Welcome Brief

Welcome to Design Disciplin. We're honored to have you as our guest.

Design Disciplin is a guide to the multiverse of design.

Among other things, we publish Conversations on "design" from diverse perspectives including business, technology, art, craft, research, and personal growth. Our guests, like you, are world-class creatives, leaders, or scholars.

Contact Info

Please contact me (Mehmet Aydın Baytaş – founder, producer, host of Design Disciplin) if you have any questions, requests, or updates. You can reach me as follows:

E-mail: baytas@weatherlight.com
@doctorbaytas on Twitter and Instagram
Phone number for calls, iMessage, WhatsApp on request

Scheduling an Online Recording

Please use the Calendly link below to schedule your online recording session:

Schedule Your Recording Here

The recording session should be at least 60 minutes. Calendly will create a 90-minute event for you, but it is better if you are able to stay longer. (I actually allocate 3 hours on my calendar, see below.)

We use Riverside. You will receive the Riverside studio link when you schedule.

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The quality of our recording will improve if we have a short (<30m) private call beforehand. In this call, we get acquainted (if we aren't already) and go over camera and sound. If we haven't done this already, please schedule your private call here.

Scheduling and Coordinating On-location Shoots

Our production team will be in touch with you to schedule and coordinate if we are shooting the conversation at your location.

Before Recording

I typically prepare by studying your work and media appearances. You do NOT have to do the same.
If there are any current topics you’re excited about (e.g. a new book or project), please let me know and I’ll make sure we cover them. If there is anything you'd like to avoid talking about, or tired of talking about, if let me know I'll avoid it.
If you have any "greatest hits" stories (important, powerful, funny, etc.), which your audiences have really enjoyed in the past, let me know. I'll make sure we cover them.

During Recording

Time

I recommend you allocate at least 60 minutes.
I actually block 2h on my calendar for the recording, unless specified otherwise. I typically have nothing scheduled after our session. Sometimes we just enjoy talking, sometimes we have technical issues... I can accommodate all of those.
I am usually in Sweden, in the Central European Standard Time zone.

Content and Style

Feel free to swear, rant, go off-topic, reveal trade secrets, ask questions, talk about private things... We can remove all of these during editing, but we cannot create anything new. In fact we typically leave around 30% of our footage on the cutting table.
Please tell stories! We do talk about abstract ideas, but I will often ask for stories to exemplify them.
If you need to take a break, we can always pause.

Format and Tech

This is a video podcast, published as a podcast and a YouTube Channel. Each Conversation also gets a page on our website.
Avoid wireless microphones, especially AirPods etc. We recommend using a good quality external microphone.
If you can record additional, good quality audio and/or video on your side, and send me the files afterwards, it may improve quality. Most of the time, Riverside audio and video is satisfactory.

After Recording

I like to keep episodes as short as possible. I edit extensively to remove e.g. “filler” sounds and repetitive talk, while still maintaining natural conversation.
You will receive links to the final cut, ahead of publication, for your approval.

Frequently Used Interview Questions

Basics

How do you define what you do for work?
How did your definition of your work evolve and change over time?
What's your personal story? How did your life, education, and work transpire to end up here?
The word "design" means different things to different people. What does it mean to you?
Who do you look up to?
What is one thing about design that is obvious to you but not to other people?

Carreer/Advice

What actions or investments yielded a disproportionate benefit in terms of setting you up for success? And have you had any actions or investments fail very badly?
Consider a student who's doing a design-related degree today. They have one or two more years in school. What are some classes, skills, topics they should invest their one or two years into?
Is there a failure you experienced in the past, which turned out to be setting you up for success? Do you have a “favorite failure” in your history?
Recommendations: books, movies, YouTube, podcasts, articles...

Hands-on

What places and tools do you spend most of your time with? (Tools includes software.)

Closing

What are you excited about these days? What is next for you?
Where can we find you on the internet?
Is there a question I should have asked but haven't, perhaps a question about design that only you can answer?