Mindfulness and design: Cal Thompson on why human-centered design matters more than ever

Episode notes

This week on Catalyst, Tammy is joined by Cal Thompson, designer, product advisor, artist and mindfulness teacher with over 15 years of experience in human-centered design. Cal most recently served as VP of Product Design and Research at Headspace, where they led both a design team and a scientific research team through the company's expansion from a meditation app into a full mental health platform. Cal explains how growing up gay in the south impacted how they see design and makes a strong business case for incorporating accessibility into all products and designs. They also explore why the design toolkit is more critical in the AI era than ever before, and why vibe coding without domain expertise risks producing what Cal calls "feature slop." They also dig into the attention economy and how mindfulness is quietly becoming a radical act in a world engineered to capture your focus. Please note that the views expressed may not necessarily be those of NTT DATA Links: Cal Thompson Headspace Future London Academy Center for Humane Technology Greenway Institute Learn more about Launch by NTT DATA See Privacy Policy at and California Privacy Notice at .

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