Free Daily Podcast Summary
Works But Makes Noises: Daily Summaries Delivered
by David McGillivray & Jacob Heftmann
Two designers on opposite coasts talk their way through creativity, culture, and tech. It’s a podcast about everything except design, that somehow always ends up being about design.
Latest Episodes
The most recent episodes — sign up to get AI-powered summaries of each one.
- Yesterday57 min
World Cup Kits, Mamdani’s Grocery Store RFP, Siri AI, and a Tribute to David Hockney
We're going full World Cup fan-mode this week. We make some personal picks for the tournament and talk best and worst of the national team kits. Also in the world of public and civic branding projects, we call out some personal do's and don'ts related to the week's most-commented design RFP: NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani's call for branding NYC's new public grocery stores. We talk about what the subway, public libraries, and Porto and Barcelona get right about civic design plus: Apple's audacious ...
- 3 weeks ago1h 6m
Digital Collecting, a Bauhaus Awakening, and the Ethics of Copying, Crediting and Remixing in Design
This week we're getting moooooody – moodboards, that is! First we talk David's new iOS app Archiv, which lets you photograph and catalogue what's around you. Then we wade into the thorny world of design inspiration, copying, and downright plagiarism, vague posting without credit, and the blurry line between inspiration and theft. We tackle wether moodboards are lazy shortcuts, explore why learning through mimicking great work actually teaches you something real, trace David’s design awakening...
- May 11, 20261h 8m
Designing With Emotion, Elastic Branding, and Band Dynamics with guest Estee Kim, VP of Design at Soft Services
This week we're joined by Estee Kim, VP of Design at Soft Services, the cult-favorite body care brand known for its meticulous design and packaging. We talk on multi-generational design families, her parents’ graphic design and signage shop in Philadelphia, and her grandmother Rose's collage practice. Estee walks us through Soft Services’ design philosophy; how they capture sensory experiences visually, the brand’s “elastic branding” approach, the band metaphor for collaborative design teams,...
- Apr 13, 20261h 0m
Getting Good Design Feedback, Figma Comments, and Electric Car Shopping
electric car shopping and EV tradeoffs, figma comments and modern design feedback, fragmented feedback across tools, structuring better client critique, feedback psychology and confidence, figma shortcuts and workflows, productivity tools we don’t use, are.na websites and spatial, caveman codex, spring in upstate New York https://www.44xdesign.com/spatial https://tiny.garden/sites by @gndclouds WILLIAM FELKER https://github.com/JuliusBrussee/caveman Join our WBMN group chat on Output: h...
- Mar 30, 202654 min
Surf Apps & 70’s Surf Racks, Figma Config, Homebrew Study Aides, Hand-Finished Design, Reverse Airbnb, and Design Team Retreats
surf forecasting tools and building personal software, jacob’s 70’s surf rack archive and design lineage, figma config branding and pushing beyond the parent brand, using ai to study and learn through narrative instead of memorization, planning a retreat for type designers and the limits of structured “fun” https://www.infinitemachine.com/ https://jheftmann.github.io/wavekit/ https://config.figma.com/ Join our WBMN group chat on Output: https://wbmn.output.app/workspaces/join/c2c99415297b97e6...
- Mar 16, 202658 min
Special Guest Allan Yu on Going From Designer to Founder, Pivoting Your Startup, and Why AI Should Be Invisible
This week we’re joined by Allan Yu, designer and co-founder of community messaging app, Output. He previously worked as an early designer at Svpply, a cult favorite among designers, and later at Google Labs, Meta, and Shopify. We talk on designer to founder reality checks, pivoting your startup (again and again), Svpply nostalgia, type foundry UX rants, building a Discord for normal people, design craft vs shipping product, venture-backed startup pressure, fake users testing your produc...
- Mar 2, 202654 min
The End of Wireframes, a Robot Vacuum Army, and Why Designing Backwards is the Way Forward
Robot vacuum fleets, Claude code experiments, Personal SaaSpocalypse, closed loop design workflows, building before designing, design is the bottleneck, pushing to prod, the death of wireframes, grey box trauma, and unlearning the process. Join our WBMN group chat on Output: https://wbmn.output.app/workspaces/join/c2c99415297b97e6dfc0 David McGillivray is a designer and creative director in upstate New York, designing for early stage tech companies through his own practice. He also co-found...
- Feb 16, 20261h 1m
Jony Ive’s Ferrari, AI Copycats, Human-Washed Brands, and Faux Scribbles
Ive's Ferrari collab, tactile design, electric performance, AI copycats, creative IP, opt-in consent, database tools vs model training, human-washed tech, the Granola rebrand, analog aesthetics, faux authenticity, proof of humanity, OpenAI vs Anthropic, authenticity vs costume. Jony Ive x Ferrari https://www.highsnobiety.com/p/ferrari-luce-jony-ive-marc-newson-lovefrom/ Stripe Sessions: Jony Ive https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLb9g_8r-mE Granola Rebrand https://www.granola.ai/blog/a-new-l...
About Works But Makes Noises
Two designers on opposite coasts talk their way through creativity, culture, and tech. It’s a podcast about everything except design, that somehow always ends up being about design.
Customized Recaps
AI-powered recaps with compact key takeaways, quotes, and insights.
Straight to Your Inbox
Get key takeaways from Works But Makes Noises in a 5-minute read.
Save Hours Every Week
Stay current on your favorite podcasts without falling behind.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Podzilla's Works But Makes Noises daily summary?
It's a free AI-powered email that summarizes new episodes of Works But Makes Noises as soon as they're published. You get the key takeaways, notable quotes, and links & mentions — all in a quick read.
How does the Works But Makes Noises podcast summary work?
When a new episode drops, our AI transcribes and analyzes it, then generates a personalized summary tailored to your interests and profession. It's delivered to your inbox every morning.
Is this an official Works But Makes Noises product?
No. Podzilla is an independent service that summarizes publicly available podcast content. We're not affiliated with or endorsed by David McGillivray & Jacob Heftmann.
Can I get summaries of other podcasts too?
Absolutely! The free plan covers up to 3 podcasts. Upgrade to Pro for 15, or Premium for 50. Browse our full catalog at /podcasts.
How often does Works But Makes Noises release new episodes?
Works But Makes Noises publishes monthly. Our AI generates a summary within hours of each new episode.
What topics does Works But Makes Noises cover?
Works But Makes Noises covers topics including Technology, Business, Arts, Design, Marketing. Our AI identifies the specific themes in each episode and highlights what matters most to you.
Start getting Works But Makes Noises summaries tomorrow morning.
Free forever for up to 3 podcasts. No credit card required.
Free forever for up to 3 podcasts. No credit card required.