Who doesn’t love a good inspirational design podcast? As a creative, there’s nothing quite like putting on a good podcast episode and going heads down on some nitty-gritty design work. For your listening pleasures, we’ve rounded up a list of ten design podcasts created for and by designers that we believe are worth a listen.
Whether you’re a graphic designer, web designer, illustrator, or freelancer looking to build your career and hone your craft—any of these design-centered podcasts will satisfy your listening appetite. Let’s get straight into it.
1. The Mt. Freelance Podcast
Tune into The Mt. Freelance Podcast to get inspired by awesome freelancers in the creative industry who share their story and how they navigate being their own boss. The show is hosted by co-creators of Mt. Freelance—the online course and community for, you guessed it, freelancers. Here’s what you can expect from Season 1 according to hosts Andrew Dickson and Aaron James:
“There are a lot of podcasts about filmmaking and advertising and the creative process, but not about what it’s like to be a freelancer within those industries. I think listeners are going to be entertained, but also hear some ideas and approaches that have been successful for our guests that they can apply to their own careers. Ultimately the show is about how to make it as a writer, director or designer, or any kind of creative person when you’re on your own and it’s all up to you.”
2. The Perspective Podcast
Scotty Russell is a lettering artist and illustrator who creates, teaches, and speaks under the name Perspective-Collective. Based out of Iowa, Scotty is on a mission to help creatives hone their craft and get over their inner critic.
“The Perspective Podcast is fuel for your mind and creative grind. Each week, Scotty Russell of Perspective-Collective and his guests give you the tools for thinking bigger, overcoming adversity, and making an impact with your work—especially if you’re building a side hustle outside your day job. If you’re a designer or artist craving hard topics like mental health, growing an audience, pricing, attracting work and winning the day, then this show is for you!”
3. Women of Illustration
Women of Illustration is a podcast and video series created by Dina Rodriguez of Letter Shoppe, a lettering studio based out of Portland, Oregon. While the podcast features women illustrators, any kind of designer can listen in on shoptalk and gain solid advice on growing their business and developing their voice.
“Women are not included as much as we would like to be. I want to build visibility up for the female artists around me and seek out their exceptional voices, until that act itself becomes ordinary. In this first season, I’m going to introduce you to 12 women from all over the world. These lady boss artists and I are going to be very open on how to build a following, find your unique style, launch products, get clients, build passion projects, and get paid what you’re worth.”
4. Creative Pep Talk
Hosted by Andy J. Miller the Creative Pep Talk podcast aims to help you build a thriving creative career out of making great art. Wherever you are on your journey as a creative, this podcast has amazing actionable advice everyone can apply.
“The Creative Pep Talk Podcast is designed to help you make a good living, making great art. Andy J. Miller is passionate about helping creative’s strike the perfect balance between art and business. Through ridiculous analogies, personal stories and artist interviews, Andy hopes to help you break free from confusion and make a plan for your creative career success!”
5. Charged
Charged is hosted by three freelance creatives with different specialties—all based in Amsterdam. This conversation format podcast breaks down all things tech news from new tools, product updates, and much more in a really fun and casual style. Hosts are Frederique Matti, Zach Grosser, and Owen Williams.
“Cut through the technology news noise and hear about only the stuff that matters, and what it means. Join your hosts Owen, Frederique and Zach every week to get the lowdown on the biggest stories—including some you might not have heard anything about. With our short episodes, you’ll get the best briefing you possibly can on trends in technology.”
6. The Nose Knows
Native New Yorker Jon Contino is an influential staple in the design industry and branding community. In his podcast, The Nose Knows, listeners learn and laugh with Jon as he answers listener questions with his bluntly honest, sincere, and relatable point of view.
“The Nose Knows is a podcast hosted by Jon Contino featuring Brent the Intern. Jon answers questions submitted by listeners about design and the life of a creative person. He discusses personal stories about his honest experiences building a creative business over the years, shares behind the scenes hijinx and hilarity, and may go on random tangents about old pop culture and air grievances with just about everything.”
7. The Honest Designers Show
The Honest Designers Show is hosted by four designers: Design Cuts Founder Tom Ross, hand lettering artist Ian Barnard, illustrator Lisa Glanz, and co-owner of RetroSupply Co. Dustin Lee. After organizing weekly group calls to help each other in areas they were struggling with, the four designers decided it only made sense to share these conversations with the world. And thus, The Honest Designers Show was born.
“This podcast is an insight into how to succeed in the creative industry, as well as giving you a totally transparent, under the hood look at some of the tougher, less glamorous hurdles to overcome! Your hosts also tend to get a little goofy along the way, so this is a chance to get to know each of them a little better.”
8. Laroche.fm
Hosted by Eugen Eşanu, Laroche.fm is a podcast that covers just about everything when it comes to design and entrepreneurship. The episodes range in content from interviews with successful leaders in design to insights from Eugene’s own perspective on the landscape of today’s creative world.
“Hi! My name is Eugen and I am the host of Laroche.fm. I am a UI/UX Designer and founder of Laroche.co. This podcast is a chance for me to share with you my knowledge and passions. Join me for weekly episodes about design and the business side of it. From time to time I also have a guest on the podcast that will share useful and practical insights from their experience.”
9. Let’s Talk Branding
Stef Hamerlinck founded Let’s Talk Branding, a platform for designers that want to level-up their skills and become more valuable designers. In his podcast, Stef and his guests dive deep into the world of brand strategy and help designers hone their skills in this area.
“In Let’s talk branding, Stef Hamerlinck talks with industry leaders, designers, authors about branding, strategy, and design. Learn about what makes a great brand and how we can create brands that connect with an audience.”
10. Design Life
Design Life is a podcast about design and side projects for motivated creators. The show is hosted by two designers and serial side project addicts Charli Prangley and Femke van Schoonhoven. They created Design Life after seeing a gap in the podcast market for a conversational show hosted by women about design and the issues young creatives face.
“Listen to two women in tech talk about how they balance side projects on top of a full-time job. The show aims to tackle big issues designers face like getting paid, overcoming creative block, or managing time, to name a few. We want to open up discussion about things we wish we heard people talk about when we were studying, and we want to chat with you about the joys and the frustrations of working in the tech industry by day, and on our passion projects in the rest of our waking hours.”
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