Sally Earnshaw brings her trademark “oomph” to this high-energy conversation about leadership, life, and the messy, brilliant realities in between. From middle-aged business travel mishaps to the humor of raising teenagers while running a company, Sally grounds leadership in humanity and positivity. We explore her philosophy of energizing and focusing people, the gaps in leadership depth today, and why creating “space to lead” matters more than ever in a world of noise, AI, and constant change. A refreshing reminder that leaders are human first and that energy and authenticity are free.

Episode Chapters:
0:00 – Oomph: Energy Meets Delivery
5:00 – Positive Energy & Early Influences
9:00 – Midlife, Normality & Humour
14:30 – Business Travel Tales
18:00 – Leadership Depth in a Changing World
23:00 – Strategy, Agility & Speed of Execution
28:30 – Cutting Through Noise & Creating Space to Lead
38:30 – Communication, Energy & Authenticity
43:00 – The Future of Leadership & Generational Shifts
46:30 – Gratitude & Closing Reflections

Bio and Links
Sally Earnshaw, the Chief Oompher, is a leadership and organisational culture expert with over 20 years' experience. Sally’s insights on the importance of clarity, how to get everyone aligned and engaged to drive execution have helped hundreds oforganisations build a high-performance culture.
Sally emphasises that "your strategy is worth nothing if you can’t communicate". Effective communication in leadership fosters resilience, boosts productivity, and enhances overall performance.
Sally is known for her ability to bring out the best in people, using practical, impactful leadership tools that deliver immediate results.
Sally is a TEDx speaker, a published author and top tier leadership facilitator and coach.

www.linkedin.com/in/sally-earnshaw-oomph
www.oomph.life

Brian D’Souza has spent his life exploring the power of sound—from late-night radio discoveries and Glasgow club culture to pioneering sound design for wellbeing, workplaces, and psychedelic therapy. In this episode, Brian shares how music and psychology came together in his work, from building Open Ear, a platform that reimagined how businesses use sound, to founding Swell Studio, which creates soundscapes for health, creativity, and connection with nature. We dive into active listening, rhythmic entrainment, sound therapy, and the role of music in transformative experiences. This is an invitation to tune in more deeply to how sound shapes our lives.

Episode Chapters
0:00 – Early Influences & Discovering Music
5:00 – Psychology, Rhythm & Flow States
12:00 – Active vs. Passive Listening
18:00 – Sound Design in Hospitality & Workplaces
27:00 – Business Lessons from Open Ear
34:00 – From DJing to Sound Therapy
45:00 – Redefining Music as Function, Not Just Entertainment
53:00 – Swell Studio & Nature-Based Soundscapes
59:00 – Sound, Psychedelics & Healing
1:08:00 – Creativity, Bio-Sonification & What’s Next

Bio and Links
Brian d’Souza is the founder and CEO of Swell Studio, a London-based creative agency working between the intersection of sound, music and well-being. Brian is also an award-winning sound artist, DJ, music producer performing under the alias Auntie Flo, and successful entrepreneur, notably as founder of leading music consultancy Open Ear Music from which he exited in 2023.

Swell Studio delivers creative projects that use sound to positively benefit the listener, and is based on three principals: biophilic sound, sound therapy and generative music composition. Its clients include IHG, Imperial College, Muuto, Farfetch, Hotpod Yoga and more. It has been featured in GQ, Forbes, The Times, BBC, Discovery Channel and more.

As Auntie Flo, Brian is a DJ renowned for ‘taking World Music into the future’ (The Guardian). Over a career spanning ten years, he’s played everywhere from Panorama Bar to Glastonbury, making his name as one of the most adventurous DJs around: performing in Cuba, Latin America, Asia, Africa and even the Arctic Circle. He has released four critically acclaimed albums, most notably Radio Highlife (Brownswood, 2018), which won the SAY award for Scottish Album of the Year. His fourth studio album ‘In My Dreams (I’m a Bird and I’m Free) in November 2024. It was awarded Global Album of the Month in the Guardian and Single of the Year by Disco Pogo and DJ History.

He currently runs A State of Flo records and blog, which is home to his dancefloor tracks, global collaborations and nature-based sound art and writing on music and the environment. His work most often centres around the creation of bioelectrical music from living things: plants, fungi and humans. His Plants Can Dance event series uses biodata to trigger notes on his specially built modular synthesizer in a process called bionsonification, with the intention of bridging the gap between the natural world and electronic music realm. This work has been commissioned by the likes of Art Angel, National Trust, Het Hem, V&A etc and featured in New Scientist, BBC 6 Music, BBC Radio 4, Tate Modern, Rolling Stone, BBC Radio 1 and more.

www.swellstudio.io
www.astateofflo.com
www.briandsouza.in

In this episode, we’re joined by Nick Cawthon, a design leader with decades of knowledge in user experience (UX), service design, and the evolving discipline of experience design.

From his childhood discovery of creative flow to shaping the culture of UX in San Francisco, Nick reflects on the pivotal shifts that transformed design from skeuomorphic interfaces to design systems, and now to the rise of AI and agents.

Together, they explore what is left behind in each wave of transformation, why core human skills and principles remain essential, and how curiosity and experimentation will shape the future of design.

0:00 – Childhood Creativity & Early Flow States
6:30 – The Evolution of UX in San Francisco
12:44 – Designing for Humans: Early UX Insights
17:27 – The Impact of AI on UX
23:41 – What Gets Left Behind in Transformation
28:42 – Reinvention & The Ouroboros Mindset
32:01 – The Next Generation of Designers
38:35 – Synthetic Users & Experimentation
45:57 – Optimism for UX and Experience Design
53:19 – Core Principles That Endure

Nick Cawthorn Bio

Nick helps design teams stay ahead of the curve with their AI transformation. He has been curating self-assessments for UX & Design Teams at retrain.gauge.io, helping analyze industry trends and removing barriers to adoption.

Nick founded Gauge in 2001 in the San Francisco Bay Area to help organizations with evidence-based strategy and product decisions. Clients have grown to include Electronic Arts, Genentech, Airbnb, Adobe and many others. Nick is a professor in Data Literacy and Visualisation in the Design Strategy MBA program at his alma mater, California College of the Arts.

Links
https://www.linkedin.com/in/nickcawthon-ux-digital-agency-product-design-leadership/

https://gauge.io/

From his early fascination with synths and soundscapes to touring the world as a DJ, Tom Middleton has spent decades exploring the neuroscience and emotional power of music. In this conversation, Tom shares how his journey through burnout led him to pioneer “experience as medicine,” using sound intentionally to promote well-being, focus, and recovery. We explore neuroaesthetics, spatial audio, vibroacoustics, and how environments—from wellness spaces to workplaces—can be sound-designed to improve health and human connection. This is a deep dive into the future of sensory wellness and functional sound design.

#SoundDesign #WellnessInnovation #TheExperienceDesigners #ExperienceDesign

Episode Chapters
00:00 – Beginnings & Sonic Fascination
06:30 – From Cornwall to Global DJ
14:09 – Nature Sound & Soundscape Ecology
18:44 – Touring, Burnout & Recovery
30:31 – Therapeutic Music & Sleep Science
39:33 – Soundscaping Everyday Life
47:14 – White Mirror & Sensory Wellness Innovation
54:21 – Experience as Medicine

Bio and Links
Tom Middleton is a multi-award-winning composer, sound and sensory designer, and pioneer of Sonic Therapeutics for sleep, stress, pain, and performance. As co-founder of White Mirror, he creates health-promoting audio and sensory content grounded in salutogenic design - spanning digital therapeutics, immersive environments, and multi-sensory experiences. Originally mentored by Aphex Twin, Tom draws on classical and electronic roots, as a designer, orchestral cellist, DJ, and neuroscience researcher. His work continues to help millions via Calm, Apple Music, Sleep Cycle, and UMG’s Sleep Better.

He also created the world’s most relaxing noise and explores acoustic ecology, archaeo-acoustics, and sonic storytelling to raise awareness for planetary and human wellbeing. Tom serves on the Global Wellness Institute’s Music for Health & Wellbeing board and co-authored the sleep chapter in Touring and Mental Health: The Music Industry Manual. He’s committed to scaling evidence-based, humanity-first interventions in a world craving calm, care, and connection - where empathy becomes exponential, and design becomes medicine.

Links
www.whitemirror.studio

https://www.linkedin.com/in/tommiddletonmusic

Music
Here's the track 7-year-old Tom heard by Isao Tomita - https://open.spotify.com/track/2w0URaMReZtoWWDkboobkL?si=d884d327d15e4098

Also, here are two albums we love here at The Experience Designers Podcast - Enjoy!

Spatial Focus Music - https://open.spotify.com/album/0AVuGKpxfe3d9xJM90YbmN?si=XtqG2P1eTuu4BaCoScSrqQ
Spatial Sleep Music - https://open.spotify.com/album/6Ifo4VtUVq1a3evYQ6zMtM?si=Z5ZOIgsjTYGRmrScuF1i-Q

Jessica Weickert joins The Experience Designers to explore how emotional regulation, neuroscience, and story-living are reshaping the future of experiential design. Drawing from her personal journey with ADHD and her role at XDA, Jessica shares how neuroaesthetics is helping brands design immersive, purposeful experiences that support well-being and create real emotional impact. From luxury as presence to collective rituals, we unpack trends transforming events, retail, and hospitality. It’s a deep dive into how experiences can help people feel, connect, and heal—moving from escapism to what Jessica calls “inscapism.”

Episode Chapters
00:00 – Beginnings & Backstory
06:15 – Designing for Emotion & Well-being
14:30 – The Shift in Experiential Marketing
26:50 – Rethinking Creative Strategy
34:20 – Story-Living & Brand Immersion
46:45 – Designing Against Loneliness
58:15 – Life, Leadership & Saying Yes

#ExperientialMarketing #Neuroaesthetics #EmotionalDesign #TheExperienceDesigners #ExperienceDesign

Bio and Links:

Jessica Weickert is a creative strategy powerhouse whose expertise thrives at the intersection of science and creativity. She is driven by an unshakeable belief that transformative experiences hold the power to solve our world’s most complex challenges. As Vice President of Creative Strategy at XD Agency, an award-winning creative agency, Jessica leads a team of creative scientists — committed to applying neuroaesthetics to craft powerful moments that improve wellbeing and ultimately amplify human potential.

In 2024, Jessica was recognized as Women We Admire's Top 50 Women Leaders as a testament for her nearly two decades of work on clients such as LEGO, Poosh, and Lowe’s. She also earned a coveted seat on the World Experience Council (WXO), a global institution of leading experience visionaries dedicated to improving the quality of experiences. But above all her professional accolades, Jessica’s proudest role is the one she holds at home: being a mom.

A little more about XD Agency:

XD Agency (XDA) is an award-winning creative agency, bred from production chops, creating badass experiences for brands who want to redefine industries and rewrite the rules. For 25 years, they've been delivering groundbreaking ideas and unforgettable moments, earning the title of Ad Age Experiential Agency of the Year 2024. XDA proudly plays across B2B and B2C worlds with clients like LEGO, HBO, Cisco, Lowe’s, Adult Swim, and more. With hubs in New York, Atlanta, San Francisco, Portland, and Los Angeles, their teams are strategically positioned across the US and beyond dedicated to creating better — experiences, stories, relationships, worlds — everydamnday.

Links:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessicaweickert/

https://www.xdagency.com/

In this rare and deeply personal conversation, Colin Nightingale, Associate Artist at Punchdrunk and Co-founder of Right/Left Project, takes us on an immersive journey through his creative evolution. From his early days immersed in London’s underground music and DIY culture to co-shaping some of the most iconic immersive theatre productions of the 21st century, Colin shares the moments that shaped his path.

We explore the origin story behind Punchdrunk’s masked worlds, the power of atmosphere in storytelling, and how emotional design continues to guide his work today. Whether it’s transforming derelict warehouses or crafting meditative audio experiences for overwhelmed audiences, Colin’s perspective invites us to rethink how we build experiences that people truly feel.

⏱️ Episode Chapters:
00:00 Colin's Unique Journey into Immersive Experience Design
08:05 The Cultural Landscape of London in the 80s and 90s
12:20 Early Career and the Transition to Creative Work
14:36 Life and journey into Punchdrunk
15:07 Finding Opportunities in London's Creative Scene
16:52 Finding My People: The Journey Begins
21:42 Finding Punchdrunk: The Lost Persons Parties
25:41 The Transformative Power of Space: Punchdrunk's Inspiration
30:40 From Concept to Reality: The Evolution of Punchdrunk
34:59 Navigating Growth: Balancing Creativity and Commercial Success
54:44 Collaboration and Communication in Creative Processes
56:42 The Influence of DJ Culture on Sound Design
58:57 Exploring Three-Dimensional Music Experiences
01:01:29 The Journey of Beyond the Road Project
01:06:18 Transitioning from Punch Drunk to Independent Artistry
01:07:23 Creating Calm and Meditative Spaces
01:14:45 The Importance of Disconnecting in a Digital Age
01:25:58 An Invitation to Mindfulness and Exploration

Colin's Bio and Links
Colin Nightingale is a British artist, creative producer and curator with over two decades of shaping audience experiences through cross-disciplinary storytelling. Holding a 1st Class Honours degree in Management and a background in music, DJ culture, event production, and outdoor arts festivals, Colin brings a unique blend of creative and operational expertise to the world of immersive performance.

In 2002, Colin encountered one of Punchdrunk's early experimental works in London and was instantly drawn to its groundbreaking approach to theatre. His connection with the company's founder, Felix Barrett, quickly evolved into a lasting creative collaboration. From 2003 onwards, Colin became a key member of Punchdrunk's core team, contributing to major productions such as Woyzeck, Faust, The Masque of the Red Death, Sleep No More (productions in Boston, New York, Shanghai and now Seoul), The Drowned Man and The Burnt City. He also co-conceived with Barrett, and produced unique projects including Tunnel 228, a collision of Visual and Art and Performance and Vescovo, a one off collaboration with the rock musician Jack White & XL Recordings. Over the years, he has held roles including Senior Producer, Creative Producer, and Audience Experience Curator, helping shape the company's globally influential immersive theatre experiences.

In 2019, along with artist and sound designer Stephen Dobbie, he founded A Right/Left Project, a creative studio specialising in immersive sound and art installations. Their recent work includes ORIGIN (2024), a bespoke deep listening experience at Dunham Massey, a National Trust historic property in Cheshire, as well as Beyond The Road, a genre-blending audio-visual walk through album installation in collaborated with James Lavelle/UNKLE that premiered at Saatchi Gallery (2019) before enjoying an extended 6 month run at Alt1 Gallery at The Hyundai Seoul (2021).

He continues to serve as an Associate Artist at Punchdrunk but his core focus is now A Right/Left Project, allowing him and Stephen to explore a range of collaborations and interests that fuse music, sound, and immersive storytelling to reimagine how audiences experience art.

Links
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/colin-nightingale
Website: https://www.arightleftproject.com/about

In this episode of The Experience Designers, Steve is joined by James Warren, expert storyteller, experience strategist, and founder of Share More Stories to explore how storytelling unlocks deep human connection and business insight.

Together, they unpack the true power of stories: as tools for building trust, designing immersive experiences, and revealing hidden emotional truths that traditional surveys and metrics often miss. James shares his personal journey from childhood storytelling to launching a platform that uses AI and narrative analytics to transform how brands understand their customers and employees.

The conversation explores:

• The shift from storytelling to storyliving
• How emotions in stories reveal untapped insights
• The link between employee experience (EX) and customer experience (CX)
• Why belonging and trust are core to both culture and performance
• And how leaders must listen, reflect, and design for impact, not just intention

If you’re in brand strategy, customer experience, HR, insight, leadership, or simply passionate about the human side of business this episode is a must-listen.

⏱️ Episode Chapters:
00:00 – Introduction and Warm Welcome
00:18 – The Essence of Storytelling
03:11 – Evolution of Storytelling
05:10 – Immersive Storytelling Experiences
07:05 – Storytelling in Travel and Retail
14:06 – Personal Storytelling Journey
15:21 – Leveraging Storytelling for Business Insights
22:03 – Challenges in Storytelling and Research
31:32 – Analyzing Customer Stories for Emotional Insights
32:28 – Integrating AI for Deeper Emotional Understanding
34:48 – The Intersection of Customer and Employee Experience
37:00 – The Relationship Between Employees and Customers
38:36 – Building Trust Through Story
42:55 – Creating Belonging in the Workplace
45:34 – Empathy at Scale: Designing for Real Impact
51:52 – Leadership’s Role in CX + EX Transformation
54:44 – Storytelling, Inclusion, and Community
59:10 – Reflections on Human Connection and Purpose

James' Bio and Links
James Warren is the Founder and CEO of Share More Stories, a human experience insights company. The company’s primary offering is the SEEQ Platform, which helps organizations and brands uncover the emotional drivers behind employee and customer experiences.
James is a researcher, strategist, writer and facilitator who blends storytelling, AI, and insights to help companies better understand themselves, their customers, and their communities.
With nearly 30 years of experience in marketing, insights, strategy, and innovation, he is passionate about the intersections of humanity, technology, brands, communities, and culture. An active community leader, he volunteers on several boards. He studied economics and literature at Princeton, and creative writing at Columbia. Originally from New York, James now calls Richmond home.

Links
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-warren-seeq/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/share-more-stories/
Instagram: @warrenjwric
Instagram: @sharemorestories
Website: sharemorestories.com | SEEQPlatform.com

Join us as we talk with Laura Hess, who attended 500 experiences in 5 years, about building a 25-point “Remarkable” rubric for scoring immersive theatre, fine-art installations, XR activations, brand activations, and more....

Learn how intentionality, multi-sensory design, and post-show reflection can help creators craft moments that truly resonate, transport audiences into flow states, and leave a lasting impact. Tune in for practical experience design tips, real-world case studies (including Hermès’s non-transactional activation), and a fresh framework for evaluating remarkable experiences.

DOWNLOAD the REMARKABLE experience report - https://www.reuleaux.world/#remarkable-2025

Laura Hess is an experience strategist for interactive and immersive mediums. She champions experiential design and its power to move and change people for the better. Past projects include brand activations, experiential marketing, participatory theatre, film, VR, installation art, and themed entertainment.

Drawing from her interdisciplinary background, she specialises in creative strategy and concept development across new and traditional formats, delivering meaningful solutions for independent and global media companies.

In 2021, she founded Reuleaux, an experiential consultancy. She’s also a founding member and advisor for the World Experience Organization and No Proscenium’s arts editor. After completing a Master of Science in Leadership for Creative Enterprises at Northwestern University, she has no plans for another degree with a longer title.

Contact links

https://www.linkedin.com/in/hess-laura
https://www.reuleaux.world/
https://laurahess.substack.com/

Chapters

00:00 The Journey of Exploring 500 Experiences

04:55 The Importance of Reflection in Experience Design

09:10 Creating the Remarkable Model

14:57 Understanding the Components of the Remarkable Model

20:45 Evaluating Experiences: The Rubric Explained

28:38 Understanding Experience Scoring

31:33 The Importance of Flow and Connection

33:43 The Role of Audience Participation

35:57 Navigating Commercial vs. Meaningful Experiences

38:28 Intentionality in Experience Design

41:43 Hermes: A Case Study in Non-Transactional Experiences

47:02 Cultural Exchange and Brand Relationships

51:12 Themes in Experience Design

54:24 The Shift Towards Intentionality in Experiences

54:58 Sensorial Aspects: The Key to In-Person Engagement

56:31 The Power of Live Performers in Experiences

59:47 Exploring the Beyond Cognition Case Study

01:03:32 The Importance of Sensory-Driven Experiences

01:04:38 Reflections on Experience Design and Improvement

01:10:08 The Need for Reflection and Iteration in Design

01:12:00 Closing the interview and contacting Laura