Carl Rivera became Shopify’s Chief Design Officer in 2025, reinstating a design leadership position that was dormant at the company since the departure of its founding designer.

Earlier in his career, Carl co-founded Tictail, the Stockholm-based social shopping platform and marketplace known for its design. Shopify acquired Tictail in 2018, bringing Carl into the organization. He has since held product leadership positions at Shopify, where he led major initiatives serving millions.

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* Framer: build websites, the easy way

* Rize: magically track everything you do

* Color AI: generate meaningful color palettes

* Sublime: turn ideas into worlds of inspiration

Books from the conversation

* The Bhagavad Gita

* The Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell

* The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious by Carl G. Jung

* How to be a Graphic Designer Without Losing Your Soul by Adrian Shaughnessy

Carl on LinkedIn

Adrian Shaughnessy is a British graphic designer, writer, and educator, best known for bridging design practice with critical thought. A self-taught creative, he co-founded the influential studio Intro and later the publishing imprint Unit Editions, producing landmark works on design culture. His 2005 book How to Be a Graphic Designer Without Losing Your Soul remains a favorite worldwide.

Adrian teaches at the Visual Communication program of the Royal College of Art in London as an associate lecturer. He has contributed essays, critiques and editorial work across major design publications, and under Unit Editions has published monographs on figures such as Herb Lubalin, Ken Garland, Lance Wyman, and Paula Scher.

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* Sublime: turn ideas into worlds of inspiration

From the conversation:

* Graphic Design: A User’s Manual by Adrian Shaughnessy

* Herb Lubalin: American Graphic Designer by Unit Editions

* How to be a Graphic Designer Without Losing Your Soul by Adrian Shaughnessy

* Manuals 2: Design & Identity Guidelines by Unit Editions

* Paula Scher: Works by Unit Editions

* Pentagram: Living by Design by Unit Editions

* Studio Culture Now by Unit Editions

* What is a Designer: Things, Places, Message by Norman Potter

uniteditions.com | x.com/AJWShaughnessy | shaughnessyworks-prints.com

Sari Azout is the founder of Sublime, the knowledge management tool designed to spark creativity. She was previously a partner at Level Ventures, head of strategy at Rokk3r Labs, and co-founder of Bib and Tuck, a curated community for pre-owned fashion.

Sari is an active thought leader in the spaces of creative work and AI productivity. She has spoken on how to be un-LLM-able at the Sana AI Summit in Stockholm; and written about about how creativity is the new currency of success, how storytelling is the most differentiating business skill of the 21st century, and how we can use AI to expand our creativity and our humanity.

Sublime’s latest release Whoa, Vol. 2: Conversations on AI × Creativity features in-depth conversations with original thinkers, including Seth Godin, David Perell, Venkatesh Rao, Seth Godin, and Substack’s head of design Mills Baker.

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* Framer: build websites, the easy way

* Rize: magically track everything you do

* Color AI: generate meaningful color palettes

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From the conversation:

* Being and Time by Martin Heidegger

* Phenomenology of Perception by Maurice Merleau-Ponty

* Tom Ford by Tom Ford

* Ralph Lauren: A Way of Living by Ralph Lauren

* Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values by Robert M. Pirsig

* The Work of Art: How Something Comes from Nothing by Adam Moss

* God, Human, Animal, Machine: Technology, Metaphor, and the Search for Meaning by Meghan O'Gieblyn

* The Disappearance of Rituals: A Topology of the Present by Byung-Chul Han

sublime.app | x.com/sariazout

Weber Wong is founder and CEO of FLORA: a powerful AI canvas, built specifically for creative work. The New York-based startup has raised more than $6 million, and built tooling that is loved by creatives at top studios like Pentagram, Instrument, and MSCHF.

Weber has a background with diverse experiences spanning venture capital, investment banking, poetry, history, and more recently, studies on interactive art at the NYU Tisch School of the Arts. We discussed how these experiences shaped his approach to building one of the most exciting startups in the space of design and creative work today; and his unique perspective on the present and the future of design.

Get 50% off FLORA’s Pro Tier with code: DESIGNDISCIPLINE

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* Framer: build websites, the easy way

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* Color AI: generate meaningful color palettes

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From the conversation:

* Strategy by Lawrence Freedman

* Innovators by Walter Isaacson

* Source Code: My Beginnings by Bill Gates

* Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike by Phil Knight

* The Power Broker by Robert A. Caro

* Softwar: An Intimate Portrait of Larry Ellison and Oracle by Matthew Symonds

* Virgil Abloh: Figures of Speech

* Dieter Rams: The Complete Works by Klaus Klemp

* Hiroshi Fujiwara: Fragment

* Hiroshi Fujiwara: Fragment #2

* Digital Art: 1960s to Now by Pita Arreola

florafauna.ai | x.com/weberwongwong

Andres is a designer and founder based in San Antonio, TX.

He has practiced design for more than 12 years and experienced multiple success stories in his career, including tenure at 2 technology startups that were acquired.

Currently Andres runs multiple ventures, all sharing a foundation of design. He is founder and creative director of ALL HANDS, the design studio that continues his practice of leading visual identity and product design. He also runs the SAFEHOUSE membership lounge in San Antonio.

Connect with Andres

x.com/andresjasso | instagram/@andresjasso | linkedin/andresjasso

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* Design Discipline Bookstore: designer books and accoutrements

Rob is a South African web designer and creator who runs One Page Love and hosts the Yo! Podcast.

He’s currently working full-time on his self-owned portfolio of internet businesses after a decade freelancing. When he’s not building online he loves to surf, travel and listen to 90s punk rock.

Products from the Conversation

* 7 Rules of Power by Jeffrey Pfeffer

* Anything You Want by Derek Sivers

* Build To Last by Jim Collins

* Good To Great by Jim Collins

* Great By Choice by Jim Collins

* Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone by J.K. Rowling

* How To Win Friends & Influence People by Dale Carnegie

* Power: Why Some People Have It and Others Don’t by Jeffrey Pfeffer

* The Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell

Connect with Rob

robhope.com | onepagelove.com | yo.fm | x.com/robhope

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Anthony is a user interface designer. He is a self-taught expert on visual design and interaction design. He is also a teacher and explorer in the world of design, through his many side projects, including but not limited to more than 50 articles and 6 books.

Anthony has created so many of these resources, that I believe you can actually dive into his website (https://anthonyhobday.com) as a beginner, and emerge after a few weeks of reading as a competent designer, ready to create highly functional user interfaces.

In the field of interface design, Anthony is one of the top thinkers in the world today. In this episode, we look into his world, the world of an expert designer and design thinker. I’m gonna ask him about what drove him to acquire such a high level of expertise, the opportunities and costs of being an expert, and his thoughts on the craft and business of interface design.

Visit: https://www.designdisciplin.com/p/anthony-hobday

Alex is the production designer for Fight Club, Minority Report, The Crow, Watchmen, The Terminal, and Man of Steel

Visit: https://designdisciplin.com/alex-mcdowell