Designing and Marketing Delicious Tea

Aaron Shinn is a former #IDEO design lead and the cofounder of August Uncommon Tea who has been a dear friend for many years. We caught up on the streets of Osaka to discuss #futurism, Japan, and the nuts and bolts of designing and selling #tea.

Links:

https://www.aaronshinn.com/
https://www.instagram.com/ashinn/
https://august.la/
https://www.instagram.com/augustuncommon/
https://www.facebook.com/AugustUncommon/

Table of Contents:

00:00 - Start
00:50 - Intro to Aaron Shinn
01:40 - Dontonbori is the Fisherman's Wharf of Osaka
01:52 - Japan Neon, the 80's Future, and a Newer Future in Other Places
03:47 - Aaron Shinn is one of Thomas Grové's Design Mentors
04:40 - KPT Bryce and 90's Art Tools
06:21 - Realtime Rendering, VJing, Cloaking, Crazy Monkey
08:21 - August Uncommon Tea
09:15 - Availability in Japan
10:16 - The Economics of Running and Scaling A Tea Business
16:01 - Acquiring Customers through Advertising: Retargeting vs Prospecting
19:46 - Why Did Aaron and Gina Get into the Tea Business? And Where August Fits Amongst the Different Types of Tea Markets.
28:36 - The Process of Developing a Tea Flavor and the Link between Taste and Smell
34:06 - How Are People Preparing and Drinking August Tea?
39:35 - Random People Join the Fun pt 1
41:38 - Aaron Shinn's Role at August
46:27 - This is a Record of This Conversation
47:20 - Neil Stephenson - Cryptonomicon - Tea and Why Oversteaping Tea Makes It Bitter
53:20 - Can You Cold Brew Flavored Teas?
55:27 - The Development Process - What Percentage of New Blends are Failures?
1:00:26 - Customer Service and Dealing with Negative Feedback
1:10:05 - Random People Interaction Pt 3
1:10:54 - Tools for Ecommerce Pt 2
1:12:05 - Aaron Shinn Says Japan is a Different World. And Hiking the Kumonokodo Pilgrimage Trail.
1:14:03 - Outro

This episode is also available to watch as a video: https://youtu.be/6XuDLZQvO9Y

From Free Agent to Chief Design Officer

For our Double-O-Seventh episode, it is oh so appropriate to have Jon Myers as our guest. He's an international designer of mystery—living a jet-set life and assassinating design problems with expert marksmanship. We talk to Jon about his 20 years of design experience leading up to his current role as Chief Design Officer at Tokyo and Ho Chi Minh City based crypto trading platform Liquid.

You can find Jon at @JonMyers on Twitter and http://www.jonmyers.com/ You can learn more about Liquid at https://www.liquid.com/

Table of Contents:

• 00:17 - Intro
• 01:15 - Jon's Saigon Journey
• 02:17 - The Columbus Connection
• 02:43 - Jon's Design and Entrepreneurship Journey
• 05:16 - Digital Nomads, Lifestyle Business, Scalable Startups, Affiliate Marketing, Vietnam and a Medium Article
• 08:27 - American's Have an Unfair Advantage in Immigration and Global Citizenship
• 10:54 - World on Fire, Working for Yourself, Working for a Company, Abstraction Layers
• 15:04 - Introduction to The Liquid Crypto Platform
• 21:09 - Advice to be a Better Designer
• 24:31 - Smoking Shisha
• 26:07 - Exercise, Daily Routines, Productivity, Intermittent Fasting
• 28:42 - Distraction and Productivity
• 33:13 - What Does Jon Like Most About Living in Vietnam?
• 35:59 - Design vs Conducting
• 37:04 - Entertainment, Tourism, and Restaurants in Saigon
• 40:54 - Jon's Design Process
• 44:39 - Sketch (UI Design App)
• 45:54 - Game Design, New Platforms, and Gold Rushes
• 50:04 - Dynamite Circle
• 51:17 - Vitality in Online Communities
• 56:28 - Outro

Hashtags:

#liquid #crypto #design #ux #vietnam #shisha #digitalnomad #productivity #entrepreneurship #leadership #columbus #saigon #expatlife

This episode is also available as a video on Youtube: https://youtu.be/bJ072HFD7ns

Episode Notes

Muho Noelke is the former abbot of Antaiji, a Soto Zen monastery in Hyogo, Japan. He now makes jokes on Japanese Twitter while writing books and giving online lectures. I think this episode is great and if you've ever been curious about Zen or Buddhism, then you should watch the whole thing, lots of gems scattered throughout.

This episode is also available to watch as a video podcast: https://youtu.be/0IU5AgLLeIo

Muho's Links

• Muho's Twitter: https://twitter.com/MuhoNoelke
• Muho's German Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@muho
• Muho's English Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@MuhoZen
• Antaiji Soto Zen Temple: https://antaiji.org/

Table of Contents

• 00:00:00 - A punch in the face.
• 00:01:28 - Intro
• 00:04:16 - Number One Misconception About Zen
• 00:09:44 - Quitting the Game: Karma in Early Buddhism vs Mahayana
• 00:19:58 - Revisionist History in Zen
• 00:26:21 - Is Zen Popular? Zen vs Christianity
• 00:37:16 - Inkan Shome, Shiho, and Darma Transmission
• 00:43:51 - Is it possible to attain enlightenment without Dharma Transmission?
• 00:48:07 - Ikkyu San
• 00:48:54 - Discord
• 00:50:09 - What is a Zen Master?
• 00:52:27 - Muho on Science Fiction
• 00:55:07 - The most recent thing that made Muho LoL.
• 00:57:02 - What language do you use as your inner voice?
• 01:04:04 - Where does consciousness exist?
• 01:10:03 - Science fiction part 2.
• 01:13:22 - No Self and Two Truths Doctrine
• 01:18:27 - Does a dog have Buddha Nature?

This podcast is powered by Pinecast. Try Pinecast for free, forever, no credit card required. If you decide to upgrade, use coupon code r-4b5077 for 40% off for 4 months, and support Design Exchange with Thomas Grové.

Producing a Radio Show about Fishing

Pete Gray is the founder and host of Let's Talk Hook Up, a Southern California sports fishing call-in radio show that airs every Saturday and Sunday morning. We talk with Pete about the appeal of fishing, working with advertising partners, and transitioning from Radio broadcast to online media.

This episode is also available to watch on Youtube: https://youtu.be/g5KF275GBG4

Let's Talk Hook Up Links:

• Website: https://www.letstalkhookup.com/
• Instagram: @lets_talk_hook_up
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/letstalkhookup
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/lthhookup/
• App for iPhone: https://apple.co/2twrGp4
• App for Android: https://bit.ly/38cZbeO

Table of Contents:

• 00:27 - Intro - What Kind of Show is Let's Talk Hook Up?
• 02:33 - How Pete Got into Hosting A Radio Show
• 05:36 - Challenges in Radio
• 07:14 - How Advertisers Measure The Results of a Podcast or Radio Sponsorship
• 10:56 - Types of Sponsorship Opportunities
• 14:15 - Tips for New Podcasts When Working with Sponsors
• 17:03 - Timeslots
• 18:16 - How to Keep Your Show Fresh
• 19:44 - Commercial VS Sport Fishing and Sustainability
• 22:19 - Illegal Harvesting, Why Not Harvest Bycatch?
• 26:22 - Catch and Release and Bonefishing
• 28:11 - What's Fun About Fishing?
• 31:13 - Sushi and Tuna Stocks
• 32:36 - China's 9-Dash Line
• 35:23 - Fishing Tales
• 39:35 - Quietness in Fishing
• 40:33 - How to Find and Maintain Sponsorships
• 47:28 - Electric Outboard Engines
• 48:42 - Conventional Outboard Engines
• 51:44 - Some of the Logistics of Producing a Show and Keeping Up Enthusiasm
• 55:49 - Bringing My Dad on as a Guest - Fishing Story
• 1:00:27 - Outro

Episode Hashtags:

#sportfishing #sustainability #commercialfishing #podcast #radio #podcastproduction #radioproduction #sponsorships #fishing #talkradio #petegray #letstalkhookup

Bag Manufacturing in Vietnam

Design Exchange Podcast Episode 3 is our first episode with two guests while drinking Korean soju. Dave Kim has been working at Korean owned bag factories in Vietnam for more than 15 years. Marc Mendoza is a product designer from Silicon Valley who relocated to Vietnam to start Post Carry, a brand catering to cyclists.

Marc's Links: https://postcarry.co/ Instagram: @postcarryco

Thomas's Links: https://sefu.jp/ Instagram: @sefustyle

This episode is also available on Youtube: https://youtu.be/iUoHJVbqolw

Table of Contents:

• 00:38 - Intro Banter
• 02:46 - Marc made over 100 bags for friends, why he moved to Vietnam
• 06:17 - 15 years ago Saigon street coffee was better and people were friendlier
• 09:58 - Taking taxis vs driving in Saigon
• 11:14 - Korean Noodles
• 12:25 - Dave's job: bring design to reality, and bag production at a factory.
• 19:30 - Tech Packs and Design Documentation - How detailed does it need to be?
• 25:41 - Advice for New Product Designers
• 31:06 - Dave's Dream for 1 Million Dollars
• 33:08 - Feeling Good through Customer Feedback
• 36:20 - Climbing in Vietnam
• 38:55 - Vietnam is a "Woman Country"
• 40:31 - One of the benefits of being a foreigner is anonymity
• 42:33 - Cheap Smoothies and a Growing Economy drew Thomas to Vietnam
• 47:51 - The Number One Thing Thomas Doesn't Like About Vietnam.
• 51:39 - Driving a Motorbike in Vietnam
• 57:23 - Marc rode his bicycle 80km to the factory.
• 01:00:40 - Marc Wants to be in Vietnam
• 01:01:39 - Thomas lost meaning after separation from his son and seeks calmness and connection with his son in Japan.
• 01:04:08 - Columbus Ohio is becoming more attractive to Thomas.
• 01:06:49 - Silicon Valley vs Vietnam according to Marc Mendoza
• 01:08:09 - Our Favorite Viet Foods

Hashtags:

#bag #design #manufacturing #madeinvietnam #vietnam #saigon #podcast #designexchange #dxp #postcarry #sefu

Sponsors:

This episode is brought to you by Séfu, creators of The Switch Bag, the bag that lets you bring your Nintendo Switch with you, everywhere you go! Use code DXP for free shipping and a 15% discount!

This episode is also made possible by Pinecast. After weeks of evaluating podcast hosts, we decided to go with Pinecast because you can get unlimited episodes, storage, and bandwidth for only $5 per month. That's a great value and if you use coupon code r-4b5077 you'll get 40% off for 4 months!