(WIP) Podcast

Should the Interface Adapt, or the User? What ADHD Research Says About Customising Interfaces.

In the second episode, Emily and Ida talk to Hazel Zhu. Hazel is a third-year PhD student at the madAbility Lab, University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she researches assistive technologies for neurodiverse users across HCI, accessibility and AI.

She built FocusView, a tool that lets viewers with ADHD reshape a video's layout, background, captions and audio to cut distraction. Then she found the tool had become a distraction of its own. Some participants ended up focused on editing the video rather than watching it.

Hazel talks about what her participants asked for instead, why two people can need opposite things from the same interface, and what that means for anyone who has ever shipped a settings panel.

Initiative by Bielke&Yang
Supported by DOGA

In the first episode of (WIP) Podcast Season 4, Emily and Ida speak to Kristin Leer (@kristinleeradhd), an MD and specialist in psychiatry. She is also the author of ADHD: 7 veier til ny forståelse. Kristin brings a clinical perspective to questions designers rarely get to ask a doctor: how does ADHD actually present, and why are so many more people being diagnosed now?

Adults treated for ADHD in Norway have grown by 148% between 2015 and 2024 (PwC/Helsedirektoratet, 2025). Kristin explains that this isn't a sudden rise in ADHD itself — Norway only started diagnosing adults around 15 years ago, so children, parents, and grandparents are now often being diagnosed at the same time. That means more people than ever are being recognised as having minds that perceive the world little differently from what most systems expect.

Kristin also makes the case for why understanding ADHD is not just a medical concern — it's a design concern. If we want to build digital services that truly work for everyone, we need to embrace this group and start by understanding how their minds work, which will lead to better experiences for everyone.

📖 Kristin's book: https://www.ark.no/produkt/boker/hobbyboker-og-fritid/adhd-9788202740306

An initiative by Bielke&Yang
In collaboration with Design and Architecture Norway (DOGA)

S 04 (TRAILER): Design for the Edges
How do we design for cognitive load through the lens of ADHD, and improve digital experiences for everyone?
This season of Ways Into Practice is about cognitive load: the mental effort it takes to use an app or a website. (WIP) Institute interns and researchers Emily Tvervåg and Ida Holmen Skjervold look at how small design choices add up, and how they can quietly wear people down.
Their starting point is their own research into how people with ADHD experience the web. Minds that are easily overwhelmed feel a bad design choice first, and feel it hardest. That makes them a powerful test: if a service works well for them, it tends to work better for everyone.
This matters more each year. In Norway, the share of adults treated for ADHD in the public health system more than doubled in ten years, rising 148% between 2015 and 2024. More people are being recognised as neurodivergent, and the way we live now asks more of everyone’s attention and focus. Design that respects how minds work is no longer a nice extra. It is becoming a basic part of building fair, usable digital services.
Across the season, Emily and Ida talk to guests from medicine, research, and tech. Together they ask a simple question with big consequences: how do we build digital services and products that don’t exhaust the people using them?

In this episode of Ways Into Practice, Jade and Estella sit down with Anthony Sheret and Edd Harrington, the duo who spent the last 15 years building Colophon Foundry, rising from a partnership to the number two type foundry by revenue in EMEA. Colophon was responsible for some of the most recognisable creative work in the last decade, helping to define brands for Google, Meta, Johnson & Johnson, Burger King, Roblox, Canva and many more. An estimated 2 billion people continue to see its output each day.
Now, following the acquisition of Colophon in 2023, they’re channeling that experience into their new venture, Ordino. The conversation spans early doubts about design school, the realities of freelancing, the value of in-person dialogue, and the opportunities AI brings to creative practice.
It’s a candid look at how long-term creative partnerships evolve — and why staying open to change is just as important as building something that lasts.
We cover:✹ Design education (and doubt)✹ Lessons from building a business✹ Creative partnership dynamics✹ Why in-person interactions still matter✹ What excites them about AI in design
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Ways Into Practice is a podcast about design by @bielkeyang
Featuring in-depth interviews with established professionals sharing their personal journeys into the field. Aiming to provide a holistic understanding of the design industry and empower aspiring designers to make informed decisions about their own professional paths.
#WaysIntoPractice #DesignPodcast #TypeDesign #Colophon #Ordino #CreativePartnership #DesignEducation #AIandDesign

Lizy Gershenzon and Travis Kochel share their journey navigating the niche world of type design — from co-founding Future Fonts (@futurefonts), a community-driven marketplace for experimental, in-progress typefaces, to learning how to grow individually while building something together. In this conversation, they reflect on nearly two decades of collaboration, offering two distinct perspectives on how they’ve defined their roles, stayed creatively aligned, and sustained a long-term partnership.
Future Fonts & Vectro are led by Lizy Gershenzon and Travis Kochel. This duo have been partners for nearly two decades. They are also known for the innovative fonts Chartwell (a font that makes charts using OpenType) and Kablammo (a variable font for Google that explores technology and animation). They specialize in type design, digital product design, and branding.
Lizy has worked with GitHub, Headspace, Instrument, Nike, and Google, adding in-house and agency design and management experience to the team. Travis taught Type Design at Portland State for over 10 years and brings deep expertise in typeface design and development.
Together, they previously founded Scribble Tone, creatingplatforms and custom typefaces for Design Portland, XOXO Festival, and Marmoset Music. Both served as adjunct professors at Portland State University, and teach type and marketing workshops.
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Ways Into Practice is a podcast about design by @bielkeyang
Featuring in-depth interviews with established professionals sharing their personal journeys into the field. Aiming to provide a holistic understanding of the design industry and empower aspiring designers to make informed decisions about their own professional paths.
Photo by Sage Brown (@sagebrown)