Nodes of Design

Michael Janda is an executive-level creative leader with more than 20 years of experience in both in-house creative departments and agencies working with some of the world's greatest brands. He has founded the creative agency Riser and led it for over 13 years, working for clients including Disney, Google, ABC, Fox, Warner Bros., NBC, TV Guide, and numerous other notable companies. In addition to robust experience managing creative and marketing teams, He is the author of the book, Burn Your Portfolio: Stuff they don’t teach you in design school but should. Since its publication in 2013, Burn Your Portfolio has been one of the top-selling books in the industry and has been published in English, Russian, Chinese Traditional, and Chinese Simplified. And also, Michale is a keynote speaker on various occasions. In this episode, Michael shares beautiful insights from his journey, starting the carrier as a freelancer. We spoke about when the right time to jump into freelance or business of your own is? And how do being freelancers, one can approach big brands with the perfect proposal? In the latter part, we spoke about knowing your value and the value you are bringing to the client and price them accordingly. Takeaways - When is the right time to start a business of your own, What is a perfect proposal to approach clients, How to price clients.  Tales from Designers around the world - https://medium.com/design-warp Books recommended by Michael Janda. How to Win Friends and Influence People - Dale Carnegie  The E Myth - Michael E. Gerber Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap..., and Others Don't - James C. Collins Business Course for Freelancers by Michael at https://morejanda.teachable.com/ Thank you for listening to this episode of Nodes of Design. We hope you enjoy the Nodes of Design Podcast on your favourite podcast platforms- Apple Podcast, Spotify, Google Podcasts. If this episode helped you understand and learn something new, please share and rate us and be a part of the knowledge-sharing community #Spreadknowledge.  This podcast aims to make design education accessible to all, as knowledge shouldn't hide behind paywalls. Nodes of Design is a non-profit and self-sponsored initiative by Tejj.

Pradeep Nayar was a design leader who has worked in larger organizations to drive digital transformation by embracing lean practices and design thinking methods & frameworks. He believes in a human-centred approach to problem-solving that builds upon human empathy's strengths to drive innovation and out-of-box thinking. He was currently VP of Global Digital Product & Design at Hyatt Hotels Corporations. Previously, he worked for companies like InVision, Allstate, DePaul University, Grainger,  Tribune Company, Charter Global, and Allied Solutions Group. Pradeep describes himself as "My passion for the people I lead and the customers I serve, by understanding human needs, envisioning solutions, and driving the use of technology to make lives easier, drive me forward." In this episode, Pradeep shares his insights on Designing for Omnichannel Experiences - helping us understand an omnichannel experience design and the need to design for omnichannel experiences. He also discussed the process/approach one must follow while designing for Omnichannel Experiences to keep in mind the context of seamlessness and even helped us understand how we differentiate Omnichannel from multi-channel experiences. In the later part, we discussed a few examples in the modern industry implementing the omnichannel design strategy. Takeaways: What is an Omnichannel Experience,  How to design for Omnichannel experiences, Difference between Omnichannel and Multichannel. This episode is a tribute to Pradeep Nayar. May his guidance and his lessons are always with us. Our condolences. Books recommended by Pradeep Nayar -This Is Service Design Doing: Applying Service Design Thinking in the Real World by Marc Stickdorn. - Inspired: How to Create Tech Products Customers Love by Marty Cagan -  User Story Mapping: Discover the Whole Story, Build the Right Product by Jeff Patton Thank you for listening to this episode of Nodes of Design. We hope you enjoy the Nodes of Design Podcast on your favourite podcast platforms- Apple Podcast, Spotify, Google Podcasts. If this episode helped you understand and learn something new, please share and rate us and be a part of the knowledge-sharing community #Spreadknowledge.  This podcast aims to make design education accessible to all, as knowledge shouldn't hide behind paywalls. Nodes of Design is a non-profit and self-sponsored initiative by Tejj.

Matt Clack is a hands-on dreamer with strong digital and integrated background for the world's biggest brands. He is currently the Creative Head, Brand Studio APAC at Google, where he leads a team of exceptional creative directors, art directors, designers, technologists, motion designers— helping to make Google's brand meaningful with the help of creativity, storytelling, and technology. He is also the winner of many prestigious global design accolades, to list a few,  Webby  Awards, New York Festivals Advertising Awards, FWA, AWWWWARDS, AdStars, D&AD, and many more. In this episode of Nodes of Design, Matt shares his insights on Brand strategy and help us understand its importance. He also spoke on what product brand strategy is and discussed the best practices for enabling better consistency of the brand over an organization. Later in the episode, we spoke about narrating a story through the brand and deciding what mediums to convey. Takeaways - What is a brand strategy? What is the product brand strategy? Best practices to establish consistency of brand in the organization? Medium Publication - https://medium.com/design-warp Books recommended by Matt Clack. Well-written and Red - Alfredo Marcantonio The Monocle Book of Japan - Tyler Brule  Design, Form, and Chaos -  Paul Rand Thank you for listening to this episode of Nodes of Design. We hope you enjoy the Nodes of Design Podcast on your favourite podcast platforms- Apple Podcast, Spotify, Google Podcasts. If this episode helped you understand and learn something new, please share and rate us and be a part of the knowledge-sharing community #Spreadknowledge.  This podcast aims to make design education accessible to all, as knowledge shouldn't hide behind paywalls. Nodes of Design is a non-profit and self-sponsored initiative by Tejj.

Lijo Joseph is a passionate design intrapreneur with 19+ years of experience delivering innovative user-centric design experience and creative direction for digital applications. Lijo is currently the Head of Design - India & APAC at TCS. He started a design studio at Kochi, handpicked, and built a new team of 70+ creative designers in 2 years, which became the most sought-after design hub for India's digital enterprise. He is also the winner of prestigious global design accolades for which he delivered 1000+  design solutions in the area of digital platforms, presentations, motion graphics. And again, he holds a patent in the design of the Haptic-Enabled User Interface for Mobile  Point-Of-Sale. Lijo describes his philosophy as think with the heart and acts with the brain," thereby nurturing a work culture that is Positive, Friendly, and Informal. In this episode of Nodes of Design, Lijo shares his insights on starting a global design team from zero and rapidly scaling and maintaining it; he also discussed bringing up people's creativity from different aspects and channelling them into one common goal. He also shared his insights on managing and supporting the team for their better growth. Takeaways: What is design management, Process of Scaling Design Teams, Enabling a growth environment for all. Medium Publication - https://medium.com/design-warp Lijo Joseph recommends books. MRITYUNJAYA THE DEATH CONQUEROR -    Shivaji Sawant Captain Cool: The M.S. Dhoni Story - Gulu Ezekiel If this episode helped you understand and learn something new, please share and be a part of the knowledge-sharing community #Spreadknowledge. This podcast aims to make design education accessible to all. Nodes of Design is a non-profit and self-sponsored initiative by Tejj.

Gabriele Romagnoli is Passionate about innovation and technology that help digital businesses grow. He is on an endless quest to show how immersive technologies like 3D, VR, and AR can provide value to users, companies, and investors. He is presently working as XR Coach at GR Talk and International Business Developer at Binkies 3D and previously worked at various organizations like VR/AR Association, Johnson & Johnson,  BaseClear BV Leiden,  & Queen's Medical Center. He is also a Keynote speaker on numerous occasions like AWE2019, VRdays, and Glue.Work.  In this episode, Gabriele shares his insights on creating immersive experiences and discuss on few strategies. He also spoke on the future of Immersive Experience Design and how designers can leverage it and shared few details on how to narrate a story as storytelling plays a preeminent role in creating everlasting experiences.  Takeaways: What are immersive technologies, Strategies that help you create immersive experiences? How storytelling affects the immersion, you are making.  Books recommended by Gabriele Romagnoli.  Never Split the Difference: Negotiating as if Your Life Depended on It  - Chris Voss  Testing Business Ideas: A Field Guide for Rapid Experimentation - David J. Bland  This Is Service Design Doing: Applying Service Design Thinking in the Real World - Marc Stickdorn  If this episode helped you understand and learn something new, please share and be a part of the knowledge-sharing community #Spreadknowledge. This podcast aims to make design education accessible to all. Nodes of Design is a non-profit and self-sponsored initiative by Tejj.

Aaron Breuer entered the workforce as a freelancer. Self Studied and got licenses for many different trades and worked in many various industries. He was always a DIY type of person and was inspired by 3D Printing but was taken back by the lack of 3D Modeling software for the DIY/ Self-taught people and so he decided to make SelfCAD. He the Founder and president - the brains behind SelfCAD. Also, he trains and manages a big team of professionals in the 3D Printing industry. In this episode, Aaron had shared insights with us on 3D printing design and how being a designer can utilize the concept of 3D Printing for better visualization and faster workflow. He also mentioned various steps and practices to get kickstarted with the world of 3D print Design. In the end, we spoke about a few limitations to keep in mind while working on 3D printing Designs. Takeaways: What is 3D Printing, Process, and terminologies in a 3D world, Limitations of 3D Printing. 3D Printing SelfCAD University - https://www.reddit.com/r/SelfCAD_University/ Designer Tales by Designers- Design Warp Medium Publication - https://medium.com/design-warp If this episode helped you understand and learn something new, please share and be a part of the knowledge-sharing community #Spreadknowledge. This podcast aims to make design education accessible to all. Nodes of Design is a non-profit and self-sponsored initiative by Tejj.

Jason Blackheart is a Design Leader, Culture Builder, and storyteller with over two decades of experience building design systems at Microsoft—setting the vision, defining strategy, and delivering impact. Jason also holds two patents in his name. In this episode, Jason sharted his experience in building and maintaining the fluent design system at Microsoft with his team and shared the process and strategy on how to build design systems at scale and keep it evolving as per needs. We also discussed how to define these systems to make people across various teams, following the common usability factor and building the design system's culture as a product rather than a service. Takeaways: What are the design systems? How to build a culture of Design Systems, Maintaining the design system, and scaling it. Books recommended by Jason Blackheart. Why we make things and why it matters - Peter Korn Daring Leadership - Brene Brown The User Illusion - Tor Norretranders - Designer Tales by Designers- Design Warp Medium Publication - https://medium.com/design-warp If this episode helped you understand and learn something new, please share and be a part of the knowledge-sharing community #Spreadknowledge. This podcast aims to make design education accessible to all. Nodes of Design is a non-profit and self-sponsored initiative by Tejj.

Akshay Kore is a Product designer working on Human-computer interaction problems. He has previously worked with the AI and Research group at Microsoft and led design for the SME vertical at Cleartax. He is currently working with Observe.ai designing AI products and systems, and he also holds a patent on his name. He loves to make stuff, read and write about technology. In this episode, Akshay shared some great insights on design for AI-based products and also how designers can leverage the power of AI in their workflow; we also discussed the process of how one can start this practice of designing for AI products along with various ways to satisfy user expectations and provide delightful experiences using AI. Takeaways: What is designing for AI, Understanding different types of AI usage scenarios, The Process flow for AI-based product/services The book written by Akshay Kore - Designing Human-Centric AI Experiences: Applied UX Design for Artificial Intelligence Books recommended by Akshay Kore The Great Mental Models - Shane Parrish The Three-Body Problem- Liu Cixin Deep Work - Cal Newport - Designer Tales by Designers- Design Warp Medium Publication - https://medium.com/design-warp  If this episode helped you understand and learn something new, please share and be a part of the knowledge-sharing community #Spreadknowledge. This podcast aims to make design education accessible to all. Nodes of Design is a non-profit and self-sponsored initiative by Tejj.

Guru Vaidya is a Technical Evangelist with over a decade of experience in product evangelism. Currently, he is a Solution Consulting Manager at Adobe. Previously he had worked for companies like Nvidia, Dream forest films, and Pixion. Over the years, guru has helped launch several product versions of Adobe and Autodesk software across India. These include Press conferences and Trade Shows like FMX, Broadcast India, IBC. Guru has vast experience in value selling to enterprises. It has helped him close deals with clients like Cognizant, NDTV, Infosys, ETV, Star India, Reliance and Prime Focus.  Product pitching is important for designers to pitch their decisions or the products that they design. In this episode, Guru explained what exactly is product pitching and shared effective techniques, and in the later, we discussed how to structure content before pitching.  Takeaways: What is product pitching? Techniques for effective pitching/presentation, Content structuring and presentation preparation?  Books recommended by Guru Vaidya. Guns, Germs and Steel - Jared Diamond The Origin of Species - Charles Darwin Essentialism - The Disciplined Pursuit of Less - Greg McKeown  Design Warp Medium Publication - https://medium.com/design-warp  If this episode helped you understand and learn something new, please share and be a part of the knowledge-sharing community #Spreadknowledge. This podcast aims to make design education accessible to all. Nodes of Design is a non-profit and self-sponsored initiative by Tejj.

Pål Eirik Paulsen is an interaction designer, information architect, usability specialist, content lead, test lead, scrum master, project lead and speaker with over two-decade of experience. Currently, he manages a team of UX designers in Sopra Steria as Head of User Experience. Previously, he worked for companies like Idean, Capgemini, Backelite, Olavstoppen AS, Statoil, MTO-LABS and many more startups. The functional design identifies its design objective and is more concerned with what is to be done and less with how it looks. In this episode, Paul shared some great techniques for designing for function-first design and parameters to check and help us break the core of the functional design. Takeaways: What is Functional Design, What is the process involved, What are parameters to functional design Books recommended by Pål Eirik Paulsen - Designing with web standards by  Jeffrey Zeldman & Ethan Marcotte - The Lean Startup by Eric Ries - Sprint: How to Solve Big Problems and Test New Ideas in Just Five Days by Jake Knapp Design Warp Medium Publication - https://medium.com/design-warp If this episode helped you understand and learn something new, please share and be a part of the knowledge-sharing community #Spreadknowledge. This podcast aims to make design education accessible to all. Nodes of Design is a non-profit and self-sponsored initiative by Tejj.