Disegno Podcasts

AI technologies loom large in contemporary design discourse, but how well do we understand this new technology and the opportunities it presents? In recent years, IBM has been collaborating with Map Project Office and Universal Design Studio to design both AI hardware and the physical environments it inhabits, with the aim of making the technology more transparent and approachable. In this episode of Where Next? Conversations with Map Project Office, host Oli Stratford is joined by Maya Murad and Ryan Mellody from IBM, as well as Emilie Robinson and Lilsl du Toit from Map and Universal to discuss spatial design for new technologies, the dangers and opportunities of AI, and the necessity of catering to clients with different informational needs, from developers to scientists.

A live recording of How women might move design forward and engender social change through creative practice, a panel discussion recorded at the Royal College of Art in London on 19 September 2024.The panel was part of Design Stories London, a collaboration between London’s Royal College of Art and Warsaw’s SWPS University, supported by the British Council and Polish Cultural Institute London. It was hosted by Disegno's editor-in-chief Oli Stratford, and featured Alicja Bielawska, a visual artist and assistant professor at SWPS; Ewa Klekot, a professor of anthropologist with SWPS; Joyce Yee, a Professor of Design and Social Innovation at Northumbria School of Design; and Teal Triggs, a professor, historian and writer around graphic design at the Royal College of Art.This event served as a springboard for the upcoming edition of Design Stories Warsaw, scheduled for November 2025 as part of the UK/Poland Cultural Season 2025. The Warsaw edition will be part of the British Council's cultural exchange program between the UK and Poland. Design Stories is also a part of the wider Looking Through Objects project, including a touring exhibition, lecture series, talks and interviews organised in different locations across Poland, UK, Belgium and the Baltic states. This project is a collaboration between the Royal College of Art and SWPS University. It is supported by the British Council.

Screens dominate contemporary technology and the home, but we are regularly encouraged to see them as non-objects: glass voids that present a surface and nothing more. But what happens when we start to think of screens as objects in themselves, and how might we encourage more meaningful, intuitive interactions with technology by doing so? In this episode of Where Next? Conversations with Map Project Office, host Oli Stratford is joined by Jake Weir, Fredrik Hellberg, Lara Lesmes, Rowan Williams and Rhiarna Dhaliwal to discuss the role of screens in design.

Sound design is well established across music, film and media, although the field’s importance to product design and architecture has historically been overlooked. Yet given the central role that electrical devices play in our lives, how can the sounds they emit be tailored to make our everyday experiences more intuitive, friendly and integrated in our environment? In this episode of Where Next? Conversations with Map Project Office, host Oli Stratford is joined by Chloe Glews, Freddie Webb, Emily Candela and Joseph Zeal Henry to discuss how our understanding of creativity is shifting to become more collaborative.

How can design connect to nature? At January's 2024 edition of Maison&Objet, Disegno created a pair of podcasts, recorded live from the heart of the fair, to interrogate this question. The first episode sees the journal's editor-in-chief, Oli Stratford, speak with Mathieu Lehanneur about Outonomy, an installation Lehanneur created as the fair's Designer of the Year. Lehanneur reflects on how his vivid yellow pavilion brings into question the binary ways we approach technology and nature, and instead encourages us to blur the lines between these two spheres.

“Creativity” has become a buzzword – a tagline that brands and individuals deploy to describe how they approach business. But what do we mean when we use this word so freely, and what role can designers play within a business climate that already professes to be “creative”? In this episode of Where Next? Conversations with Map Project Office, host Oli Stratford is joined by Mitzi Okou, Jay Osgerby, Andu Masebo and Oskar Smolokowski to discuss how our understanding of creativity is shifting to become more collaborative.

The built environment is rarely designed with physical, cognitive or intellectual disabilities in mind, leaving our cities difficult to navigate, unwelcoming, and potentially dangerous for large parts of the population. So what can be done to make moving around more inclusive for everyone? In the final episode of season one of Re-routing the City, host India Block invites guests Dom Hymas and Ruth Ross-Macdonald to discuss how new navigation technologies can create opportunities to improve and prioritise safe and comfortable mobility for all.

What does mobility mean in the 21st century? In this episode of Where Next? Conversations with Map Project Office, host Oli Stratford is joined by designers Will Verity, Dr. Jiayu Wu, Andy Wheel and Liam Young to discuss how autonomous and electric vehicles are softening the barriers between private cars and leisure spaces.With a rising interest in how we spend our time in cars, does the car itself need to be redesigned? And who is best positioned to create the new infrastructures, spaces and behaviours that these vehicles will demand?