Design Matters

It's a way to get noticed, says designer Debbie Millman.

She's an author, educator, and host to a podcast that's been going strong for 20 years called Design Matters.

She argues that in a world where being noticed has become a form of currency, taking up more space has its own value.

In an essay for Time magazine, she asks whether the world is actually getting uglier or whether ugly is being deployed as a very effective way to make us look.

I'm talking to Debbie Millman.

She has written an essay for Time magazine arguing that occupying more space has become a form of value.

She is also a renowned podcaster with a podcast called Design Matters.

Debbie, do we have any hope for things like elegance and subtlety, the things that we used to value in design but which really struggle to make any space for themselves in 2026?

The first one is about how do you strike a balance between what I think is, like, talking about what you're doing and, like, observing it and analyzing it either privately or pub- publicly, or versus actually doing the stuff.

And I really am a huge fan of this phrase that comes from the Design Matters podcast with Debbie Millman.

Every episode starts with her saying, "We can talk about design, or we can design, or we can do both." Like, there is an option to do both of those things, and not only do I think it's an option, I think it's essential to your wellbeing as a creative person to have that arm of what you do.

I'm a big believer in science generally, [laughs] but I know that the studies say that the best way to learn is what they call active recall, and that means being able to internalize something to the degree in which you could explain it to somebody else, and the best way to do that is teaching.

This episode of Design Matters originally appeared in February of 2026.

The fact that I'm gonna say, "I love this game.

I wanna play it." Why? 'Cause, I don't know, it's got weird, deep social vibes.

[laughs]

Right? That's permissible, and you can modify games.

[upbeat music] From the TED Audio Collective, this is Design Matters with Debbie Millman.

On Design Matters, Debbie talks with some of the most creative people in the world about what they do, how they got to be who they are, and what they're thinking about and working on.

On this episode, a conversation with C. Thi Nguyen about what games teach us about the real world and about ourselves.

Hey friends, I'm Carl, founder of Epic Made, and I'm the host of the Pixel Retentive podcast, where we share our thoughts on creativity, art, and business.

Past guests include Kenneth Fitzgerald, professor of design at Old Dominion University, Debbie Millman, designer, author, and host of the Design Matters podcast, and Anthony Deptula, president of BMP Creative.

I'm forever grateful for the supporters of this podcast, and we are always open to more sponsors that align with our brand.

That said, Pixel Retentive is brought to you by Epic Made.

Today, I have Debbie Millman with us, and I guess she needs no introduction.

She's a writer, educator, artist, curator, and designer who's best known for the host of Design Matters podcast.

I dare to say that The GaN Project is trying to become the Indian version of Design Matters, and this episode is actually called Why The GaN Project, similar to her book, Why Design Matters.

More about Debbie in the show notes.

Let's begin our today's conversation.

Thank you so much.

It's really wonderful to be here with you.

I'm a huge fan of Design Matters.

This episode of Design Matters originally appeared in September of 2025.

It took a long time to learn how to perform.

It took another 10 years until I would say I got better at it, and in fact, that's a lifelong quest for me.

How do you embody the feeling and perform it in front of an audience?

[upbeat music] From the TED Audio Collective, this is Design Matters with Debbie Millman.

On Design Matters, Debbie talks with some of the most creative people in the world about what they do, how they got to be who they are, and what they're thinking about and working on.

On this episode, Suzanne Vega talks about her latest album and opens up about the doubts she had early in her career.

Finally, I started to feel like I, I am a musician.