Design Lab with Bon Ku

Does living in a well-designed city make you healthier? How can surfing increase your creativity? Have you ever wondered why hospitals are so ugly? Bon Ku is a physician and an avid fan of design, food, surfboarding, and Medicine. On DESIGN LAB, Bon and his guests tell stories at the intersection of design, science, and humanity. Listen each week and learn new insights, hacks, and design principles that you can apply to your own life. ISSN 2833-2032

Design
Health & Fitness
Society & Culture
101
Ep 29: Designing Transparency in Healthcare | L...
Bon and Liz talk about patients co-designing research, having immediate access to our own medical records and the need for a chief patient information officer.
56 min
102
EP 28: Creating Future Designers in Africa | Gu...
Bon and Guidione talk about creating the future of design in Africa, organizing a global design conference and life in Mozambique.
30 min
103
EP 27: Designing Patient Health Stories | Katie...
Bon and Katie talk about designing visual health histories, why hospitals should hire designers and improving communication between patients and healthcare professionals.
56 min
104
EP 26: Designing Relationships in Healthcare | ...
Bon and Larry talk about flattening hierarchies, creating safe spaces in healthcare, co-designing with patients and embracing curiosity in the culture of Medicine.
44 min
105
EP 25: Design as a Human Right | Mokena Makeka
Bon and Mokena talk about design as a human right, how hip hop culture informed Mokena’s architectural philosophy and understanding people through the environments they create.
60 min
106
EP 24: Designing for Global Health | Michael Ngigi
Bon and Michael talk about his incredible journey from living on the streets of Nairobi to becoming a designer, incorporating design in public health projects and throwing our biases out the window.
45 min
107
EP 23: Designing for Justice | Antionette Carroll
Bon and Antionette talk about what it means to be a redesigner for justice, the relationship between health and equity, and her journey in design.
45 min
108
EP 22: Redesigning Happy Hour | Ben Branson
Bon and Ben talk about tackling the public health challenge of excessive alcohol consumption, normalizing the choice not to drink alcohol and how peas can be turned into a delicious cocktail.
54 min
109
EP 21: Designing Equitable Places | Katherine D...
Bon and Katherine talk about the role of architecture in improving public health, repurposed buses acting as mobile produce markets and redefining public spaces.
48 min
110
EP 20: Designing Behavior | Kathleen Brandenburg
Kathleen and I talk about designing for behavior, how research is creative and bringing joy into healthcare.
48 min
111
EP 19: Designing a Patient Revolution | Maggie ...
Bon talks with Maggie and Victor about the language of care, industrialized health care and why they started The Patient Revolution.
46 min
112
EP 18: Designing a User Friendly World | Cliff ...
Bon and Cliff talk about how Three Mile Island was the worst design fail in U.S. history, feedback loops and why most unsexy wicked problems actually demand the most talented designers.
45 min
113
EP 17: Trauma Responsive Design | Rachael Dietkus
Bon and Rachael talk about how design and social work fit together, why designers should think more like social workers and about the journey of developing the field of trauma responsive design.
40 min
114
EP 16: Health in All Design | Andrew Ibrahim
Bon and Andrew talk about health in all design, failures in medicine, and so much more.
45 min
115
EP 15: Designing the Great Indoors | Emily Anthes
Emily and Bon talk about the design of modern hospitals, evidenced-based design and tips on creating healthier indoor spaces.
37 min
116
EP 14: Jam Session featuring Mike Natter
In this fun meandering conversation, our producer Rob Pugliese asks Bon and Mike about their holiday plans, TikTok, quarantine puppies, Jeopardy, reducing pandemic stress and so much more.
47 min
117
EP 13: The Practice of Design in Health Care | ...
Bon chats with Miya and Tina about how design can make healthcare more human-centered, the challenges of explaining the job of a designer to their Asian parents, and why all clinical teams need designers.
44 min
118
EP 12: Designing through Storytelling | Emily S...
Bon and Emily talk about tips to become better storytellers, fiercely protecting time for creativity, and challenging the status quo in healthcare to make room for humanity.
38 min
119
EP 11: Emancipatory Design | Lesley-Ann Noel
Bon and Lesley talk about conducting design research during a pandemic, confronting biases through emancipatory design, and the challenges Lesley has faced being a black female designer.
39 min
120
EP 10: Designing Death | BJ Miller
Discover how you can live a fuller and more meaningful life by redefining your understanding of death.
39 min
121
EP 9: Spatial Justice | Craig Wilkins
In this episode, Bon and Craig talk about hip hop architecture, urban acupuncture and spatial justice.
57 min
122
EP 8: Designing with Data | Giorgia Lupi
Learn about Giorgia’s stunning data visualizations and why you should create your own personal data diary.
39 min
123
EP 7: Technology and Design | John Maeda
Bon and John talk about computational design, John shares some sage tips on creativity, and they both make way too many Star Wars references.
42 min
124
EP 6: Food as Medicine | Nicole Marquis
Challenge your misconceptions about a plant-based diet and get inspired to redesign your pantry.
42 min
125
EP 5: Designing for Equity | George Aye
Bon and George talk about how “gut checks” can inform our everyday decisions, their Asian identities, George’s journey to becoming a designer and why Bon was ashamed of the smell of kimchi.
39 min