Design Life
Charli Prangley, Femke Van Schoonhoven
Design Life is a podcast about design and side projects for motivated creators. It was born after your hosts, two serial side project addicts, saw a gap in the podcast market for a conversational show about design and the issues young creatives face, that was hosted by two females.
This show aims to tackle the big issues designers face like getting paid, overcoming a creative block or managing time, to name a few. We want to open up discussion about things we wish we heard people talk about when we were studying, and we want to chat to you about the joys and the frustrations of working in the tech industry by day, and on our passion projects in the rest of our waking hours. We hope that by doing so, Design Life will give you a dose of motivation or inspiration when you need it.
This show aims to tackle the big issues designers face like getting paid, overcoming a creative block or managing time, to name a few. We want to open up discussion about things we wish we heard people talk about when we were studying, and we want to chat to you about the joys and the frustrations of working in the tech industry by day, and on our passion projects in the rest of our waking hours. We hope that by doing so, Design Life will give you a dose of motivation or inspiration when you need it.
Episodes
Mentioned books
Jun 5, 2018 • 35min
125: Travelling for work
As designers our jobs can be done from anywhere! Ironically this can often mean that we don’t need to travel for work within a company, but opportunities can still arise to work with a team in another office, visit a client, go on a user research trip or perhaps travel to a conference. In this episode we discuss our experience with travelling for work, and share advice on how to stay productive during the break in your usual routine.
Join the community to get free resources
Come to Craft + Commerce
May 28, 2018 • 33min
124: Getting content for your designs
There’s often more to a project than just design. As designers we regularly find ourselves working with illustrators, copywriters, photographers and more. In this episode we chat about how we’ve worked with content creators and their involvement in the design process.
In this episode we mention:
Things I use – Femke’s blog post
Nike+ Training App
ConvertKit ‘I Am a Blogger’
Webflow
Craft&Commerce Conference
Mackenzie Child
May 21, 2018 • 40min
123: The design handoff and validation process
Handing over your design to a developer or a team of engineers for it to be built is an important part of the design process. In this episode we talk about that handoff and how to make it run smoothly so that everyone is happy, and the finished product matches your design!
Are you a community member? Sign in to your account and get access to a free template of the Design Handoff Deck that you can use with your team. Sign up here.
How do you design a design doc by Dropbox
The power of the design doc by Deliveroo
Notion design doc template
Zeplin
Atomic
InVision
Coda
May 14, 2018 • 39min
122: Being a woman in tech
Despite all the advances the world has made with gender equality over the years, there is still a severe lack of women in tech. In this episode we discuss our experience entering the tech industry and sharing our thoughts and frustrations on the matter.
The Confidence Gap – Article on The Atlantic
Startup podcast
Phrases to replace ‘you guys’
Diversity and Inclusion at Patreon
May 7, 2018 • 32min
121: Trying new design tools
For many designers, deciding what new design or prototyping tool to choose can be overwhelming, with new tools launching every month! How can you choose the right one while also maximising your time? In this episode we discuss how we go about learning a new tool and how we choose which tool to learn.
Apr 30, 2018 • 38min
120: Our biggest flaws as designers
In this episode, we share our current struggles, both personal and professional and what we are doing to overcome them. We also look at the struggles we faced in our careers in the past, and talk about the catalysts that helped us to change.
Ladies that UX Amsterdam
Ladies that UX London
Tobias Van Schneider
Join the community!
Apr 23, 2018 • 37min
119: Setting career goals
I think also goals are good checkpoints, like the time before you reach the goal is obviously a really important time but I think afterwards is equally important like stop reflect okay I achieved this and then think about what could be the next one
Apr 16, 2018 • 37min
118: Too many passions, not enough time
Ever have that feeling where you have too many passions and not enough time to do it all? This week we address this question from a listener who’s been struggling with feeling as though she has too many passions, and share our experience.
Apr 2, 2018 • 45min
117: Articulating design decisions
Recently, Femke attended a workshop about articulating design decisions and in this episode she shares a few nuggets of wisdom she learned there with you. We also discuss our experience presenting our work and getting stakeholders on board, and answer questions from our listeners.
Mar 12, 2018 • 35min
116: An alternative approach to networking
Networking is a vital part of your design career, but at conferences or meetups it can be hard to drive a meaningful conversation. In this episode we discuss ways to move beyond ‘what do you do?’ when talking to new people at an event and share some examples of times when connecting on a deeper level has paid off for us.
