From the Margins to the Mainstream with Vault49

Hosts Giulia Donatello and Lee-Sean Huang welcome Jarrett Fuller, a designer, writer, educator, editor, and podcaster. He is an assistant professor and director of undergraduate programs in Graphic & Experience Design at North Carolina State University, director of the design studio twenty-six, and host of Scratching the Surface. He's edited or co-edited four books, and his writing has appeared in Fast Company, The Architect's Newspaper, Eye Magazine, and Design Observer. His work has won awards from Communication Arts and The Type Directors Club, and he was previously an editor at Eye on Design and a designer at Facebook, Warby Parker, and The Whitney Museum of American Art. Drawing from his new book, Graphic Designers After Graphic Design: Designer as Publisher, Researcher, Change Maker, Performer, Artist (Princeton Architectural Press), Jarrett explains why graphic design is far from dead. They explore how the field's lack of strict boundaries is its superpower, letting millennial and Gen Z designers expand into publishing, research, activism, performance, and fine art.


In this episode, hosts Giulia Donatello and Lee-Sean Huang welcome Tameka Vasquez, futurist, leadership strategist, and founder of The Future Quo. Drawing on over a decade in tech, including serving as the first Head of Marketing at Sidewalk Labs inside Google, Tameka breaks down why foresight isn't fortune-telling or prediction, but a practical decision-making mindset. Together, they explore how to democratize futures thinking, push back against corporate greed, and establish human-centered "rules of engagement" as AI rapidly transforms creative practice.

In this episode, hosts Lee-Sean Huang and Giulia Donatello sit down with Sally Chung, a designer, startup founder, professor at Parsons School of Design, and former faculty member at SVA. From her early days as a founding designer at Saks Fifth Avenue to building an SMS AI beauty chatbot in 2016 and leading zero-to-one ventures at BCGX, Sally has continuously navigated the balance between corporate scale and entrepreneurial agility. She shares how she founded the Designpreneurs Hackathon to build a thriving ecosystem connecting designers, universities, and tech founders, and offers an insider’s look at how AI is reshaping interaction design education and hiring expectations at Parsons. In This EpisodeBuilding AI before the hype. Sally reflects on co-founding Hello Ava in 2016—an SMS AI beauty advisor—years before ChatGPT went mainstream. The experience taught her that technology alone never wins; true product-market fit comes from listening directly to user frustrations rather than focusing on the tech itself. Designing a career narrative. From corporate in-house teams to living in a co-worker's basement to launch a startup, Sally discusses why designers must stop apologizing for a "zigzag" career path and proactively craft their own strategic narrative. The survivor mindset in innovation. Drawing on her work launching ventures at BCGX, Sally outlines why smart ideas fail and what keeps surviving companies alive: rapid market adaptability, relentless testing loops, smart distribution channels, and a founder's resilience. Cultivating an ecosystem through hackathons. Sally breaks down how a weekend project to help her SVA students build portfolios evolved into the Designpreneurs Hackathon—a tight-knit community that pairs hackers with senior mentors from IDEO, Meta, and Spotify, resulting in real hires, startup acquisitions, and venture funding. The shift in design hiring. Sally reveals why a "pixel-perfect" portfolio no longer guarantees a job. As execution becomes automated, top design leaders are hiring for strategic systems thinking, multi-stakeholder navigation, and versatility across non-UI or agentic experiences. Rethinking design education at Parsons. Advising on curriculum changes, Sally emphasizes that design schools should stop teaching software tools that students can learn on TikTok, and return to analog craftsmanship, strategic problem-solving, and a foundational creative eye. What remains human. Reflecting on her panel at South by Southwest, Sally highlights that while AI can optimize toward goals, only humans can choose which goals matter. She stresses that real, in-person community is the ultimate antidote to digital loneliness. ResourcesSally Chung's Official Website – http://sallyhychung.comSally Chung on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/sallyhchung/Sally's Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/sallyinutopiaDesignpreneurs – https://www.designpreneurshackathon.com/Same As Ever: A Guide to What Never Changes by Morgan Housel – https://amzn.to/4qpoTWMAIGA Design Podcast Feedback – [email protected]

In this episode, hosts Lee-Sean Huang and Giulia Donatello welcome Martin LeBlanc, Chief Experience Officer at Magnific (the AI creative platform formerly known as Freepik). A designer and entrepreneur with 25 years of experience across computer science, business, and creativity, Martin founded Iconfinder—which grew into a global design asset marketplace before being acquired by Magnific. Together, they explore how generative AI is shifting creative execution, why large organizations struggle to adapt to systemic changes, and how designers can retain control of their creative authorship. Martin also provides a live walkthrough of Magnific's node-based canvas, illustrating how generative AI can be integrated into repeatable, professional design systems without training on user data.

In this episode, hosts Lee-Sean Huang and Giulia Donatello sit down with Jeff Leitner, the co-founder of UX for Good, architect of Norm Design, and a partner to organizations ranging from the US State Department and NASA to Harvard Medical School. Together, they unpack the core ideas behind his Summer 2026 Stanford Social Innovation Review article, "The Science of Norm Design," exploring why smart, well-funded initiatives fail roughly 70% of the time.