Sacha Judd discusses what excites her now: founding Lume Music, which aims to fix broken subscription-era music economics by launching a digital album format bundled with behind-the-scenes content in a beautiful app for dedicated music lovers. She argues the core problem online isn’t digital vs analog but feed vs queue—algorithmic, engagement-driven firehoses versus intentional, chosen experiences—and critiques venture-capital incentives, dark patterns, and how everything breaks at scale. With search and discovery degraded by AI slop, she advocates for human curation (newsletters, blogs, Reddit) and rebuilding “small shops” and healthy neighborhood-like communities, including optimism about AT Protocol apps. She’s writing a book on internet history through online fan communities, highlighting women and queer power users who pioneered governance, tagging, and moderation, and warns against conspiracy thinking and blunt teen social-media bans.

Chapters:

• (00:00) - Loom Music Vision
• (02:12) - Albums as Artifacts
• (04:17) - Feed Versus Queue
• (07:48) - How Platforms Broke
• (11:45) - Human Curation Returns
• (14:08) - Finding Real Recommendations
• (18:06) - Small Networks Not Mega
• (22:35) - Everything Breaks at Scale
• (25:56) - Small Shops Web Future
• (32:58) - Loom Focused Audience
• (35:08) - Fandom Conspiracies
• (39:24) - Deepfakes and Literacy
• (41:55) - Don't Turn It Off
• (44:24) - Gen Z and Web Memory
• (47:25) - Unsung Fan Builders
• (49:56) - Fandom Journey Origins
• (55:39) - Community Creativity Loop
• (01:02:25) - Teens Need Safe Spaces
• (01:04:38) - Wrap Up and Motto
• (01:06:23) - Music Recommendation
• (01:07:42) - Where to Find Sasha
• (01:08:22) - Closing Thanks
• (01:08:35) - Morning Excitement Check

• Lume Music
• Spotify
• Apple Music
• YouTube
• Substack
• Reddit
• Bluesky
• Blacksky
• Mastodon
• LiveJournal
• Tumblr
• Archive of Our Own (AO3)
• Uber Eats
• Google
• Google Maps
• Lovable
• Sachajudd.com
• Shit You Should Care About
• Molly White's Blog
• Rachel Andrew
• Dark Forest Theory of the Internet
• Bowling Alone
• The X-Files
• Formula 1
• Marvel
• Taylor Swift
• Harry Styles
• Beyoncé
• Waiata / Anthems

Amber Case reflects on where you live and how returning to a familiar place can help think clearer. Case discusses seeking authentic, small-scale community, work nights, recess-like breaks, welcoming rituals, and mutual support. She contrasts these with expensive, scalable “community” models and argues effective communities rely on kindness, simplicity, history, and durable governance patterns. She connects this to “revenge of the real,” emphasizing tactile cognition, constraints, long-term thinking, and calm technology principles.

Topics discussed:

• (00:00) - Morning Excitement Check
• (00:42) - Hot Wheels New York
• (01:46) - Secret Summer Chateau
• (03:01) - Dopamine Defragging
• (04:09) - Why Denver Feels Right
• (07:37) - Growth And Change
• (10:43) - Finding Real Community
• (12:23) - The Company Work Nights
• (15:44) - Against Scaled Clubs
• (19:23) - Designing Durable Groups
• (32:10) - Why People Dont Join
• (40:31) - History Analog Wisdom
• (46:00) - Unmoored Digital Life
• (48:13) - AI Effort Paradox
• (49:11) - Tactile Work Matters
• (50:16) - Constraints Create Meaning
• (51:17) - Handwriting And Cognition
• (52:42) - Farm Fantasy Reality
• (57:27) - Arts Therapy Embodiment
• (59:33) - Multisensory Education
• (01:00:57) - Long Term Craft Economy
• (01:07:06) - Local Repair Culture
• (01:10:37) - Universals Of Design
• (01:12:42) - Collaboration Conference Idea
• (01:14:33) - Against Main Character Metrics
• (01:16:48) - Buzzwords Get Commodified
• (01:19:24) - Calm Tech Certification
• (01:22:55) - Human Breaks And Texture
• (01:25:09) - Wrap Up And Music Pick
• (01:28:00) - Final Thanks And Goodbye
• (01:28:43) - Morning Excitement Check

• The Place You Love Is Gone
• The Road to Science Fiction
• The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
• Chuck Palahniuk
• Marshall McLuhan
• Cory Doctorow
• Fight Club
• Crystal Quartez

Brendan Dawes is a multi-disciplinary artist, designer, and technologist. joins me to talk about creativity, curiosity, and what it actually means to thrive as a maker right now — when everything feels like it's being disrupted overnight.

Brendan has been combining different inputs with creative outputs for his vast career, so I've been thinking about him a lot as we enter this new creative age. When I saw his name in the credits of the incredible Eno documentary, I screamed and reached out to him immediately.

In our conversation, we get into Brendan's "event horizon" theory of creativity (staying at the edge of what you know and don't know), why judgment matters more than skill in a world of generative systems, and what Brian Eno figured out about technology that most designers are still catching up to.

• (00:00) - Morning Excitement Check
• (00:11) - What Drives You
• (02:48) - Living On The Edge Of Your Knowledge
• (06:12) - Adapting To Change
• (10:42) - Tools And Modular Thinking
• (19:12) - AI And Human Judgment
• (22:44) - From One To Many
• (29:15) - Humanities And Work
• (35:27) - The Eno Documentary Story
• (40:54) - The Collaboration-Community Magic of the Web
• (43:28) - Say Yes To Opportunities
• (44:30) - Craft + Time + Judgement + People
• (45:40) - Designing Successful Collaborations
• (48:55) - Creative Tension Stories
• (52:36) - Creative continuity vs "Great Artists Steal"
• (56:49) - Looking Backwards, Capturing, and Archiving For Future Inspiration
• (59:24) - A Nonlinear Journey Into a Broad Creative Career
• (01:04:49) - Leaving The Factory
• (01:06:30) - Full-Self Creativity
• (01:08:33) - Vinyl Recommendations
• (01:12:22) - Where To Follow Brendan

Follow Brad:
◉ Website: https://bradfrost.com
◉ Newsletter: https://bradfrost.com/newsletter
◉ LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/bradfrost
◉ Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/bradfrost.com

As we put our course together, I want to have conversations with people who are thinking about things deeply, creatively, and responsibly. That's why it was an absolute pleasure to chat with my long-time internet friend, Jem Gold, technology as a creative medium, the soul of the early web, and the new era of AI-assisted making.

💥 Want to learn how to use AI & Design Systems together to make great digital products? Preorder our AI & Design Systems online course and join our vibrant community here: https://aianddesign.systems/

Topics Covered:

◉The counterculture lineage of the web and why reclaiming it matters now
◉ Technology as artistic expression — Jem's concept of the "technology artist"
◉ The flow state in music and how it translates to building with technology
◉ Should designers code? Why the answer is changing fast
◉ Skill-driven development and teaching LLMs how to design (not just what to build)
◉ One-shotting beautiful, branded interfaces with minimal input
◉ Jem shows off some wonderful one-shotted demos
◉ Generative UI as superposition: interfaces that adapt to the person observing them
◉ Design systems, Web Components, and building durable foundations for a non-deterministic future
◉ AI as a creative process tool — not replacing the music, but clearing the way for it
◉ ADHD as a superpower in the agentic era

Links & Resources:
◉ Jem's newsletter: https://superposition.jem.computer
- Support Jem and her work for $8/month; and use code JEMANDBRAD for an annual discount
◉ Jenny Wen's interview on Lenny's Podcast: • The design process is dead. Here's what's ...
◉ The Grid (Jem's AI design startup, ca. 2015) https://thegrid.io/
◉ Everything Just Gets Built: https://superposition.jem.computer/ev...
◉ I Don't Miss Code https://superposition.jem.computer/i-...
◉ Real-Time UI https://bradfrost.com/blog/post/real-...
◉ "Ghostwriter" by RJD2 drum/synth cover • Ghostwriter by RJD2 -

• (00:00) - Chapter 1

Georgia Lupi shares what she’s excited to wake up for with us. She recounts getting COVID in 2020, developing worsening long COVID symptoms with reinfections, becoming house- and sometimes bed-bound, and stopping work in 2023 before beginning recovery in early 2024. Lupi and Brad discuss the anxiety and trauma that can persist during physical recovery, the scientific mind-body connection, and how nervous system regulation, brain retraining, and visualization became central to her healing. She describes publishing a New York Times visual op-ed using her symptom data, the messages it sparked, and how a conversation prompted her to commit to brain retraining, leading to slow but meaningful functional return and recent confidence saying she’s fully recovered, alongside an ongoing reintegration into work, creativity, and life.

Links:

• Giorgia Lupi
• "1,374 Days: My Life With Long Covid" — NYT Visual Op-Ed
• Dear Data
• Caravan Palace
• Parov Stelar
• Kormac
• DNRS (Dynamic Neural Retraining System)
• Gupta Program
• Post-Exertional Malaise (PEM)
• Limbic System / Vagus Nerve / Nervous System Regulation
• Psychedelic Therapy & Neural Rewiring
• Subway Map as Information Design
• Music Notation

Chapters:

• (00:00) - Morning Excitement Check
• (00:25) - Yoga Team Gratitude
• (01:18) - Long COVID Journey
• (02:46) - Trauma And Body Trust
• (05:38) - Brain Retraining Turning Point
• (06:18) - NYT Visual Op Ed
• (08:41) - Feeling Fully Recovered
• (15:02) - Reintegration After Recovery
• (17:11) - Returning To Creative Work
• (19:29) - Presence Priorities And Limits
• (23:21) - From Darkness To Acceptance
• (25:57) - Art Data And Experience
• (28:56) - Art Beyond Words
• (30:22) - Branding as Narrative
• (32:28) - Sketching to Think
• (33:25) - Designing Shared Languages
• (35:42) - Healing and Tracking
• (38:16) - Vulnerability and Sharing
• (39:27) - Dear Data Origins
• (43:36) - Learning Through Speaking
• (48:23) - Finding Your Style
• (52:31) - Obsessions as Projects
• (56:31) - Electro Swing Picks
• (57:40) - Where to Follow
• (58:03) - Closing Reflections

Ben Callahan joins Brad to discuss what’s currently motivating him, from enjoying homemade ham and bean soup in Ohio to a deeper focus on connecting people through curiosity-led facilitation. Ben reflects on a transitional season of life, the importance of personal and organizational values, and how communities work best when they’re allowed to form organically. He describes his annual values exercise, the role of sharing and teaching in web culture, and the need to reintroduce humanity after COVID. The conversation also explores music’s ability to create presence and unity, with recommendations including Chanticleer, Jacob Collier, and Radiohead.

Books

• Get Together — Building Community

Music / Artists

• Chanticleer
• Jacob Collier
• Bobby McFerrin
• Radiohead

Websites / Communities / Projects

• ben callahan.com — Ben's home base for everything
• The Question — Weekly open community design systems research project
• Redwoods — Ben's new paid community for design systems practitioners
• Sparkbox — Ben's consultancy
• Design Downtime — Podcast by Guy Siegall (Ben was a season 1 guest)

Chapters:

• (00:00) - Introduction
• (00:26) - What has Ben waking up excited?
• (09:37) - Community as Resistance
• (13:55) - Values and Learning Mode
• (35:08) - Hardship Resets Trajectory
• (37:52) - Sharing Culture Of The Web
• (42:46) - Music Presence And Connection
• (50:39) - Consciousness Curiosity And Openness
• (57:02) - Music Recommendations
• (01:01:00) - Where To Find Ben

Brad Frost welcomes Sydney-based artist and designer Gemma O’Brien to Wake Up Excited to discuss her work in murals, lettering, and calligraphy and her recent move to London to study at the intersection of art and neuroscience. Gemma shares what she learned shifting from “thinking like an artist” to “thinking like a scientist,” including the rigor of statistics and research, and describes her flow-state study with artists, where self-reported intuition in the creative process significantly predicted flow even after controlling for expertise. They explore how to foster flow through attention, intrinsic motivation, goals, and challenge-skill balance, plus the healing power of the arts, stepping outside comfort zones, collaboration, and optimism as a learned superpower.

Chapters:

• 00:00 Introduction
• 02:20 Neuroaesthetics Leap
• 03:31 Thesis Crunch Time
• 05:47 Artist Workflow Reset
• 09:09 Science Learning Curve
• 12:37 Studying Flow And Intuition
• 20:40 Why Art Moves Us
• 25:37 Arts Therapy And Healing
• 34:38 Optimism As Superpower
• 38:32 Helping Without Burning Out
• 42:04 Strengths Gratitude Daily Practice
• 45:56 Beginner Mind And Discomfort
• 51:55 Collaboration Ego And Delegation
• 01:00:57 Flow State Conditions And Attention
• 01:07:54 Intrinsic Motivation
• 1:12:07 Music Playlists
• 01:15:07 Wrap Up Links

Brad Frost welcomes Mike Rybachuk, founder of Ukraine-based design education platform The Projector Institute, to discuss living a positive, fulfilling life while Russia’s war impacts Mike’s family, friends, colleagues, and business in Ukraine.

From Prague, Mike shares practical, low-cost ways to improve daily life and spread positivity—working outdoors with a hammock and foldable chair, waving to strangers, and intentionally combining work, nature, and social time. They talk about making work fun without diminishing seriousness, prioritizing joy, and avoiding cultures of constant complaining. Mike emphasizes self-honesty, introspection, and personal responsibility, including his five-year commitment to becoming honest with himself, reframing emotions like fear as signals for action, and using simple techniques like counting to three before reacting. He stresses helping others from where you are with what you have, collaborating rather than starting alone, and choosing responsible work that improves the world.

Topics discussed:

• (00:00) - Introduction
• (01:34) - Support the Podcast: Brad’s Courses + Discount Code
• (02:20) - Kicking Off in Prague: Why Mike’s Waking Up Excited
• (03:04) - Starting Skateboarding at 40
• (05:20) - Cheap Ways to Upgrade Your Day
• (08:25) - Why Can’t Work Be Fun?
• (11:30) - Not Waiting for Retirement to Live
• (16:11) - Priorities, Joy, and Escaping the “Complaining Communities” Trap
• (19:56) - Micro-Positivity in Real Life
• (30:11) - The 5-Year Project: Practicing Self-Honesty (and What It Changes)
• (37:19) - Subjective vs Objective Thoughts: Letting Go of Stress Triggers
• (47:51) - Stop Mind-Reading: Ask, Validate, and Communicate Clearly
• (52:00) - Emotions Aren’t Weakness
• (58:25) - Stoicism & Philosophy as Tools
• (01:08:48) - Ukraine’s Resilience on the Ground: Living Life Under Bombs
• (01:19:45) - Education as Resistance
• (01:28:00) - Choosing Work That Makes the World Better
• (01:33:33) - Collaboration Creates Magic
• (01:38:55) - Where to Find Projector Institute