Designing in the Wild: The Industrial Design Podcast
Robert Irwin
Designing in the Wild is the podcast where industrial designers, inventors, and changemakers reveal how they turn messy, real-world constraints into market-ready solutions. Each episode unpacks the mindsets, methods, and aha-moments behind sustainable innovation—whether it’s re-thinking plastics, hacking circular supply chains, or simply sketching faster under pressure. If you’re passionate about design’s role in a resilient future (and can’t resist a good behind-the-scenes story), this is your campfire.“Real-world design stories for a world that needs better ones.”
Episodes
Industrial Design, AI & the Business of Design with Jordan Nollman | S3E03
What does it take to build a career in industrial design—and then turn that experience into a successful design consultancy?In this episode of Designing in the Wild, Rob sits down with Jordan Nollman, founder and CEO of Sprout, to talk about industrial design from both sides of the table: as a designer building a career and as a business owner hiring talent, finding clients, and growing a multidisciplinary studio.Jordan shares his perspective on what he actually looks for in a designer’s portfolio, why great work still comes first, and how persistence, networking, and simply putting yourself out there helped shape his own career.From there, the conversation moves into the business of design. Jordan talks candidly about growing Sprout from its industrial design roots into a studio spanning strategy, branding, UX, visualization, engineering, and more—and some of the lessons learned along the way, including retainers, equity deals, client relationships, and the challenge of communicating what a multidisciplinary consultancy actually does.Rob and Jordan also dig into the changing practice of industrial design: collaborating with engineering, designing for real-world manufacturing constraints, demonstrating the ROI of design, sustainability, and how AI is beginning to change the speed and capabilities of the design process without replacing the thinking behind it.In this episode:• What design leaders actually look for in a portfolio• Breaking into industrial design and building your network• Growing a multidisciplinary design consultancy• Finding clients and developing long-term relationships• Retainers, royalties, equity, and lessons learned the hard way• Industrial design + engineering collaboration• Balancing aesthetics, function, cost, and manufacturability• AI as a tool for designers—not a substitute for design thinking• Sustainability and lifecycle thinking• Why there’s still no shortcut for learning your craftJordan’s closing advice brings the conversation back to something remarkably simple: do what you love, get good at it, and put in the work.Welcome to Season 3 of Designing in the Wild.Have ideas or just want to say hi, shoot me a note. Support the show
How to Do Better Design Research with Jill Bohaboy | S3E02
What separates useful design research from simply asking people what they want?In this episode of Designing in the Wild, Rob sits down with longtime friend and colleague Jill Bohaboy, owner of Trek Solutions, to explore the craft of consumer and design research, and how better observation, better questions, and a willingness to explore can uncover needs people may not be able to articulate themselves.Jill brings years of experience conducting research across an enormous range of industries and product categories. Together, Jill and Rob revisit some of the research they've conducted over the years and unpack the methods behind it—from observational research and shop-alongs to qualitative interviews, quantitative studies, co-creation, and hands-on "build-it" sessions.They also get into one of the biggest challenges in research: bias. How do you ask questions without steering the answer? How do you identify the right people to speak with? And how do you get beyond what someone says to understand what their behavior is actually telling you?For designers and smaller teams, Jill also makes an important case that meaningful research doesn't necessarily require a Fortune 500 budget. Sometimes it starts by simply getting out from behind the computer, watching people interact with the world, and asking a thoughtful question.In this episode:• Qualitative vs. quantitative research• Observation and contextual research• Finding latent needs and compensating behaviors• Co-creation and "build-it" sessions• Avoiding bias and asking better questions• Recruiting the right research participants• Bringing clients into the research process• Conducting useful research on a limited budget• Turning consumer insight into better productsAs Jill puts it: don't let research become a roadblock—let it become a launch pad.Welcome back to Designing in the Wild, Season 3.Have ideas or just want to say hi, shoot me a note. Support the show
We're BACK! Industrial Design, Biomimicry & More: Designing in the Wild Season 3 (Trailer) | S3E01
Designing in the Wild is back for Season 3 — and this time, we're going video.This season, I'm sitting down with designers, researchers, biomimicry experts, sustainability consultants, software modelers, design directors, manufacturing professionals, and other people doing genuinely interesting work across the design world.We'll get into everything from industrial design and manufacturing to Rhino and Grasshopper, biomimicry, sustainability, emerging tools, design leadership, and the realities of building things in the real world.I've spent more than 20 years working as an end-to-end industrial designer, on projects ranging from Amazon's smart shopping carts to net-zero tiny homes and consumer products. Designing in the Wild is my opportunity to step outside my own practice and learn from people with different perspectives, disciplines, and experiences — and bring those conversations back to the wider design community.The goal is simple: useful conversations with interesting people that leave you with new ideas, skills, perspectives, or inspiration you can take back into your own work.Season 3 will feature 10 episodes, released weekly.And for the first time, you'll be able to watch the conversations as well as listen.Subscribe and follow Designing in the Wild so you don't miss the new season.Let's get after it.Have ideas or just want to say hi, shoot me a note. Support the show
#012 Season 2: Robert Irwin - Senior Industrial Designer, Founder of LearnIndustrialDesign.com, Principal Sustainability Consultant at irwindesigned
Senior Industrial Designer Rob Irwin charts two decades of sustainable practice, from biomimetic lawn-dart redesigns to net-zero houses with $12 power bills. Along the way he demystifies lifecycle thinking: extraction, processing, manufacturing, distribution, use, upgrades, end-of-life, and transport. Rob critiques the limits of current LCA tools—“CO₂ is not the whole story”—and spotlights hidden health impacts like polyester microfibers. He closes with a challenge to designers: treat environmental criteria as a primary design requirement, right alongside cost, form, and function.Have ideas or just want to say hi, shoot me a note. Support the show
#011 Season 2: Jason Belaire - IDSA Chair(2021-2022) | Belworld Creative, INC. Talks of living abroad, childhood abuse, empathy, social projects around the world, and sustainability
In this episode we speak to Jason Belaire about being different, cultural shock, designing amidst new cultures, sustainability, and the need for more to be educated on the direct impact the industrial design profession has on our environment, communities, and thought process.Have ideas or just want to say hi, shoot me a note. Support the show
#010: Andre Brown - Principal Engineer on Amazon's Transportation Sustainability Team - Digital vs. Physical Prototyping, Creating Flat Hierarchies within Teams, Innovating Faster, Designing in Virtual Reality, Eggs and Vacuum Cleaners, Procedural Design.
Digital vs. Physical: When to Prototype—and When to Simulate Andre Brown, Principal Engineer on Amazon’s Transportation Sustainability team (and former Shark/Dyson R&D lead), joins Rob to unpack the art of knowing which problems need cardboard, which need CFD, and which belong in VR. From drag-cutting truck fairings and crowd-sourced race-car CAD to Dyson’s “egg-inspired” robot vacuum, Andre shows why flat hierarchies, cross-discipline sketch-offs, and procedural design tools accelerate innovation. If you juggle human factors, aerodynamics, and sustainability, this episode is your playbook.Have ideas or just want to say hi, shoot me a note. Support the show
#009 - Unleashing Creativity Through User-Driven Storytelling - Sam Feller - Human-Centered Engineering, Team Management, Tracking Deliverables, Tactics for Problem Solving
Have ideas or just want to say hi, shoot me a note. Support the show
#008: Blood In The Water: Americas Assault on Innovation - Kip Doyle - Patent Process, Product Innovation, Defending Patents, Napkin Sketch to Manufacturing
We sit down and speak with the amazing, Kip Doyle - Author, Inventor, Patent Defender. We talk about her painful story of inventing a product and then going up against Big Tech to defend her patents. She offers up invaluable insights on how to go about protecting your IP, which lawyers to hire, and her new book release, Blood In The Water: America's Assault on Innovation.BOOK LINK: https://amzn.to/3LxUm3YCONTACTEmail: [email protected]: @cardsharkwalletskinOTHER REFERENCESUSInventor.orgcardsharkskin.comHave ideas or just want to say hi, shoot me a note. Support the show
#007: It's Time We Start Thinking Beyond the User - Dan Griner - Director of Design, Innovation, and Strategy at University of Colorado Denver
Dan comes to the interview with a level of humility for design that we all should aspire. In this episode we walk the path of Dan's story from accident to excellence. We talk about the responsibility that designers have to go beyond just making the pretty object and expand into realms of meta-design to go beyond just the end user and truly think in terms of a products life cycle, cradle to cradle.Contact Info Dan [email protected] / https://www.linkedin.com/in/dangriner/www.theidpodcast.cohttps://www.patreon.com/theIDpodcastHave ideas or just want to say hi, shoot me a note. Support the show
#006: The Creators Revolution + Mid-Week Update - February 2, 2022
Creative disciplines have been undervalued since the industrial revolution began. I drop a quick anecdote to the misunderstood values industrial design offers...and catch you up on what's next!Have ideas or just want to say hi, shoot me a note. Support the show
#005: Industrial Designer Turned Concept Artist, Todd Hebenstreit - Facebook Oculus Designer, VR aficionado, UI/UX Savant, Analog to Digital, Game Design, Era Specific Influence, and Process
Buckle up! This ones a longer format interview, but much warranted. We talk with Todd Hebenstreit, a Graffiti Artist, turned, Industrial Designer, turned Concept Artist. He's worked for Dell, Facebook (Oculus Rift), and others influencing the gaming industry for nearly two decades. We dig into his story talk about through how he navigated his way through the nascent ages of UI/UX, software evolution, and pull out techniques for digital concept creation. He's just an all around badass.Have ideas or just want to say hi, shoot me a note. Support the show
Mid-Week Update - January 27, 2022
Quick drop on what I've been up to behind the scenes at, Designing In The Wild, and what to expect in the coming weeks. You won't want to miss out!Have ideas or just want to say hi, shoot me a note. Support the show
#004: Why We Need to Be Tinkering More: Industrial Designer Jorge Paricio - Open-Ended Exploration, Sketching and Ideation, Material Knowledge, Confirmation Bias, and Getting Out To Talk With End Users.
Jorge Paricio - We talk, self-discovery through exploring, failing, and experimenting more! Being a mentor, and being mentored. How to start your own tinker shop, Human factors, Why 200 sketches are better than 2 polished renderings, Speaking with end-users in order to make a better product, Confirmation Bias, The evolution of Industrial Design, and Tools for the trade.Jorge is currently an Associate Professor at the University of Connecticut. He's taught as a full time teacher at the Art Institute of Colorado, for 6 years, the Art Institute of Pittsburgh, Online Division, and was Senior guest critic at the Rhode Island School of Design for 14 years. He's also designed products for Colgate-Palmolive, and continues to be mentor for industrial design students at UCONN and beyond.www.theidrender.comwww.renderinginteriors.comBooks1. Hybrid drawing techniques for interior design, Routledge. (https://amzn.to/3KxQpMt)2. Perspective Sketching, Freehand and Digital Drawing Techniques for Artists and Designers, Rockport. (https://amzn.to/3FWEFPV)3. Ungrading, Why Rating Students Undermines Learning (and What to Do instead), by Susan D. Blum. (https://amzn.to/3nPQLEw)4. Sketching by Koos Eissen and Roselien Steur, and Sketching The Basics5. Design Sketching by Erik Olofsson and Klara Sjolen. How to Render:the fundamentals of light, shadow and reflectivity.Have ideas or just want to say hi, shoot me a note. Support the show
#003: Getting A Design Job Out Of College
Your host, Rob Irwin gives you pointers taken from his experience navigating his first design job straight out of college. He offers practical knowledge and tips for nailing your first job as a designer.Have ideas or just want to say hi, shoot me a note. Support the show
#002: Rob Irwin Takes Us On His Journey To Becoming An Industrial Designer
Your host, Rob Irwin introduces himself and his story. He takes us on a journey to becoming an Industrial Designer, the mentors he had along the way, and the epiphany that shook him back to the calling of Design.Have ideas or just want to say hi, shoot me a note. Support the show
#001: Do you really want to listen to this Podcast?
A quick heads up on what this podcast is all about, so you can decide if it's the right time for you to...level up!Have ideas or just want to say hi, shoot me a note. Support the show