NXTLVL Experience Design

About Danny Forster:Danny’s Profile: linkedin.com/in/danny-forster-4544b23Email: danny@dannyforster.comTwitter: dannyforsterWebsite: https://www.dannyforster.com Bio:Architect. TV host. Producer. Director. Speaker. Professor. Danny Forster is all these things, and through them all he has become a global advocate for architecture. The field of architecture may not appear to need much help: buildings surround us. But that very ubiquity has made it almost invisible; we move in and around buildings but barely notice them. Through his persistent and passionate advocacy, Danny gets people to notice, understand, and value the built environment.This quest began when Danny was hired, while still pursuing his master’s in architecture at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design, to host a television show about impressive feats of construction and engineering. The show would become Build It Bigger, one of Discovery Channel’s most popular series, and run for nine seasons, during which Danny traveled to more than fifty countries, exploring everything from record-breaking skyscrapers to cutting-edge sports stadiums, from airports to tunnels to impossibly long bridges. Besides offering a matchless education for an aspiring architect, Build It Bigger taught Danny how to talk about architecture so an audience wouldn’t just understand how and why a building was designed a certain way, it would care. The key was inviting them inside the process–not just saying what’s important, but showing them in concrete and engaging ways.For inquiries regarding film and television work, please contact Danny’s agent at William Morris Endeavor, Jim Ornstein: JOrnstein@WMEentertainment.com.For domestic speaking engagements, contact Julie Leventhal: JLeventhal@wmeentertainment.com.For international speaking engagements, contact Hugo Chittenden at The London Speaker Bureau: hugo@londonspeakerbureau.com.To purchase Rising: Rebuilding Ground Zero, click here. To purchase episodes on iTunes, click here.To watch selected episodes of Build It Bigger, click here. To purchase episodes on Amazon, click here. To purchase episodes on iTunes, click here.Show INTRO:Architecture is pretty complex and despite the fact that we spend most of our days inside buildings, I would hazard a guess that not many people know how great architecture actually comes into being.After a number of years in university programs and then internships, architects follow years of practice. It said that architecture one of those professions that takes a long time to really begin to flourish.      The great American architect Frank Lloyd Wright designed the Guggenheim museum in New York late in his career and it opened six months before, Wright died at the age of 92.With buildings all around us, some of which we pass by every day not paying them any concern, where do we go to find out what it really takes to make great buildings or why they should be particularly interesting in the first place?Well, you could go to books, movies or even podcasts like this one. Or you might also tune into television shows whose purpose it is to bring some of the great buildings of the world into your living room.By some way of unscripted serendipity, my guest on today's show did exactly that. As a student in the Graduate School of architecture at Harvard University Danny Forster was exhausted and looking to, as he explains, “run away from architecture.” In a strange twist of fate, he landed a job as the host of one of Discovery Channel’s most successful shows.Build It Bigger ran for nine seasons  and became the highest rated show on the Science Channel, and won a 2010 Directors Guild of America Award.[8] The show took Forster and a camera crew around the world to investigate pioneering architectural and engineering projects, and put them in cultural, historical, and environmental context.Through his persistent and passionate advocacy, Danny gets people to notice, understand, and value the built environment.Besides offering a great education for an aspiring architect, Build It Bigger taught Danny how to talk about architecture so an audience wouldn’t just understand how and why a building was designed a certain way, it would care.Danny Forster ‘ran away from architecture’ to find he could bring architecture home to all of us.Today he wants us to care as much as he does about buildings and the effect it is having on our planet.Danny has put a spotlight on modular building and has partnered with MiTek Inc., a construction company owned by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, on something called the Modular Activation Platform, a system designed to clear away some of the obstacles to widespread modular construction.Danny Forster is a multi-hyphenate creative spirit who believes that any modest progressive change to the building industry towards modular construction would be a paradigm shift for our planet. About David Kepron:LinkedIn Profile: linkedin.com/in/david-kepron-9a1582bWebsites: https://www.davidkepron.com    (personal website)vmsd.com/taxonomy/term/8645  (Blog)Email: david.kepron@NXTLVLexperiencedesign.comTwitter: DavidKepronPersonal Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/davidkepron/NXTLVL Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nxtlvl_experience_design/Bio:David Kepron is a multifaceted creative professional with a deep curiosity to understand ‘why’, ‘what’s now’ and ‘what’s next’. He brings together his background as an architect, artist, educator, author, podcast host and builder to the making of meaningful and empathically-focused, community-centric customer connections at brand experience places around the globe. David is a former VP - Global Design Strategies at Marriott International. While at Marriott, his focus was on the creation of compelling customer experiences within Marriott’s “Premium Distinctive” segment which included: Westin, Renaissance, Le Meridien, Autograph Collection, Tribute Portfolio, Design Hotels and Gaylord hotels. In 2020 Kepron founded NXTLVL Experience Design, a strategy and design consultancy, where he combines his multidisciplinary approach to the creation of relevant brand engagements with his passion for social and cultural anthropology, neuroscience and emerging digital technologies. As a frequently requested international speaker at corporate events and international conferences focusing on CX, digital transformation, retail, hospitality, emerging technology, David shares his expertise on subjects ranging from consumer behaviors and trends, brain science and buying behavior, store design and visual merchandising, hotel design and strategy as well as creativity and innovation. In his talks, David shares visionary ideas on how brand strategy, brain science and emerging technologies are changing guest expectations about relationships they want to have with brands and how companies can remain relevant in a digitally enabled marketplace. David currently brings his creativity and insight on brand experiences to an international audience as a member of VMSD magazine’s Editorial Advisory Board, as a Board Member of the Interactive Customer Experience Association (ICXA) and Sign Research Foundation’s (SRF) Program Committee.He has held teaching positions at New York’s Fashion Institute of Technology (F.I.T.), the Department of Architecture & Interior Design of Drexel University in Philadelphia, the Laboratory Institute of Merchandising (L.I.M.) in New York, the International Academy of Merchandising and Design in Montreal and he served as the Director of the Visual Merchandising Department at LaSalle International Fashion School (L.I.F.S.) in Singapore.  In 2014 Kepron published his first book titled: “Retail (r)Evolution: Why Creating Right-Brain Stores Will Shape the Future of Shopping in a Digitally Driven World” and he is currently working on his second book to be published soon. David also writes a popular blog called “Brain Food” which is published monthly on vmsd.com.  The next level experience design podcast is presented by VMSD magazine and Smartwork Media. It is hosted and executive produced by David Kepron. Our original music and audio production by Kano Sound. The content of this podcast is copywrite to David Kepron and NXTLVL Experience Design. Any publication or rebroadcast of the content is prohibited without the expressed written consent of David Kepron and NXTLVL Experience Design.Make sure to tune in for more NXTLVL “Dialogues on DATA: Design Architecture Technology and the Arts” wherever you find your favorite podcasts and make sure to visit vmsd.com and look for the tab for the NXTLVL Experience Design podcast there too.

About Dorothy Di Stefano:Dorothy’s Profile: linkedin.com/in/immersivedigitalexperiencespecialistWebsite: moltenimmersiveart.com  (Digital Immersive Experiences)Email: dorothy@moltenimmersiveart.comTwitter: MoltenImmersiveGlobal thought leader, speaker, creative strategist, founder and director of Molten Immersive Art, Dorothy Di Stefano leads an international collective of experiential artists who create large-scale, site-specific, digital immersive experiences. As an ambassador for the arts, Dorothy sits on many cultural committees and is a Founding Circle Member of the World Experience Organization (UK) a Visual Arts Committee Member of the Della Leaders Club (NYC Chapter), Director of Research – Immersive Arts for the Digital Placemaking Institute and an International Partner on the Global Science, Technology and Innovation Committee for the World Business Angels Investment Forum (Istanbul).She was the only Australian representative on the 'Experiential Design' judging panel for the prestigious ADC 99th Annual Awards in New York and was awarded LinkedIn's Top Voice for 2019.Show Intro:Art, be it analogue – created in the real 3d world - or digital - created in the virtual world of data and algorithms - is part of who we are. For millennia, art has told the stories of our lives. It has recorded our human condition and served as an expression of culture, of ideas and helped to give context and meaning to our often unpredictable lives in an seemingly chaotic world. We are equally Homo Faber – Man the maker as we are Homo Sapiens – Man the wise.Art is powerful because it is empowering. In making things we share life energy with the objects of our creation. The lump of clay is just a lump of clay until the sculptor touches it transferring energy from the hand to the malleable mass. Bringing things to life, as if by some form of alchemy, artists make magic and meaning. They become connected to world of their inner selves and the things of their creation which by bringing them into being also become part of who they are - a true expression of being relevant in this world.Artforms have transformed over the ages with technologies changing the media used in artistic expression. We have moved from pigments to pixels and the way environments can now be created digitally is  the way people experience art.On this episode of the NXTLVL Experience Design podcast my guest is Dorothy Di Stefano – Dorothy is a Global thought leader, speaker, creative strategist, founder and director of Molten Immersive Art where she leads an international collective of experiential artists who create large-scale, site-specific, digital immersive experiences. As an ambassador for the arts, Dorothy sits on many cultural committees and is a Founding Circle Member of the World Experience Organization (UK), a Visual Arts Committee Member of the Della Leaders Club (NYC Chapter) and the Director of Research of Immersive Arts for the Digital Placemaking Institute.She is extraordinarily active on social media platforms like LinkedIn – where she was selected as one of LinkedIn’s Top Voices in 2019 - and on Instagram where she wields the power of the image in showcasing arts of all kinds from around the globe.I have followed her for some time now and look forward to her content because I both learn about who’s doing amazing things in the art world and because I am inspired by the artistic magic-making of human kind. I look to Dorothy’s posts because they are an elixir to the mundane and provide hope in our human potential to change the world through the arts. About David Kepron:LinkedIn Profile: linkedin.com/in/david-kepron-9a1582bWebsites: https://www.davidkepron.com    (personal website)vmsd.com/taxonomy/term/8645  (Blog)Email: david.kepron@NXTLVLexperiencedesign.comTwitter: DavidKepronPersonal Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/davidkepron/NXTLVL Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nxtlvl_experience_design/Bio:David Kepron is a multifaceted creative professional with a deep curiosity to understand ‘why’, ‘what’s now’ and ‘what’s next’. He brings together his background as an architect, artist, educator, author, podcast host and builder to the making of meaningful and empathically-focused, community-centric customer connections at brand experience places around the globe. David is a former VP - Global Design Strategies at Marriott International. While at Marriott, his focus was on the creation of compelling customer experiences within Marriott’s “Premium Distinctive” segment which included: Westin, Renaissance, Le Meridien, Autograph Collection, Tribute Portfolio, Design Hotels and Gaylord hotels. In 2020 Kepron founded NXTLVL Experience Design, a strategy and design consultancy, where he combines his multidisciplinary approach to the creation of relevant brand engagements with his passion for social and cultural anthropology, neuroscience and emerging digital technologies. As a frequently requested international speaker at corporate events and international conferences focusing on CX, digital transformation, retail, hospitality, emerging technology, David shares his expertise on subjects ranging from consumer behaviors and trends, brain science and buying behavior, store design and visual merchandising, hotel design and strategy as well as creativity and innovation. In his talks, David shares visionary ideas on how brand strategy, brain science and emerging technologies are changing guest expectations about relationships they want to have with brands and how companies can remain relevant in a digitally enabled marketplace. David currently brings his creativity and insight on brand experiences to an international audience as a member of VMSD magazine’s Editorial Advisory Board, as a Board Member of the Interactive Customer Experience Association (ICXA) and Sign Research Foundation’s (SRF) Program Committee.He has held teaching positions at New York’s Fashion Institute of Technology (F.I.T.), the Department of Architecture & Interior Design of Drexel University in Philadelphia, the Laboratory Institute of Merchandising (L.I.M.) in New York, the International Academy of Merchandising and Design in Montreal and he served as the Director of the Visual Merchandising Department at LaSalle International Fashion School (L.I.F.S.) in Singapore.  In 2014 Kepron published his first book titled: “Retail (r)Evolution: Why Creating Right-Brain Stores Will Shape the Future of Shopping in a Digitally Driven World” and he is currently working on his second book to be published soon. David also writes a popular blog called “Brain Food” which is published monthly on vmsd.com.  The next level experience design podcast is presented by VMSD magazine and Smartwork Media. It is hosted and executive produced by David Kepron. Our original music and audio production by Kano Sound. The content of this podcast is copywrite to David Kepron and NXTLVL Experience Design. Any publication or rebroadcast of the content is prohibited without the expressed written consent of David Kepron and NXTLVL Experience Design.Make sure to tune in for more NXTLVL “Dialogues on DATA: Design Architecture Technology and the Arts” wherever you find your favorite podcasts and make sure to visit vmsd.com and look for the tab for the NXTLVL Experience Design podcast there too.

About Peter Dixon:Peter’s Profile: linkedin.com/in/peter-dixon-b73ba98Website: prohpet.com  (Company Website)email: pdixon@prophet.comPeter Dixon Bio:Peter brings his clients a unique blend of perspectives as an architect, designer and brand consultant. It translates into an imaginative take on branding, customer experience and retail innovation, expressed in both high-level thinking and visual, verbal and spatial representations.Peter’s award-winning programs have spanned all areas of the brand experience, ranging from brand strategy development to prototype design, customer experience concepts and merchandising approaches. He has worked for such notable clients as BMW, Citibank, ConocoPhillips, The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, Delta Airlines, Emart, Fiat Chrysler, Mayo Clinic, McDonalds, Nissan, Sprint, Samsung, United Airlines, United Health Group and Walmart.Peter helped lead the consulting team on Walmart’s new brand strategy, including its new visual identity and store experience concepts. He also was instrumental in designing Nissan Motors' new dealership concept being implemented worldwide, and a new dealership design for its Infiniti brand. He led the team designing a new customer experience for Delta Airlines. And for McDonald’s, he directed the development of a revitalized restaurant concept being executed across the U.S. and many parts of the world.Peter is a popular public speaker and has been tapped as a source by The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Brandweek, Newsweek, Visual Merchandising & Store Design, Convenience Store News and Advertising Age.He serves on the editorial board of VM+SD magazine, and is a past national president of the Society for Experiential Graphic Design (SEGD). He holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Louisiana State University and a Masters of Architecture degree from the University of Texas.Show Intro:Do you have brands you love?Do you always get the same detergent, toothpaste, only shop in a certain store. Do you choose on car, hotel, liquor or restaurant over another.With so many options in the shopping world how do we choose?Well…we adopt brands into our lives because they do what there are supposed to do. They clean your clothes, make your teeth whiter, make you feel safe and or powerful behind the wheel or they deliver impeccable service and they are reliable. But more than that, they create a relationship with us. For my guest on this episode of NXTLVL Experience Design the 'Brand' is about the relationship and 'Branding' is all of the stuff that you do like creating logos, store environments, digital experiences and more.Brand-ing brings brands to life. In creating brands, you are bringing ideas and values to life. Peter Dixon is the Chief Creative Officer at Prophet, a globally recognized branding agency that combines insight, creativity, data and technology to help their clients to unlock growth that is human centered, transformative and durable. Peter brings his clients a unique blend of perspectives as an engineer, an architect, designer and brand consultant. It translates into an imaginative take on branding, customer experience and retail innovation, expressed in both high-level thinking and visual, verbal and spatial representations of places the brands want you to be in and buy from.He has worked for such notable clients as BMW, Citibank, Delta Airlines,  Fiat Chrysler, Mayo Clinic, McDonalds, Nissan, Sprint, Samsung, United Airlines, and Walmart.He is is a popular public speaker and has been tapped as a source by The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Brandweek, Newsweek, Visual Merchandising & Store Design, Convenience Store News and Advertising Age to share his insight on what makes great brands.He serves on the editorial board of VM+SD magazine, and is a past national president of the Society for Experiential Graphic Design (SEGD). He holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Louisiana State University and a Masters of Architecture degree from the University of Texas. About David Kepron:LinkedIn Profile: linkedin.com/in/david-kepron-9a1582bWebsites: https://www.davidkepron.com    (personal website)vmsd.com/taxonomy/term/8645  (Blog)Email: david.kepron@NXTLVLexperiencedesign.comTwitter: DavidKepronPersonal Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/davidkepron/NXTLVL Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nxtlvl_experience_design/Bio:David Kepron is a multifaceted creative professional with a deep curiosity to understand ‘why’, ‘what’s now’ and ‘what’s next’. He brings together his background as an architect, artist, educator, author, podcast host and builder to the making of meaningful and empathically-focused, community-centric customer connections at brand experience places around the globe. David is a former VP - Global Design Strategies at Marriott International. While at Marriott, his focus was on the creation of compelling customer experiences within Marriott’s “Premium Distinctive” segment which included: Westin, Renaissance, Le Meridien, Autograph Collection, Tribute Portfolio, Design Hotels and Gaylord hotels. In 2020 Kepron founded NXTLVL Experience Design, a strategy and design consultancy, where he combines his multidisciplinary approach to the creation of relevant brand engagements with his passion for social and cultural anthropology, neuroscience and emerging digital technologies. As a frequently requested international speaker at corporate events and international conferences focusing on CX, digital transformation, retail, hospitality, emerging technology, David shares his expertise on subjects ranging from consumer behaviors and trends, brain science and buying behavior, store design and visual merchandising, hotel design and strategy as well as creativity and innovation. In his talks, David shares visionary ideas on how brand strategy, brain science and emerging technologies are changing guest expectations about relationships they want to have with brands and how companies can remain relevant in a digitally enabled marketplace. David currently brings his creativity and insight on brand experiences to an international audience as a member of VMSD magazine’s Editorial Advisory Board, as a Board Member of the Interactive Customer Experience Association (ICXA) and Sign Research Foundation’s (SRF) Program Committee.He has held teaching positions at New York’s Fashion Institute of Technology (F.I.T.), the Department of Architecture & Interior Design of Drexel University in Philadelphia, the Laboratory Institute of Merchandising (L.I.M.) in New York, the International Academy of Merchandising and Design in Montreal and he served as the Director of the Visual Merchandising Department at LaSalle International Fashion School (L.I.F.S.) in Singapore.  In 2014 Kepron published his first book titled: “Retail (r)Evolution: Why Creating Right-Brain Stores Will Shape the Future of Shopping in a Digitally Driven World” and he is currently working on his second book to be published soon. David also writes a popular blog called “Brain Food” which is published monthly on vmsd.com.  The next level experience design podcast is presented by VMSD magazine and Smartwork Media. It is hosted and executive produced by David Kepron. Our original music and audio production by Kano Sound. The content of this podcast is copywrite to David Kepron and NXTLVL Experience Design. Any publication or rebroadcast of the content is prohibited without the expressed written consent of David Kepron and NXTLVL Experience Design.Make sure to tune in for more NXTLVL “Dialogues on DATA: Design Architecture Technology and the Arts” wherever you find your favorite podcasts and make sure to visit vmsd.com and look for the tab for the NXTLVL Experience Design podcast there too.

About Royce Epstein:LinkedIn Profile: linkedin.com/in/royceepsteinInstagram: @madame_duchampInstagram: @dissent_by_design About Mohawk Group:Website: www.mohawkgroup.comInstagram: @mohawkgroupData Tide: https://www.mohawkgroup.com/carpet/collections/data-tideRelaxing Floors: https://www.mohawkgroup.com/carpet/collections/relaxing-floors Royce Epstein Bio:A veteran materials and product specialist for interior design and architecture, Royce spent two decades working in A&D firms before working in product design and development. Specialties include: visioning, concepting, sourcing, design development, and marketing of materials, finishes, and products, in addition to interior design work focused on material palettes and FF&E. LEED AP. Trend hunter. Design strategist, writer, lecturer, teacher, juror, and thinker, always putting design in context. Interiors & Sources Designer of the Year 2015. Collab Board Member at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Textile instructor at Drexel University.  Show Intro:For 1000s of years we have painted on cave walls, carved statues, woven tapestries, molded clay and drawn and painted our human experience. Images have depicted the sacred and the profane. Images created by the hand of the artist are like making magic - from nothing, something. And that ‘something’ tells a story. It tells the story of who we are as individuals and a part of a community, culture a collective with shared vision. Creating is the truest expression of who we are because when we make art, we truly put ourselves into it. Our life energy changes a lump of clay into a teapot and blank canvas into a masterpiece. Color, form, geometry, texture, light – these are the base element of the image.In the context of contemporary image making, almost everyone with a smartphone becomes and image capturer. Recording the moments of a life that races by. It seems that more now than ever the image is the language we use to share our life stories. The ‘Instagramable moment’ has become a requirement in creating places. The image of that moment is the memory residue of something that mattered. A moment to express oneself, to say to the world that I mattered because I was there. The egocentrism of the image changed in the Renaissance with the invention of perspective. Until that time, images were quite two dimensional. The perspective view positioned the observer of the scene at the center - everything was to be viewed form the singular position of the individual.And so, our propensity to take selfies or Instargramable moments as first--person narratives of experience is really only a development along a trajectory of the image in the now digitally enabled visual age.Images are becoming so ubiquitous that some fear the devolution of language in preference for pictures. Is the expression “a picture is worth a 1000 words more true now than ever before.” Will texting replace articulate spoken language or is is as the linguist John McWhorter says simply the development of a new language?The design of these images is critical – overlays, filters, re-coloring, cropping, and all of the other image composing tools speak to the nature of design in a visual age. The image can be crafted to delight over dessert or stand as a symbol of dissent.Everything is designed says my guest on this episode of the NXTLVL Experience Design podcast. And when we listen to her talk about design we find that it is taking on new meaning and expression in the visual age.Royce Epstein is a veteran materials and product specialist for interior design and architecture who spent two decades working in A&D firms before working in product design and development.Royce is an art history major who has focused her attuned creative skills as a Trend hunter, Design strategist, writer, lecturer, teacher, juror, and thinker into always putting design in context.She is a design activist, cares deeply about social causes and is the A&D Design Director for the Mohawk Group a company that creates some of the best flooring solutions on the planet.  About David Kepron:LinkedIn Profile: linkedin.com/in/david-kepron-9a1582bWebsites:  https://www.davidkepron.com    (personal website)vmsd.com/taxonomy/term/8645  (Blog)Email: david.kepron@NXTLVLexperiencedesign.comTwitter: DavidKepronPersonal Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/davidkepron/NXTLVL Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nxtlvl_experience_design/Bio:David Kepron is a multifaceted creative professional with a deep curiosity to understand ‘why’, ‘what’s now’ and ‘what’s next’. He brings together his background as an architect, artist, educator, author, podcast host and builder to the making of meaningful and empathically-focused, community-centric customer connections at brand experience places around the globe. David is a former VP - Global Design Strategies at Marriott International. While at Marriott, his focus was on the creation of compelling customer experiences within Marriott’s “Premium Distinctive” segment which included: Westin, Renaissance, Le Meridien, Autograph Collection, Tribute Portfolio, Design Hotels and Gaylord hotels. In 2020 Kepron founded NXTLVL Experience Design, a strategy and design consultancy, where he combines his multidisciplinary approach to the creation of relevant brand engagements with his passion for social and cultural anthropology, neuroscience and emerging digital technologies. As a frequently requested international speaker at corporate events and international conferences focusing on CX, digital transformation, retail, hospitality, emerging technology, David shares his expertise on subjects ranging from consumer behaviors and trends, brain science and buying behavior, store design and visual merchandising, hotel design and strategy as well as creativity and innovation. In his talks, David shares visionary ideas on how brand strategy, brain science and emerging technologies are changing guest expectations about relationships they want to have with brands and how companies can remain relevant in a digitally enabled marketplace. David currently brings his creativity and insight on brand experiences to an international audience as a member of VMSD magazine’s Editorial Advisory Board, as a Board Member of the Interactive Customer Experience Association (ICXA) and Sign Research Foundation’s (SRF) Program Committee.He has held teaching positions at New York’s Fashion Institute of Technology (F.I.T.), the Department of Architecture & Interior Design of Drexel University in Philadelphia, the Laboratory Institute of Merchandising (L.I.M.) in New York, the International Academy of Merchandising and Design in Montreal and he served as the Director of the Visual Merchandising Department at LaSalle International Fashion School (L.I.F.S.) in Singapore.  In 2014 Kepron published his first book titled: “Retail (r)Evolution: Why Creating Right-Brain Stores Will Shape the Future of Shopping in a Digitally Driven World” and he is currently working on his second book to be published soon. David also writes a popular blog called “Brain Food” which is published monthly on vmsd.com. In September of 2020, he launched the “NXTLVL Experience Design” podcast which brings listeners dialogues about “DATA: Design, Architecture, Technology and the Arts.” His guests include thought leaders who are driven by a passion to create the ‘New Possible’ and promote new paradigms of experiences into the mainstream.   The next level experience design podcast is presented by VMSD magazine and Smartwork Media. It is hosted and executive produced by David Kepron. Our original music and audio production by Kano Sound. The content of this podcast is copywrite to David Kepron and NXTLVL Experience Design. Any publication or rebroadcast of the content is prohibited without the expressed written consent of David Kepron and NXTLVL Experience Design.Make sure to tune in for more NXTLVL “Dialogues on DATA: Design Architecture Technology and the Arts” wherever you find your favorite podcasts and make sure to visit vmsd.com and look for the tab for the NXTLVL Experience Design podcast there too.

Bill Browning, advocate for sustainable design solutions, discusses the concept of biophilic design and its positive effects on human well-being. The podcast explores the influence of nature in architecture and design, the impact of awe-inspiring spaces on the brain, the importance of lighting in creating healthier spaces, and the benefits of biophilic design in various settings. It also touches on digital nature experiences, the significance of creating a garden, and the application of biophilic design in urban planning.

About Mariana Figueiro:LinkedIn Profile:linkedin.com/in/mariana-figueiro-694632150Bio:Mariana G. Figueiro, PhD, was with the Lighting Research Center at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY from 1998-2020, where she served as Director from 2017-2020. She was also a tenured Professor at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute from 2006-2020. She was recently hired by the Department of Population Health Science and Policy at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai to start and lead the Light and Health Research Center at Mount Sinai. She conducts research on the effect of light on human health, circadian photobiology, and lighting for older adults. She is the author of more than 120 scientific articles in her field of research. She is a Fellow of the Illuminating Engineering Society. She has brought attention to the significance of light and health as a topic of public interest through her recent TEDMED talk.Show Intro:What does Lingerie worn by French Women in the late 1800’s and Gothic cathedrals have in common?You might say the remarkable detail, the silken lace spun in intricate patterns and the fine carved stone that was hewn by the hands a skilled mason.You might say the forms - compounding curves and angles.You might say that each was never really quite a good fit for human bodies – one too small and the other so soaring that it dwarfed human scale as if to make obvious the distance between man and the divine.Or you may say none of these.If you were a particularly hulking 6’2” 285 pound Frenchman living at that time, you say it had to do with light. Because for most of 1882, he stood in the window on the second floor of a building, about an hour north of Paris - a French Lingerie shop - where French women would try and buy the latest of French women’s underwear. Very much out of place, he stood there amidst the delicate lace and ladies of the time, because it was the best place to view what captivated him from that vantage point.The Cathedral of Rouen. A building stood across the road from the place where Claude Monet tried to understand light. With as many as ten canvases around him, he would move from image to image looking out of the second-floor window as light fell across the surfaces of the  Rouen cathedral. From morning until dusk he worked until packing up his canvases and heading back to his home in Giverny in at the end of 1883.In all, Monet painted more than 30 canvases. Each holding light in a suspended animation. Monet had painted multiple views of the same subject before. But the paintings of Rouen Cathedral were a master stoke at seeing how light changed our perception of our surroundings.In 1894 Claude Monet finished his series of paintings. During the previous year he often fell into despair, telling his wife “‘Things don’t advance very steadily, primarily because each day I discover something I hadn’t seen the day before… In the end, I am trying to do the impossible.”Years later, the famous French Architect Le Corbusier focused on a similar fascination with light and framed the issue of understanding it this way: “Space and Light and order are the things that men need just as much as they need bread or a place to sleep.”About David Kepron:LinkedIn Profile: linkedin.com/in/david-kepron-9a1582bWebsites:  https://www.davidkepron.com    (personal website)vmsd.com/taxonomy/term/8645  (Blog)Email: david.kepron@NXTLVLexperiencedesign.comTwitter: DavidKepronPersonal Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/davidkepron/NXTLVL Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nxtlvl_experience_design/Bio:David Kepron is a multifaceted creative professional with a deep curiosity to understand ‘why’, ‘what’s now’ and ‘what’s next’. He brings together his background as an architect, artist, educator, author, podcast host and builder to the making of meaningful and empathically-focused, community-centric customer connections at brand experience places around the globe. David is a former VP - Global Design Strategies at Marriott International. While at Marriott, his focus was on the creation of compelling customer experiences within Marriott’s “Premium Distinctive” segment which included: Westin, Renaissance, Le Meridien, Autograph Collection, Tribute Portfolio, Design Hotels and Gaylord hotels. In 2020 Kepron founded NXTLVL Experience Design, a strategy and design consultancy, where he combines his multidisciplinary approach to the creation of relevant brand engagements with his passion for social and cultural anthropology, neuroscience and emerging digital technologies. As a frequently requested international speaker at corporate events and international conferences focusing on CX, digital transformation, retail, hospitality, emerging technology, David shares his expertise on subjects ranging from consumer behaviors and trends, brain science and buying behavior, store design and visual merchandising, hotel design and strategy as well as creativity and innovation. In his talks, David shares visionary ideas on how brand strategy, brain science and emerging technologies are changing guest expectations about relationships they want to have with brands and how companies can remain relevant in a digitally enabled marketplace. David currently brings his creativity and insight on brand experiences to an international audience as a member of VMSD magazine’s Editorial Advisory Board, as a Board Member of the Interactive Customer Experience Association (ICXA) and Sign Research Foundation’s (SRF) Program Committee.He has held teaching positions at New York’s Fashion Institute of Technology (F.I.T.), the Department of Architecture & Interior Design of Drexel University in Philadelphia, the Laboratory Institute of Merchandising (L.I.M.) in New York, the International Academy of Merchandising and Design in Montreal and he served as the Director of the Visual Merchandising Department at LaSalle International Fashion School (L.I.F.S.) in Singapore.  In 2014 Kepron published his first book titled: “Retail (r)Evolution: Why Creating Right-Brain Stores Will Shape the Future of Shopping in a Digitally Driven World” and he is currently working on his second book to be published soon. David also writes a popular blog called “Brain Food” which is published monthly on vmsd.com. In September of 2020, he launched the “NXTLVL Experience Design” podcast which brings listeners dialogues about “DATA: Design, Architecture, Technology and the Arts.” His guests include thought leaders who are driven by a passion to create the ‘New Possible’ and promote new paradigms of experiences into the mainstream.  The next level experience design podcast is presented by VMSD magazine and Smartwork Media. It is hosted and executive produced by David Kepron. Our original music and audio production by Kano Sound. The content of this podcast is copywrite to David Kepron and NXTLVL Experience Design. Any publication or rebroadcast of the content is prohibited without the expressed written consent of David Kepron and NXTLVL Experience Design.Make sure to tune in for more NXTLVL “Dialogues on DATA: Design Architecture Technology and the Arts” wherever you find your favorite podcasts and make sure to visit vmsd.com and look for the tab for the NXTLVL Experience Design podcast there too.

About David Kepron:LinkedIn Profile: linkedin.com/in/david-kepron-9a1582bWebsites:  https://www.davidkepron.com    (personal website)vmsd.com/taxonomy/term/8645  (Blog)Email: david.kepron@NXTLVLexperiencedesign.comTwitter: DavidKepronPersonal Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/davidkepron/NXTLVL Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nxtlvl_experience_design/Bio:David Kepron is a multifaceted creative professional with a deep curiosity to understand ‘why’, ‘what’s now’ and ‘what’s next’. He brings together his background as an architect, artist, educator, author, podcast host and builder to the making of meaningful and empathically-focused, community-centric customer connections at brand experience places around the globe. David is a former VP - Global Design Strategies at Marriott International. While at Marriott, his focus was on the creation of compelling customer experiences within Marriott’s “Premium Distinctive” segment which included: Westin, Renaissance, Le Meridien, Autograph Collection, Tribute Portfolio, Design Hotels and Gaylord hotels. In 2020 Kepron founded NXTLVL Experience Design, a strategy and design consultancy, where he combines his multidisciplinary approach to the creation of relevant brand engagements with his passion for social and cultural anthropology, neuroscience and emerging digital technologies. As a frequently requested international speaker at corporate events and international conferences focusing on CX, digital transformation, retail, hospitality, emerging technology, David shares his expertise on subjects ranging from consumer behaviors and trends, brain science and buying behavior, store design and visual merchandising, hotel design and strategy as well as creativity and innovation. In his talks, David shares visionary ideas on how brand strategy, brain science and emerging technologies are changing guest expectations about relationships they want to have with brands and how companies can remain relevant in a digitally enabled marketplace. David currently brings his creativity and insight on brand experiences to an international audience as a member of VMSD magazine’s Editorial Advisory Board, as a Board Member of the Interactive Customer Experience Association (ICXA) and Sign Research Foundation’s (SRF) Program Committee.He has held teaching positions at New York’s Fashion Institute of Technology (F.I.T.), the Department of Architecture & Interior Design of Drexel University in Philadelphia, the Laboratory Institute of Merchandising (L.I.M.) in New York, the International Academy of Merchandising and Design in Montreal and he served as the Director of the Visual Merchandising Department at LaSalle International Fashion School (L.I.F.S.) in Singapore.  In 2014 Kepron published his first book titled: “Retail (r)Evolution: Why Creating Right-Brain Stores Will Shape the Future of Shopping in a Digitally Driven World” and he is currently working on his second book to be published soon. David also writes a popular blog called “Brain Food” which is published monthly on vmsd.com. In September of 2020, he launched the “NXTLVL Experience Design” podcast which brings listeners dialogues about “DATA: Design, Architecture, Technology and the Arts.” His guests include thought leaders who are driven by a passion to create the ‘New Possible’ and promote new paradigms of experiences into the mainstream. About Jonathan Cook:Jonathan’s Profile: linkedin.com/in/jonathanccookEmail: jonathan@currentdepths.comTwitter: JonathanCCookwebsite: https://ritualcommerce.com/   The next level experience design podcast is presented by VMSD magazine and Smartwork Media. It is hosted and executive produced by David Kepron. Our original music and audio production by Kano Sound. The content of this podcast is copywrite to David Kepron and NXTLVL Experience Design. Any publication or rebroadcast of the content is prohibited without the expressed written consent of David Kepron and NXTLVL Experience Design.Make sure to tune in for more NXTLVL “Dialogues on DATA: Design Architecture Technology and the Arts” wherever you find your favorite podcasts and make sure to visit vmsd.com and look for the tab for the NXTLVL Experience Design podcast there too.

About Jonathan Cook:Jonathan’s Profile: linkedin.com/in/jonathanccookEmail: jonathan@currentdepths.comTwitter: JonathanCCookwebsite: https://ritualcommerce.com/ Bio:Herman Melville wrote, "Some certain significance lurks in all things, else all things are little worth, and the round world itself but an empty cipher, except to sell by the cartload."​ This vision of the world inspires the core of my professional mission - to help people understand the deeper meaning of the apparently ordinary objects that they work with, and bring their work into accord with that meaning.Whether I'm working for non-profit organizations, political candidates, or corporate clients, my goal is the same: To explore the confluence of ideas that matter and tactics that work. I offer tools in research, strategic analysis and practical applications that lead to unexpected solutions to the most stubborn challenges.My expertise is in qualitative methods in market research that break through the rational justifications for behavior, to explore the deeper motivations that drive people to defy the expectations of mechanistic models. Instead of merely asking for opinions, I use techniques of interviewing, observation and analysis that are designed to create an experience that reveals hidden barriers as well as areas of unexpected potential, leading people to articulate powerful ideas that they didn't know they had.Gathering information is just the beginning of the research process. It's in the human interpretation of results that actionable opportunities are discovered. Using time-tested techniques of symbolic action, it is possible to overcome the dynamics of denial and to build sales through relationships that can transcend the trap of commoditization. To this end, I work with culturally-informed methods to help clients leverage the special characteristics of the threshold moments that move people from abstract interest into purchase and consumption. About David Kepron:LinkedIn Profile: linkedin.com/in/david-kepron-9a1582bWebsites:  https://www.davidkepron.com    (personal website)vmsd.com/taxonomy/term/8645  (Blog)Email: david.kepron@NXTLVLexperiencedesign.comTwitter: DavidKepron The next level experience design podcast is presented by VMSD magazine and Smartwork Media. It is hosted and executive produced by David Kepron. Our original music and audio production by Kano Sound. The content of this podcast is copywrite to David Kepron and NXTLVL Experience Design. Any publication or rebroadcast of the content is prohibited without the expressed written consent of David Kepron and NXTLVL Experience Design.Make sure to tune in for more NXTLVL “Dialogues on DATA: Design Architecture Technology and the Arts” wherever you find your favorite podcasts and make sure to visit vmsd.com and look for the tab for the NXTLVL Experience Design podcast there too.

About Marcos:Marcos’ LinkedIn Profile: linkedin.com/in/marcosterenzioWebsite: igotchamedia.comPhone Direct Line:  416.567.8957Email: marcos.terenzio@igotchamedia.com Twitter: marcosterenzioBio:Marcos Terenzio is an executive, strategist, artist, creative director, graphic designer & digital visionary. He brings 25 years of award winning experience creating integrated brand experiences for international fortune 500 clients. Marcos is a proven leader with a long history of delivering strategic and creative solutions, winning new business, building client relationships and increasing revenue. He has been focused in the retail sector for the past 15 years, delivering brand experiences that emotionally connect, empowering my clients to own the moment of purchase and build meaningful relationships with their customers.​He oversees the integration of creative solutions that converge with technology, innovation, brand, and design. Marcos provides motivational and creatively conducive approaches to my teams that inspire and nurture ideation and artistic expression. He is able to balance this culture with business minded leadership that facilitates growth and increases profitability and  utilize omni-channel approaches to effectively engage, communicate, captivate and deliver results on business objectives. ​Marcos is Vice President of Creative & Strategy for iGotcha Media a leading digital experience agency. Prior to this he was Director of Digital Creative Experience at Shikatani Lacroix (SLD) one of Canada's leading branding and design agencies where he helped transform a traditional brand design firm into a fully integrated brand experience agency with digital as a new core service. Marcos was part owner and head of creative for a successful small boutique agency named Spot Digital and helped to launch a digital agency for one of Canada’s largest privately owned communications companies where he provided strategy, lead creative direction and design for omni-channel communications.Notable Accounts:Adidas, Reebok, Nike, MLB Toronto Blue Jays, Sportcheck, Bell, Rogers, AT&T, CWC, FLOW, Samsung, LG, Sharp, The Source, Glentel, Sony, TD Bank, U.S. Bank, Regions Bank, CZ Bank, National Bank, PC Financial, Thomson Reuters, Walmart, Loblaws, PC, Giant Tiger, Metro, Sobeys, Shoppers Drug Mart, Canon, BMW, Volvo, Acura, Nissan, Kraft, Starbucks, Dunkin' Donuts, McDonalds, Burger King and more.About David Kepron: LinkedIn Profile: linkedin.com/in/david-kepron-9a1582bWebsites:  https://www.davidkepron.com  (personal website)vmsd.com/taxonomy/term/8645  (Blog)Email: david.kepron@NXTLVLexperiencedesign.comTwitter: DavidKepron  The next level experience design podcast is presented by VMSD magazine and Smartwork Media. It is hosted and executive produced by David Kepron. Our original music and audio production by Kano Sound. The content of this podcast is copywrite to David Kepron and NXTLVL Experience Design. Any publication or rebroadcast of the content is prohibited without the expressed written consent of David Kepron and NXTLVL Experience Design.Make sure to tune in for more NXTLVL “Dialogues on DATA: Design Architecture Technology and the Arts” wherever you find your favorite podcasts and make sure to visit vmsd.com and look for the tab for the NXTLVL Experience Design podcast there too.

About Nichol Bradford :Nichol’s Profile: linkedin.com/in/nicholbradfordWebsites:finderscourse.com  (Company Website)mskincorporated.com  (Book Website)transtechlab.org  (Company Website)Phone: 415-413-6521 (Work)Email: nichol.bradford@gmail.comTwitter: Nichol_BradfordTitle: Executive Director and co-founder of the Transformative Technology Lab, ConferenceBio: My purpose is to weave wellbeing, technology and science into new ground and practical possibilities for all of us. My mission is to empower humans to grow and expand by creating or curating new visions, opportunities, and tech enabled tools for all. I do this by investing in founders who build wellbeing tech through a global non-profit.I co-founded and built Transformative Tech.org, a global ecosystem dedicated to educating, gathering, and activating wellbeing tech founders, investors, and innovators. Today, we have members in 72 countries and 450 cities and our tentpole events online or in person attract 1K+ attendees. We help founders leveraging exponential tech for mental and emotional wellbeing, social and emotional wellness, and human potential and performance find feedback, funding, and friends. We help investors find the best wellbeing tech founders and companies. I help corporate innovators understand and apply these powerful tools.Prior to Transformative Tech, I served as senior interactive entertainment executive with responsibility for strategy, operations and marketing for major brands that include: Activision Blizzard, Disney, and Vivendi. Highlights included operating World of Warcraft and all of Blizzard Entertainment’s properties in China as well as holding a key role on the Vivendi Games team responsible for the Activision-Blizzard merger -- an $18B deal and an industry defining event. I believe these worlds will merge and one day games will become powerful tools of human transformation -- and I am working towards this goal today.I speak extensively on Human Transformation, Transformative Tech, the Future of Health, Work, and Human Excellence, and Flourishing Cities. I am a lecturer at Stanford University, have an MBA from the Wharton School of Business, and attended Singularity University’s Global Solutions program. I am a novelist and have written The Sisterhood, a work of transformative Afro-futuristic fiction. Outside of work, my two favorite activities are meditation and combat sports.Episode Intro:When I was growing up, watching Star Trek was a weekly happening with my brothers and father. From the early years of campy sci-fi tech to all of the years and iterations afterwards, Star Trek kept my believing in the power of technology and the opportunity, should we choose to embrace it, ‘to boldly go where no man has gone before.’I love science fiction, and today science and technology is less fiction than a reality that is fundamentally shaping our human experience. What we can do today, what we have come to understand about our selves and the universe in the past decade, has been on an exponential growth curve that is reaching a near vertical trajectory. Equally, I see the inherent challenges with humans who are not particularly well adapted to meet the circumstances of exponential rates of change. Our biology and neurophysiology weren’t made for the change of pressure we are now under. This has consequences on us personally and as a global community.I’ve taken Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction courses, I meditate, create art to get into a flow space and have done emergency shavasana’s from time to time. And, I’ve used technology to help me along the way to transform.Nichol Bradford Nichol Bradford is also fascinated by human potential and technology. She is the Executive Director and co-founder of the Transformative Technology Lab. Prior to becoming a leader in Transformative Technology, Bradford was a senior executive in video games with responsibility for strategy, operations and marketing for major brands including operating World of Warcraft China.Nichol is a graduate of Singularity University GSP15, has an MBA from Wharton School of Business in Strategy, and a BBA in Marketing from the University of Houston. She speaks regularly on Transformation, Exponential Technology, and Culture at conferences like Singularity University’s Global Summit, Exponential Medicine, Katapult Future Fest, Wisdom 2.0 and more.I’ve invite Nichol to NXTLVL to share her extraordinary, and exponential, trajectory through the world of technology to now be one of the leaders in the industry. Someone who believes that “There is no nobler use of technology than to bring peace to the minds of mankind…”And...With that I welcome Nichol Bradford... About David Kepron: linkedin.com/in/david-kepron-9a1582bWebsites: https://www.davidkepron.com  (personal website)vmsd.com/taxonomy/term/8645  (Blog)Email: david.kepron@NXTLVLexperiencedesign.comTwitter: DavidKepron  The next level experience design podcast is presented by VMSD magazine and Smartwork Media. It is hosted and executive produced by David Kepron. Our original music and audio production by Kano Sound. The content of this podcast is copywrite to David Kepron and NXTLVL Experience Design. Any publication or rebroadcast of the content is prohibited without the expressed written consent of David Kepron and NXTLVL Experience Design.Make sure to tune in for more NXTLVL “Dialogues on DATA: Design Architecture Technology and the Arts” wherever you find your favorite podcasts and make sure to visit vmsd.com and look for the tab for the NXTLVL Experience Design podcast there too.