20th Anniversary celebration with the most memorable guests: Jason Reynolds, Marina Abramović, Chris Ware, Richard Saul Wurman, Rick Rubin, and Roxane Gay

What It Covers

Design Matters celebrates its 20th anniversary with host Debbie Millman sharing excerpts from memorable interviews that shaped her interviewing approach. Featured guests include Jason Reynolds, Marina Abramović, Chris Ware, Richard Saul Wurman, Rick Rubin, and Roxane Gay, discussing creativity, trauma, vulnerability, and artistic process across 700 episodes since 2005.

Key Questions Answered

• •Childhood affirmations shape identity: Jason Reynolds' mother repeated "I can do anything" nightly from age two, creating language that fossilized in his body and eliminated fear around trying new things. He still whispers this mantra during moments of doubt, demonstrating how early verbal patterns become physical anchors that counteract adult insecurities and enable risk-taking in creative careers.
• •Normalizing mental health through exposure: Reynolds' father, a psychiatrist, invited patients with schizophrenia and addiction to family barbecues, teaching children that different brain functions are normal variations rather than abnormalities. This early exposure eliminated stigma and created comfort with neurodiversity, allowing Reynolds' friends to come out to him in seventh grade without judgment or discomfort.
• •Public behavior without accountability: Marina Abramović's Rhythm Zero performance placed 72 objects including a loaded pistol on a table, giving audiences complete freedom for six hours. The experience taught her that crowds can kill when given permission and tools to bring spirits down, but also that artists can provide tools to lift spirits, a lesson that took 25 years to apply.
• •Slow punk as innovation: Rick Rubin identified Flipper as the first punk band playing slow, sludgy music rather than fast tempos, inspiring him to start a slow punk band. Despite selling only 10,000 copies, Flipper influenced Kurt Cobain and demonstrated how niche audiences create disproportionate cultural impact compared to mainstream commercial success measured in millions.
• •Hip hop as montage performance: Rubin started Def Jam because existing rap records sounded like R&B tracks with rapping instead of singing, missing the DJ's role as star. True hip hop involved taking tiny aspects of old music and reinterpreting them through human dexterity and performance, not machines, which he documented because no one else was serving fans properly.