and the local chapter of the international Refreshing Cities collective. We were proud to feature extraordinary speakers and consistently draw an engaged, inquisitive crowd.
From 2012–2015, I co-hosted and co-produced Fresh Tilled Soil's podcast alongside my colleagues Tim Wright and Steve Hickey. Over the course of 150+ episodes we interviewed extraordinary leaders from Pentagram, Twitter, NASA JPL, Adobe, Etsy, Mozilla, Basecamp, Shopify, and more. Our goal was to produce an engaging and timeless resource for product desigers, entrepreneurs, and developers, carefully balancing education and entertainment.
IdeaPaint transforms nearly any surface into a dry erase whiteboard. Naturally, every surface at the company's Boston headquarters is painted with it, creating an office-sized canvas. Every other month, IdeaPaint invites a local artist to create an art installation in their unique space, covering hundreds of square feet with just dry erase markers. I love a good challenge, and couldn't turn down an invitation to be their December 2014 Studio Session artist.
On October 1, 2013, Fresh Tilled Soil held its first annual UX Fest. The event brought together Boston's UX community to explore how every aspect of a business–from design and technology to marketing and strategy–contributes to the user experience. The event was a success, and a year later, we held an encore. I’m proud to have helped conceive of and organize these events, contributed to the creative collateral, and led sessions.