My Life In Design Podcast

Send us Fan MailThis week Claire caught up with Vuokko Aro, the Chief Design Officer at Monzo. She helps the bank’s leadership team use design as a strategic lever across the company as it scales. This all helped Monzo win Marketing Society brand of the year in 2024. Vuokko discusses her unconventional path into her current career, from studying economics to working in journalism and eventually transitioning into design. She talks about her experience of working with startups like Citymapper before joining Monzo in 2017. She discusses Monzo's brand evolution and commitment to customer-centric design and shares how her side projects in fashion design and music are important creative outlets.Links:Vuokko AroMonzoRedsetterdba

Send us Fan MailIn the first of a new season, Claire sat down with Kwame in front of a live audience in New York to share his life in design… so far. Kwame is the first US D&AD President, and also the co-founder of Kin, a creative company that drives positive change in business and culture. He shares his early influences in design and talks about his transition from working in finance to discovering the world of design.Kwame talks about his role at D&AD in New York and some of the brilliant initiatives that D&AD is doing to support the creative community – today and for the future.Links:D&ADKinRedsetterdba

Send us Fan MailIn the final episode of this series, Claire has the honour of speaking to Henry Steiner, founder of Steiner&Co, also known as the ‘Father of Hong Kong Graphic Design. Fresh from being the subject of a recent exhibition at the M+ gallery in Hong Kong, 90-year-old Henry shares his long and insightful journey in design, starting with being awe-struck by a piece of packaging design when he was only 3 years old!He shares his formative years, from leaving his birth country of Austria under the threat of WWII and moving to the USA; to learning at Yale under the tutelage of graphic design legend Paul Rand. He talks about his design career in Hong Kong, founding Steiner&Co in 1963 and the design impact of his work on the look and feel of the growing city, including the iconic HSBC logo and designing Hong Kong’s bank notes!Links:Red SetterdbaSteiner&Co

Send us Fan MailThis week Claire meets up with Benji Wiedemann and Alex Lampe, who co-founded the design agency Wiedemann Lampe. They share their lives in design and the evolution of their studio working in the cultural space and the skill of being able to articulate intangible things.They share their share the impact of starting their careers in the dot.com boom era of the early noughties… and the following crash. The huge influence of working and learning at iconic design agency Lewis Moberly, under the tutelage of Mary Lewis. And the role of design in branding and cultural narratives.Links:Red SetterdbaWiedemann Lampe | Instagram | Linkedin

Send us Fan MailThis week Claire sat down with Julia Beardwood, founder of New York agency Beardwood&Co, to hear her unconventional journey into design, via mathematics and marketing, to advertising, then the switch to branding at Landor.She shares the secrets behind her transition into the world of brand design (and her move to New York from the UK via Paris) The importance of honesty and direct communication in client relationships and talks about the leap into entrepreneurship by setting up her own agency.Links:Red SetterdbaBeardwood&Co, 

Send us Fan MailThis week on the podcast Claire sat down with Dick Powell, co-founder of product design and innovation agency Seymour Powell, to talk all things design. Dick talks about everything from design education to founding a business, working on designs for spaceships, and what ‘brand’ actually means to him. He shares his early interest in design and its evolution from architecture to industrial design, reflections on the current state and evolution of the design industry, and in-house design trends.Links:Red SetterdbaSeymour Powell

Send us Fan MailThis week Claire meets up with Fe Amarante founder and principal of Experimenta, whose career spans major companies like Coca-Cola, Danone, and The Hershey Company. Now running her own agency, Experimenta, focusing on sustainable creativity, she shared her life in design so far. Fe talks about the evolving perception of in-house creative roles and their potential for fulfilment, the thinking and ethos behind her agency Experimenta, and her thoughts on being terrified and doing it anyway! Links:Red SetterdbaExperimenta

Send us Fan MailThis week Claire meets up with design legend Ian Ritchie to talk about his life in design, from his early experiences of earning his way with signwriting, to art school and the evolution and growth of design agency JKR. Ian shares his story of JKR, from co-founding, to the challenges and the big decisions made to enable success. He talks about the relationship between design and advertising and the need for cross-disciplinary talent, and gives insights into what he’s doing post-JRK, including the design of a type face that will be launching later this year.Links:Red SetterdbaJKR

Send us Fan MailThis week Claire sits down with Jolene Delisle, founder and creative director of New York’s The Working Assembly.   Jolene shares her journey into the design and branding industry, from internships, to founding The Working Assembly in 2017 with the goal of supporting the start-up scene in New York at the time. Jolene talks about her commitment to supporting emerging brands, especially those led by women and founders of colour which led to establishing her own agency. How becoming the owner of a 1950's ice cream shop called Cherries became the perfect team playground for creativity, providing entrepreneurial insights to better understand their clients. On being very intentional on the size of The Working Assembly and the type of projects they take on (and running a wait list!)Links:Red SetterdbaThe Working Assembly

Send us Fan MailThis week, Claire meets up with Fred Gelli, co-founder and CEO of Brazil’s largest independent design agency, Tatil.  Fred shares his journey from engineering, to discovering his passion for design and co-founding an agency, and working on major projects including the 2016 Rio Olympics, the Rio Carnival, and a 17-year collaboration with Coca-Cola. He talks about his informative experience working with the Body Shop’s Dame Anita Roddick, the importance of nature being a source of inspiration for good design, and he shares the impact of winning and delivering work for the Rio 2016 Olympics and the Rio Carnival.Links:Red SetterdbaTatil