Welcome to Overlay! This is the Official Layers Podcast brought to you by Liam McCabe (@liampmccabe) and Reijo Palmiste (@reijowrites). What is Layers? It's a design community platform where designers can connect, share work and build their portfolio. In this episode Reijo and Liam talk to Tatiana O'Toole (@darumacreative), an illustrator and identity designer based in Ireland. They discuss a whole range of topics, from design subscription services, the issues around scaling design platforms, AI generated design and growing a company ethically. Timestamps (00:00) - Introduction and Guest Introduction (01:11) - Background and Journey in Design (03:39) - Ethics in Design (06:43) - Design Subscription Services (09:37) - The Importance of Strategy in Design (11:55) - The Future of Design Subscription Services (13:08) - The Role of Emotional Maturity in Design (15:34) - Imperfections in the Current Design System (22:18) - The Importance of Dislike and Downvote Buttons (25:36) - The Value of Recent Feeds and Avoiding Echo Chambers (29:08) - The Challenges of Building an Even Playing Field (30:30) - The Challenge of Scaling and Browsing (31:00) - The Difficulty of Reducing Spam and Low-Quality Content (32:01) - Handling Recent and Discoverability (33:00) - The Role of Human Curation (34:20) - Combining Algorithmic Feeds with Human Creation (36:40) - The Decline of Dribbble and the Search for Alternatives (37:35) - Issues with Dribbble's Platform and Policies (41:03) - Elitism and Changes in Dribbble's Community (42:40) - Controversial Decisions and Pay-to-Play Aspects (44:05) - Concerns about AI-Generated Content (49:20) - Copyright Infringement and AI-Generated Art (55:40) - The Ethical Dilemma of AI-Generated Art (57:14) - The Future of AI in Art and Design (58:18) - Concerns about AI and its impact on jobs (59:00) - The belief in the irreplaceable human touch (01:00:04) - Late-stage capitalism and the devaluation of employees (01:01:12) - The future of art and the role of human creators (01:03:14) - The significance of human-created art (01:04:05) - The impact of capitalism on the art industry (01:06:09) - The fulfillment and dissatisfaction of work (01:07:30) - The fulfillment and trajectory of personal goals (01:08:30) - The fulfillment and pain of meaningful work (01:10:38) - The challenges of ethical approaches in a capitalistic system (01:11:19) - The impact of monetization and advertising on platforms (01:12:10) - Growing a company ethically in the current system (01:13:07) - The importance of understanding the goals and vision of a company (01:15:08) - The value of relationships and community in a project (01:16:46) - The shift in audience and engagement on design platforms (01:19:29) - The desire for validation and engagement in creative work (01:20:37) - Closing remarks and call for feedback LinksLiam on XReijo on XTatiana on XLayersLayers PlusCreators & Guests Liam McCabe - Host Tatiana O’Toole - Guest Reijo Palmiste - Host