Near Future Podcast Transistor (https://transistor.fm) https://feeds.transistor.fm/near-future-podcast A regular podcast covering design and AI from the founders of Near Future, a boutique AI consultancy focused on teams that care about craft. We cover both what we're seeing on the ground and industry trends, ways of working and occasional guests from the design world. © Near Future 857e06ec-e1ae-5db2-8004-d45d33df2f79 yes Jonny Burch Tom Harman en Fri, 12 Jun 2026 18:42:52 +0100 Fri, 12 Jun 2026 18:43:49 +0100 https://nearfuture.works https://img.transistorcdn.com/dBeo3hokPhsXPCPhpXTuF63ZjAT3y3z7ZLsfMWc0FD0/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:1400/h:1400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS9lOGE1/OTk1MmI3NWJjZTAw/Y2EyMWJjODZkODFj/MjI4MC5wbmc.jpg Near Future Podcast https://nearfuture.works episodic Near Future A regular podcast covering design and AI from the founders of Near Future, a boutique AI consultancy focused on teams that care about craft. We cover both what we're seeing on the ground and industry trends, ways of working and occasional guests from the design world. A regular podcast covering design and AI from the founders of Near Future, a boutique AI consultancy focused on teams that care about craft. technology, AI, design, startups Near Future hello@nearfuture.works No No Episode #3: Kazam! From 15 minute etch-a-sketch to 70 years of Eames 3 3 Episode #3: Kazam! From 15 minute etch-a-sketch to 70 years of Eames full 0b59adf9-9c02-4841-b466-482c9e89c78a https://share.transistor.fm/s/f27c4905 Tom and Jonny reflect on their live workshop at Product Unleashed in London, explore the history of designers building their own tools, and dig into how AI can be used as a counterbalance to your own working style — not just an amplifier.

Chapters

Building a Design Tool in 15 Minutes at Product Unleashed
Tom and Jonny recap the workshop they ran at Product Unleashed, where they built retro design tools (Etch A Sketch, MS Paint) live in front of an audience — twice. They discuss how the challenge evolved, why they pivoted from serious tools to fun ones, and how they got the final result live on the internet using a QR code.

Why Designers Building Their Own Tools Matters
Jonny shares the narrative from the workshop's opening slides — a Gutenberg-moment argument for why designers are now able to build hyper-personalized tools for the first time, referencing Adobe, Figma, and the growing landscape of AI-native design tools.

Historical Examples: Eames, Lennon & the Apple Calculator
Tom walks through three historical examples of makers building tools to unlock their own creativity: Chris Espinoza's Calculator Construction Set for Steve Jobs, Ken Townsend inventing automatic double tracking for John Lennon, and Charles and Ray Eames creating the Kazam machine to bend plywood into new furniture forms.

The Value of Craft in the Age of AI
Jonny reflects on Karri Saaranen (founder of Linear) and his view that design is the thinking — and there's no shortcut to it. The conversation explores whether something made quickly can ever be truly iconic, and why craft still has real, felt value even as AI capabilities grow.

AI as Amplifier or Counterbalance: Knowing Your Working Style
Tom introduces the idea that AI shouldn't just universally amplify — for some people (perfectionists who stall), it should act as a counterbalance, nudging them to ship. For others (fast movers who skip deliberation), the opposite. Both share personal examples of how they've tuned their own AI workflows around their personality types.

Ooda: Instantly Sharing Internal Prototypes
Jonny shares an update on Ooda, his tool that lets teams publish prototypes, tools, and documents to a private, secure link in seconds — just by asking Claude. He explains the pivot from "run your dev server in the cloud" to "don't let your team's work disappear," and why the response from a handful of people last week convinced him the problem is real.

Building a Calculator with a 5-Year-Old
Tom shares a heartwarming weekend story of building a calculator with his five-year-old son Waltie — complete with a car button, a horse button, and a Lego-themed interface — and reflects on what it means to grow up in an era where building software is as natural as playing. Jonny draws parallels to how touchscreens changed children's expectations of interaction.

  • (00:00) - Episode #3:
  • (00:04) - Building a Design Tool in 15 Minutes at Product Unleashed
  • (07:45) - Why Designers Building Their Own Tools Matters
  • (12:13) - Historical Examples: Eames, Lennon & the Apple Calculator
  • (19:57) - The Value of Craft in the Age of AI
  • (22:45) - AI as Amplifier or Counterbalance: Knowing Your Working Style
  • (34:32) - Ooda: Instantly Sharing Internal Prototypes
  • (43:59) - Building a Calculator with a 5-Year-Old


Find us at nearfuture.works

Click here to view the episode transcript.

]]> Tom and Jonny reflect on their live workshop at Product Unleashed in London, explore the history of designers building their own tools, and dig into how AI can be used as a counterbalance to your own working style — not just an amplifier.

Chapters

Building a Design Tool in 15 Minutes at Product Unleashed
Tom and Jonny recap the workshop they ran at Product Unleashed, where they built retro design tools (Etch A Sketch, MS Paint) live in front of an audience — twice. They discuss how the challenge evolved, why they pivoted from serious tools to fun ones, and how they got the final result live on the internet using a QR code.

Why Designers Building Their Own Tools Matters
Jonny shares the narrative from the workshop's opening slides — a Gutenberg-moment argument for why designers are now able to build hyper-personalized tools for the first time, referencing Adobe, Figma, and the growing landscape of AI-native design tools.

Historical Examples: Eames, Lennon & the Apple Calculator
Tom walks through three historical examples of makers building tools to unlock their own creativity: Chris Espinoza's Calculator Construction Set for Steve Jobs, Ken Townsend inventing automatic double tracking for John Lennon, and Charles and Ray Eames creating the Kazam machine to bend plywood into new furniture forms.

The Value of Craft in the Age of AI
Jonny reflects on Karri Saaranen (founder of Linear) and his view that design is the thinking — and there's no shortcut to it. The conversation explores whether something made quickly can ever be truly iconic, and why craft still has real, felt value even as AI capabilities grow.

AI as Amplifier or Counterbalance: Knowing Your Working Style
Tom introduces the idea that AI shouldn't just universally amplify — for some people (perfectionists who stall), it should act as a counterbalance, nudging them to ship. For others (fast movers who skip deliberation), the opposite. Both share personal examples of how they've tuned their own AI workflows around their personality types.

Ooda: Instantly Sharing Internal Prototypes
Jonny shares an update on Ooda, his tool that lets teams publish prototypes, tools, and documents to a private, secure link in seconds — just by asking Claude. He explains the pivot from "run your dev server in the cloud" to "don't let your team's work disappear," and why the response from a handful of people last week convinced him the problem is real.

Building a Calculator with a 5-Year-Old
Tom shares a heartwarming weekend story of building a calculator with his five-year-old son Waltie — complete with a car button, a horse button, and a Lego-themed interface — and reflects on what it means to grow up in an era where building software is as natural as playing. Jonny draws parallels to how touchscreens changed children's expectations of interaction.

  • (00:00) - Episode #3:
  • (00:04) - Building a Design Tool in 15 Minutes at Product Unleashed
  • (07:45) - Why Designers Building Their Own Tools Matters
  • (12:13) - Historical Examples: Eames, Lennon & the Apple Calculator
  • (19:57) - The Value of Craft in the Age of AI
  • (22:45) - AI as Amplifier or Counterbalance: Knowing Your Working Style
  • (34:32) - Ooda: Instantly Sharing Internal Prototypes
  • (43:59) - Building a Calculator with a 5-Year-Old


Find us at nearfuture.works

Click here to view the episode transcript.

]]> Fri, 12 Jun 2026 13:51:08 +0100 Near Future Near Future 3201 Tom and Jonny reflect on their live workshop at Product Unleashed in London, explore the history of designers building their own tools, and dig into how AI can be used as a counterbalance to your own working style — not just an amplifier.

Chapters

Building a Design Tool in 15 Minutes at Product Unleashed
Tom and Jonny recap the workshop they ran at Product Unleashed, where they built retro design tools (Etch A Sketch, MS Paint) live in front of an audience — twice. They discuss how the challenge evolved, why they pivoted from serious tools to fun ones, and how they got the final result live on the internet using a QR code.

Why Designers Building Their Own Tools Matters
Jonny shares the narrative from the workshop's opening slides — a Gutenberg-moment argument for why designers are now able to build hyper-personalized tools for the first time, referencing Adobe, Figma, and the growing landscape of AI-native design tools.

Historical Examples: Eames, Lennon & the Apple Calculator
Tom walks through three historical examples of makers building tools to unlock their own creativity: Chris Espinoza's Calculator Construction Set for Steve Jobs, Ken Townsend inventing automatic double tracking for John Lennon, and Charles and Ray Eames creating the Kazam machine to bend plywood into new furniture forms.

The Value of Craft in the Age of AI
Jonny reflects on Karri Saaranen (founder of Linear) and his view that design is the thinking — and there's no shortcut to it. The conversation explores whether something made quickly can ever be truly iconic, and why craft still has real, felt value even as AI capabilities grow.

AI as Amplifier or Counterbalance: Knowing Your Working Style
Tom introduces the idea that AI shouldn't just universally amplify — for some people (perfectionists who stall), it should act as a counterbalance, nudging them to ship. For others (fast movers who skip deliberation), the opposite. Both share personal examples of how they've tuned their own AI workflows around their personality types.

Ooda: Instantly Sharing Internal Prototypes
Jonny shares an update on Ooda, his tool that lets teams publish prototypes, tools, and documents to a private, secure link in seconds — just by asking Claude. He explains the pivot from "run your dev server in the cloud" to "don't let your team's work disappear," and why the response from a handful of people last week convinced him the problem is real.

Building a Calculator with a 5-Year-Old
Tom shares a heartwarming weekend story of building a calculator with his five-year-old son Waltie — complete with a car button, a horse button, and a Lego-themed interface — and reflects on what it means to grow up in an era where building software is as natural as playing. Jonny draws parallels to how touchscreens changed children's expectations of interaction.

  • (00:00) - Episode #3:
  • (00:04) - Building a Design Tool in 15 Minutes at Product Unleashed
  • (07:45) - Why Designers Building Their Own Tools Matters
  • (12:13) - Historical Examples: Eames, Lennon & the Apple Calculator
  • (19:57) - The Value of Craft in the Age of AI
  • (22:45) - AI as Amplifier or Counterbalance: Knowing Your Working Style
  • (34:32) - Ooda: Instantly Sharing Internal Prototypes
  • (43:59) - Building a Calculator with a 5-Year-Old


Find us at nearfuture.works

Click here to view the episode transcript.

]]> technology, AI, design, startups No Jonny Burch Tom Harman Episode #2: AI, Figma's Future, and Why Design Teams Need to Find Their Own Path 2 2 Episode #2: AI, Figma's Future, and Why Design Teams Need to Find Their Own Path full 802cdb08-4403-4b78-a725-6104924216ca https://share.transistor.fm/s/325cf064 Tom and Jonny dig into the outcomes of Tom's Mostly Working event featuring James Storer from Monzo, unpacking how leading design teams are using AI not to ship faster, but to learn faster — and why the language of "design vs. product" is getting in the way. They get into the state of Figma: is it losing its grip on the design workflow, or is it actually thriving? And they draw an unexpected parallel to the smartphone camera era to ask whether AI will democratise design the same way. Plus: upcoming events, what they're each building, and some honest holiday parenting failure.

  • 0:04 — Mostly Working: AI in Design at Monzo — Tom recaps the event with James Storer, prototyping at Monzo, and why the team focuses on learning speed over shipping speed
  • 6:11 — Three Use Cases for AI in Design Workflows — Jonny breaks down the emerging buckets: shipping production code, faster prototyping, and building internal tools
  • 13:12 — Is Figma Losing Its Grip? — Jonny's spicy take on Figma overreaching, seat cancellation stats from a 90-person design org, and the Adobe comparison
  • 18:17 — Figma's Growth vs. The Designer Exodus — Two things can be true: enterprise growth numbers and a slow professional exodus
  • 21:29 — The Smartphone Camera Analogy — Did smartphones kill professional photography? And will AI do the same to design?
  • 25:52 — Upcoming Events: Berlin, Shoreditch & Brighton — Jonny's "Tools That Shape Us" talk at Hatch Berlin (Sep 18), the live build session at Product Unleashed Shoreditch, and the Brighton workshop
  • 35:37 — What We're Building — Jonny's prototype hosting tool, a Notion CRM, and Tom's AI-powered family holiday journal idea


Find us at nearfuture.works

Click here to view the episode transcript.

]]> Tom and Jonny dig into the outcomes of Tom's Mostly Working event featuring James Storer from Monzo, unpacking how leading design teams are using AI not to ship faster, but to learn faster — and why the language of "design vs. product" is getting in the way. They get into the state of Figma: is it losing its grip on the design workflow, or is it actually thriving? And they draw an unexpected parallel to the smartphone camera era to ask whether AI will democratise design the same way. Plus: upcoming events, what they're each building, and some honest holiday parenting failure.

  • 0:04 — Mostly Working: AI in Design at Monzo — Tom recaps the event with James Storer, prototyping at Monzo, and why the team focuses on learning speed over shipping speed
  • 6:11 — Three Use Cases for AI in Design Workflows — Jonny breaks down the emerging buckets: shipping production code, faster prototyping, and building internal tools
  • 13:12 — Is Figma Losing Its Grip? — Jonny's spicy take on Figma overreaching, seat cancellation stats from a 90-person design org, and the Adobe comparison
  • 18:17 — Figma's Growth vs. The Designer Exodus — Two things can be true: enterprise growth numbers and a slow professional exodus
  • 21:29 — The Smartphone Camera Analogy — Did smartphones kill professional photography? And will AI do the same to design?
  • 25:52 — Upcoming Events: Berlin, Shoreditch & Brighton — Jonny's "Tools That Shape Us" talk at Hatch Berlin (Sep 18), the live build session at Product Unleashed Shoreditch, and the Brighton workshop
  • 35:37 — What We're Building — Jonny's prototype hosting tool, a Notion CRM, and Tom's AI-powered family holiday journal idea


Find us at nearfuture.works

Click here to view the episode transcript.

]]> Fri, 12 Jun 2026 13:50:57 +0100 Near Future Near Future 2542 Tom and Jonny dig into the outcomes of Tom's Mostly Working event featuring James Storer from Monzo, unpacking how leading design teams are using AI not to ship faster, but to learn faster — and why the language of "design vs. product" is getting in the way. They get into the state of Figma: is it losing its grip on the design workflow, or is it actually thriving? And they draw an unexpected parallel to the smartphone camera era to ask whether AI will democratise design the same way. Plus: upcoming events, what they're each building, and some honest holiday parenting failure.

  • 0:04 — Mostly Working: AI in Design at Monzo — Tom recaps the event with James Storer, prototyping at Monzo, and why the team focuses on learning speed over shipping speed
  • 6:11 — Three Use Cases for AI in Design Workflows — Jonny breaks down the emerging buckets: shipping production code, faster prototyping, and building internal tools
  • 13:12 — Is Figma Losing Its Grip? — Jonny's spicy take on Figma overreaching, seat cancellation stats from a 90-person design org, and the Adobe comparison
  • 18:17 — Figma's Growth vs. The Designer Exodus — Two things can be true: enterprise growth numbers and a slow professional exodus
  • 21:29 — The Smartphone Camera Analogy — Did smartphones kill professional photography? And will AI do the same to design?
  • 25:52 — Upcoming Events: Berlin, Shoreditch & Brighton — Jonny's "Tools That Shape Us" talk at Hatch Berlin (Sep 18), the live build session at Product Unleashed Shoreditch, and the Brighton workshop
  • 35:37 — What We're Building — Jonny's prototype hosting tool, a Notion CRM, and Tom's AI-powered family holiday journal idea


Find us at nearfuture.works

Click here to view the episode transcript.

]]> technology, AI, design, startups No Jonny Burch Tom Harman Pilot: Tom and Jonny find their feet (and microphones) 1 1 Pilot: Tom and Jonny find their feet (and microphones) full a9e6e4eb-74f6-4947-a980-f03b252e0690 https://share.transistor.fm/s/bae64527 Near Future Podcast – Pilot Episode

Welcome to the Near Future Podcast, where Tom and Jonny explore what they're building, learning, and experimenting with as AI reshapes how we work.

In this episode:

Agentic Murder Mystery
Jonny walks through his experiment building a six-agent murder mystery game using NanoClaw. He created a cast of AI suspects — each with their own secrets, personalities, and email inboxes — and ran a live session with a group of exited startup founders. The conversation covers what makes agents distinct from standard LLMs (triggers, tools, memory, collaboration), and the surprisingly playful emergent behaviour that unfolded when participants tried to interrogate and social-engineer the AI suspects.

The Near Future Logo Instrument
Tom shares his experiment turning the Near Future logo into an interactive, playable design tool — built in Claude Code — that generates ambient generative music as the logo animates. The conversation explores what it means to treat a brand asset as a toy, and how ephemeral software experiments fuel deeper craft practice.

Craft, Design, and What Lasts
Jonny reflects on receiving his long-awaited Poem Clock — a piece of hardware by Matt Webb that displays AI-generated rhyming couplets telling the time — as a lens for thinking about what makes design feel timeless. The duo discuss Dieter Rams' principles, the difference between craft as polish vs. craft as practice, and what that means for designers navigating the AI era.

Hiring Designers in the Age of AI
Tom shares observations from a recent head of design hiring process — how AI is adding noise on both sides, what strong portfolios look like right now, and the balance between deep foundations and pushing the frontier.

Design Engineering & the Future of the Design Team
A candid discussion on whether every designer needs to become a design engineer, the role of different archetypes within a team, and how to close the gap between Figma and code without putting everyone in an IDE.

Tools We're Excited About

  • Tom: Flora AI (visual asset generation with reference images), Notion's new agent capabilities
  • Jonny: UK-built sovereign design tools — Dawn Labs, Superhands, and Dessn


  • (00:00) - Pilot episode
  • (00:04) - Introduction
  • (01:07) - Agentic Murder Mystery
  • (15:17) - The Near Future Logo Instrument
  • (22:27) - Craft, Design & What Lasts
  • (29:03) - Hiring Designers in the Age of AI
  • (33:30) - Design Engineering & the Future of Design Teams
  • (45:56) - Tools We're Excited About

Find us at nearfuture.works

]]> Near Future Podcast – Pilot Episode

Welcome to the Near Future Podcast, where Tom and Jonny explore what they're building, learning, and experimenting with as AI reshapes how we work.

In this episode:

Agentic Murder Mystery
Jonny walks through his experiment building a six-agent murder mystery game using NanoClaw. He created a cast of AI suspects — each with their own secrets, personalities, and email inboxes — and ran a live session with a group of exited startup founders. The conversation covers what makes agents distinct from standard LLMs (triggers, tools, memory, collaboration), and the surprisingly playful emergent behaviour that unfolded when participants tried to interrogate and social-engineer the AI suspects.

The Near Future Logo Instrument
Tom shares his experiment turning the Near Future logo into an interactive, playable design tool — built in Claude Code — that generates ambient generative music as the logo animates. The conversation explores what it means to treat a brand asset as a toy, and how ephemeral software experiments fuel deeper craft practice.

Craft, Design, and What Lasts
Jonny reflects on receiving his long-awaited Poem Clock — a piece of hardware by Matt Webb that displays AI-generated rhyming couplets telling the time — as a lens for thinking about what makes design feel timeless. The duo discuss Dieter Rams' principles, the difference between craft as polish vs. craft as practice, and what that means for designers navigating the AI era.

Hiring Designers in the Age of AI
Tom shares observations from a recent head of design hiring process — how AI is adding noise on both sides, what strong portfolios look like right now, and the balance between deep foundations and pushing the frontier.

Design Engineering & the Future of the Design Team
A candid discussion on whether every designer needs to become a design engineer, the role of different archetypes within a team, and how to close the gap between Figma and code without putting everyone in an IDE.

Tools We're Excited About

  • Tom: Flora AI (visual asset generation with reference images), Notion's new agent capabilities
  • Jonny: UK-built sovereign design tools — Dawn Labs, Superhands, and Dessn


  • (00:00) - Pilot episode
  • (00:04) - Introduction
  • (01:07) - Agentic Murder Mystery
  • (15:17) - The Near Future Logo Instrument
  • (22:27) - Craft, Design & What Lasts
  • (29:03) - Hiring Designers in the Age of AI
  • (33:30) - Design Engineering & the Future of Design Teams
  • (45:56) - Tools We're Excited About

Find us at nearfuture.works

]]> Fri, 12 Jun 2026 13:41:25 +0100 Near Future Near Future 3074 Near Future Podcast – Pilot Episode

Welcome to the Near Future Podcast, where Tom and Jonny explore what they're building, learning, and experimenting with as AI reshapes how we work.

In this episode:

Agentic Murder Mystery
Jonny walks through his experiment building a six-agent murder mystery game using NanoClaw. He created a cast of AI suspects — each with their own secrets, personalities, and email inboxes — and ran a live session with a group of exited startup founders. The conversation covers what makes agents distinct from standard LLMs (triggers, tools, memory, collaboration), and the surprisingly playful emergent behaviour that unfolded when participants tried to interrogate and social-engineer the AI suspects.

The Near Future Logo Instrument
Tom shares his experiment turning the Near Future logo into an interactive, playable design tool — built in Claude Code — that generates ambient generative music as the logo animates. The conversation explores what it means to treat a brand asset as a toy, and how ephemeral software experiments fuel deeper craft practice.

Craft, Design, and What Lasts
Jonny reflects on receiving his long-awaited Poem Clock — a piece of hardware by Matt Webb that displays AI-generated rhyming couplets telling the time — as a lens for thinking about what makes design feel timeless. The duo discuss Dieter Rams' principles, the difference between craft as polish vs. craft as practice, and what that means for designers navigating the AI era.

Hiring Designers in the Age of AI
Tom shares observations from a recent head of design hiring process — how AI is adding noise on both sides, what strong portfolios look like right now, and the balance between deep foundations and pushing the frontier.

Design Engineering & the Future of the Design Team
A candid discussion on whether every designer needs to become a design engineer, the role of different archetypes within a team, and how to close the gap between Figma and code without putting everyone in an IDE.

Tools We're Excited About

  • Tom: Flora AI (visual asset generation with reference images), Notion's new agent capabilities
  • Jonny: UK-built sovereign design tools — Dawn Labs, Superhands, and Dessn


  • (00:00) - Pilot episode
  • (00:04) - Introduction
  • (01:07) - Agentic Murder Mystery
  • (15:17) - The Near Future Logo Instrument
  • (22:27) - Craft, Design & What Lasts
  • (29:03) - Hiring Designers in the Age of AI
  • (33:30) - Design Engineering & the Future of Design Teams
  • (45:56) - Tools We're Excited About

Find us at nearfuture.works

]]> technology, AI, design, startups No Jonny Burch Tom Harman