Dantley Davis has been a mainstay in the Silicon Valley tech and design community for almost 20 years. His work at PayPal, SAP, Yahoo!, Netflix, and Facebook have all led him to his current role as VP of design and research for one of the most well-known websites in the world — Twitter. So as you can imagine, I had a lot of questions to ask him, and Dantley was gracious enough to give some insight into what he does and on his perspective of the current tech and design industries.

Our wide-ranging conversation touched on a number of topics, but first, Dantley talked a bit about the behind-the-scenes work that goes on at Twitter, including the team he leads, diversity and inclusion efforts, how decisions are made at Twitter (such as their latest redesign), and yes…even Black Twitter. Dantley also shared his story of growing up as a military brat, learning to code and landing in San Francisco during the Browser Wars, and spoke on how he stays authentic to himself after being in Silicon Valley for decades. Dantley Davis is a true design leader, and even if you haven’t heard of him before this week’s interview, chances are that you have experienced his work in some small way. He is truly a pioneer in this digital age!


Revision Path is a Glitch Media Network podcast, and is produced by Maurice Cherry and edited by Brittani Brown. 


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Jamil Bonnick isn’t just an experienced product designer with a keen eye for design, but he’s also a storyteller. While we discussed his background and career journey, and his new job at Etsy, our conversation was so much more! Our chat spanned a number of interesting and surprising topics from design all the way to Eastern philosophy and to effective business strategy. He truly is a renaissance man and his vast knowledge shines through during this conversation.


This episode is sponsored by Sappi North America’s Ideas that Matter program. Sappi, a maker of high-quality printing, packaging and release papers as well as dissolving wood pulp, is now celebrating the 20th year of this unique grant competition.

Since it began, the program has given more than $13 million in grants, and supported more than 500 projects to benefit social causes. Ideas That Matter has also worked with amazing designers, many of whom we’ve also featured on Revision Path including; De Nichols, Rich Hollant, Dori Tunstall, Silas Munro, Jacinda Walker, Maurice Woods, Bobby Martin Jr., and Antionette Carroll (who will be a judge this year).

If you are a designer who cares about social issues — whether you’re a professional designer, a student, or a design team — the 2019 deadline to apply for a grant in this program is July 19.

To learn more, visit sappi.com/ideas-that-matter.


This episode is brought to you by Abstract: design workflow management for modern design teams.

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Revision Path is a Glitch Media Network podcast, and is produced by Deanna Testa and edited by Brittani Brown. 


We’re closing out the year here on Revision Path with artist and technologist Omayeli Arenyeka. I first learned about her work when she wrote into Revision Path earlier this year, and then we crossed paths again when I started covering her creative tech projects on Glitch. So in a way, this interview is a bit of a full circle moment!

We started off talking about her current engineering work at LinkedIn, and then she shared how she first learned about Glitch and what drew her to the platform. Yeli also gave a talk recently at XOXO about the “creative saviour complex”, so she went into the inspiration behind that presentation and discussed who and what fuels her work. I really think she’s going to be someone to watch in 2019, so make sure you check out her work and follow her journey!


Revision Path is sponsored by Facebook Design. No one designs at scale quite like Facebook does, and that scale is only matched by their commitment to giving back to the design community.
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Revision Path is also sponsored by Glitch. Glitch is the friendly community where you can build the app of your dreams. Stuck on something? Get help! You got this!
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Revision Path is also brought to you by Google Design! Google Design is committed to sharing the best design thinking from Google and beyond. Sign up for their newsletter!
Revision Path is brought to you by Mailchimp. Huge thanks to them for their support of the show! Visit them today and say thanks!
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There’s no single way to becoming a designer these days, which I suppose is one of the most interesting things about this industry. Mikell Fine Iles, for example, grew up in San Francisco around art and design, went to Clark-Atlanta University for school, studied more design in Denmark, and worked for agencies Noise and JWT before his current position at Bloomberg as design director. And there’s more!

We started our conversation talking about Mikell’s day-to-day work at Bloomberg, and from there talked about his time in Atlanta as a student and young professional, discussed what HBCUs can do to prepare the next generation of designers, and he talked about his time studying design in Denmark! Mikell’s talent, drive and hustle have really helped propel him to success.


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Revision Path is sponsored by Facebook Design. No one designs at scale quite like Facebook does, and that scale is only matched by their commitment to giving back to the design community.
fbdesign_logo_75
Revision Path is also sponsored by Glitch. Glitch is the friendly community where you can build the app of your dreams. Stuck on something? Get help! You got this!
glitch_75
Revision Path is also brought to you by Google Design! Google Design is committed to sharing the best design thinking from Google and beyond. Sign up for their newsletter!
Revision Path is brought to you by MailChimp. Huge thanks to them for their support of the show! Visit them today and say thanks!
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Design and journalism might seem like opposite fields, but technology has brought them closer together than ever before (especially over the past few years). How are journalists navigating this new landscape where news is now a designed experience? To gain some insight on this, I spoke with Michael Grant. He’s the creative director for the San Francisco Business Times and is a current John S. Knight Journalism Fellow at Stanford University.

Michael an I talked about his current research work, and he shared what he’s learned from working with HBCUs and his day-to-day work at the San Francisco Business Times. Michael really wants to make an impact in the world of design and journalism, and I think he’s well on his way of making that happen!

Thanks to Regine Gilbert for the introduction!


Did you like this episode? Get special behind-the-scenes access for just $5/month!

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Revision Path is sponsored by Facebook Design. No one designs at scale quite like Facebook does, and that scale is only matched by their commitment to giving back to the design community.
fbdesign_logo_75
Revision Path is also sponsored by Glitch. Glitch is the friendly community where you can build the app of your dreams. Stuck on something? Get help! You got this!
glitch_75
Revision Path is also brought to you by Google Design! Google Design is committed to sharing the best design thinking from Google and beyond. Sign up for their newsletter!
Revision Path is brought to you by MailChimp. Huge thanks to them for their support of the show! Visit them today and say thanks!
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