Episode 22

full
Published on:

13th Dec 2024

Announcement! The Design Journeys Podcast is changing in January!

How a Name Change Became Our Biggest Opportunity Yet

๐–๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐๐จ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐๐จ ๐ฐ๐ก๐ž๐ง ๐ฌ๐จ๐ฆ๐ž๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎโ€™๐ฏ๐ž ๐›๐ฎ๐ข๐ฅ๐ญ ๐ ๐ž๐ญ๐ฌ ๐œ๐ก๐š๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ž๐ง๐ ๐ž๐?


It's Chris Whyte here, founder of Kodu and host of The Design Journeys Podcast. I wanted to share an important announcement.


After nine months of sharing stories from the world of physical product development, The Design Journeys Podcast is evolving.


Starting in January, weโ€™ll be rebranding as ๐–๐ก๐ฒ ๐ƒ๐ž๐ฌ๐ข๐ ๐ง?


๐–๐ก๐ฒ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐œ๐ก๐š๐ง๐ ๐ž?


A few weeks ago, the host of Design Journeys, a French-language podcast about digital product design, reached out.


Theyโ€™d noticed some listener confusion between our two shows and politely asked if weโ€™d consider renaming.


Iโ€™ll be honestโ€”hearing that hit hard. Seeing something youโ€™ve built get challenged isnโ€™t easy. But after stepping back, I realised that if the roles were reversed, Iโ€™d want to protect my brand too.


So, after a bit of sulking... I saw this for what it really is: ๐š ๐ก๐ฎ๐ ๐ž ๐จ๐ฉ๐ฉ๐จ๐ซ๐ญ๐ฎ๐ง๐ข๐ญ๐ฒ.


The podcast has grown into something far bigger than I ever imaginedโ€”a community of passionate guests and listeners exploring the complexities of physical product development. Itโ€™s no longer just about storiesโ€”itโ€™s a space where ideas spark, connections form, and learning never stops.


And weโ€™re just getting started.


๐–๐ก๐š๐ญโ€™๐ฌ ๐œ๐จ๐ฆ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ข๐ง ๐Ÿ๐ŸŽ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ“:


โœ… Online huddles

โœ… UK & US meetups

โœ… Workshops & webinars


All built around one big question: ๐–๐ก๐ฒ ๐ƒ๐ž๐ฌ๐ข๐ ๐ง?


Thank you so much to our guests this year and for all of you who have tuned in!




๐Ÿ“ข ๐’๐ญ๐š๐ฒ ๐ข๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ฅ๐จ๐จ๐ฉ!


Sign up at teamkodu.com/events to stay up to date with new podcast episodes, events, workshops, and meetups. Weโ€™d love to have you with us on this journey. ๐Ÿš€



Show artwork for WHY DESIGN?

About the Podcast

WHY DESIGN?
For people interested in physical product design and development
Why Design is a podcast exploring the stories behind hardware and physical product development. Hosted by Chris Whyte, founder of Kodu, the show dives into the journeys of founders, senior design leaders, and engineers shaping people and planet-friendly products.

Formerly "The Design Journeys Podcast", each episode uncovers pivotal career moments, lessons learned, and behind-the-scenes insights from industry experts. Whether youโ€™re a designer, engineer, or simply curious about how great hardware products come to life, Why Design offers real stories, actionable advice, and inspiration for anyone passionate about design and innovation.

Join us as we listen, learn, and connect through the stories that define the world of physical product development.

About your host

Profile picture for Chris Whyte

Chris Whyte

Hi, I'm your host of Why Design? (Formerly "The Design Journeys Podcast")

I'm also the founder of Kodu - a specialist recruitment consultancy focused exclusively on physical product development. It's the people who I've met in my years in the industry that inspired me to start this podcast.

When I'm not hosting the podcast, I help physical product brands, start-ups and design consultancies identify, attract and hire the best product design & engineering talent ahead of their competitors, across the USA, UK and Europe ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‡บ

I focus exclusively on ๐ฉ๐ก๐ฒ๐ฌ๐ข๐œ๐š๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ซ๐จ๐๐ฎ๐œ๐ญ ๐๐ž๐ฏ๐ž๐ฅ๐จ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ž๐ง๐ญ (๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฐ๐˜ต ๐˜ข๐˜ฑ๐˜ฑ๐˜ด!)

๐ƒ๐ž๐ฌ๐ข๐ ๐ง & ๐ƒ๐ž๐ฏ๐ž๐ฅ๐จ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ž๐ง๐ญ ๐‹๐ž๐š๐๐ž๐ซ๐ฌ:
โœ… Do you have high growth plans for your physical product development and engineering division?
โœ… Would you like to engage with and source those hard-to-find Design Engineers and Industrial Designers?
โœ… Are you spending too much time in the hiring process only to find that the talent doesn't match your expectations?

๐ƒ๐ž๐ฌ๐ข๐ ๐ง ๐„๐ง๐ ๐ข๐ง๐ž๐ž๐ซ๐ฌ, ๐Œ๐ž๐œ๐ก๐š๐ง๐ข๐œ๐š๐ฅ ๐„๐ง๐ ๐ข๐ง๐ž๐ž๐ซ๐ฌ ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ˆ๐ง๐๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ซ๐ข๐š๐ฅ ๐ƒ๐ž๐ฌ๐ข๐ ๐ง๐ž๐ซ๐ฌ:
โœ… Are you interested in joining an exciting start-up, design consultancy or technology brand?
โœ… Interested in honest, transparent advice as to which companies would be the best fit for you?

If you agree with any of the above, I know how you feel as I deal with people just like you every day.

I have successfully placed hundreds of design engineers, industrial designers, managers and directors into some of the world's most exciting technology brands, start-ups and consultancies.

My clients tell me they work with me because:

โญ I focus on long-term relationship building, not transactions
โญ I speak their language and understand their businesses and job roles
โญ Iโ€™m professional, yet friendly and very approachable
โญ My robust process significantly reduces time-to-hire

Iโ€™ve worked within consumer electronics, homewares, kitchen appliances, e-bikes, medical devices, gaming controllers, furniture, life-sciences, audio-equipment, vacuum cleaners and more!

Typically, I recruit the following roles:
๐Ÿ’ก VP Engineering
๐Ÿ’ก Engineering Director
๐Ÿ’ก Design Manager
๐Ÿ’ก Industrial Designer
๐Ÿ’ก Product Designer (products not apps!)
๐Ÿ’ก Product Design Engineer
๐Ÿ’ก Mechanical Design Engineer
๐Ÿ’ก Mechanical Engineer

Outside of work, I'm a wannabe rock star and a father to two teenagers. I support Manchester United and I'm terrible at FIFA/FC24 ๐Ÿค“

If you want to talk about my work or anything else, message me on here and I'll respond as soon as I can. Or you can reach me via:

chris@teamkodu.com

UK: +44 7538 928 518
US: +1 862 298 5088