Where do podcast ideas come from? Kyle explains how the influences of two brilliant designers -- Sir Jony Ive and Hillman Curtis -- helped form his design philosophy foundation.

Lessons from Sir Jony Ive:

• Encouraged informal questioning and inquiry, tolerated mistakes, and promoted innovation.
• Make your studio into an "ideas factory" with brainstorming sessions at least two times a week -- No exceptions!
• Create a space that allows ideas to not be so easily squished.
• Constantly simplify and do away with as much as possible (Less is Better).
• Make things that express your appreciation for people you will probably never meet.

Lessons from Hillman Curtis:

• You need to make 100 bad designs before you discover a good one.
• Take the ideas that are in your head and do something with them.
• Keep your mind fertile with personal interests, experiences, and curiosity.
• Ideas originate from a mind free from distractions.
• Your job as a designer is to make the invisible visible.

Notable Quotes:

"While ideas ultimately can be so powerful, they begin as fragile, barely formed thoughts, so easily missed, so easily compromised, so easily squished."

-- Jony Ive (Apple)

"The goal of a designer is to listen, observe, understand, sympathize, empathize, synthesize, and glean insights that enable him or her to 'make the invisible visible'."

-- Hillman Curtis

"Be prepared to reinvent yourself. Be prepared to go out on a limb occasionally, and be prepared to do things that you feel strongly about."

-- Hillman Curtis