Are We Designers Yet? Alumni Podcast Explores the Questions Shaping Design Today
For School of Design alumni Vanya Rawat and Shama Patwardhan, some of the most important conversations about design weren’t happening in studios or critiques, they were happening between them.
Those conversations have now taken shape as Are We Designers Yet?, a podcast that explores what it means to practice design in a rapidly shifting world.
“It started pretty organically,” they explain. “We kept having the same conversations, about the future of design, about discovering who you are as a designer, and what it actually means to be a designer right now.”
While many existing design podcasts focus on established industry voices or specific disciplines, Rawat and Patwardhan saw a gap. Their discussions, which centered on topics like design futures, decolonising design, systems thinking, and ethics, felt “underrepresented, especially from early-to-mid-career designers who are still figuring it out.”
The idea stayed with them from their time at Carnegie Mellon. A visit to the CFA recording booth during an IXD lab planted the seed, and over the next two years, their coursework and shared experiences deepened the impulse to create something of their own. After graduating, they finally had the time and the clarity to build it.
Learning Through Conversation
Each episode of Are We Designers Yet? doubles as a form of inquiry. For Rawat, one standout moment came while working on an episode about designing for AI.
"It made the shift from 'using AI' to 'designing AI experiences' feel very real," she says, describing the research process as going down a rabbit hole in the best way. "I came out of it feeling like I actually had the language and the frameworks to design AI native experiences, not just react to them. As a designer, that felt like a real shift in confidence."
For Patwardhan, a favorite episode explored a more theoretical question: what designers are actually working toward.
“It was theory-heavy… but I really enjoyed the challenge of making it approachable without dumbing it down,” she says. The episode draws directly from ideas encountered in CMU’s Design Futures seminar, which emphasizes embracing multiple possible futures rather than predicting a single outcome.
That balance, between rigor and accessibility, theory and practice, has become central to the podcast’s approach.
Expanding the Conversation
Looking ahead, Rawat and Patwardhan are beginning to bring more voices into the mix. Upcoming episodes will feature designers, professors, and alumni, alongside explorations of sustainability, systems thinking, and the ways design shapes behavior and culture.
At the same time, they're mindful of staying intentional.
"The goal is to keep expanding the conversation while keeping it grounded and accessible," they note, while also experimenting with new formats and approaches.
A Foundation at CMU
Their time at the School of Design played a formative role in shaping both their thinking and the podcast itself.
For Rawat, the experience was an opportunity to “push myself out of my comfort zone as a product designer” and emerge “a different kind of thinker.”
Courses like Emerging Ecological Worldview, Transition Design, and Design Futures broadened her perspective, while experiences like teaching assistantships and thesis work deepened it.
Patwardhan points to the program’s emphasis on systems, research, and critical thinking.
“We were constantly exposed to different perspectives across disciplines, cultures, and methods, which made us more reflective and more critical as designers,” she says.
Both also highlight the importance of community, which brought about friendships, collaborations, and shared leadership experiences that extended beyond the classroom.
Still Becoming
When asked the question at the heart of their podcast, “are you designers yet?,” neither offers a definitive answer.
“That’s still an open question,” Rawat reflects. “Being a designer isn’t a fixed state. It’s an ongoing process of learning, unlearning, and adapting.”
Patwardhan echoes that sentiment: “The process of design is never fully formed… we’re evolving and changing and learning every day.”
In many ways, that uncertainty is the point. The podcast isn’t about arriving at answers, it’s about staying in the process, and inviting others to do the same.
Follow and listen to Are We Designers Yet?