Aarron Walter

We’ve been to a lot of conferences over the years. You know the format: a speaker on a stage, a sea of seats, a hallway where the real conversations happen if you’re lucky enough to catch someone before they’re whisked away. This isn’t that. We’re partnering with our friends at September Works on the September Work(shop)Leadership Excursion, a two-day gathering of just forty design leaders in Sonoma this fall.

Design Better co-hosts Eli Woolery and Aarron Walter explore the intersection of design, technology, and the creative process through conversations with inspiring guests across many creative fields. Whether you’re design curious or a design pro, Design Better is guaranteed to inspire and inform. Episodes are released semi-weekly for free subscribers, weekly for premium subscribers.

A few years ago, Ian Bogost wrote what he thought was a throwaway Atlantic piece about how electric vehicles would finally kill the manual transmission. It went off like a bomb — and the reaction told him people weren’t mourning a car part. They were mourning the feeling of dropping a gear into place, a small moment of sensory connection quietly disappearing without anyone choosing to give it up. That feeling is the subject of his new book, The Small Stuff.