Designer’s Playlist #3
In this series, we ask IDEO designers to share the stuff they're digging right now—tools, books, music, sites, people, places—so you, too, can drink from the fount of inspiration bubbling up here. This week's guest star: Andrea Oh.
Name: Andrea Oh
Location: San Francisco
Role at IDEO: Front Desk Concierge, Experience team. Steward of magical work-life experiences. Gatekeeper of the guest Wi-Fi. (She guards it with a Gandalf staff made out of Twix chocolate).
Joined IDEO: August 2015
Instagram: @fermdaza
Titillating Fact: Matcha is my life! For someone who doesn’t drink coffee, a dose of matcha powder mixed in with water in the morning is my saving grace.
1. Isaiah Rashad: "The Sun’s Tirade" (2016)
There are a couple albums I’ve been gravitating towards in the past month, but the one that’s been in constant rotation—and I mean constant—is the debut release of Top Dawg Entertainment-signed rapper Isaiah Rashad, The Sun’s Tirade. His earnest, poetic musings on butter-smooth production make for perfect late-summer listening. Roll the windows down while you’re at it.
2. Drumming around with Pyle-Pro PTED01
I used to take drum lessons when I was younger and regrettably fell out of the habit of playing as I got older and distracted by high-school-Andrea things. I’ve had an itch to take it up again so I recently just purchased this electronic drum kit to practice exercises and learn new grooves and fills (YouTube tutorials are your friend). I don’t have the space to house a real set and classes in the city are steeper than I can afford, so this is a good alternative to keep that itch scratched.
3. Warsan Shire
I’ve been reaching a lot for Warsan Shire these days. She is a Somali-British writer, activist, educator—and one of my favorite female voices in contemporary poetry. She explores themes ranging from love, sexual violence, religion, war, displacement, and the immigrant experience. Her words are often sharp and unapologetic. I love that her writing is a celebration of womanhood and the female body, as well as a tribute to Somali culture and her ancestry.
Watch: Warsan Shire reads her poem “Conversations About Home (at the Deportation Centre)” from Teaching My Mother How To Give Birth.
Header image by Markus Spiske.