We recently got to talk with Design Director Katie Cadwell about her brilliant new creative podcast series: The NDA Podcast.
The NDA (NDA short for Non-Disclosure Agreement) Podcast is by definition, ‘breaking all the NDAs’ – instigating unfiltered, insightful, and honest conversations that challenge issues within the creative industry which have been ‘kept under waiver for years.’ Katie brings together a wide variety of guests from across the industry, with often unheard and sometimes opposing views, to deep dive into issues we usually only dare discuss in our DMs. Topics already covered include, salary secrecy, moving up into management, socio-economic inequality, neurodiversity, female leadership and much more…
We’ve absolutely loved listening to all episodes in the series so far and caught up with Katie to find out more about the project—you can listen to them here: The NDA Podcast.
Where did the idea for the podcast come from?
Spending a bit of time in the trenches of design Twitter, you see lots of strong opinions about the industry. There was one particular discussion around salary transparency in job ads that got pretty heated. Some of the points raised on both sides were valid and really interesting. But we’ve lost the ability to have healthy discussion and debate, especially online where you can’t read someone’s tone. For a few years, I had the NDA social handles and the idea sitting in my phone notes but seeing that interaction is what made me take the plunge.
Why did you decide to call it NDA and what is the overall aim of the project?
It’s a language we’re all used to as we sign them to protect clients and studios. But I think it’s more than that—we feel bound by that secrecy to keep our opinions and experiences under wraps. The industry is very small, quite often the person sitting next to you is married to the Creative Director of another studio.
All the best and most enlightening conversations I’ve had have been around the pub table where no one can overhear. I want to bring these conversations out of the shadows, so people can hear something they can relate to. Start to break down some of these barriers, and most importantly, hear points of view we haven’t heard before.
It also feels anonymous and impartial, which is something I care a lot about. There’s a certain amount of privilege in being able to openly discuss your opinions or speak critically about people. The NDA frontage allows younger creatives or those with more to lose to have their experiences heard too. Not to mention it’s a bit provocative, which is absolutely what I hoped the podcast to be.
“All the best and most enlightening conversations I’ve had have been around the pub table where no one can overhear. I want to bring these conversations out of the shadows…”
Have there been any insights you’ve gained in doing NDA that have particularly stood out to you so far?
Ah, not that it’s a real surprise but there are a lot of egos. If I reach out to a studio about a certain project or topic and ask for team members willing to talk about it, I always get the Creative Director or Founder back. It’s not that what they have to say isn’t valid, but they get the floor a lot. Even when I’m explicitly asking to hear from their team, it’s hard for people to pass up the opportunity to boost their own visibility. There’s a lot of talking-the-talk and not walking-the-walk. Finding the people who are living those experiences right now is hard and time-consuming. But they’re always my favourite points of view on episodes.
“Finding the people who are living those experiences right now is hard and time-consuming. But they’re always my favourite points of view on episodes.”
How do you decide what topics to discuss and where do you find the speakers?
They’re all things I’ve heard around the water cooler but haven’t heard in mainstream design writing or podcasts. To start with, they’re issues I can relate to. It’s easier to cast episodes that way, but eventually, I’d love to have guest hosts to run episodes I’m not so familiar with. People respond to topic prompts I post online or recommend people they think would be great. I’ve spoken to so many awesome people, it really gives you a lot of faith in the future of the design industry.
There’s also a lot of Twitter trawling. I still don’t have the exact balance of age, experience, gender, or race that I am aiming for. But the more visibility the podcast gets, the easier I’m hoping that will become.
If anyone reading this wants to contribute, how would they go about it?
Follow The NDA Podcast on all our socials, I post prompts and shoutouts for episodes all the time. If you’ve got a story you want to share or a topic you want to hear about, jump into the DMs. I read them all. If you want it to stay anonymous that’s no issue. Stories help me structure an episode, or I can strip out all the details and read it out. Also, recommend people – particularly junior team members or students you’ve met.
“ If you’ve got a story you want to share or a topic you want to hear about, jump into the DMs. I read them all. If you want it to stay anonymous that’s no issue.”
What topics can we look forward to hearing about in the future?
What won’t we be covering—sadly there are a lot of issues to unpick. Some of the bigger topics will be broken down into bite-size chunks but tackling race and gender inequality will be a recurring theme. There was such a strong reaction to the working-class episode, that socio-economic inequality will definitely be revisited. Education, free pitching, mental health, plagiarism, neurodiversity, disability, design competitions… the list is endless.
Finally, can you tell us a bit about you and your career so far?
I’m currently a freelance Design Director, which is the only way I can have the time and capacity for a side project like NDA. Before this, I was in Sydney working for the DesignStudio branch out there.
Before that, I was part of the Southwest massive, studying in Falmouth and cutting my teeth with the awesome Supple Studio. Branding and motion are my bread and butter, but I’ve always been pretty vocal about the environment we all work in. Mentoring, speaking, writing… about anything that isn’t me. I love this industry and care so much about leaving it in a better state than when I got into it. Aside from that, you’ll find me out riding on the motorbikes, playing my sax, watching trash tv and listening to any other podcast that isn’t mine.
Listen:
Follow:
- Twitter @theNDApodcast
- Instagram @thendapodcast
Article by Mary Hemingway