What Bubbles Up

In this episode, Barry and Phil have a beer and a chat with Julianne Cross, an actor, writer, and filmmaker who left her career in media buying to pursue her passion for storytelling. Julianne discusses what it's like to go through the turbulent up's and down's of auditions, and the invaluable process she takes to learn from each one, process rejection, and properly celebrate triumphs. We also discuss how she turns ideas into viable stories, and how she uses script readings the same way designers use prototypes to get feedback. Lastly, we end this episode with a tribute to dearly departed Season 2 guest and inspirational writer Kathy Hepinstall. Cheers!Drinks: Founders Brewing Company All Day IPA, Treehouse Hurricane American Double IPA, Montauk Brewing Company Wave Chaser IPALinks: https://www.juliannecross.com/

In this episode, Barry and Phil are joined by Matt Weiss, former President and Chief Growth Officer of Huge and founder of Soul Purpose Advisory, in a broad discussion about the future of Agencies, and Creative Professional Services in general. Matt shares his observations on which agencies will win the future, and why, and what others will need to do to remain relevant in the AI age. Also, fresh off his annual pilgrimage to Cannes, Matt shares his perspectives on why Cannes still matters, how to get the most out of it, and what the prevailing wisdom of the collective community brought to bear. If you are interested in getting answers to the hardest-hitting questions facing the agency space today, this is the episode for you. Enjoy!Drinks: Mass Landing Brewing Co. Beer Named Duck New England Pale Ale, Seven Arrows Brewing That Dam IPA, Michelob Ultra Links: https://www.soulpurposeadvisory.com/

In this 'Quick One' episode, Barry and Phil give their take on all the major announcements from Config, Figma's annual conference held at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. This year's Config featured 4 major product releases: Figma Sites, Figma Make, Figma Draw, and Figma Buzz. They also announced Grids with Auto Layout, CMS for their Sites product, and Code Blocks. Barry and Phil discuss how all these new features, taken together, are both a boon to Design and to Designers, but also might be much ado about nothing in the age of Agentic Experiences. Enjoy!Drinks: Devil's Purse Brewing Co. Handline Kolsch, The Drowned Lands Brewery Green Yield Hazy IPALinks: https://config.figma.com/

We are still sharing great content from our live appearance at SXSW 2025 in Austin, Texas, and our attendance at the Meta Creators Event at Geraldine’s at the Hotel Van Zandt. This episode features our conversation with Melissa Kittson, the Director of Sponsorship and Advertising Strategic Development at the National Association of Broadcasters, or NAB. Though the night was wearing long by this point, we manage to get through a wonderful conversation about helping creators find their audience, their voice, and their value in the content marketplace. We discuss what Melissa and her team are doing to support creators as business leaders, and why the democratization of share of voice is so important in this day and age. Enjoy!Drinks: MultipleLinks: https://www.nab.org/

We are still sharing great content from our live appearance at SXSW 2025 in Austin, Texas, and our attendance at the Meta Creators Event at Geraldine’s at the Hotel Van Zandt. This episode features our conversation with Phil Sage, the Sr. Director of Design & Innovation at PepsiCo. Originally from Wales, Phil shares his thoughts on innovation and what is required of designers who are creating AI-powered experiences. This includes the increased need for systems thinking, empathy for those less capable, including student athletes, and open debate about the benefits and inherent risks of automation. Enjoy!Drinks: MultipleLinks: https://www.pepsico.com/

We are still sharing great content from our live appearance at SXSW 2025 in Austin, Texas, and our attendance at the Meta Creators Event at Geraldine’s at the Hotel Van Zandt. This episode features our conversation with Robin Raskin, the former editor of PC Magazine, the Founder of the Virtual Events Group (VEG), and an absolute legend in the world of tech journalism. Robin shares her unvarnished thoughts on the creator community, the state of the tech world (and its leaders, who she knew way back when), and why, despite all evidence to the contrary, she remains hopeful and optimistic about the future, and those who will help create it. Enjoy!Drinks: MultipleLinks: https://virtualeventsgroup.org/

In this very special IRL episode, Barry and Phil come to you LIVE from the Meta Creators event at Geraldine's at the Hotel Van Zandt at SXSW 2025 in Austin, Texas where they recap their panel, "Enterprise Design: The Death of Innovation?". They discuss both their overall takeaways from the discussion, but also the questions they were asked by the attendees. Later, they conduct a series of live interviews with a great selection of special guests: Robin Raskin, the former editor of PC Magazine and founder of the Virtual Events Group; Phil Sage, Sr. Director of Design & Innovation at PepsiCo; and Melissa Kitson, Director of Sponsorship and Advertising Strategic Development at the National Assocation of Broadcasters. It's a raucous, rowdy good time, reflecting the air of hope and positivity surrounding SXSW. Enjoy!Drinks: Random Red Wine, "Creative Kick" Spicy Margarita, Karbach Brewing Co. Love Street Blonde KölschLinks:https://schedule.sxsw.com/2025/events/PP152066http://www.dentsu.comhttp://www.wongdoody.comhttp://www.merkle.comhttp://www.publicissapient.comhttps://www.pepsico.comhttps://www.nab.org/

In this very special IRL episode, Barry and Phil come to you LIVE from SXSW 2025 in Austin, Texas. In this first in-person episode in 6 years of "What Bubbles Up", and in preparation for their panel, "Enterprise Design: The Death of Innovation?", Barry and Phil recap their experiences and learnings from their first day at the Festival of Creativity. We also hear from Lindsey Scales, Assoc. Director Acne Care at Galderma; Estelle Raffaele, International Business Partner and Media Architect at Dentsu; and returning champion and fellow co-panelist Val Vacante, VP of Solutions Innovation at Dentsu, fresh off their panel, "Pixels to Reality: How Gaming Is Transforming Our World". We talk about their impressions from Day 1, and share the varying definitions of the word "Innovation". Enjoy!Drinks: Coffee. Just coffee.Links: https://schedule.sxsw.com/2025/speakers/2065159https://www.galderma.com/, http://www.dentsu.comhttp://www.wongdoody.comhttp://www.merkle.com

In this episode, Barry and Phil do a quick one on the sudden rise and success of DeepSeek, the Chinese-developed open-source AI model, and its impacts on the stock market, geopolitics, and corporate investment strategies. We then take the opportunity to highlight our upcoming panel at South by Southwest. If you happen to be attending the conference, come stop by and see us discuss Enterprise Product Innovation with Val Vacante and Sara Alloy on March 10 at the JW Marriott, Salon 6. Enjoy! Drinks: Exhibit ‘A’ Brewing Company We're Going To Need You To Come In On Saturday Scotch Ale, Strangebird Brewing Earthborn Stranger Hazy Doube IPA Links: https://schedule.sxsw.com/2025/events/PP152066

Fresh off the holiday break, Barry and Phil ring in the New Year with a quick kickoff of Season 6 of What Bubbles Up! Starting off with some New Year's resolutions, Barry and Phil welcome a special guest - Perplexity AI - to give suggestions for what topics they should discuss (and, hilariously, what guests they should have on) this season. They also give their hot takes on the recent IPG/Omnicom merger, and the potential ban of TikTok in the US pending the Supreme Court decision on January 10th. It promises to be another great season. Enjoy! Drinks: Coor Light, Victory Prima Pils Links: http://www. whatbubblesup.com

It's the holidays! And you know what that means...our annual "Year in Flights" episode, where we look back on the year that was, and discuss some of our favorite episodes from this past season, each one paired with a specific beer selection. This year, we're looking back at 6 episodes (yes, with 6 different beers!) whose guests captured our attention, brought about great discussion, and caught the ear of our listeners: Tracy Wong, Ginny Saraswati, Donald Chesnut, Peter Merholz, Daz McColl, and Kate Moran. Thank you to them and to all our guests this season, as well as to all of our listeners, for another great season of What Bubbles Up! We will be back stronger than ever with more content in 2025. Until then, Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year to all. Cheers!

In this episode, Stacey Seronick, Senior Design Program Manager at IBM, joins us for a drink and a chat about being a strong mentor for junior designers within a large organization. We discuss how Stacey's matriculation at Bennington College, where she learned the nascent fundamentals of digital design, coupled with a stint as a digital designer at Macworld, gave her a great start in her Design career. We then discuss how she quickly learned the difference between Art and Design, in that the former asks questions, and the latter answers them. We then discuss how the great Phil Gilbert, the former Head of Design at IBM who bet big on Design and grew the team to over 250 practitioners, created a role that Stacey took and made all her own, providing operational efficiency, clarity, and an outcome-oriented mindset for the Design organization. Through this work, Stacey learned how to coach Designers on owning their career, advocating for themselves without being obnoxious, and the benefits of talking and thinking about oneself in the third person. Enjoy! Drinks: Dorchester Brewing Co. Galaxy Lights New England Hazy IPA, Trillium Brewing Company Vicinity Double IPA, Fresh Filtered Coffee Links: https://www.ibm.com/design/

In this episode, Kate Moran, VP of Research & Content at Nielsen Norman Group, joins us for a drink and a chat about the world of UX Research. We discuss the fortuitous start of her work at NN/g, a graduate thesis with an 'audience of one' in Jakob Nielsen himself, which eventually led to her present day role as the group's de facto Editor-in-Chief. We then discuss how her work researching and understanding the complicated relationship between UX and AI, and the perils it brings younger practitioners, can be offset by the all-important differentiator for creatives in general: taste. Finally, we talk about the important role NN/g plays, now even more than ever, in bringing an authentic voice to the discussion of the interplay between technology, design, culture, and psychology. A very important and timely discussion...enjoy! Drinks: Devil's Purse Brewing Co. Handline Kolsch, Atlas Brew Works Dance of Days Pale Ale, Oyster Bay New Zealand Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc Links: https://www.nngroup.com/

In this truly global episode, Phil finds himself all the way in Bangalore, India, where he joins WongDoody's CDO and CXO, Mohan Krishnaraj, and Global CXO and returning guest Ralf Gehrig for a far-reaching conversation about the growth and development of the India Design Community. Mohan and Barry begin by regaling us with their recent experiences as keynote speakers at UXIndia '24, billed as the largest CX conference in the world. Although the India Design community has been around for 20 years, we discuss how it is now a desirable career choice, with the top technical schools offering stellar Design programs, thus making India a very competitive marketplace for talent on par with cities like New York and London. If you are a Design leader building out a team, or are simply skeptical about the talent level of the India Design Community, then this is the podcast for you. Enjoy! Drinks: Caribou Coffee Mahagony Blend, Bisleri Bottled Water Links: https://2024.ux-india.org/, www.wongdoody.com, www.infosys.com

In this episode, we are joined by CMO, Marketing Strategist, Consultant, and Author Darren "Daz" McColl to discuss the role of the CMO in the age of digital transformation. Daz regales us with the incredibly journey he took to become the CMO of Neiman Marcus, after years in the trenches at various agencies, just as the global pandemic inflicted great financial burdens on retail brands that thrived on the in-store experience. We discuss the need to ruthlessly focus on the essentials when working with limited resources, but always thinking longer-term for the sake of the staff who remain. And we also take a trip in the way-back machine to discuss "Storyscaping", the book he co-wrote with Gaston Legorboru 10 years ago, and how much of it resonates today despite how much the role of CMO has irrevocably transformed. Enjoy! Drinks: New Belgium Brewing Company Voodoo Ranger Juice Force IPA, The Test Brewery The Discovery Of Fire New England Hazy Triple IPA, Jansz Tasmania Sparkling Wine Links: https://dazmccoll.com/

With the seemingly endless creative possibilities made possible by the rise of GenAI, why does it seem more challenging than ever to be a Design Leader? In this episode, Adaptive Path co-founder, author, and Design Leadership coach Peter Merholz joins us for a beer and a chat to discuss this and many other topics. We discuss his journey from Studio Archetype in the mid-90's to the present day, where he leads his own consultancy, Humanism at Scale. In this role, Peter coaches Design leaders going through the 'liminal phase' of their careers as they adjust to new realities in the marketplace. We further discuss how the shift in focus from 'craft' to 'impact', and understanding how that may require a shift in identity, is one of several keys to ongoing success in this new reality. A very timely and far-reaching discussion...enjoy! Drinks: Mayflower Brewing Company Quahog Republic Golden Ale, Tree House Brewing Company Very Green New England IPA, North Coast Brewing Co. Scrimshaw German Pilsner Links: http://www.petermerholz.com

In this episode, Phil and Barry share a drink and a chat with film director, writer, and author James Cox, who joins on the eve of the launch of his new book, "Grand Theft AI". James shares with us his journey starting out as a celebrated young filmmaker out of NYU, getting opportunities right out of the gate with films like "Highway" starring Jared Leto and Jake Gyllenhall, to his epic turn with Val Kilmer in "Wonderland", through to his awakening after a series of struggles that led him to write his first novel. Set in the year 2051, it is a story about a group of misfits trying to make money in a world so vastly accelerated by technology that human labor has become obsolete. We also discuss the importance of self-awareness and self-discovery, and the concept of creativity through pain. Enjoy! Drinks: Poland Spring Clementine Bramble Seltzer, Honest Urban Ade Lemon Sage Mint Lemonade, Athletic Brewing Run Wild Non-Alcoholic IPA Links: https://jamescoxbooks.com/

In this episode, Phil comes to us live from the Moscone Center in San Francisco to share his thoughts and experiences attending Config 2024, the annual conference held by the great folks at Figma. We talk about all the latest and greatest features coming to Figma and FigJam, as well as a new product, Figma Slides! We also talk about the expansion of Generative AI features in their products, the various talks given by Design and Product leaders, and some takeaways about the state of the Design community at large. Enjoy! Drinks: Devil's Purse Brewing Co. South Dennis-Style Table Beer Links: https://config.figma.com/

Barry and Phil are thrilled to be joined by Donald Chesnut, a CX, Product Design and Customer Success Leader and the former CXO of General Motors, Mastercard, and Sapient. In this episode, Donald regales us with a brief history lesson of how the field of UX evolved from the early days of AOL to the present day of Product and CX, and what we can expect for the future of the field. We discuss the ethical dilemmas posed by data-rich, AI-driven experiences, and the role Designers must play in preserving intent, perception, and understanding for the user. We also discuss Donald's upcoming book, and how the lessons learned from the past are informing our shared future. Whether you are a seasoned design and UX pro, a junior designer just starting out, or a business leader trying to understand where the market is going, this is the episode you should listen to. Cheers!

In this episode, Barry and Phil are joined by Podcaster, Entrepreneur, Author, and the Founder and CEO of Ginni Media, Ginny Saraswati. With roots in Sri Lanka, Ginny shares her story of spending a decade in terrestrial radio in her adopted hometown of Melbourne, Australia, seeing the trend toward "autonomous listening", eventually starting her own podcast, and taking her listeners with her to New York. In the process, she found herself advising fellow podcasters on the craft of storytelling and the importance of creating an authentic audio identity. Thus was born her company, Ginni Media, to go along with "The Ginni Show", a podcast about podcasts. We talk about what makes for a good podcast idea, a good name, a good host, and a good guest experience. We wrap with Ginni giving us a thorough grading on what we are doing well, what we can improve upon, and most importantly...who does it better. Enjoy! Drinks: High Noon Pineapple Hard Seltzer, Trillium Brewing Company Congress Street IPA, Aquafina water Links: www.ginnimedia.com