Design Matters with Debbie Millman

Design Matters Media

Design Matters with Debbie Millman is one of the world’s very first podcasts. Broadcasting independently for over 15 years, the show is about how incredibly creative people design the arc of their lives.

  • 1 hour 20 minutes
    Lidia Yuknavitch

    Lidia Yuknavitch is the bestselling author of The Chronology of Water, Reading the Waves, and The Big M, and a writer whose work blurs genre to explore themes of memory, embodiment, grief, and transformation. She joins to discuss her childhood, her early life as a competitive swimmer, the film adaptation of The Chronology of Water directed by Kristen Stewart, and how storytelling can reshape the narratives we carry.

    Learn more about our flagship conference happening this April at attend.ted.com/podcast

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    16 March 2026, 9:00 am
  • 42 minutes 21 seconds
    Jack Schlossberg

    Jack Schlossberg—writer, lawyer, political correspondent, and the only grandson of President John F. Kennedy—joins live at the On Air Fest to discuss political legacy, internet culture, and the future of Democratic leadership. With humor and candor, he reflects on growing up in a historic political family, the power and peril of social media, the spread of misinformation, and why authenticity and risk-taking are essential to reaching a new generation of voters.

    Learn more about our flagship conference happening this April at attend.ted.com/podcast

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    9 March 2026, 9:00 am
  • 1 hour 17 minutes
    Kim Hastreiter

    Kim Hastreiter—co-founder and longtime editor of Paper magazine—joins to reflect on a life at the center of downtown New York’s art, fashion, and nightlife, from scrappy newsprint beginnings to the cover that “broke the internet.” She also discusses her memoir, Stuff: A New York Life of Cultural Chaos, and why artists must document culture before it’s rewritten.

    Learn more about our flagship conference happening this April at attend.ted.com/podcast

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    2 March 2026, 10:00 am
  • 1 hour 11 minutes
    C. Thi Nguyen

    C. Thi Nguyen—philosopher, professor, and author of Games: Agency as Art—joins to discuss his new book, The Score: How to Stop Playing Somebody Else’s Game, and how metrics, from grades to likes, quietly reshape what we value and who we become. Together, they explore games as “libraries of agency,” the allure of scoring systems, and the vital question: Is this the game you really want to be playing?

    Learn more about our flagship conference happening this April at attend.ted.com/podcast

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    23 February 2026, 10:00 am
  • 1 hour 1 minute
    Quiara Alegría Hudes

    Quiara Alegría Hudes is a Pulitzer Prize–winning playwright, composer, and novelist whose work has reshaped contemporary American theater. The co-creator of In the Heights and author of Water by the Spoonful, she has consistently explored identity, family, and belonging across theater, music, memoir, and now fiction in her new book, The White Hot.

    Learn more about our flagship conference happening this April at attend.ted.com/podcast

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    16 February 2026, 10:00 am
  • 1 hour 21 minutes
    Chris Duffy

    Chris Duffy—comedian, writer, and host of the TED podcast How to Be a Better Human—joins to discuss how humor shaped his path from teaching and improv to podcasting and television. Together, they explore why laughing more isn’t about being funny, but about attention, vulnerability, and connection, and how humor helps us stay human.

    Learn more about our flagship conference happening this April at attend.ted.com/podcast

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    9 February 2026, 10:00 am
  • 45 minutes 10 seconds
    Ruth Ann Harnisch

    Ruth Ann Harnisch is an investor, philanthropist, social activist, media producer, and founder of Harnisch Foundation, which supports work that breaks down barriers to equality and opportunity. She joins CreativeMornings live to reflect on her path from teen broadcaster to first female anchor, and how finding her voice in inequitable newsrooms shaped everything that followed.

    Learn more about our flagship conference happening this April at attend.ted.com/podcast

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    2 February 2026, 1:01 pm
  • 1 hour 11 minutes
    Brian Chesky

    Brian Chesky is the co-founder and CEO of Airbnb, a company that began with airbeds and grew into a worldwide community built on trust and belonging. He joins to discuss how imagination and design shaped his path from art school to entrepreneurship, and what it means to design the world you want to live in.

    Learn more about our flagship conference happening this April at attend.ted.com/podcast

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    26 January 2026, 10:00 am
  • 46 minutes 2 seconds
    20th Anniversary celebration with the most memorable guests: Jason Reynolds, Marina Abramović, Chris Ware, Richard Saul Wurman, Rick Rubin, and Roxane Gay

    For the 20th anniversary of Design Matters, Debbie Millman revisits excerpts from her most memorable interviews. Featuring Jason Reynolds, Marina Abramović, Chris Ware, Richard Saul Wurman, Rick Rubin, and Roxane Gay, this episode gathers voices that challenged, surprised, and have continued to evolve in meaning over time.

    Learn more about our flagship conference happening this April at attend.ted.com/podcast

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    19 January 2026, 8:10 pm
  • 55 minutes 27 seconds
    20th Anniversary celebration with renowned poets Eileen Myles, Elizabeth Alexander, Sarah Kay, and Amber Tamblyn

    For the 20th anniversary of Design Matters, Debbie Millman revisits conversations with renowned poets Eileen Myles, Elizabeth Alexander, Sarah Kay, and Amber Tamblyn. These excerpts reflect on language, identity, memory, and the lived experience that fuels their work. Together, they reveal poetry as an intimate practice that resonates beyond the page.

    Learn more about our flagship conference happening this April at attend.ted.com/podcast

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    12 January 2026, 10:00 am
  • 52 minutes 56 seconds
    20th Anniversary Celebration with distinguished actors Claire Danes, Ethan Hawke, Nick Offerman, Kyra Sedgwick, and Josh Brolin

    For the 20th anniversary of Design Matters, Debbie Millman revisits conversations with distinguished actors Claire Danes, Ethan Hawke, Nick Offerman, Kyra Sedgwick, and Josh Brolin. These excerpts explore how they approach their craft, work with directors and fellow actors, and what it means to inhabit a role and sustain a creative life on stage and on screen.

    Learn more about our flagship conference happening this April at attend.ted.com/podcast

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    6 January 2026, 1:31 am
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