This Is A Prototype

Written by: Doug Powell
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  • Summary

  • We are in the midst of an unprecedented time in the history of the design profession. Businesses are investing in design at rates never before seen—building scaled design teams of hundreds and even thousands of designers, and hiring design leaders into executive roles giving them influence and access at the highest levels.

    As an executive design leader myself, I’m fascinated by the experience of designers moving into these new leadership roles. For most of us this is completely uncharted territory, the jobs are often undefined and there is rarely a roadmap or playbook to help us succeed, so most of us have had to learn on the job.

    In each episode of This is a Prototype, I invite two design leaders who have traveled very different life and career journeys to share their stories, compare notes, and talk about what it takes to be a leader in this new era of design.
    Copyright Doug Powell 2023
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Episodes
  • S2•E10 Kevin Bethune

    S2•E10 Kevin Bethune
    Oct 8 2024
    In this episode—the finale of Season 2 of the series—I speak with renowned design leader and author Kevin Bethune.

    Kevin’s remarkably divergent career spans engineering, business and design over more than 25 years. He’s worked as a nuclear engineer at Westinghouse Nuclear, designed sneakers at Nike, and consulted with global enterprises at BCG. Kevin currently leads Dreams • Design + Life, a think tank that delivers design & innovation services using a human-centered approach.

    A Board Trustee for ArtCenter College of Design and a Board Director for the Design Management Institute, Kevin is the author of one of my favorite design books, Reimagining Design: Unlocking Strategic Innovation, which was published by MIT Press in 2022. Kevin’s next book, Nonlinear: Navigating Design with Curiosity and Conviction will be published in February of 2025.
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    44 mins
  • S2•E9 Jenna Date

    S2•E9 Jenna Date
    Sep 10 2024
    “We keep thinking that things are supposed to be static, but it’s always changing. It’s about reinvention and seeing the beauty in that.”

    As we’ve discussed throughout Season 2 of this series, we’re in the midst of a challenging time for the global design industry that is causing many established design leaders to face unexpected change and uncertainty — many for the first time in their career.

    My guest for this episode, Jenna Date, is a pioneering design practitioner, entrepreneur, educator, consultant and executive design leader. With deep experience leading design and innovation programs in the healthcare industry, Jenna also spent a decade teaching at the Human-Computer Interaction Institute at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. More recently she has relocated to Burlington, Vermont where I met her on a recent visit to that city.

    Jenna has navigated changing circumstances many times in her long career, and she brings a refreshing candor to our discussion, openly sharing the challenges and joys of professional and personal reinvention. Together we discuss the emotional strain we’re seeing in many of our design leadership peers, the increased need for supportive community connections, and specific tactics for approaching mid-career job searches.
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    45 mins
  • S2•E8 Richard Hollant

    S2•E8 Richard Hollant
    Aug 20 2024
    Throughout this season of the series I’ve been speaking with leaders who have used their design superpowers in community and civic leadership roles, and in this episode I continue that thread in my conversation with Richard Hollant.

    In 1988 Richard founded CO:LAB as a design consultancy with a focus on brand design and product launches. Over time the firm moved from its original home in Boston, to Hartford, Connecticut, and has shifted its focus from brand design to social impact work, engaging with community and cultural organizations in Hartford and across Connecticut. CO:LAB has won awards from PRINT, HOW, and Cause/Effect among others, and Richard has been featured in Business Weekly, Communication Arts, and Fast Company. A longtime leader in AIGA, the professional association for design in the US, Richard was appointed Commissioner of Cultural Affairs for the City of Hartford in 2017, and during the Covid pandemic he was tapped by the Mayor of Hartford to lead the strategic reopening of the arts, culture, and recreation throughout that city.

    In 2019, Richard founded Free Center—a collection of rehabilitated community spaces providing free access to arts, culture, trauma healing, and advocacy programming in forgotten neighborhoods across Connecticut.
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    44 mins

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