Design This Day

Devin speaks to Michael Brett, a quantum computing lead at Amazon Web Services (AWS) to dig into the remarkable potential of quantum – and the current struggles getting in its way. Michael shares that quantum computing is no longer a far-off promise, it’s here. So how is it going to shape our world, and what intractable problems will it solve first?

Michael explains that the current problem is scarcity – and the solution is in design thinking, and learning which problems to prioritize. He and Devin dig into the issue of quantum error correction, which is on its way to being solved. Michael reveals that AWS is so confident, they’ve recently announced a fault-tolerant quantum computer, accessible to users by as early as 2028.

Time Stamps:
1:40 Real world quantum applications
7:16 AWS customers using quantum today
14:09 The first no fault quantum computer
16:25 First quantum use cases
21:55 How cities use quantum
23:15 What’s holding quantum back now
30:11 Lightning round 

Links
Devin Liddell on LinkedIn
Michael Brett
Teague

About the Host: Futurist Devin Liddell
Devin Liddell is the Principal Futurist at Teague. With over two decades of experience in innovation and design strategy, Devin has worked with industry giants like Boeing, Intel, and Nike, helping organizations anticipate changes across both near- and far-term horizons to create their preferred futures. Devin is a frequent contributor to Fast Company. 

Get in Touch 
Have a complex problem that needs solving? Have a great guest or topic idea? We want to hear from you. Visit us at teague.com or send us an email at hello@teague.com

Devin sits down with Emily Vetterick, Director of Product, Program, and Ops at Amazon Industrial Robotics, whose career has taken her from assembling aircraft at Boeing to scaling drone delivery at Prime Air. She now oversees the world's largest fleet of mobile robots, totaling over one million, and shares how Amazon designs for a world where humans and robots share the same physical space.

She walks Devin through the design challenges behind Proteus, Amazon's autonomous mobile robot, from giving it eyes that signal intent to dialing in an acoustic chirp that works for a fleet without sounding like, as a colleague once put it, a bog full of frogs. Along the way, Emily reflects on a career-defining lesson she learned watching mechanics join a 767 at 2am: that the best design insights come from listening to the people actually doing the work.

Time Stamps:
2:09 Lessons from the Boeing night shift
3:37 Customer trust and listening
6:38 Customer-first drone design
8:16 The “beehive ballet”
10:31 Meet Amazon’s mobile robots
13:13 Shreveport facility tour
15:40 Proteus’ human robot signals
24:15 AI for fleet and design
30:37 Lightning round 

Links
Devin Liddell on LinkedIn
Emily Vetterick
Teague

About the Host: Futurist Devin Liddell
Devin Liddell is the Principal Futurist at Teague. With over two decades of experience in innovation and design strategy, Devin has worked with industry giants like Boeing, Intel, and Nike, helping organizations anticipate changes across both near- and far-term horizons to create their preferred futures. Devin is a frequent contributor to Fast Company. 

Get in Touch 
Have a complex problem that needs solving? Have a great guest or topic idea? We want to hear from you. Visit us at teague.com or send us an email at hello@teague.com

Devin sits down with Rob Meyerson, the former president of Blue Origin, to talk about his startup, Interlune, that is on track to harvest resources from the Moon’s surface. Interlune is after one element in particular: Helium-3. It’s extremely rare and valuable on Earth, but plentiful on the Moon. So they partnered with an unlikely collaborator to design a “harvester” that they’re planning to send to the Moon’s surface in the early 2030s.

Rob shares how his team designed creative ways to test their prototype in conditions that mirror the Moon’s environment. He tells Devin about the ways his team is turning science fiction into science fact, and about how Interlune is planning to iterate as they go, allowing them to send missions to the Moon sooner.

1:00 Why helium-3 matters
1:38 The helium-3 supply crunch
2:40 Customers and early demand
4:29 Mining at a lunar scale
5:35 Finding an earth partner
6:48 Designing the harvester
9:13 Prototyping to full scale
12:31 Testing for moon conditions
20:18 Earth return and space economy
26:19 Moon timeline
32:19 Lightning round
Links
Devin Liddell on LinkedIn
Rob Meyerson
Teague
About the Host: Futurist Devin Liddell
Devin Liddell is the Principal Futurist at Teague. With over two decades of experience in innovation and design strategy, Devin has worked with industry giants like Boeing, Intel, and Nike, helping organizations anticipate changes across both near- and far-term horizons to create their preferred futures. Devin is a frequent contributor to Fast Company. 

Get in Touch 
Have a complex problem that needs solving? Have a great guest or topic idea? We want to hear from you. Visit us at teague.com or send us an email at hello@teague.com

Devin speaks with two leaders  at Slate Auto, an EV startup that’s designed a cheap modular pickup truck. Tisha Johnson, Head of Design, and Ben Whitla, Head of Brand and Marketing, join Devin to share the big, gnarly challenges Slate is facing in getting a low-cost, personalizable vehicle to consumers—from design to production.

They tell Devin about the joy and terror of relinquishing design control to their customers, and how they take inspiration from collaborative brands like Lego and Vans. They explain where their two disciplines, vehicle and brand design, inform one another at Slate, leading to a more integrated design approach than either of them expected. Plus, they share their hot takes on why screens in vehicles are totally overrated. 

1:49 Why this kind of modularity hasn’t been seen before
3:43 Their breakthrough in designing the front fascia 
5:51 How brand and vehicle design align
8:58 Designing for customer’s self-expression
11:38 When car owners go wild
14:30 Affordability through minimalism
19:00 Taking the leap on a start-up
23:26 Collaboration vs. AI agents
26:16 Lightning round

A new season is around the corner, celebrating Teague’s 100th anniversary and exploring the future of design. Hit follow to make sure you don’t miss what’s next.
If you have a story to share, drop us a line at hello@teague.com.
About the Host: Futurist Devin Liddell
Devin Liddell is the Principal Futurist at Teague. With over two decades of experience in innovation and design strategy, Devin has worked with industry giants like Boeing, Intel, and Nike, helping organizations anticipate changes across both near- and far-term horizons to create their preferred futures. Devin is a frequent contributor to Fast Company.
Get in Touch
Have a complex problem that needs solving? Have a great guest or topic idea? We want to hear from you. Visit us at teague.com or send us an email at hello@teague.com