The 15 Best Designers Podcasts (2026)

Roman Mars has one of the most recognizable voices in podcasting, and he uses it to make you notice things you've walked past a thousand times without thinking. 99% Invisible is a show about design in the broadest sense — architecture, urban planning, typography, even the humble em dash. With 780 episodes, a 4.8-star rating, and over 25,500 reviews, it's one of the most consistently excellent podcasts running.

Each episode runs about 33 to 39 minutes and tells a self-contained story. One week you'll learn about the longest fence in the world stretching across Australia. The next, you'll find out why dental tourism created an entire border town in Mexico. There's a multi-part series breaking down the US Constitution through a design lens that honestly should be required listening in every poli-sci program.

The production quality is outstanding. Mars and his team layer interviews, archival audio, and narration in a way that feels cinematic without being overwrought. You can tell they agonize over every edit.

For university students, this show does something invaluable: it trains you to think critically about the built environment and the systems you interact with every day. After a few episodes, you'll start noticing the design choices in your campus buildings, your city's transit system, even the signs in your library. That shift in perception — seeing the intention behind things most people ignore — is exactly the kind of thinking that makes your essays and class discussions sharper.

Debbie Millman has been interviewing creative people for over two decades, and at 660-plus episodes, Design Matters might be the most comprehensive oral history of modern creative life ever assembled. Now part of the TED Audio Collective, the show started long before most people knew what a podcast was.

Millman's approach is disarmingly personal. She doesn't just ask about the work -- she wants to know how her guests designed the entire arc of their lives. Conversations span artists, designers, entrepreneurs, performers, and thinkers from wildly different disciplines, but there's always a through-line: what compels someone to build a creative life, and what it actually costs them. Her guest list reads like a who's-who of creative culture, from graphic designers to novelists to museum directors.

What makes Millman exceptional as an interviewer is her preparation and genuine curiosity. She catches details other hosts miss, and she's not afraid to push gently when an answer stays too safe. Her questions have a literary quality to them -- they're crafted, not improvised. Listeners regularly mention that even episodes featuring guests they've never heard of turn out to be some of the most compelling. The production is polished without feeling corporate. Each episode runs about 45 minutes to an hour. This is the kind of show that makes you rethink your own creative path while you're listening to someone else talk about theirs.

Chris Do is the kind of host who will tell you exactly what you need to hear, even when it stings a little. As CEO of The Futur and an Emmy-winning creative director, he sits at a very specific intersection of design craft and business strategy that most creatives struggle to navigate on their own. The podcast -- over 400 episodes deep -- is a weekly conversation with entrepreneurs, designers, marketers, and thinkers who have figured out how to turn creative talent into sustainable careers. What makes this show especially valuable is how practical it gets. Chris does not deal in vague inspiration. He talks pricing, negotiation tactics, personal branding, client management, and the hard financial realities of running a design business. Episodes include detailed timestamps so you can jump straight to the parts that matter to you. The conversations go long and deep, often running past an hour, which gives guests room to share real stories rather than polished soundbites. Some episodes feature solo commentary from Chris where he breaks down a business concept or responds to audience questions with the same directness he brings to interviews. The show sits at the crossroads of design, marketing, and entrepreneurship, so it attracts a listener base that is not just designers but also freelancers, agency owners, and anyone trying to build something creative for a living. If you want to get better at the business side of design, Chris Do is probably your best teacher on any podcast platform right now.

Design Better is co-hosted by Eli Woolery and Aarron Walter, two people who clearly enjoy talking to smart, creative folks about how design actually works inside organizations. The show sits at the intersection of design, technology, and the creative process, and it does a solid job of going beyond surface-level trend talk to get into the mechanics of collaboration, leadership, and building products that people genuinely want to use.

Vanity Fair called the show "sharp, to the point, and full of incredibly valuable information," and that's a fair summary. Episodes tend to be focused conversations rather than sprawling chats, and the hosts have a talent for pulling practical insights out of their guests. You'll hear from design leaders at major companies, independent practitioners, and people working in adjacent fields who bring fresh perspectives to design problems.

The show runs on a Substack model now, with free subscribers getting two full episodes and two previews per month, while premium subscribers get weekly ad-free episodes every Tuesday. Content is organized by topic, so if you're interested in, say, design systems or creative leadership, you can binge a curated set of episodes rather than hunting through a chronological feed. The hosts also put together collections like their "Design Foundations" series, which is a solid starting point for newer designers. It's a well-organized show that respects your time and consistently delivers something you can actually apply to your own work the next day.

The name is not just marketing -- this show really does try to be honest about what creative life looks like behind the Instagram highlights. Hosted by Tom Ross, Ian Barnard, Dustin Lee, and Lisa Glanz, all four hosts come from different creative backgrounds (lettering, illustration, branding, digital products), and each has built a real business from their design work through Design Cuts. New episodes drop every Wednesday, and the format mixes roundtable discussions among the hosts with guest interviews featuring people like Jessica Hische and Austin Kleon. The roundtable episodes are where the show really shines. The hosts talk openly about pricing mistakes, creative blocks, imposter syndrome, dealing with difficult clients, and the unglamorous grind of freelancing. They give actionable tips, but they also admit when they do not have all the answers, which is refreshing. Guest episodes tend to go deeper into specific topics like hand-lettering technique, building an illustration career, or launching digital products. The tone is encouraging without being saccharine -- think supportive peers, not motivational speakers. Episodes run about 30 to 45 minutes and the production is clean and straightforward. There is no over-the-top sound design here, just good conversation. If you are a graphic designer, illustrator, or lettering artist trying to figure out how to make your creative work pay the bills, this show speaks directly to that daily reality.

Charli Prangley and Femke Van Schoonhoven started Design Life because they noticed something missing: a conversational design podcast hosted by two women tackling the real issues young creatives face. Charli is a Creative Director at ConvertKit and runs a popular YouTube channel. Femke is a Design Lead at Gusto who also teaches product design online. Together, they bring complementary perspectives from different corners of the tech design world. Episodes come out twice a month and run about 34 minutes, which is just the right length for a focused conversation without filler. The topics hit the things designers actually think about day to day: how to negotiate a promotion, transitioning from individual contributor to manager, keeping up with AI tools without losing your mind, fostering knowledge sharing on a team, and navigating the sometimes tricky relationship between designers and product managers. The format is genuinely conversational rather than scripted. Charli and Femke share their own experiences, disagree with each other sometimes, and talk through problems in real time. It feels like listening to two smart friends work through the challenges of building a design career in tech. They do not spend episodes talking about abstract design theory. Almost everything is grounded in practical, lived experience. The show particularly resonates with designers who are a few years into their career and trying to figure out what comes next -- whether that is leadership, specialization, or building something on the side.

Amy Devers has a genuine gift for getting people to drop their guard. As a designer, fabricator, and TV host, she brings a hands-on maker's sensibility to every interview, and her guests clearly feel it. Clever is an award-winning, independently produced podcast with over 200 episodes, and the guest list spans architects, graphic designers, fashion designers, multidisciplinary artists, and creative thinkers from all kinds of backgrounds. What makes the show distinctive is Devers' interviewing style. She calls it "raw candor and honest shop-talk," and that is pretty accurate. These are not polished PR conversations. She asks about the gritty parts of creative careers -- the failures, the pivots, the moments of self-doubt -- and guests consistently open up in ways they might not on other shows. Episodes release biweekly and typically run 45 minutes to an hour. The production is independent, with music by the band El Ten Eleven, which gives the whole thing a warm, artsy feel without being precious about it. There is also a spinoff series called Clever Confidential that digs into the darker, lesser-told stories of design history -- the sordid tales hiding under glossy legacies. That series alone is worth a listen for anyone interested in design's complicated past. If you want to understand the humanity behind the objects, buildings, and visual culture we live with every day, Clever is one of the most genuine shows doing that work right now.

Gerry Scullion runs one of the most comprehensive design podcasts out there, and he does it from Dublin with an infectious enthusiasm that makes even dense topics about service design frameworks feel accessible. This is HCD has racked up over a million downloads by focusing on the full spectrum of human-centered design, from UX and interaction design to service design, customer experience, and design strategy.

The format is interview-driven. Scullion brings on practitioners, educators, and design leaders from around the world and asks them to get specific about their methods, mindsets, and real-world project stories. He's particularly good at drawing out the messy, honest details of how design actually happens inside organizations, which is far more valuable than polished case study presentations. You'll hear from people working at global consultancies, government agencies, startups, and everything in between.

Scullion's background as a service designer and trainer comes through in the way he structures conversations. He's not just collecting quotes; he's building a body of knowledge that listeners can actually use. The show also connects to a broader community through This is HCD's courses and coaching programs, but the podcast stands entirely on its own as a free resource. Episodes drop regularly and cover enough ground that you can find something relevant regardless of your specific design discipline. If you're interested in how design thinking translates into real organizational change, Scullion has probably recorded an episode about it.

The Angry Designer is hosted by a Creative Director who built and sold a seven-figure creative agency, and he has absolutely zero patience for industry fluff. That's the whole premise, and it works. The show tackles the topics other graphic design podcasts tend to avoid or sugarcoat: burnout, ageism, toxic clients, pricing battles, imposter syndrome, and the general absurdity of working in a field where everyone has an opinion about your work.

With over 270 episodes released weekly since 2020, the show mixes interviews with solo design tips and rant-style episodes. There's often whiskey involved, which sets the tone nicely. The host's experience running an actual agency gives his advice real weight. When he talks about firing a bad client or raising your rates, it's coming from someone who's done it and dealt with the consequences. He doesn't just say "charge what you're worth" and leave it at that; he gets into the specific conversations, the pushback, and how to hold your ground.

The production is solid, episodes are available on YouTube with uncut versions for people who want the full experience, and the weekly cadence means there's always something new. Topics range from branding strategy and logo design to freelancing challenges, AI's impact on the profession, and the business side of running a creative operation. It's unapologetically opinionated, occasionally profane, and consistently entertaining. If you've ever wanted to hear a designer say the things you're thinking but wouldn't say in a client meeting, this is the show for that.

High Resolution is a completed limited series, and that is actually part of what makes it so good. Bobby Ghoshal and Jared Erondu set out to create exactly 25 episodes with 25 of the most influential design leaders working at major tech companies, and they delivered roughly 1,000 minutes of programming -- about the length of a solid audiobook. The video format gives it a different feel from audio-only podcasts. You can watch the body language, see the workspace, and pick up on dynamics that get lost in audio. The guest list is stacked: Katie Dill from Airbnb, Didier Hilhorst from Uber, John Maeda from Automattic, Rochelle King from Spotify, Scott Belsky from Behance, Kat Holmes from Microsoft, Rich Fulcher from Google, Tom Kelley from IDEO, and Ian Spalter from Instagram, among others. Each conversation runs about an hour and focuses on how the best companies approach, communicate, and deploy design at scale. The hosts ask sharp questions about process, team structure, and the real challenges of building design culture inside large organizations. The series finale has Bobby and Jared turning the cameras on each other, answering ten questions about their own careers, which is a satisfying way to close things out. Even though no new episodes are being made, the content remains remarkably relevant. The insights about design leadership, team building, and creative process at scale do not really age. Think of it as a masterclass you can revisit anytime.

Rob Hope runs One Page Love, one of the most respected web design galleries on the internet, and his podcast carries that same eye for quality and curation. Yo! Podcast spotlights designers, developers, makers, and entrepreneurs who are building their own futures, and the conversations have a warmth and curiosity that makes each episode feel personal rather than performative. The show is now in its third season, which moved to a video format available on YouTube and powered by Bold Video and Webflow. That video component adds a layer -- you can actually see the guests in their element, which makes the conversations feel more connected. Rob clearly puts thought into every detail of the show, right down to designing custom artwork for each episode using a consistent typographic template he built in Photoshop with Sofia Pro. That design nerdery shows up in how he approaches interviews too. He asks specific, well-researched questions rather than generic prompts, and gives guests space to share real stories about building products and companies. The guest list focuses on people who are making things happen on the web -- founders, indie makers, designers who ship their own products. Episodes are conversational and tend to be medium-length, making them easy to fit into a workday. If you are a web designer, developer, or someone building an indie product, Rob Hope's perspective and guest selection make this a consistently rewarding listen.

Josh Miles is genuinely obsessed with design, and that enthusiasm is contagious. The Obsessed Show -- formerly known as Obsessed With Design -- has accumulated around 180 episodes of conversations with some of the most interesting people working in creative fields. The guest range is wider than you might expect. Yes, there are branding designers and illustrators, but Miles also brings on industrial designers, architects, photographers, filmmakers, authors, and other makers to learn what drives their creative process. The show took a brief hiatus in 2018 and came back stronger, with a multi-camera in-person recording setup that makes the video versions on YouTube feel polished and engaging. Miles has a casual, conversational interviewing style that puts guests at ease. He is less interested in career highlights and more curious about the obsessions -- the specific fascinations and creative fixations that make each designer tick. That angle gives the show a different flavor from podcasts that focus primarily on career advice or business strategy. You get into the why behind the work, which is often more interesting than the what. Episodes vary in length but typically run 30 to 60 minutes. The production has gotten progressively better over the years, and the visual branding of the show itself reflects the design sensibility Miles brings to everything. If you are the kind of person who wants to understand what makes creative people stay up at night working on something they cannot stop thinking about, this show gets at that feeling.

Dawan Stanford runs Fluid Hive, a consultancy focused on design-driven innovation, and his podcast is the audio extension of that practice. Design Thinking 101 is a series of long-form conversations with experienced practitioners who are actually applying design thinking in the real world -- not just talking about it as a buzzword. New episodes drop about every two weeks and average around 56 minutes, which gives conversations room to breathe. Stanford has a distinctive interviewing approach. He gives his guests enormous space to think and talk, then adds context from his own practice to draw out even deeper insights. Listeners have noted this style feels more like sitting in on a mentoring session than listening to a typical podcast interview. The guests come from a wide range of fields: business, social innovation, education, government, and healthcare. That cross-sector perspective is valuable because you see how the same design thinking principles play out differently depending on context. One episode might feature someone redesigning a hospital patient flow, the next someone applying behavioral design to a government service. The show covers design thinking, service design, behavioral design, and user experience design, always connecting methodology back to real outcomes and real challenges. Stanford also records occasional solo episodes where he breaks down core concepts, like his short introduction to design thinking that serves as a solid entry point for newcomers. If you are a practitioner trying to connect design thinking to actual strategy and action rather than just sticky notes on a wall, this podcast takes that work seriously.

Todd Coats and Elliot Strunk are self-described "creatively curious pals," and that perfectly captures the energy of this show. Two Designers Walk Into a Bar is part of the Evergreen Podcasts network and has more than 100 episodes exploring how familiar designs became iconic. The concept is simple and brilliant: take something everyone recognizes -- a state flag, a book cover, a trophy, tiki bar aesthetics -- and trace the design story behind it. The hosts have a genuine friendship that comes through in every episode. They riff off each other, go on tangents, laugh at their own jokes, and bring a sense of play to topics that could easily become dry in other hands. Their multi-part series on tiki culture, for example, spent three episodes exploring how Polynesian Pop swept through American suburbia from the 1930s to the 1970s, weaving together design history, cultural commentary, and pop culture with real affection for the subject matter. Episodes run about 30 to 45 minutes and the companion website at twodesignerswalkintoabar.com provides images, links, and extras for each episode, which is a nice touch since so much of what they discuss is visual. The show sits comfortably at the intersection of design and pop culture, which makes it accessible to people who would never listen to a straight design theory podcast. If you enjoy knowing the backstory behind the visual world -- why that logo looks that way, how that design trend started -- Todd and Elliot make those stories genuinely fun to hear.

Bonnie Christine brings 14 years of experience as a surface pattern designer, entrepreneur, and educator to a podcast that is specifically built for creative people trying to turn their art into a real business. The Professional Creative releases episodes on a biweekly schedule, and each one focuses on a practical aspect of building a creative career -- from marketing and promotion strategies to overcoming the mental blocks that keep artists from putting their work out there. Christine's background in surface pattern design gives the show a unique angle. She is not coming from tech or branding but from the world of textiles, licensing, and physical products, which means her business advice is grounded in an industry where many creatives actually work but few podcasts address. She talks about things like negotiating licensing deals, building an audience for handmade and designed goods, and creating passive income from creative assets. The tone is warm and encouraging without tipping into empty cheerleading. Christine shares real numbers, real setbacks, and specific strategies that she has used in her own business. She also publishes companion newsletters -- "Secrets of the Studio" for surface pattern designers and "Beneath the Surface" for creative entrepreneurs -- that extend the conversation beyond each episode. Episodes are well-structured and typically run 20 to 40 minutes, making them digestible for busy creatives who are probably listening while working in the studio. If you are an artist or maker trying to figure out the business side without losing what makes your work special, Christine speaks that language fluently.