In this episode of A76, The Human Spark, I sit down again with friend of the pod Mick Champayne, a staff designer on Google’s Delight Team—the group behind those joyful little surprises on Google Search. Mick shares how she channels curiosity, humor, and serendipity into her work, from designing easter eggs for billions of users to keeping her personal illustration practice fresh. We discuss idea generation, staying inspired, and how simple habits—like collecting digital ephemera or snapping ...
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In this episode of A76, The Human Spark, I sit down again with friend of the pod Mick Champayne, a staff designer on Google’s Delight Team—the group behind those joyful little surprises on Google Search. Mick shares how she channels curiosity, humor, and serendipity into her work, from designing easter eggs for billions of users to keeping her personal illustration practice fresh. We discuss idea generation, staying inspired, and how simple habits—like collecting digital ephemera or snapping ...
In this episode of A76, The Human Spark, I sit down again with friend of the pod Mick Champayne, a staff designer on Google’s Delight Team—the group behind those joyful little surprises on Google Search. Mick shares how she channels curiosity, humor, and serendipity into her work, from designing easter eggs for billions of users to keeping her personal illustration practice fresh. We discuss idea generation, staying inspired, and how simple habits—like collecting digital ephemera or snapping ...
In this episode I catch up with Adam Weil, Senior Director of Research at Shapiro + Raj to talk about where good ideas come from and what separates the great ones from the noise. Adam’s career has spanned television networks to innovation agencies but what stands out most is his obsession with insightful storytelling. We talk about how he teaches younger researchers to transform data into stories that move people, how "iron sharpening iron” still sits at the center of his process and what The...
Welcome back to A76. This season, we’re stepping away from algorithms and turning back towards the people behind the ideas. And because we find ourselves in a world where generative AI can spin out thousand of versions of anything—I keep wondering where do the truly original ideas come from? So in Season 4, we’re exploring what I’m calling ~ The Human Spark. I’ll be talking with designers, creators, and adjacent makers—people who’ve built things that are unique. And together, we’ll dig ...
Welcome to this Patreon exclusive preview. If you’re new to A76’s Patreon or you’re listening to a preview for the first time, these exclusive episodes are where I talk about my production of the podcast, break down some of the discussions coming out of my free interviews. I bring new ideas here—things I’m kicking around—and I share additional content from those interviews. I used to call these Icebreaks because, well if you haven’t noticed we have an iceberg thing going on here at A76. And t...
In this deeply personal and expansive conversation, I sit down with Olivia Moore T., a talented designer whose roots in Detroit, radio and tech have fueled a career in experience design. We explore her origin story, the tension between creativity and capitalism, how nostalgia is reshaping Gen Z’s approach and the increasingly blurry line between tools and culture. Our conversation veers from thoughtful to playful, from systemic critique to personal honesty—making this episode both a mirror fo...
Who really benefits from our current AI assistants? In this final episode of the NoelAI mini-series on A76, I go on a deeply personal and sharply critical journey of the current state of AI assistants. And ask why—after years of hype—we still don’t have an assistant that truly serves us. Blending design thinking, cultural critique, and speculative hardware, I posit a radically user-centric vision for an AI assistant built around human needs and not tech company agendas. What would it look lik...
Welcome back from our mid-season break! In today’s pod, I chat with Jennifer Andrews, who leads the Experience Design team in Digitas’ New York office. We chat about web1, her personal origin story, Japanese culture, her work in the Accessibility Center of Excellence and AI's impact on design. And afterwards I highlight recent episodes and share how you can support A76. Recent free episodes: 030: The path to a carbon neutral A76 with Matt Saip 029: Personalized micro-interaction fails with No...
My goal is to make A76 sustainable in as many facets as I can. And for my 30th episode, I'm sharing my introductory conversation with Matt Saip, Head of Technology at Digitas Chicago, where we discuss the tech side of achieving this goal. We have an open discussion about calculating the exact carbon footprint of my production, the potential for green web hosting and sustainable tech. Shedding light on an area we so often taken for granted, the energy it takes to power our digital lives ...
Welcome to a new episode of A76. Today, we're taking a detour from our usual in-depth interviews with designers and makers to explore something a little different—micro-interactions and moments of personalization that could be vastly improved. If you're curious about what's happening over on our Patreon or if you simply want to support the A76 Design Pod, head over to patreon.com/A76designpod. By joining, you'll gain access to exclusive episodes and my original series on hyper-personalized AI...
This is an A76 Patreon preview Icebreak episode coming off my interview with Tracy Kramer, President of BuzzCo. If you haven't listened to that interview you can find it here. If you're new to A76's Patreon, Icebreak episodes are exclusive for members, where I talk about my production of the podcast, break down some of the discussions coming out of my free interviews. I bring new ideas here, things I’m kicking around and I share additional interview content. You can sign up for the A76 Design...
In today’s episode I chat with Tracy Kramer. Tracy is the president of Buzz Company, a talent and recruitment agency based out of Chicago. I originally met Tracy while at design school, and she’s lead BuzzCo from a place of empathy and empowerment for decades. With roots in design, she just gets designers. And she loves not only helping designers find jobs but taking care of her people. We touch upon the state of the industry, the necessary changes BuzzCo has made over the years, a bit around...
Welcome to a new Icebreak episode coming off my conversation with friend of the pod Mick Champayne about design and play. If you haven't listened to that interview, hit pause on this one, and go check it out here first. It was a lot of fun. If you're new to A76's Patreon or are listening to a preview for the first time, Icebreaks are where I talk about my production of the podcast, break down some of the discussions coming out of my free interviews. I bring new ideas here, including things I’...
I’ve often found, that the best designers have a lightness about how they go about their craft. They regularly joke, don’t take themselves too seriously, and connect with others through humor. One minute they’re clowning, dropping memes and the next delivering a mind-blowing design perspective —and that’s definitely true of Mick. She’s a talented designer at Google working in the Doodles & Delight Team, a beloved Illustrator recently being named one of the Noun Project and Dribble’s top i...
This is an A76 Patreon preview of an Icebreak episode coming off my interview with Matt Saip; he's the SVP Tech Lead in the Digitas Chicago office. If you haven't listened to that interview you should listen to it first here. If you're new to A76's Patreon, Icebreak episodes are exclusive for members, where I talk about my production of the podcast, break down some of the discussions coming out of my free interviews. I bring new ideas here, things I’m kicking around and I share additional int...
In this A76 episode, I talk with Matt Saip the SVP Technology Lead at Digitas' Chicago office. Matt spends his days translating complex topics, rejecting technical language others use as a crutch, and seamlessy delivers innovative platforms and projects at a global scale. He scales by keeping it simple. He's a hard working tech leader, there’s no one better at it and I appreciate his partnership on my experience design projects. A76 was created by Noel Childs Season 3 on Scale is produ...
Introducing Season 3 of A76 How do we design for the future, for new users, for niche cultures and our greater global society? How do we take amazing ideas and make them real and when is scale a negative? Growing teams. Enterprise design systems. Personalization. From macro ecosystems to micro interactions, the Art and Science of Scale. A76 was created by Noel Childs Season 3 on Scale is produced by Noel Childs Season 2 on Change was produced by Noel Childs Season 1 on AI was produced by Cas...
In this bonus episode of the A76 design pod, I talk with the creator of our intro theme music, the talented artist and musician, Stella Solveig. She illuminates her writing and recording process, discusses what informed her decisions, including defining what design sounds like, and shares insights into her own personal music and career. Check out more of Stella’s music at Her website stellasolveig.com IG stella_solveig TikTok stella_solveig Youtube stella_solveig Spotify Stella Solvei...
Bringing you part 2 of my conversation with mentor and creative juggernaut, Frank Grubich. If you haven't listened to Part 1, definitely go check that out first. In this lively conversation, we chat about how walking your dog leads to deeper insights, the challenges designers face in being valued and how we all need to continue to push boundaries by taking risks and continuously asking questions. We get into managing change throughout the conversation, including showing clients options...
For today’s pod - I’m thrilled to bring you part 1 of my interview with Frank Grubich. He’s had a 35 year career that’s still going. He’s a creative juggernaut who owned a successful design agency for years called Laughing Dog—years before I designed with him. And he's worked on everything you can think of in the creative and design industry. Yet, the qualities I appreciate most about Frank are his insane curiosity and his passion to differentiate, all balanced with a surprising humor ...
In today’s episode, I talk with friend of the pod Casey Hudetz. He’s a Senior Product Design Manager at Docusign, an AI enthusiast and international speaker on all things AI, tech and UX Design. We chat about many things including reconnecting with the greater design community and building sails to catch the future winds of change. A76 was created by Noel Childs Season 3 on Scale is produced by Noel Childs Season 2 on Change was produced by Noel Childs Season 1 on AI was produced by Casey Hu...
In this episode of A76, The Human Spark, I sit down again with friend of the pod Mick Champayne, a staff designer on Google’s Delight Team—the group behind those joyful little surprises on Google Search. Mick shares how she channels curiosity, humor, and serendipity into her work, from designing easter eggs for billions of users to keeping her personal illustration practice fresh. We discuss idea generation, staying inspired, and how simple habits—like collecting digital ephemera or snapping ...
