Shows
Patterns PodcastBuilding Trust: Designing Product Ecosystems in the Age of AISend us feedback or episode suggestions.Digital products no longer exist as standalone apps. They live inside complex ecosystems of interfaces, AI systems, legacy infrastructure, and workflows that all have to work together. In this episode of Patterns, Chris Strahl talks with product design leader Andi Rusu about what it takes to design reliable digital experiences in environments where multiple systems—and increasingly AI—are shaping how products behave.Drawing on experience at Disney, Sonos, Axon, and Microsoft, Andi explains why trust is becoming the central design challenge in modern product development. As AI becomes embe...
2026-03-1033 minPatterns PodcastInside the Alaska–Hawaiian Merger: Shipping a Multi-Brand Experience in 10 MonthsSend us feedback or episode suggestions.The Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines merger came with physical and regulatory deadlines that dictated an inflexible 10-month delivery window for digital and design work. With the timeline tied to real-world change, combined design, product, and engineering teams had to build and ship alongside a transformation that was already in motion.Chris Strahl talks with Noelle Lansford and Forrest Akemann about what it took to deliver a multi-brand experience under that pressure, while respecting the long histories and cultural significance of two iconic airline brands. From foundational decisions around...
2026-02-1041 min
Patterns PodcastDSP 139. Why the Future of Digital Production Starts With Code, Not a CanvasSend us feedback or episode suggestions.As AI compresses the distance between idea and execution, the abstractions that once made design tools necessary are becoming points of friction. In this conversation, Knapsack leaders Chris Strahl, Evan Lovely, and Robin Cannon make the case that the future of digital production starts in the medium products actually ship in, code. They unpack why design systems are infrastructure, not artifacts, how context becomes the critical input for enterprise AI, and why creating directly in code unlocks faster iteration with higher fidelity. This shift changes who gets to create, how teams...
2025-12-1734 min
Patterns PodcastDSP 137. Why You Shouldn’t Aim for Perfect: Building Design Systems That Deliver Business Value with Noelle LansfordSend us feedback or episode suggestions.If you’ve ever struggled to balance perfection with business reality, this episode is for you. In this episode of the Design Systems Podcast, Chris Strahl talks with Noelle Lansford, founder of Shep, about why chasing the “perfect system” often breaks more than it fixes. Drawing on her experience across startups and Fortune 5 companies, Noelle argues that design systems succeed when they serve people and the business—not when they chase architectural purity. She and Chris dig into the realities of relational alignment between design, engineering, and product, the shift from componen...
2025-11-1144 min
Patterns PodcastDSP 136. Are Design Systems Still for People? A Conversation with Elyse HolladaySend us feedback or episode suggestions.In this episode, Chris Strahl talks with Elyse Holladay—staff design engineer at Color Health and host of On Theme—about the evolution of design systems and how AI is reshaping the way we think about abstraction, collaboration, and contribution. They explore what it means to maintain relevance in a landscape where LLMs increasingly influence product development, and reflect on whether design systems are still for people—or for machines. Elyse shares a clear-eyed yet optimistic take on how AI can enhance, rather than replace, the work of design system practitioners.K...
2025-07-2245 min
Patterns PodcastDSP 135. The Infrastructure Behind Digital Production: A Conversation with Steve Dodier-LazaroSend us feedback or episode suggestions.Design systems aren’t just a UI toolkit—they’re the backbone of digital product creation and management. In this episode, engineer and researcher Steve Dodier-Lazaro joins Chris Strahl to unpack why treating design systems like standalone products is holding teams back. They explore what it really takes to scale product design and development in enterprise environments—from shared tooling and token standards to how AI and LLMs can bridge messy, real-world workflows.In this episode:Why design systems are dependencies, not deliverablesTools and standards shaping the future of digit...
2025-07-0836 min
Patterns PodcastDSP 134 Modernizing a Legend: Catherine Dubut Builds the Future at Ford ProSend us feedback or episode suggestions.What does it take to transform 121 years of automotive legacy into a modern digital ecosystem? Catherine Dubut, Director of Global UX Strategy at Ford Pro, joins Chris Strahl to share how her team is reengineering the organization’s fragmented product landscape into a scalable, unified digital assembly line.With over 80 legacy sites, 20+ global markets, and deeply siloed teams, the scale and complexity of Ford Pro’s challenge was immense. Catherine explains how her team brought structure to chaos—combining elements from outdated systems, building new foundations where needed, and stitch...
2025-06-1330 min
Patterns PodcastDSP 131. DSP Rewind | Rick Rodriguez on Building an Adaptable and Scalable Design systemSend us feedback or episode suggestions.This week, we're digging into the Design Systems Podcast archives. Guest host Richard Banfield, VP of Design Leadership at Knapsack, revisits a 2020 conversation between host Chris Strahl and Rick Rodriguez, then Head of Design Systems at Walmart Labs.Rick shares how his team developed Living Design, Walmart’s internal design system, to support both customer-facing and associate-facing digital products. The conversation explores what it takes to design for scale across a massive enterprise ecosystem, how to navigate legacy technologies while planning for the future, and how to engage people ac...
2025-04-1531 min
Patterns PodcastDSP 127. Building a Unified Design System for Instacart’s Multi-Product Ecosystem: Lessons for Success from Miranda BouckSend us feedback or episode suggestions.Increasingly, design systems need to support multi-product ecosystems with a diverse array of consumers and stakeholders. This week, Chris Strahl sits down with Miranda Bouck from Instacart to explore the intricacies of managing a multi-faceted design system. Miranda delves into the challenges and strategies of balancing the diverse needs of consumer apps, internal apps, and enterprise retail partners, all while maintaining system flexibility and performance. Learn how Instacart's small but mighty design system team effectively supports a vast network of designers, developers, and business partners. Tune in for a fascinating discussion...
2025-02-0431 min
Patterns PodcastDSP 126. Scaling Avalara's Design System to Support a Growth-By-Acquisition StrategySend us feedback or episode suggestions.Many enterprise organizations face the challenge of scaling their design systems as the scope of product support expands through adoption and acquisition.In this episode of the Design Systems Podcast, host Chris Strahl speaks with Will Rodenbough, Senior UX Designer at Avalara, about the critical role of design systems in enabling scalability and supporting a growth-by-acquisition strategy.Key Topics Covered:Scaling Through Systems Thinking: How Avalara's design system harmonizes diverse products across its growing ecosystem.Supporting Growth-by-Acquisition: Strategies for integrating acquired companies...
2025-01-2126 min
Patterns PodcastDSP 125. Inside H-E-B’s Digital Transformation: Adriana Morales on Design Systems That Empower TeamsSend us feedback or episode suggestions.In our first episode of 2025, Chris Strahl sits down with Adriana Morales, Design Principal at H-E-B, to explore the evolution, challenges, and triumphs of design systems in organizations at different stages of maturity. Adriana shares her journey from IBM to H-E-B, highlighting how each company’s unique financial priorities and cultural dynamics shape the mission and execution of their design systems. Together, they discuss the paradox of design systems: balancing constraints with creativity, and ensuring they enhance rather than hinder innovation. Adriana also offers actionable strategies for celebrating small wins, sustaining en...
2025-01-0737 min
Patterns PodcastDSP 124. From Ideas to Impact: Chris Strahl and Evan Lovely on Five Years of Design Systems InnovationSend us feedback or episode suggestions.In this special episode of the Design Systems Podcast, co-founders Chris Strahl and Evan Lovely celebrate five years of the podcast and reflect on their journey from agency work to building Knapsack. They discuss the evolution of design systems, lessons learned from working with global enterprise clients, and the importance of composability, constraints, and community in driving innovation. Enjoy anecdotes from their early days and a look ahead at the role of AI and design systems in the future.View the transcript of this episode.Check out...
2024-12-1034 min
Patterns PodcastDSP 122. Creating Cohesion from Chaos: The Role of Language and System Design with Ben CallahanSend us feedback or episode suggestions.Language shapes the way we think and structure the world we build. On this episode of The Design Systems Podcast, Chris Strahl sits down with Ben Callahan, co-founder of Sparkbox, to explore the critical role of language and communication in team dynamics, problem-solving, and system structures. Ben shares insights on how linguistic choices shape product creation and drive organization-wide cohesion. He argues that while common ground is essential, design systems should balance order with controlled "quenched disorder" to foster innovation, using flexible, layered structures that adapt to unique team needs and...
2024-11-1244 min
Design DowntimeChris Strahl Loves Dungeons & DragonsGrab on to your character sheet and roll for initiative, as Chris Strahl shares about his lifelong love of Dungeons & Dragons. He reflects on his early experiences of storytelling and shares insights on his growth as a Dungeon Master, adapting to the unexpected decisions his players make. Chris also talks about his involvement in professional DM'ing, running public games and corporate events, and how he navigates toxic behaviors to ensured a safe, inclusive environment for all players. Guest BioChris Strahl (he/him) is the CEO and co-founder of Knapsack and the host...
2024-10-0327 min
Patterns PodcastDSP 119. Rethinking Design Consistency: Debating Tokens vs. Components with ADPs Alice PreislerSend us feedback or episode suggestions.Are components a necessary part of a design system? In this episode of The Design Systems Podcast, Alice Preisler, the Product Owner of Design System at ADP challenges the idea that all design systems start with a component library. Alice and host, Chris Strahl discuss what starting with documentation and design tokens instead of components might do for a design system and product teams. Alice shares her vision of using a linting tool to enforce design consistency to create a cohesive user experience. Tune in for fun thought experiments and pragmatic...
2024-10-0132 min
Patterns PodcastDSP 117. Why Kate Moran Thinks Humans Are Essential to the Future of Generative UI and AI.Send us feedback or episode suggestions.What does the future of UX look like? In today's episode, our host, Chris Strahl, sits down with Kate Moran, the VP of Research and Content at Nielsen Norman Group. They explore the promise of hyper-personalized experiences, the challenges of resource limitations, and the innovative potential of AI in accelerating design processes. Kate touches on the balance between speed and risk when integrating AI into products, highlighting the significance of human input in maintaining brand consistency and preventing unpredictability. Their conversation addresses ethical considerations, data privacy, and the societal impact of...
2024-09-0342 min
Patterns PodcastDSP 116. Designed for success: How Guy Segal Built a Design System that Product Teams Want to Use.Send us feedback or episode suggestions.In this episode of The Design Systems Podcast, Chris Strahl welcomes Guy Segal, the director of digital ecosystem and design systems at Thomson Reuters. Guy shares his experience of building a design system that serves over 150+ brands and the importance of having a point of view when you are working to bring both quality and consistency to a large portfolio of products. From design system missionaries to trojan horses to carrots and sticks, Guy and Chris talk about how to gain the buy-in you need to build a design system product...
2024-08-2030 min
Patterns PodcastDSP 114. Design Systems and Ways of Working: Nick Hahn on Collaboration, Adoption, and AISend us feedback or episode suggestions.This week we are joined by Nick Hahn to explore how designers, engineers, product managers, and entire organizations have changed the way they think about and work with design systems. Nick shares insight from his experiences at IBM, InVision, Meta, and Bill.com to highlight the importance of collaboration, governance, education, and cultural adoption. Join host, Chris Strahl and Nick to understand how design systems evolved and what’s next..View the transcript of this episode.Check out our upcoming events....
2024-07-0935 min
Patterns PodcastDSP 112. Creating Effective Design Systems for Small and Mid-Size Companies: Apiture’s JourneySend us feedback or episode suggestions.Today’s episode features Ashley Willard and Sarah Kimball (Skim) from Apiture, a smallish fintech company with big enterprise ambitions for its design system. Host Christ Strahl chats with Ashley and Skim about the challenges and opportunities their small team faces trying to navigate the complexities of building a design system that unifies the look and feel of different products and technologies and helps accelerate product delivery. Whether you're working in a large enterprise or a growing startup, their story provides valuable lessons on creating and maintaining effective design systems....
2024-06-2728 min
Patterns PodcastDSP 111. How AI is Revolutionizing Design Systems and Customer Experiences with Dave CallejaSend us feedback or episode suggestions.Chris Strahl welcomes Dave Calleja back to the podcast to discuss the changing nature of design systems, integrating AI into the human creative process, and how to use behavior data for real-time design adaptations. Dave shares his views on the importance of design systems to customer experiences and how modern tools help scale personalized experiences that align with brand vision. Tune in to discover how the future of design systems is being shaped by AI, automation, and personalized content.View the transcript of this episode.Check out...
2024-06-1241 minPatterns Podcast108. U.S. Bank’s Beau Ulrey on Building Trust Through Design SystemsSend us feedback or episode suggestions.On this episode of the Design Systems Podcast, we're thrilled to have Beau Ulrey, the Design System Manager at U.S. Bank, join host Chris Strahl live at the Kiln space in Portland. Today’s episode deep dives into the intricate world where design meets development. Beau will share his fascinating journey from a design and photography background to becoming a pioneer in interaction design at IBM, and his current influential role at U.S. Bank. Beau and Chris discuss the vital role design systems play in building customer trust through co...
2024-04-3031 minPatterns Podcast107. The Evolution of IBM's Carbon Design System with Scott StrubbergSend us feedback or episode suggestions.Join host Chris Strahl as he welcomes our guest Scott Strubberg to the Design Systems Podcast. Scott is a product manager and a key figure behind IBM's Carbon Design System. Today’s conversation unravels the complexities and innovations of integrating brand consistency across digital and physical realms. Chris and Scott explore how feedback and community contributions shape the system's evolution, and delve into IBM's unique "brand first" approach. Tune in to discover the strenuous yet rewarding process of managing design systems at scale and the significant role of community and partnerships in...
2024-04-1634 min
The Podcast Goes ToLet’s Dance 2024 – Analyse zur RTL TV-Show#0 – Es geht wieder los! Am 23. Februar 2024 startet die 17. Staffel der beliebtesten deutschen Tanzshow im Fernsehen: Let’s Dance.
14 hochmotivierte Prominente wagen sich dann wieder auf das Parkett und beginnen ihre individuelle Tanzreise.
Den Auftakt bildet die große Kennenlernshow, in der sich entscheidet, welche Promis mit welchen Profis zusammen tanzen werden.
Joachim Llambi, Motsi Mabuse und Jorge González beurteilen wie gewohnt die Performances. Victoria Swarovski und Daniel Hartwich führen als Moderations-Duo durch die zwölf Live-Shows und die große Kennenlernshow.
Die Kandidaten 2024: Ann-Kathrin Bendixen (24, Influencerin & Autorin); Eva Padberg (44, Model & Sängerin); Jana Wosnitza (30, Sportjournalistin & NFL-Moderatorin); Lina Larissa Strahl (26...
2024-02-2227 minPatterns Podcast96. Jina Anne and Adekunle Oduye: Navigating Career Pathways in Design SystemsSend us feedback or episode suggestions.Jina Anne and Adekunle Oduye join host Chris Strahl in a candid conversation that explores career pathways within the evolving realm of design systems amidst the latest market conditions. They share valuable insights on how the key to thriving in uncertain times is through understanding the nuanced dance between business language and design practice. Jina, renowned for her pioneering efforts in design tokens at Salesforce, illustrates the importance of scalability and care for user experience. Adekunle, drawing from his experience as lead design engineer at Plaid, discusses the intricate balancing act...
2024-01-1644 min
SaaS FuelChris Strahl - Decoding Enterprise Design: Your Blueprint to BrillianceWelcome to another thrilling episode of SaaS Fuel Podcast! Join Jeff as he dives deep into the world of enterprise software with Chris Strahl, the CEO and co-founder of Knapsack, an enterprise software platform that unites product, design, and engineering teams in one workspace, offering a source of truth for collaborative digital product development. Today, Chris spills the beans on Knapsack's journey, from inception in 2020 to becoming the go-to source of truth for some of the biggest names in the game. We're talking design systems, securing funding, and the intricacies of carving out a niche that truly...
2024-01-1658 minPatterns Podcast94. Josh Clark, Founder of Big Medium: Scaling Digital Strategy Within Complex OrganizationsSend us feedback or episode suggestions.Josh Clark and Chris Strahl dive into an in-depth discussion about navigating the digital landscape amidst economic unpredictability. They discuss the intricacies of building and maintaining design systems in large organizations, addressing the challenges of scaling, and emphasizing the strategic value of digital investments. Josh, an advocate for design systems as capital expenditure, shares his expertise on how these systems contribute to product development, impact revenue, and enhance customer retention, all while ensuring a balance between innovation and automation.View the transcript of this episode.Check out...
2023-12-1941 minPatterns Podcast93. Nathan Curtis, Co-founder of EightShapes: Balancing reuse and customization in UI DesignSend us feedback or episode suggestions.Chris Strahl sits with Nathan Curtis as he explores the delicate balance between reusing existing components and creating customized solutions in UI design. They unpack the complexities of design systems, touching on everything from color selection to ensuring functional and aesthetic harmony, providing insights on principled design choices in a world where reuse and customization are equally important.View the transcript of this episode here.Check out our upcoming events here.Guest...
2023-12-1338 minPatterns Podcast92. Lisa Apers Independent Designer and Researcher: Tailoring UIs with brainwaves for personalized user experiencesSend us feedback or episode suggestions.Join Chris Strahl as he sits with Lisa Apers, a visionary in UI design, as she presents her innovative research on brainwave-responsive user interfaces. Explore how EEG sensors integrated into UIs can revolutionize our digital experiences, creating interfaces that dynamically adapt to individual cognitive states and daily activities. View the transcript of this episode here.Check out our upcoming events here.GuestI’m an independent designer and researcher. Partnering with change makers, I cra...
2023-11-3027 minPatterns Podcast91. Designing diversity: Crafting tiered systems for a global market with Tim Banker at Slalom ConsultingSend us feedback or episode suggestions.Join Chris Strahl and Tim Banker on an exciting dive into the world of innovative design systems. They explore the creation of tailored solutions for a diverse range of global markets, showcasing how a 'system of systems' approach can meet various needs, from marketing to transactional experiences. Get ready to transcend the one-size-fits-all model and redefine design flexibility.View the transcript of this episode here.Register here for our upcoming webinar, ‘Design System Roadmap & Strategy for the Enterprise’ on November 29th. ...
2023-11-1631 minPatterns Podcast90. The innovation triad: Needs, coverage and adoption with Alex Wilson and Jon Reidy at T. Rowe PriceSend us feedback or episode suggestions.Join Chris Strahl as he sits with Alex Wilson and Jon Reidy as they discuss their approach to evolving with community demands at T. Rowe Price. Dive into the dynamic process of identifying what drives your customers, crafting solutions that resonate, and ensuring widespread adoption of these innovations. View the transcript of this episode here.Register here for our upcoming webinar, ‘Design System Roadmap & Strategy for the Enterprise’ on November 29th. GuestAlex i...
2023-11-0933 minPatterns Podcast90. The innovation triad: Needs, coverage and adoption with Alex Wilson and Jon Reidy at T. Rowe PriceJoin Chris Strahl as he sits with Alex Wilson and Jon Reidy as they discuss their approach to evolving with community demands at T. Rowe Price. Dive into the dynamic process of identifying what drives your customers, crafting solutions that resonate, and ensuring widespread adoption of these innovations. View the transcript of this episode here.Register here for our upcoming webinar, ‘Design System Roadmap & Strategy for the Enterprise’ on November 29th. GuestsAlex is the Engineering Manager and Technical Lead of the Design System...
2023-11-0834 minPatterns Podcast89. Metrics matter: Harnessing usage data for adoption, coverage, efficiency, and quality with Maya Hampton at REISend us feedback or episode suggestions.Join Chris Strahl and Maya Hampton as they unpack the power of usage data and its pivotal role in driving adoption, efficiency, and quality. Dive deep, discover the real value of design systems, and see how every component counts!View the transcript of this episode here.Register here for our upcoming webinar, ‘Design System Roadmap & Strategy for the Enterprise’ on November 29th. GuestMaya is the Senior Digital Product Manager for Design Syste...
2023-11-0129 minPatterns Podcast88. Beyond isolation: Harmonizing products in a design ecosystem with JJ Rogers at WatermarkSend us feedback or episode suggestions.Join Chris Strahl and JJ Rogers, as they explore the challenges and triumphs of harmonizing diverse products at Watermark, highlighting how a harmonized ecosystem elevates user experience and ensures consistent design across all platforms.View the transcript of this episode here.Check out our upcoming events here.GuestJJ Rogers serves as Director of Product Design at Watermark, a software provider helping institutions engage educators and learners to improve institutional effectiveness, program...
2023-10-2627 minPatterns Podcast87. Designing success: Crafting principles for passkey adoption with Kevin Goldman and Sierre Wolfkostin at FIDO AllianceSend us feedback or episode suggestions.Join Chris Strahl, Kevin Goldman, and Sierre Wolfkostin as they sit down to explore the Fido Alliance's mission of revolutionizing online authentication by eliminating traditional passwords and replacing them with secure and user-friendly passkeys. Discover how these principles, tested and proven, are set to transform user experiences and incentivize the widespread use of passkeys, offering a glimpse into the future of design systems.View the transcript of this episode here.Register here for our upcoming webinar, ‘What Really Matters in Design Sy...
2023-10-1834 minPatterns Podcast86. From consistency to contribution: How design systems grow trees with Jay Smith at REISend us feedback or episode suggestions.Chris Strahl sits with Jay Smith as they unravel the secrets of REI's design system consistency. Uncover how their groundbreaking approach to design, colors, and tokens is reshaping standards. With an eco-friendly twist: for every contribution to the system, trees are planted. As the system grows, so does a forest.View the transcript of this episode here.Register here for our upcoming webinar, ‘What Really Matters in Design Systems’ on October 25th. GuestJay...
2023-10-0434 minPatterns Podcast85. Driving speed and consistency: The power of design systems in startups with Jamie Totten at KlueSend us feedback or episode suggestions.Chris Strahl sits with Jamie Totten from Klue and they unpack the unique challenges and benefits of implementing a design system in a fast-paced startup. Drawing inspiration from Spotify's "guild format", they emphasize the importance of voluntary commitment, maintaining positivity and on making the most with limited resources.View the transcript of this episode here.Register here for our upcoming webinar, ‘What Really Matters in Design Systems’ on October 25th. GuestJamie Totte...
2023-09-2729 minPatterns Podcast84. Digital typography: Suggesting, not dictating with Juli Sombat at Spotify and Jason Pamental at ChewySend us feedback or episode suggestions.Chris Strahl sits with Juli Sombat from Spotify and Jason Pamental from Chewy as they unravel the evolution of digital typography, emphasizing the shift from dictation to suggestion. They explore the dynamic between designers and users and the transformative power of user customization.View the transcript of this episode here.Register here for our upcoming webinar, ‘What Really Matters in Design Systems’ on October 25th.GuestsJuli Sombat is the design lead for Enco...
2023-09-2139 minPatterns Podcast83. Breaking silos and enhancing teamwork in design systems with Tony Pantello and Chris Henke at AccutechSend us feedback or episode suggestions.Chris Strahl sits with Tony Pantello and Chris Henke who tackle the age-old conflict between design and development. They discuss harnessing the power of design systems to streamline collaboration, conquer inefficiency, and unlock the true potential of their teams.View the transcript of this episode here.Register here for our upcoming webinar, ‘What Really Matters in Design Systems’ on October 25th. GuestTony Pantello is a Senior UI/UX Designer and Product Design Team...
2023-09-1334 minPatterns Podcast82. Design system revamp: Unpacking Monster's UX odyssey with Billea BreenSend us feedback or episode suggestions.Chris Strahl and Billea Breen explore the essential interaction between design and development to craft a flawless user experience, offering tactics to maintain consistency and enhance workflows.View the transcript of this episode here.Register here for our upcoming webinar, ‘What Really Matters in Design Systems’ on October 25th. GuestMeet Billea, the Senior UX Designer at Monster who weaves tech magic into seamless user experiences. With a knack for bridging design and d...
2023-09-0631 minPatterns Podcast81. Embracing change with Mark Reynolds, Design System Consultant: How design and engineering roles are evolving in design systemsSend us feedback or episode suggestions.Chris Strahl and Mark Reynolyds navigate the ever-changing world of design systems, exploring the idea that design and engineering roles will become more aligned in the near future.View the transcript of this episode here.Register here for our upcoming webinar, ‘Theming in Complex Ecosystems’ with Donnie D’Amato on August 30th. GuestMark Reynolds is a design systems expert who works with enterprise organisations to set up successful design system practices. He is a...
2023-08-3037 minPatterns Podcast80. Bridging Code & Creativity with Kevin Broich at CiscoSend us feedback or episode suggestions.Chris Strahl talks with Kevin Broich about his transition from backend developer to designer at Cisco. Kevin shares insights on creating a crucial CSS-based UI kit for Cisco's major rebranding phase and more.View the transcript of this episode here.Register here for our upcoming webinar, ‘Theming in Complex Ecosystems’ with Donnie D’Amato on August 30th. GuestKevin Broich, Design Systems advocate. Experienced front-end architect, developer, designer and UI evangelist. I live at...
2023-08-2238 minPatterns Podcast79. Inside Pinterest's Gestalt System with Product Designers, Kate Halvorsen and Cintia Romero: A community-centric approachSend us feedback or episode suggestions.Chris Strahl chats with Kate and Cinita on Pinterest's design system, Gestalt. Learn how their team built a system prioritizing documentation, inclusivity and accessibility. A space designed to ensure global and remote activity, encouraging users to easily contribute and communicate effectively. View the transcript of this episode here.Register here for our upcoming webinar, ‘Theming in Complex Ecosystems’ with Donnie D’Amato on August 30th. GuestsKate Halvorsen is a product designer based in...
2023-08-1542 minPatterns Podcast78. Bridging the design-code gap at Meta, a multidisciplinary approach with Sriram RamasubramanianSend us feedback or episode suggestions.Join Chris Strahl as he sits down with Sriram Ramasubramanian from Meta to discuss the intricacies of designing at scale. Dive deep into the world of design systems, Figma plugins, design tokens, and the challenges of interoperability across multiple platforms.View the transcript of this episode here.Register here for our upcoming webinar, ‘Theming in Complex Ecosystems’ with Donnie D’Amato on August 30th. GuestSriram Ramasubramanian is a Senior Engineering Manager supporting Design...
2023-08-0828 minPatterns Podcast71. Chris Deluca Senior Front-End Developer: People are the heart of design systemsSend us feedback or episode suggestions.Chris Deluca and Chris discuss the significance of prioritizing people in the process of developing design systems. They explore a central question that consistently arises: Whose lives are you striving to enrich and simplify?View the transcript of this episode here.GuestsChris DeLuca is a senior front end web developer from New Jersey with thirteen years of experience serving large organizations with complex needs, such as The Daily Beast, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and now Lullabot. He specializes in design s...
2023-05-2338 minPatterns Podcast70. Pinata's Kendall Totten interviews Knapsack CEO Chris Strahl: Design with code and AISend us feedback or episode suggestions.Kendall and Chris discuss how design systems represent the strategic platform for how a company creates product. View the transcript of this episode here.Register for our upcoming ‘Design Systems Buying Guide’ webinar on May 24th, 2 pm (EST), hosted by Chris Strahl and Dan Mall. GuestKendall Totten began as a graphic designer & frontend web dev and found Drupal early in her career. She contributed to the frontend for sites such as dallascowboys.com, weather.com & redhat.com. At Red Hat, she help...
2023-05-1658 minPatterns Podcast69. The single source of truth mentality: Meta Part TwoSend us feedback or episode suggestions.A round table discussion hosted by Chris and Andrew from Knapsack with the Meta Blueprint team, part two. View the transcript of this episode here.GuestsChristopher Clare - Director of Product DesignChris Clare is the Head of Foundation Design for FB App responsible for unifying the app through the Blueprint Design System, driving efficiency for the rest of the design org and giving capacity back to our teams to focus on innovation. Prior to this role, he...
2023-05-0920 minPatterns Podcast68. Driving Consistency Across Systems with Meta Part OneSend us feedback or episode suggestions.A round table discussion hosted by Chris and Andrew from Knapsack with the Meta Blueprint team (part one). View the transcript of this episode here.GuestsChristopher Clare - Director of Product DesignChris Clare is the Head of Foundation Design for FB App responsible for unifying the app through the Blueprint Design System, driving efficiency for the rest of the design org and giving capacity back to our teams to focus on innovation. Prior to this role, he...
2023-05-0217 minPatterns Podcast57. Francesco Cutolo from Klarna: Start from scratch, or build on existing design systems, which is more viable?Send us feedback or episode suggestions.Francesco and Chris discuss the importance of foundational concepts like code, that help secure buy-in and prove value within an organization. Thus, supporting Francesco's current thoughts that building on existing design systems proves to be more viable for his work at Klarna.View the transcript of this episode here.GuestsFrancesco Cutolo is a Design Manager (currently leading the design system) at Klarna. Born in Pompeii, he moved to Sweden after spending 10+ years building digital products for de...
2023-01-1030 min
BUILDERSChris Strahl, CEO of Knapsack: $7 Million Raised to Build the Future of Design SystemsIn today's episode of Category Visionaries, we speak with Chris Strahl, CEO of Knapsack, a design systems platform that has raised more than 7 million in funding, about his addiction to the more agile side of the business world, and why smaller companies are the way he likes to operate. With Knapsack, he's determined to reset the relationship between business and design, providing an integrated platform for collaboration and coordination which ensures the highest level of efficiency and consistency in the digital design process. The design systems platform category is all about providing the framework to support a whole range...
2022-12-2333 minPatterns Podcast56. Smith Schwartz, Product Design Manager & Tyce Clee, Engineering Manager at Spotify discuss their design system, EncoreSend us feedback or episode suggestions.Tyce and Smith discuss with Chris the concept of local systems and the focus on building areas within the business that extend past basics and build on core components that create variance. View the transcript of this episode here.GuestsTyce Clee is an Engineering Manager working on Encore, the design system for Spotify. They’re a big fan of arcade games, travel, and emo karaoke nights.Smith Schwartz is a Design Manager working on Ads Design System, an Enc...
2022-12-2041 minPatterns Podcast55. Todd Wilkens from Remote: The experience is the productSend us feedback or episode suggestions.Todd and Chris discuss shipping experiences, the experience being the product, and the math behind building a well-oiled design system. View the transcript of this episode here.GuestTodd is the Chief Product Officer of Remote where he leads all things Product, including the Product Management and Design teams. Todd has led Product, Design, and P&L at several market-leading companies including Atlassian, Automattic, Auctane, and IBM. He is passionate about systematic approaches to increase the speed and quality of product development. He s...
2022-12-0741 minPatterns Podcast54. Nick Hahn founder of Creative Liberation: Design systems are going to reduce the need for early career designers by 75%Send us feedback or episode suggestions.Nick and Chris discuss how 75% of production design jobs are going to go away, and what will replace this space. Ultimately, how do designers become proactive vs. reactive in an ever changing environment?View the transcript of this episode here.GuestNick Hahn, is the founder of Creative Liberation, a coaching and design consultancy. He has spent 20 years riding the rise of the Design industry through agencies and inhouse at IBM, InVision, and Meta. Nick now specializes in the human side of...
2022-11-2232 minPatterns Podcast53. Dana Lawson from Netlify: Bridging the gap between engineers and designersSend us feedback or episode suggestions.Dana Lawson and Chris discuss the future of design systems as it relates to the relationship between engineering leaders and design counterparts. View the transcript of this episode here.GuestDana Lawson is Senior Vice President of Engineering at Netlify overseeing Engineering and Support. Previously she has led and grown teams at GitHub, Heptio, InVision, and New Relic. She has over 20+ years of experience and has led many different teams and has worn many hats to c...
2022-11-1534 minPatterns Podcast52. Kathryn Gonzalez from DoorDash: Localize your design systemSend us feedback or episode suggestions.Kathryn Gonzalez and Chris discuss the evolution of design systems from centralized to localized and how DoorDash’s design system team is evolving as their system matures. Guest:Kathryn Gonzalez is the head of design infrastructure at DoorDash, where she leads design systems design, design systems engineering, accessibility, and prototyping. She was the first designer and front-end engineer at DoorDash and has been living at the intersection of design and engineering for her entire career. She loves startups, sports, and fashion and is a proud queer wo...
2022-10-2723 minPatterns Podcast51. Evan Lovely, Chris Bloom, Jake Love, and Brittany Smart from Knapsack: Hot Takes on the State of Design SystemsSend us feedback or episode suggestions.Evan Lovely (Head of Product & Engineering), Chris Bloom (Principal Front-End Engineer), Jake Love (Senior Solutions Engineer), and Brittany Smart (Solutions Engineer) join Chris to discuss the state of design systems today. Listen as the Knapsack team shares hot takes on everything from the lesser known elements of successful design systems to the role vulnerability should play in your system. Host:Chris Strahl is co-founder and CEO of Knapsack, host of @TheDSPod, DnD DM, and occasional river guide. You can find Chris on Twitter as @chrisstrahl a...
2022-09-2233 minPatterns Podcast50. Stephen Gates: What makes a good design leader?Send us feedback or episode suggestions.Stephen Gates and Chris discuss the realities of design system leadership, unconventional sources of inspiration, and the impact of design on society. Guest: With over 20 years of experience, Stephen is a global design leader who has built world-class teams at organizations that integrate research and data with human-centered design methods to drive business impact. He’s helped companies like Starwood Hotels, Citi, InVision, and WW scale their design practice and grow successful teams. Stephen is also the host of the award-winning podcast, The Crazy One, which features in...
2022-09-0637 minPatterns Podcast48. Meghan Rosatelli and Saejin Choi from Capital One: Navigating design system convergence, adoption, and contribution simultaneouslySend us feedback or episode suggestions.Meghan Rosatelli and Saejin Choi join Chris to discuss transitioning multiple design systems into one, shifting system consumers’ mindset from working with a local system to working with a global system, and using play to drive excitement and adoption of a design system.Guest: Meghan Rosatelli is the Director of Design for Capital One’s enterprise design system. She also teaches courses in digital arts at the University of Richmond. You can find Meghan on LinkedIn. Guest: Saejin is currently the Experience Lead for Capital One's design syst...
2022-06-0641 minPatterns Podcast47. Nick Dorman and Ellis Capon from News UK: Bridging old and new media with News UK’s design system, NewsKitSend us feedback or episode suggestions.Nick, Ellis, and Chris discuss how News UK’s design system, NewsKit, united multiple disparate brands in a central source of truth, and how infrastructure management has helped scale design and engineering practices.Guest: Ellis Capon is a Senior Product Manager at News UK, who looks after the NewsKit design system amongst other products within the NewsKit ecosystem. You can find Ellis on Twitter as @ellis_capon and on LinkedIn.Guest: Nick Dorman is Head of Design Systems at News UK, a design leader with over 15 years of...
2022-05-1635 minPatterns Podcast46. Davy Fung from Disney+/Hulu: Spicy takes on design system nuancesSend us feedback or episode suggestions.Curious about the fun parts of design systems? Check out this episode of the Design Systems Podcast featuring Davy Fung, co-host of design systems podcast Design System Office Hours, who joined Chris to talk about working creatively within design system constraints, common structures for design systems, and building a Jedi Council of Design System Advocates. Guest: Davy Fung formerly led design systems across Disney+, Hulu, and Star+, now at Meta working on design systems for Meta Business Suite. You can find Davy on Twitter as @cobradave, his po...
2022-05-0231 minPatterns Podcast45. Una Kravets from Google Chrome and Chris Bloom from Knapsack: The internet’s dirty secretSend us feedback or episode suggestions.Una, Chris, and Chris talk about production-level code, the accessibility of Web3, and the new sliced bread of the web. Prepare for Una to blow your mind with how dynamic CSS can be.Guest: Una Kravets is a Brooklyn-based developer who's making the web more styleable as a Developer Advocate at Google Chrome. Previously, she was the Director of Product Design at Bustle Digital Group and worked on building maintainable design systems as a UI Engineer at both DigitalOcean and IBM Design. She co-hosts two web development podcasts: Toolsday and...
2022-04-1849 minPatterns Podcast44. Corey Greeneltch from Compass: Why design systems should be part of your company’s DNASend us feedback or episode suggestions.Corey and Chris discuss how design systems represent an organization’s lifeblood, the sisyphean parts of design system maintenance, and what stands out about design system culture at Compass.Guest: Corey is the Head of Design Systems at Compass. He has made a career out of building and leading design teams through complicated enterprise challenges to create experiences that customers love. He has years of experience within agencies, consulting firms, and in-house organizations leading design teams, implementing enterprise-level design systems, and directing UX. He believes the best pr...
2022-04-0433 minPatterns PodcastSpecial announcement: Patterns, the design systems conference for leadersSend us feedback or episode suggestions.Last week Knapsack announced Patterns, the leadership-focused design systems retreat. Chris and Ryan Peterson, Knapsack's VP Marketing, and Chris talk about the what, why, and who behind Patterns, an invite-only retreat for 50 engineering, product, and design leaders. Curious about why it's focused on leader-level topics? Wondering if it will help you get more investment in your design system? List in to learn about what we're planning—and why you (or your manager) should go.Ryan Peterson is VP of Marketing at Knapsack and producer of @Th...
2022-03-3110 minPatterns Podcast43. Matt May and Veda Rosier from Adobe: Building an accessible, inclusive design systemSend us feedback or episode suggestions.Matt, Veda, and Chris discuss how Matt and Veda have incorporated accessibility and inclusion into one of the world’s most well-known design systems, Spectrum. Matt shares his experience getting accessibility principles into Spectrum on the ground floor, and Veda discusses how inclusion fits into design systems.Guests: Matt May is the Head of Inclusive Design at Adobe. His work includes integrating inclusive design practices across every aspect of the Adobe user experience, training and mentoring the Adobe Design team, and advocating principles of accessibility an...
2022-03-2141 minPatterns Podcast42. Neva Corbo-Hudak and Rogin Farrer from Wayfair: The long evolution of a web design systemSend us feedback or episode suggestions.Wayfair, the ubiquitous online retailer, is more than just wayfair.com: the company owns Perigold, Joss & Main, and Birch Lane. Neva, Rogin, and Chris discuss how Wayfair united three disparate design systems into one; the gradual process of building a holistic design system team; achieving cross-functional design system adoption, and the merits of overthinking.Guests: Neva Corbo-Hudak is the Product Design Lead at Wayfair. She’s a multidisciplinary designer passionate about crafting user-centered experiences. She is invigorated by the challenge of making complex information understandable, and particularly excited by mu...
2022-03-1447 minPatterns Podcast41. Mike Bowser from Vista: The past, present, and future of design systemsSend us feedback or episode suggestions.Mike and Chris discuss design systems at the enterprise level, the history of systems, and UX design at the beginning of the internet. Guest: Mike Bowser is the Design Director, Design Systems at Vista. He is a UX/UI designer, design team leader, and educator with expertise in design systems, UX research, and UI design. His recent focus is closing the gap between how we concept and design and how products are actually built. He’s also interested in the growing opportunities for automation in the future of UX des...
2022-02-0827 min
Content Strategy InsightsChris Strahl: Content in Design SystemsIn just a few short years, design systems have been adopted by most digital organizations. These systems free designers from many mundane design-production details, letting them focus on the creative aspects of their work. To this point, content has been an afterthought in many of these systems. Chris Strahl sees that changing in the next few years and predicts that content concerns will assume an important place in design systems. https://ellessmedia.com/csi/chris-strahl/
2021-12-0230 minContent Strategy InsightsChris Strahl: Content in Design SystemsIn just a few short years, design systems have been adopted by most digital organizations. These systems free designers from many mundane design-production details, letting them focus on the creative aspects of their work. To this point, content has been an afterthought in many of these systems. Chris Strahl sees that changing in the next few years and predicts that content concerns will assume an important place in design systems. https://ellessmedia.com/csi/chris-strahl/
2021-12-0230 minPatterns Podcast40. Zach Hendershot and Aaron Stone from Crux Digital: How agencies solve difficult technical problems for Fortune 1000 clientsSend us feedback or episode suggestions.Zach, Aaron, and Chris discuss the commonalities between design systems and products, as well as how a product-driven mindset can help your design systems achieve new levels of enterprise adoption and scale.Guest: Zach Hendershot is a Managing Partner at Crux Digital. He is a leader with a diverse background of building and growing digital products within startups and large enterprises. He's passionate about scaling, reusability, and great customer experiences everywhere, and has worked to find new ways to bridge the gap between great customer experience and...
2021-11-2947 minPatterns Podcast39. Stephen Gates from WW: Culture, design methodology, and design system ROISend us feedback or episode suggestions.Sit tight—this is a long one! Stephen Gates and Chris discuss the real value of design systems, what designers and football players have in common, and how to apply design methodology to day-to-day work.Guest: Stephen Gates is Senior Vice President of Omni-channel Product Design for WW. In this role, he is responsible for the design of WW’s end-to-end member experience across all digital, virtual, and physical touchpoints, to create a cohesive wellness experience and help unify members’ needs across channels.With over 20 years...
2021-11-151h 01Patterns Podcast38. Gina Calcaterra Bhawalkar from Forrester: Lorem ipsum won’t help your design systemSend us feedback or episode suggestions.Gina and Chris discuss the importance of real-deal content in your designs, defining “good design” for your company, and how to set effective, meaningful KPIs for design work.Guest: Gina is the Principal Analyst, Design and Accessibility, at Forrester Research. Her research focuses on experience design organizations, scaling design, accessibility, and inclusive design. You can find Gina on Forrester’s blog, on Twitter as @ginabhawalkar, and on LinkedIn.Host: Chris Strahl is co-founder and CEO of Knapsack, host of @TheDSPod, DnD DM, and occasi...
2021-11-0239 minPatterns Podcast37. Josh Cusick from Microsoft: Imagining design system utopiaSend us feedback or episode suggestions.Want to help the design systems community learn more about adoption? Take our four-minute survey.Microsoft’s Josh Cusick and Chris discuss how to convey intent when working with a design system, the importance of buy-in for a successful design system culture, and whether or not your design system will ever be finished.Guest: Josh Cusick is a product designer at Microsoft, working on Microsoft’s Fluent Design System and mentor at ADPList. You can find Josh on Medium and L...
2021-10-2923 minPatterns Podcast36. Deep Dive: Design System ROI with Robin Cannon from IBM iX and Danny Phillips from ProcoreSend us feedback or episode suggestions.Want to be part of the industry's first-ever report on design system adoption? Click here to take part in our 4-minute survey.In this deep-dive episode, Danny, Robin, and Chris discuss the differences and similarities of design systems at different stages of maturity, including ROI measurement; who should manage your design system, and how to create a balance of power between designers and developers working on your design system.Robin Cannon is the Global Director of Design Systems, IBM iX at...
2021-09-211h 12Patterns Podcast35. Leonardo De La Rocha from Intuit: Using one design system to manage dozens of productsSend us feedback or episode suggestions.Leonardo De La Rocha and Chris discuss the “federated” design system model, how to connect design systems to business needs, designing friction-free cross-platform experiences, and C-suite awareness of design needs.Guest: Lonardo De La Rocha is an engineer turned pixel-pusher turned creative executive and adviser. He currently serves as Director of Intuit Design System in Mountain View, CA, and was previously creative director leading Facebook's art department and business marketing surfaces and Yahoo's Head of Design for ads and publishing products. You can find Leonardo at his portf...
2021-07-0225 minPatterns Podcast34. Audrey Tan from Xero: Creating a long-lasting design system visionSend us feedback or episode suggestions.Audrey and Chris discuss the vision guiding Xero’s design system team, how co-ownership helps design system teams thrive, the processes she uses for managing a global team, and how the Xero design system team approaches modernization.Guest: Audrey has been designing digital experiences at high-growth technology companies for over 12 years. She’s passionate about growing teams to be their best through shipping product with impact. You can find Audrey at her personal site and on LinkedIn.Host: Chris Strahl is co-founder and CEO of Knapsack, host of...
2021-06-2131 minPatterns Podcast33. Jess Clark from LinkedIn: Old tech, new techSend us feedback or episode suggestions.Jess Clark and Chris discuss the meaning of design systems and the potential of design systems as a service. What can design systems offer us beyond infrastructure? How can approaching design systems as products, rather than repositories, increase their capabilities?Guest: Jess Clark is Director of Product Design, Design Systems at LinkedIn, where she is responsible for enabling quality design at scale through tools, collaboration, and LinkedIn’s Design System. Her team strives to empower and educate their peers to deliver amazing, inclusive, consistent ex...
2021-06-0744 minPatterns Podcast32. Deep dive on tokens with Adam Argyle from Google: How do you codify composition?Send us feedback or episode suggestions.This episode is a little bit longer—okay, a lot longer—than our usual. Chrome developer advocate Adam Argyle and Chris Strahl talk about tokens in all their glory without worrying about time limits. If you’ve ever wondered about the limits of tokens and what’s left to explore in the token stratosphere, check out this podcast.Guest: Adam Argyle is a Chrome CSS Developer Advocate at Google, creator of VisBug, co-host of The CSS Podcast, developer, former designer, and RPG enthusiast. You can find Adam at nerdy...
2021-05-172h 01Patterns Podcast31. Maya Hampton from REI: Pattern-based thinking on all levelsSend us feedback or episode suggestions.Maya Hampton and Chris discuss why design systems need to be flexible, the role of a product manager in a design system, and viewing design systems as products.Guest: Maya Hampton is the product manager of REI’s design system, where she leads a cross-functional team, including design and engineering, to help scale REI's branding and consistent UX across the co-op’s digital portfolio. You can find Maya on Medium, Twitter as @himaya, and LinkedIn.Host: Chris Strahl is co-founder and CEO of Knap...
2021-05-0344 minPatterns Podcast30. Jehad Affoneh from Splunk and Scott Mathis from VMware: Schrodinger's tokens, open-source, and componentsSend us feedback or episode suggestions.Jehad Affoneh, Scott Mathis, and Chris discuss the advantages of open-source, the role of content in design systems, the pattern-based approach to building apps, and similarities between music and tokens.Guests:Jehad Affoneh is Chief Design Officer at Splunk (formerly Head of Design at VMware). He’s an experienced design and business leader who writes frequently about user experience, leadership, management, and business. You can find Jehad at mynameisjehad.com, on Twitter as @jaffoneh, and on LinkedIn.Scott Mathis is the Technical Lead fo...
2021-04-1241 minPatterns Podcast29. Dave Calleja from Isobar: How agencies build design systemsSend us feedback or episode suggestions.Dave Calleja and Chris discuss getting clients to sign off on design systems, strategies for getting executive buy-in, and the role of designer as evangelist.Guest:Dave Calleja is Head of Design at Isobar. He’s been working in digital and UX for over 15 years, from tiny teams to federal government projects. At Isobar he’s pursuing a strong passion for developing insight-aware, hypothesis-led experimentation cultures to empower experience-led transformation. You can find Dave at davecalleja.net, on Twitter as @davecalleja, and on LinkedIn.Host:...
2021-03-2937 minPatterns Podcast28. Matthew Ström from SimpleHealth: Using design tokens to standardize deliverablesSend us feedback or episode suggestions.Matthew and Chris discuss what’s exciting about design tokens, how APIs streamline communication, the magic of standardized files, and how to spend less time copy-pasting.Guest:Matthew Ström is a Brooklyn-based design leader currently working as Director of Design at SimpleHealth. He’s previously led design teams at Dow Jones, SoundCloud, and Bitly, and he writes about design on his website, matthewstrom.com. You can find Matthew on Twitter as @ilikescience, on LinkedIn, and at matthewstrom.com.Host:Chris Strahl is co-fo...
2021-03-1536 minPatterns Podcast27. Jennie Yip from Atlassian: Storytelling to drive design system successSend us feedback or episode suggestions.Jennie and Chris discuss the critical role of storytelling for your design system, using learning moments to drive adoption, what comes next after launching your system, qualitative and quantitative ways to measure system success, and content strategies for design systems.Guest:Jennie Yip is a hybrid design engineer with a heart for elegant user interfaces, simple user experiences, and beautifully crafted code. She is currently focused on evolving Atlassian Design System, and previously Udacity’s Veritas Design System. Jennie loves multiplying systems thinking, organizing chaos, community building, an...
2021-02-0236 minPatterns Podcast26. Avery Oldt from Blermph: Embracing intentionality and creating trustSend us feedback or episode suggestions.Avery and Chris discuss lessons learned from design and development partnering up vs. making work an “us vs. them” thing, embracing intentionality and viewing all decisions through that lens, focusing on reuse and trust to help your design system gain traction across your organization.Guest:Avery Oldt is Founder & Chief Design Officer at Blermph, a creative studio that helps organizations build the great teams and great culture that produce great products. He has led design, product, and engineering teams at MTV, Restoration Hardware, LendingHome, LVMH, and Bank of t...
2021-01-1943 minPatterns Podcast25. Eric Lobdell from Facebook: Anticipating deviation to drive adoption and contributionSend us feedback or episode suggestions.Eric and Chris discuss how and why Facebook’s design system has evolved over time, anticipating deviation and its positive impact on adoption and contribution, getting other teams to think like system designers and empowering them to create their own systems, what signals to consider when measuring the success of your system and advocacy work.Guest:Eric Lobdell is a Design Systems Team Lead at Facebook, managing a button that’s touched over 3 million times an hour. You can find Eric at lobdell.me, on Twitter as @lobd...
2021-01-0536 minPatterns Podcast24. Nick Cochran from ExxonMobil: How to make doing the right thing the easy thingSend us feedback or episode suggestions.Nick and Chris discuss standing up a design system in 2016, serving development teams that didn’t have access to designers at the time, accelerating and amplifying the value of design, freeing up designers to focus on high-value problems, considerations and tactics for driving adoption, how design systems create internal communities that bring design and developers together, building on-brand and UX-compliant apps quickly in a diverse technology ecosystem.Guest:Nick Cochran is the Design Strategy Manager at ExxonMobil, aspiring photographer, baker of artisan breads, and purveyor of dad jo...
2020-12-1538 minPatterns Podcast23. Vidya Nayak from SoFi: Leading design systems across teamsSend us feedback or episode suggestions.Vidya and Chris discuss pathways to becoming a design systems leader, having a content strategy within your design system, personalization considerations, measuring the success of your design system, linking your design system to a broader design strategy, and more.Guest:Vidya Nayak is Design Director Member & Design Systems at SoFi, former design lead at Moody’s, Disney, Fox Digital (News Corp), and Rodale. Coffee, books, and travel lover. Guitar and pixel adorer. You can find Vidya at nayakvx.com, on Twitter as @nayakvm, and on LinkedIn.
2020-11-2531 minPatterns Podcast22. Demian Borba from Adobe: Understanding and harnessing the power of design tokensSend us feedback or episode suggestions.Demian and Chris discuss what design tokens are and why they are a critical part of any design system, getting developers more involved in the design system discipline, an exciting new way to integrate design tokens between design tools and VS Code, and how surfing relates to design tokens.Guest:Demian Borba is a Product Manager on Adobe XD (working on XD since 2015!), UX & Design Thinking advocate, and speaker. You can find Demian on Twitter as @demianborba and on LinkedIn.Host:Chris Strahl...
2020-11-0338 minPatterns Podcast21. Jina Anne from Clarity: A design system origin storySend us feedback or episode suggestions.Jina and Chris discuss the inception of design tokens and Theo during Jina’s time at Salesforce, the correlation between design systems and community building, shared ownership instead of governance, why “design systems are not a thing,” and more. Guest:Jina Anne is the Founder of Clarity, Creator of design.systems, and Co-Chair at Design Tokens W3C Community Group. You can find Jina at jina.design, on Twitter as @jina, and on LinkedIn.Host:Chris Strahl is co-founder and CEO of Knapsack, host o...
2020-10-2142 minPatterns Podcast20. Rick Rodriguez from Walmart Labs: Creating design systems that scaleSend us feedback or episode suggestions.Rick and Chris discuss deputizing evangelists to drive adoption and reduce fragmentation, contribution models and thinking about the areas to own vs. areas to share ownership vs. areas to give up ownership, using design systems to share innovation across teams, measuring design system efficacy, and more.Guest:Rick Rodriguez is Head of Design Systems at Walmart Labs, an avid runner, hand letterer and superfan of cappuccinos and donut breaks. You can find Rick on Twitter as @rickrodriguez, and on LinkedIn.Host:Chris Strahl...
2020-09-2941 minPatterns Podcast19. Morgane Peng from Societe Generale: The right level of complexity for the right peopleSend us feedback or episode suggestions.Morgane and Chris discuss threading design into the fabric of how business works, capturing a wide range of complexity needs within your design system, moving away from traditional design tools to providing a playground that enables anyone to design with code in the browser, lessons from game development and how they apply to design systems.Guest:Morgane Peng is Design Director at Societe Generale Corporate & Investment Banking, illustrator, speaker, and indie game developer at Koruldia. You can find Morgane at morganepeng.com, on Twitter as @morganepeng, on...
2020-09-0138 minPatterns Podcast18. Jason Lengstorf from Netlify: Failure, finding your way, and helping others adopt a new way of workingSend us feedback or episode suggestions.Jason Lengstorf and Chris discuss failure, self-doubt, and ultimately finding your way before switching gears and getting into designs systems, communicating the things that make teams want to adopt design systems, and an approach for broadening and deepening your experience with the technologies your system may benefit from.Guest:Jason Lengstorf is a Principal Developer Experience Engineer at Netlify, host of Learn With Jason, and writer. You can find Jason at jason.af, on Twitter as @jlengstorf, and on LinkedIn.Host:Chris Strahl...
2020-08-1943 minPatterns Podcast17. Varun Vachar from Rangle: The design graph and computational designSend us feedback or episode suggestions.Varun Vachar and Chris discuss the “design graph,” creating choice in governance models, building a foundation of tools when setting up new systems, and using computational design and machine learning with design systems. Varun was at Rangle when this episode was recorded but is now at Chromatic.Guest:Varun Vachar is a Developer Experience Engineer at Chromatic, formerly Director of Technology at Rangle, and generative art enthusiast. You can find Varun at varun.ca, on Twitter as @winkerVSbecks and on LinkedIn.Host:Chris Stra...
2020-08-0628 minPatterns Podcast16. Adam Argyle from Google: Making your design system freeing vs. constrainingSend us feedback or episode suggestions.Adam Argyle and Chris venture into “spicy opinion” territory and discuss when design systems are freeing vs. constraining, creating appropriate “offramps” for venturing outside of your design system, why designers ought to be proposing changes to code (aka making pull requests!), and decentralizing the human side of design systems to break down silos and enable innovation and enhancements to spread freely throughout your product teams.Guest:Adam Argyle is a Chrome CSS Developer Advocate at Google, creator of VisBug, co-host of The CSS Podcast, developer, former designer, and RPG...
2020-07-0857 minPatterns Podcast15. Stephen Gates: What are you doing about the people and trust aspects of your design system?Send us feedback or episode suggestions.Stephen Gates (currently at InVision; formerly at Citi and Starwood) and Chris discuss advice for leaders needing to drive adoption and success of their design systems, how to assess and foster trust between design system creators and consumers, treating design systems as infrastructure, and the Amazing Design People List to help designers find work during COVID-19.Guest:Stephen Gates is Head Design Evangelist at InVision, host of The Crazy One podcast, designer, and international keynote speaker. You can find Stephen on Twitter or Instagram as @sdgates and L...
2020-06-2335 minPatterns Podcast14. Mina Markham: Building shared culture and better collaboration between designers and developersSend us feedback or episode suggestions.Mina Markham (currently at Slack, formerly at Hillary For America and IBM) and Chris discuss getting executive buy-in, how to create space to continue advancing your design system, going beyond a shared language by building a shared culture, the story behind the Pantsuit Design System, and Beyoncé, of course. Guest:Mina Markham is Staff Engineer at Slack, design systems advocate, and international speaker. You can find Mina at mina.codes, on Twitter as @MinaMarkham, and on LinkedIn.Host:Chris Strahl is co-founder and CE...
2020-06-1133 minPatterns Podcast13. Micah Godbolt: Design and code meeting in the middle with Fluent UI at MicrosoftSend us feedback or episode suggestions.Chris and Micah discuss creating a singular design system that scales to support a massive app ecosystem, using tokens to align design across disparate products, and transitioning from individual teams working on many products to one company working on a library of products.Guest:Micah Godbolt is a design systems advocate, speaker, trainer, and writer. Micah is a software engineer for Fluent UI at Microsoft and author of Frontend Architecture for Design Systems published by O’Reilly Media. You can find Micah at micahgodbolt.com, on Twitter as...
2020-05-2030 minPatterns Podcast12. Ethan Marcotte: Design systems and the evolution of how we workSend us feedback or episode suggestions.Chris and Ethan discuss the parallels between design systems and responsive web design in terms of the impact on how teams design/develop digital products, creating a shared language and research as a means to build successful design systems, and where design systems are headed in the years to come.Guest:Ethan Marcotte is an independent web designer, writer, and speaker, and the fellow who started that “responsive web design” thing. You can find Ethan at ethanmarcotte.com, on Twitter as @beep and as @RWD, and on Link...
2020-05-1134 minPatterns Podcast11. Brad Frost and Evan Lovely: Code is the source of truthSend us feedback or episode suggestions.Chris talks with Brad Frost and Evan Lovely about why code is the real source of truth, how to bring designers and developers together around the code, and the opportunity design systems provide for designers to focus on creative contribution rather than producing more comps.Guests:Brad Frost is a web designer, speaker, writer, consultant, and musician in beautiful Pittsburgh, PA. Author of Atomic Design. You can find Brad on Twitter and LinkedIn.Evan Lovely is co-founder and CTO of Knapsack, crafter of design systems...
2020-04-2044 minPatterns Podcast10. Jeremy Keith: Overcoming entropy and turning chaos into orderSend us feedback or episode suggestions.Chris and Jeremy Keith discuss imbuing teams with a shared sense of ownership of their design system, creating design systems able to address unforeseen scenarios, design ops as an essential part of an effective design system, and more.Guest:Jeremy Keith is an Irish web developer working with @Clearleft, playing music with @SalterCane, creator of @Huffduffer. You can find Jeremy on Twitter and LinkedIn.Host:Chris Strahl is co-founder and CEO of Knapsack, DnD DM, and occasional river guide. You can find Chris...
2020-04-0246 minPatterns Podcast9. Charles Hall: Accessibility is good for your products and great for your businessSend us feedback or episode suggestions.Chris and Charles Hall talk about the impact of accessibility, how to build more accessible products, and the role design systems play in creating accessible outcomes.Guest:Charles Hall is a Senior UX Architect at MRM and an Invited Expert of the W3C Accessibility Guidelines Working Group. You can find Charles on Twitter and LinkedIn.Host:Chris Strahl is co-founder and CEO of Knapsack, DnD DM, and occasional river guide. You can find Chris on Twitter and LinkedIn.Links:
2020-03-2536 min
The Acquia Podcast50: Meet Chris Strahl and the Large Scale Drupal projectBefore Drupal, Chris Strahl had a successful career running his own company, doing multi-million dollar implementations with proprietary software, but he always had a private fascination with open source. Finding himself unwilling to sell an "antiquated, technically unsound, incredibly expensive" SAP eCommerce product to his clients, he and his colleagues developed and sold a Drupal-based platform solution. Read the full post at the Acquia Developer Center: https://dev.acquia.com/podcast/peddling-lsd-meet-chris-strahl-and-large-scale-drupal-project
2012-06-2113 min