In the Making

Can an app really help you fall in love? Sometimes using a dating app feels like getting hit by cupid’s arrow - and sometimes it feels like you’ve been stung. We talk to designers and daters to see whether the UX of these apps is meant to help you find that someone special, or just to keep you swiping left indefinitely.

Read the PDF transcript of this episode.

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Teresa Au talks to psychotherapist Sarah Ahmed, aka Tiktok’s @the.poc.therapist, about how creatives can navigate the emotional side of putting yourself, and your work, online. Sarah is beloved by her followers for dispensing advice on relationships and self-love, so she knows first-hand how hard it can be to weather social media’s nasty comments and unpredictable algorithms, plus our own insecurities. Her strategies for protecting your mental fitness will help you enjoy all the best aspects of sharing your creativity with the world.

What you’ll hear in this episode:

• How Sarah faced her fears and embraced social media as a platform for mental health advocacy.
• The ups and downs of Sarah’s audience growth on TikTok
• How to deal with criticism and personal attacks on social
• Strategies for combating stress and burnout with adaptation and resilience
• The importance of mental fitness
• When it's beneficial to seek therapy and how to take the first step
• Finding community
• Practical tips for managing and setting boundaries on social media usage
• Where Sarah finds joy

Check out an Adobe Express template on these topics at https://adobe.ly/ITM-Sarah

Sarah Ahmed, founder and CEO of Leena, is a pioneer in culturally sensitive mental health care. As a seasoned psychotherapist with a heart for the BIPOC community, her journey from the University of Toronto to the forefront of mental wellness advocacy blends creativity and entrepreneurial spirit with deep compassion. Known widely as @the.poc.therapist, Sarah's vibrant advocacy illuminates the path to healing, making her a guiding light for inclusive support and resilience.

Teresa Au (@tautastic) is an executive for community engagement at Adobe, where she focuses on empowering creatives and students via workshops, panels, and podcasts. On creating In the Making, Teresa says “I knew I wanted to amplify the incredible personal stories of the talented and unique humans I’ve been meeting online and at our Create Now events across the world.”

In the Making is made possible by Adobe Express, the all-in-one content creation app included in your Creative Cloud membership.

Learn more about this podcast, and find transcripts and links, at adobe.ly/inthemaking. Want to leave us a voicemail? Go to https://www.speakpipe.com/inthemaking

Design flyers, TikToks, resumes, and Reels with the new, all-in-one Adobe Express. Create video, marketing, and social content. Edit photos and PDFs. Make it all in one app, including generative AI tools from Adobe Firefly and easy, one-click tasks like removing backgrounds.

Adobe Creative Cloud provides apps, web services, and resources for all your creative projects — photography, graphic design, video editing, UX design, drawing and painting, social media, and more.

Learn more about the apps in Creative Cloud

This episode profiles Jon Perdomo, co-founder of Plant Man P, as he tries to marry his two seemingly disparate passions and audiences: street wear and houseplants. You can find Jon on Instagram and YouTube.
Jon is paired with his hero in the plant styling space: Hilton Carter. Hilton talks about his own journey of starting out, and how he navigates the challenge of engaging two distinct audiences: those interested in interior decor, and those craving houseplant content. Hilton also impresses upon Jon the importance of auditing the design of other brands, like Supreme. Find Hilton on Instagram and TikTok.

Adobe designer Kyle Webster encourages Jon to take risks and experimentat in his design work. Kyle references his own experience designing for streetwear brand The Hundreds, and uses some of those lessons to guide Plant Man P’s branding and messaging. Find Kyle on Twitter and Instagram.

This season of Wireframe is supported by Adobe Express, a new web and mobile app that helps anyone create great content from thousands of templates. Learn more about this podcast at adobe.ly/wireframe. (Most of the guests appearing in this season are part of Adobe’s CoCreate program.)

Find a transcript of this episode here.

Tell us a little bit about yourself so we know who we're serving and what you're looking for from In the Making: adobe.ly/itmsurvey

Teresa Au chats with artist and designer Kelli Anderson on all the things transformation, from Kelli’s paper engineering work that turns paper into a record or a camera to the shifting revenue streams she’s embraced over her career. Her passion for fusing the digital and the analog, her commitment to process, and her delight in sharing what she’s learned, will inspire you to run with your own half-baked ideas.

What you’ll hear in this episode:

• How Kelli creates animation with the Risograph machine
• Why writing about you work can lead you to your next project
• Kelli’s take on the difference between being an artist and a designer
• The joys of connecting with people via Instagram, Patreon and even the mailbox
• Pricing creative work
• The benefits of teaching
• Instagram strategies
• The feeling that Kelli’s always chasing

Need a place to keep your good ideas? Remix this template in Adobe Express: https://adobe.ly/ITM-Kelli

Kelli Anderson is an artist, designer, animator, and tinkerer who pushes the limits of ordinary materials by seeking out possibilities hidden in plain view. Her books and projects have included This Book Is a Planetarium (which houses a tiny planetarium and other scientific contraptions), a book that transforms into a pinhole camera called This Book Is a Camera, and a working paper record. Intentionally lo-fi, she believes that humble materials can make the complexity and magic of our world accessible.

Teresa Au (@tautastic) is an executive for community engagement at Adobe, where she focuses on empowering creatives and students via workshops, panels, and podcasts. On creating In the Making, Teresa says “I knew I wanted to amplify the incredible personal stories of the talented and unique humans I’ve been meeting online and at our Create Now events across the world.”

Learn more about this podcast, and find transcripts and links, at adobe.ly/inthemaking. In the Making is brought you by Adobe Express and Adobe Creative Cloud.

Past episodes of Wireframe can still be found in the show archive within this feed, or online on Behance.

Design flyers, TikToks, resumes, and Reels with the new, all-in-one Adobe Express. Create video, marketing, and social content. Edit photos and PDFs. Make it all in one app, including generative AI tools from Adobe Firefly and easy, one-click tasks like removing backgrounds.

Adobe Creative Cloud provides apps, web services, and resources for all your creative projects — photography, graphic design, video editing, UX design, drawing and painting, social media, and more.

Learn more about the apps in Creative Cloud

Teresa Au chats with artist Shantell Martin about how not fitting in–growing up in London, going to art school, and living in Japan–forced her to really know herself and launched her creative career. Shantell’s trademark continuous line art represents her quest to understand what makes us each unique, and to find ways for us to connect to one another. Her thoughtful and confident reflections, her spirit of sharing, and her sense of adventure will inspire you in your creative journey.

What you’ll hear in this episode:

• How Shantell’s upbringing in working-class London shaped her identity
• Why saying Yes to Yes and No to No is harder than it sounds
• Shantell’s roundabout journey to art school and how it opened up her world
• Why Japan felt more liberating to Shantell than London ever did
• Shantell’s coming out story
• The importance of being uncomfortable if you want to be creative
• How Shantell came to live in New York
• Reflections on big breaks vs. a slowly building career
• Creating community amongst artists
• Why LINES and PATHS are so important to Shantell
• Mentors and mentoring
• Shantell’s What’s the Point? Podcast
• The connections between creativity and mental health

Shantell Martin is a public speaker, intuitive philosopher, cultural facilitator, curator, choreographer, songwriter, performer, and more. From fashion and celebrity collaborations to adjunct professor positions at MIT Media Lab, NYU Tisch ITP, Columbia University’s Brown Institute, and choreographing a ballet at the Boston Ballet, Shantell’s LINE constantly evolves.Creating new connections between fine art, education, design, philosophy, and technology, Shantell explores themes such as intersectionality, identity, and play.

Download Shantell’s font, Shantell Sans and make something creative. Check out Shantell’s What’s the Point? podcast to hear her interviews with Los Angeles-based artists.

Teresa Au (@tautastic) is an executive for community engagement at Adobe, where she focuses on empowering creatives and students via workshops, panels, and podcasts. On creating In the Making, Teresa says “I knew I wanted to amplify the incredible personal stories of the talented and unique humans I’ve been meeting online and at our Create Now events across the world.”

Learn more about this podcast, and find transcripts and links, at adobe.ly/inthemaking. In the Making is brought you by Adobe Express and Adobe Creative Cloud.

Past episodes of Wireframe can still be found in the show archive within this feed, or online on Behance.

Design flyers, TikToks, resumes, and Reels with the new, all-in-one Adobe Express. Create video, marketing, and social content. Edit photos and PDFs. Make it all in one app, including generative AI tools from Adobe Firefly and easy, one-click tasks like removing backgrounds.

Adobe Creative Cloud provides apps, web services, and resources for all your creative projects — photography, graphic design, video editing, UX design, drawing and painting, social media, and more.

Learn more about the apps in Creative Cloud