The How This Works show - Episodes Tagged with “Design”

Joanne Weaver

Skipper Chong Warson — Fri, 18 Oct 2024 03:00:00 -0400

Joanne Weaver, who co-runs a design recruiting agency in New York City, discussed her dual career in recruitment and music. She highlighted the importance of networking and tailoring job applications to specific roles. Joanne emphasized the need for efficiency in communication and the value of understanding both job seekers and clients. She shared her journey from starting her agency during a financial crisis to having built a successful business. Joanne also discussed the significance of connection and authenticity, both in her professional and personal life, recommended the show "Alone" for its exploration of human resilience, and talked about her semimonthly show on LinkedIn live with two other design recruiters, Jared Tredly and Erica Fortgang for Design:Unfiltered @DesignedXTalent

Keep listening until after the outro music for a bit of tape from our first attempt at recording (Internet connection problems) where Joanne talks about how being a singer and being a performer helps to understand the clients and job seekers she works with.

A few specific points from the episode:

Joanne's work as a singer, including albums, performances, and cover songs
Her musical style blends jazz and trip-hop, with inspiration from sci-fi and the Voyager probes
Her indie band, Broanne, and their EP "We're Totally Blowing Up"
Her view of the job of a recruiter: matching clients with candidates and guiding them through the hiring process
Her journey started at a nanny agency in London, eventually leading her to start her own recruitment agency in New York City
Initial struggles in starting her agency and stresses the importance of networking and building personal connections
Meeting her business partner, Rebecca Levy, through a mutual connection — advice, "take the lunch"
The need for taking breaks and disconnecting to recharge
The 2008 financial crisis impacted her business but also led to new opportunities
Tailoring resumes and portfolios to specific job opportunities
A tip on standing out in the job market: be efficient and professional in communications
Common fears like not being good enough and encourages leaning into those fears
Strategies for overcoming anxiety: focus on service and giving to others
Stresses authenticity and connecting with others in both personal and professional contexts
The value of small moments of connection, which can lead to larger opportunities.
The importance of connection and talking to people
Recommendation for Tunde Oyeneyin's audiobook, "Speak" and the show "Alone" for its exploration of human connection and survival
She plans to begin work on a cabaret show about an unnamed 80s/90s pop sensation, inspired by recently reading their biography

Special Guest: Joanne Weaver.

Links:

Rebecca Levi
Steve Jobs' commencement speech to Stanford’s 2005 graduating class — “Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backward ten years later,” Jobs said. “So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something-your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.”
Twisted Spritzer
Ryan Adams - "Wonderwall" (Oasis cover)
Simon Sinek on Design Matters in 2015 — With Debbie Millman
"Speak" by Tunde Oyeneyin
Tara Mohr's "Playing Big"
Ted Lasso clip — When Rebecca "makes herself big" to build up courage
Tony Robbins
Alone (TV series)
Voyager Golden Record
Joanne Weaver Group
Design:Unfiltered on LinkedIn
Design:Unfiltered replays on YouTube
Joanne Weaver's music on Spotify
Twisted Spritzer
Broanne

Skipper Chong Warson

Skipper Chong Warson — Tue, 15 Jun 2021 18:45:00 -0400

Recorded in their child's bedroom on a weekday, Laura and Skipper chat about his academic background in writing (English literature, playwriting) as well as his professional background as a product design director (think desktop and mobile apps among other mediums) and how that plays into storytelling, most recently resulting in the creation of How This Works, this podcast.

They also talk about their life together — newsflash: they're married and living in the San Francisco Bay area, having moved from New York City a couple of years ago. Along the way, they get into some of the differences between life in SF and NYC. They also talk about their upcoming wedding anniversary after getting married next to Jane's Carousel in Brooklyn Bridge Park.

Along with talk about his name change from Starr to Skipper (and not Optimus Prime) at the age of seven, they bring in a few questions posed from the listening audience including lessons learned from the first season of the show, calling people the name they want to be called, how crucial listening is in making a podcast, the ubiquity of imposter syndrome, using the five (5) whys to get to the root cause of a challenge as developed by Sakichi Toyoda at the Toyota Motor Corporation, team falling asleep during movies versus team staying awake during movies, and why Skipper color codes versus alphabetizing the books in his background — see photo below.

View of the three shelves behind Skipper's standing desk

Laura and Skipper also reference the following previous episodes, in order of being published, including:

Jack Kahana, the first episode
Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, the third episode
Selena Rosanbalm, the sixth episode
Cassandra Carlopio, the 15th episode
Kat Hantas and Nicole Emanuel from 21Seeds, the 17th episode
Sally McRae, the 18th episode
Piper Payne, the 20th episode

Stay tuned after the outro music for a bit of tape where Skipper pauses for a bit of background noise and how from where Laura's sitting, the microphone makes it looks like his nose is a black bit of foam.

Special Guest: Skipper Chong Warson.

Links:

Ben Falk

Skipper Chong Warson — Tue, 02 Mar 2021 06:00:00 -0500

Ben Falk chats with Skipper on this episode of How This Works from his farm/home/homstead in Vermont about permaculture and sustainability. We start with Ben in utero at the base of El Capitan in California, visiting national parks with his family (instead of going to Disneyland), rock climbing, and then doing backcountry trips which formed his foundational relationship with his work now.

We also talk about the difference between design being focused on sustainability and regeneration, how important context is to solving design problems, about the importance of a designer living with or inside their work, the fact that people move 11.7 times in their life (as written in his book "The Resilient Farm and Homestead"), and how Ben's able to grow rice on terraced flats in the Northwestern U.S.

We chat about the wood stove that provides heat for Ben and his family versus a thermostat-driven heat system or even a voice user interface like Alexa and how manual a process it is.

Stay tuned after the outro music for a clip and flubbed first take of the show's intro.

This episode was edited and mastered by Troy Lococo.

Special Guest: Ben Falk.

Links:

Todd Ecological - Dr. John Todd from University of Vermont
Whole Systems Design
An example of a client's passive house project — From Whole System Designs site: We've master-planned the Landau's site for the past two years and consulted on this passive house project, advising on ways for the home to not only be a mechanically high-performance shell but a functional house integrated within a permaculture working landscape. This includes root cellar design and other house-interior microclimate considerations for drying the harvest, keeping it cool, and for extended season use via a greenhouse addition on the main passive house which we have designed. We've also planted a small orchard for the Landaus in this developing post-peak oil homestead including peach, pear, apple, plum, cherry, hazelnut, walnuts, oaks, edible hickory, and other species including many berries.
Bill Mollison
David Holmgren
Rock formations in Yosemite Valley, including El Capitan
"The Resilient Farm and Homestead" by Ben Falk
Wendell Berry
Robin Wall Kimmerer
Whole Systems Design YouTube channel
Ben Falk's TEDx talk on homestead resiliency and food systems regeneration
Intro and outro song: "Zombie Nation" by Jose Travieso

Jake Kahana

Skipper Chong Warson — Tue, 01 Dec 2020 08:00:00 -0500

We recorded this episode in Sep 2020 and we talked about Jake's work as a designer and creative director, the notion of focused work, why he started You're Better Than Brunch, and cofounding Caveday with Jeremy Redleaf and Molly Sonsteng.

Like so many of us working from home these days, you'll hear Jake's daughter waking up just after the introduction questions before we get into main discussion about focused work and distraction. We also talk about the 2017 University of Chicago study where they look at the effect of brain drain with smartphones — even when your phone is upside down on a table, even on airplane mode — and how it challenges our cognitive abilities. Did you know that Microsoft did a parallel study that showed that the average focus time in the office is 40 seconds?

Stay tuned after the outro music for a funny bit of tape asking about the background noise and a strangled pause from Skipper.

Special Guest: Jake Kahana.

Links:

Parkinson's Law
Paul Jarvis
Seth Godin
Derek Sivers
Tristan Harris
Tina Roth Eisenberg
Jocelyn K. Glei
Fast Company article on Caveday
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's TED talk on Flow
2017 University of Chicago study on smart phones — Even having your phone on your desk–even if it’s upside down even if it’s airplane mode– temporarily reduces your cognitive abilities. In other words, it makes you dumber.
Microsoft study on focus time for work — 40 seconds!
Caveday on monotasking
Linda Stone on continuous partial attention
Jake Kahana
Intro and outro song: "Zombie Nation" by Jose Travieso