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PODCAST

The Pragmatic Designers

Exploring how creatives build fulfilling and sustainable careers.

Hi, we"re Desai and Thuan, best friends from architecture school and early career designers on a journey to discover how to build creatively fulfilling and financially sustainable careers. We are super excited to share with you notes from our podcast, and hope you’ll subscribe for bi-monthly updates! thepragmaticdesigners.substack.com

arts design

All Episodes

61:23

From Academia to Modular Futures | Victor Tzen

The Pragmatic Designers ·

2025/09/24

Hi, we're Desai and Thuan, best friends from architecture school and early career designers on a journey to discover how to build creatively fulfilling and financially sustainable careers. We are super excited to share with you notes from our podcast, and hope you’ll subscribe for bi-monthly updates!In this episode, we talk with Victor Tzen, Senior Architecture Program Manager at Samara. Victor’s career spans teaching at Syracuse University, design leadership at Google’s R+D Lab for the Built

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48:10

Minimizing Regret and Reframing Risks | Colleen Chang

The Pragmatic Designers ·

2025/08/26

In this episode we sat down with Colleen Chang, founder, writer, and builder, to explore her journey from engineering student to co-founder at Tuuli, a AI software start-up enhancing AEC workflows. She shares honest lessons about navigating risk, growth, and purpose.Rethinking Success and Compounding Small BetsColleen’s story begins during the pandemic, when she realized that the traditional formula of grades, graduate school, and a stable career did not align with the life she wanted to build

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36:57

Getting Real: Behind the Mic with Desai and Thuan

The Pragmatic Designers ·

2025/08/09

Hi, we're Desai and Thuan, best friends from architecture school and early career designers on a journey to discover how to build creatively fulfilling and financially sustainable careers. We are super excited to share with you notes from our podcast, and hope you’ll subscribe for bi-monthly updates!Why We StartedFrom Cornell studios to Rome apartments, we’ve always collaborated. The podcast began as a way to explore how design thinking applies beyond architecture—and to share those paths with

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55:01

Design Beyond Aesthetics | Thaddeus Lee

The Pragmatic Designers ·

2025/07/25

This week, we talk with Thaddeus Lee, a Play Inventor at LEGO’s Creative Play Lab. Have you ever wondered how aesthetics emerge from culture? What does empathy-driven design look like? How do you balance bold ideas with business reality? Whether you're establishing your design values or wondering how to turn ideas into products, this episode is for you!Reimagining Design and Redefining Value“Design is optimistic—it’s the belief that you can do something just a little better.”Thaddeus’ journey from

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99:53

From Small Town to Global Newsroom | Hannah Dormido...

The Pragmatic Designers ·

2025/07/11

Hi, we're Desai and Thuan, best friends from architecture school and early career designers on a journey to discover how to build creatively fulfilling and financially sustainable careers. We are super excited to share with you notes from our podcast, and hope you’ll subscribe for bi-monthly updates!This week, we spoke with Hannah Dormido, a multi-award-winning data journalist and cartographer at The Washington Post. Hannah’s storytelling career began with childhood spelling bees and school

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46:10

Melanie Imfeld | Curiosity, Storytelling, and...

The Pragmatic Designers ·

2025/06/27

This week, we spoke with Melanie Imfeld, a map design lead at Mapbox. Trained in architecture and urban design at ETH Zurich and UCL, Mel's journey has taken her through master-planning, digital product strategy, map design and team leadership. At every step, she's stayed grounded in curiosity and storytelling, and her reflections offer a compelling roadmap for navigating nonlinear creative careers.Storytelling Across DomainsMel began her career in architecture, but the seeds of her

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47:05

All Work, All Play | Arjun Mahesh

The Pragmatic Designers ·

2025/06/13

In this episode, we talk with Arjun Mahesh, Head of Design at Hebbia—an AI research company helping analysts go from questions to answers in seconds. From Frank Gehry’s office to Kickstarter, Stripe, Verse, and now Hebbia, Arjun’s path has taken him through nearly every type of design role across industries.From Architecture to AI DesignArjun studied architecture and computer science, but quickly realized his passion wasn’t tied to just one discipline. After working on complex digital modeling for

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50:12

Technology for Public Good | Toby Gail

The Pragmatic Designers ·

2025/05/30

We had the pleasure of speaking with Toby Gail, a product designer at Open Government Products (OGP) in Singapore. OGP acts like a startup within the Singapore government, and focuses on building tech products for public good. In our conversation, Toby shared valuable insights about her career growth, creating products for frontline workers like nurses and firefighters, and building inclusive communities in the design world.From Consultancy to In-House: A Designer's EvolutionToby's career journey

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37:24

From Studio to Site | Je Hyeon Baek

The Pragmatic Designers ·

2025/05/16

In our second podcast episode, we sat down with Je Hyeon Baek, a multidisciplinary project coordinator now working at Zubatkin Owner Representation, a Cumming Group company.Je's story is one of rethinking the role of design after architecture school, and learning how to thrive in a new space—one where relationships, coordination, and curiosity matter just as much as drawing skills.From Design Studio to Military BarracksWhile Je studying architecture at Cornell, he took a two-year break to complete

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35:44

Using AI to superpower design | Alexander Kyaw

The Pragmatic Designers ·

2025/05/01

In our first podcast episode, we sat down with Alexander "Alex" Kyaw, an interdisciplinary researcher bridging architecture and computer science at MIT.When Alex arrived at Cornell for his undergraduate, he had barely heard of 3D printers and had never seen a laser cutter. Today, he's pioneering research at MIT that makes complex technologies like AI, VR, and robotics accessible to everyone. His journey offers great insights on navigating the intersection of design and technology.Breaking Out of

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