What the Best Designers are Reading and Listening To: Career Defining Perspectives on Space by Stansons

0:07I have an agency that actually do one of the work for us on space and they always say like you've got to keep it a bit short and I'm just like oh I started chatting yeah so many more questions for you. But yeah what I was going to say was is there a podcast or a book that you have read or reading that you listen to or whatever that you recommend? There's probably a couple of things I would say. to let you in behind the curtain. It's probably a little bit why my brain works. You like that saying. Oh, yeah. Probably why my brain works is I'm a huge, huge fan of Disney. And I say Disney in the sense of them as a business and them as what they do in creativity-wise, not necessarily Snow White and everything else.

0:48But I was very fortunate as a kid to be able to go to Disneyland quite a bit. And experiencing Disney as a place is incredible. it's the most creative place i think i've ever been from the smallest smallest details um you're at a park and there's a bus ticket stuck to the side of a um stuck to the side of a kind of luggage tag or whatever it might be that's then got a code that's then aligned to something that's on a ride or there's some like really really small intricate details and that's all made by a team of people who work for disney called the imagineers and there's an amazing documentary on um of disney plus uh which is all about them as a team and a kind of story from them being um when it first started to where they are now and they are like a group of 20 creative people that are the mind behind everything that's done so not from a um sort of a film point of view but then when you get into physical spaces whether that's stores whether that's um in the parks whatever that might be they're the ones to come up with all of these amazing intricate ideas and that discovery that you go on as a kid or as an adult whatever it might be hiding little mickey mouses left right and center within stuff that you wouldn't associate the first time they're the people that sit behind it and it's an amazing um an amazing watch for any creative i think um from a podcast point of view um i probably don't listen to too many creative podcasts um audio books or listen to i spend a lot of time in the car um again ride of a lifetime which is by uh bob eiger who is the i don't know if he still is was the ceo at disney that is one of them um i can't remember the book's name um but there is i think it's called creativity inc which is the uh the guy who founded uh pixar so again that disney disney trend that goes in it um and just hearing how they tackle creativity in a completely different way and something that they have to come up with something completely new and some of the ideas i mean you watch disney film they're mental some of them you kind of go where's this come from so to hear the creativity and thinking behind is is it super super interesting so yeah i'd probably say them to his books and imagine it is i like that it's a really cool bunch of people so that's probably my dream job if they ever comes up to go and work for them but it's a i'll let them know yeah one last question for you what's a book or a podcast you have read or are reading that you'd really recommend oh okay so i'm currently reading and i read a page every day the book called the daily stoic um so yeah so it's an interesting concept it's every day there's one page and every month there's a new topic um and it's just all about kind of like stoic mindset so how to i don't know if it's like a world that you're kind of familiar with no i'm definitely googling it yeah but it's cool it's just one page every day i also you know read alongside that like of the of the books and stay up to with lots of articles but it's a really good either try and do it first thing in the morning or last thing at night and it's a really good way to set your tone for the day and there's like a little hidden message in each page almost like a meditation which um is really lovely and it's something to kind of reflect on or carry through um each of your days with you so I would recommend that to everyone.

4:36Very mindful. Very mindful, yeah. Brilliant, amazing. Know is for work and it's so basic but it took me ages to find it. I think it's by a company called Odia and two page spreads, there's to-do lists, there's the urgent, not urgent, important, important square at the bottom. and there's a eat the frog test, so what you've been putting off for ages and need to do. And then the other page is just notes and then like a little doodles section. I like that. So I try and do that every morning, my key tests and stuff like that. And then my notes page for like meetings, and then the next day I'm just, what did I write there?

5:21Same thing. That really helps. Oh, deer. Oh, deer, I think. Yeah, but like deer as in animal. Okay, we can have Google. What is a podcast or a book that you have listened to that's really helped you in your mindset and that you would recommend other people listen to? I have read a book recently where it's called Good Vibes. I think Good Vibes, Good Something Else, something like that. I read that actually quite a while ago now, but I often highlight certain quotes and things in there and I keep it by my bed and I, you know, I flick through it time to time. It's just about being your authentic self.

6:02It's about believing you can do things and, you know, shutting out any negativity or, you know, blocking out what people may potentially think of you and just sticking to your guns, you know, believing yourself and that's it. And I think that's what juniors need to do more. So just believe in themselves. It's very easy to become deflated. And when you're constantly told the same thing you know you don't have a skill set you're not cut out for this you've got people changing career paths because of that so I think you know do things that make you feel good um whether it is books and podcasts or whatever it is just do things that make you feel good and stick to it don't give up you guys will get there good vibes I mean that is just a that is just you would read that book wouldn't you like yes I've never even heard of it go away I've never even heard of the book before but if I was just a make-up if you've read this book just guess the title it'd be like good vibes yeah good vibes that's it is there a book you're reading a podcast you're listening to that you just think like this is brilliant and it's like I want to share it so many so many books Eyes of the Skin is what I'm reading at the moment Eyes of the Skin Eyes of the Skin okay it's a recommendation I am slowly reading it because I have to kind of stop and kind of Google a lot of things because there's a lot of references to other kind of theories that I don't understand.

7:26But it's challenging me and I love it. And it's eye-opening for senses. It's all about how our visual sense is the main sense that everyone relies on and kind of goes to. And it's about opening yourself to other senses and kind of, you know, exploring that. So, yeah, really recommend that one. um podcast i'm listening to um oh it's kind of i forget his name something ruben he having a conversation with um i have to get the name for you and then you could put it on the on the podcast um it's about a creative journey and how you think and he had a conversation with who did um the sphere do you know the sphere it's like a it's a big installation an installation um in vegas where it's completely circular and there's no like straight lines anyway she's a very very interesting person um and that's the podcast i'm listening to but i have to get the name for you something reuben i think his name is but yeah those are the things i go with eyes of the skin okay can i just ask about your book yes that you launched yeah um in an idea the idea The Idea in You.

8:41The Idea in You, yeah. Yeah, published 10 years ago actually now, 2015. It was published by Penguin around the world. It was a bestseller. I mean, I guess I wrote that book with my friend Martin Amor because we'd learned a lot about how to have ideas and that's when I was working as a consultant. And I guess the genesis behind the book is a little bit like behind Until, which is like enabling people to thrive and build their own thing. And so that book effectively distilled everything that we learned working with the biggest companies in the world about how you find an idea and then get it going.

9:20So it's not the end-to-end business Bible, but it's not going to tell you how to raise massive investment. But it will tell you how to spot an idea you're passionate about and really care about and how to take its market. And effectively, yeah, trying to get people to do their own thing, which is what Until is as well. yeah and if I was to write a book what would I what would be like what three things should you tell me today well I guess the why behind anything is really important right and so we had a really powerful why behind writing that book because we ought to share that knowledge because we think actually putting your there's nothing you will know this right there's nothing quite like with your podcast your business there's nothing quite like putting something out into the world that you've made uh it's fantastic uh and so we wanted people to experience that and so I go So I'd go, well, you kind of know what your why is a little bit because you're doing this podcast, right?

10:07And so I think the answer to your book is probably something inside this somewhere. No, it definitely would be. It's interesting. I want you just to tell the guests a little bit about your book. A year ago, we were speaking at South by Southwest and we presented on this topic the last several years. And I mean, we're on this whole roadshow speaking because awareness is important. And so trying to get that awareness out there. and um a publisher was in the audience and she came up and she asked us to write the book and in all honesty i really thought i was going to get through my career without ever having to write a book truly despina and i think are the two that are like let's let's let's make a bond that we're never going to write a book and i broke that bond sorry despina um but we uh she asked us if we would do it and unfortunately a colleague of mine was there with me and was like sure we'll do it and the reason we didn't want to write a book is because I learned something new every day.

11:00I really truly do. And, uh, but we realized that we had so much information, it was important to get it out there. And so we had to get really clever in the book. Like we put, um, links to a lot of the research. So if people want to go deeper, they can. And, but we kind of say high level in the book on some of that. And they have a, we have a whole list of considerations that we have created, but it's a work in progress. You know, we're still learning. We're still getting, we're still digging into acoustics more and we're still doing research initiatives that are helping us define this. And so we did the second, the problem with the list is the second you put it out, all of a sudden, if you want to change it, you kind of can't.

11:38So we put a QR code in the book to the list so that if you were to call me tomorrow, guys, say, oh my God, okay, I just read this amazing report about acoustics. And we really should be thinking like this way and doing this, I can say, oh, that's amazing. I can update our list in real time. And we wrote it also. We had a big conversation. There is a tremendous amount of research and intellectual property that we put in this book. And there are a lot of people that are like, why are you giving that away to all of our competitors. But my fellow frenemies, other companies, are not my true competitors.

12:24Our competitors today are design firms that are doing it well and are neurowashing and are doing things and making companies realize or think there's no there there. right and we've had multiple companies call us and say hey we had this other company we know about neurodiversity we had this other company try to help us and just really nothing came out of it and then we heard you speak and we're like oh my god right like there is something there there that we need to dig into and so i'd rather give it away and have everybody doing it well than doing a disservice and our real competitors are not again design firms it's people today thinking that they can use generative AI to create a space without designers because not thinking that all we do is based on what we think is cool and what we think is trending, hate that word too, it's not.

13:20There is a real science to what we do. Every decision that I make, I make for a reason because I want to get a behavior or I want to support a work style or I want to accommodate a need in that space. This is not random. And so helping people understand that and the value of this and really doing it well is really important today. It's amazing. Oh, thank you so much. Okay. Thank you for coming on to Space by Stansons. And yeah, I'm very passionate about how the things we live with and the spaces we inhabit do change how we think and feel and behave. And what everything you said just music to my ears and so well guy i'll make you a promise right so next time i'm in london we'll get together and i'll let you choose whether we go to a buzzy like coffee shop in the middle of downtown london or whether we go to something secluded and off the beaten trail or whatever you can choose where we're going to go have our coffee and then we can talk for hours and hours and hours and then whenever i ask someone out for coffee i'm going to do that and i'm going to sort of like assess their personality based on the place that they choose.

14:34Well, thank you, Kay. You brought so much insights into wayfinding and that whole technology that was absolutely fantastic, neurodiverse, but just in two ways, a hyper and hypersensitivity. There was loads of lessons there in that last 40 minutes, absolute gold. So I'm going to thank you very warmly and say, if you'd enjoyed the conversation, please do review like the show. It does help us bring on fabulous guests like Kay, and we're very grateful to all the support. So thank you. Thank you very much for having me. And I should say the name of the book because I never said that, Designing Neuroinclusive Workplaces, which is a horrible name because it's about so much more.

15:14But thank you for having me on the show. I appreciate it. I think that's an amazing ending note, Kay. Thank you.