Why DesignApply
EpisodesCommunityNewsletterApply
Featured episode
Season 5, Episode 5 · 68 min

Why the softest fruit is the hardest engineering problem

With Sid Shaikh, Fieldwork Robotics

Watch on YouTubeOpen this episode on the Why Design YouTube channel.

Building a raspberry-picking robot, and what agricultural automation teaches you about edge cases that don't sit still.

The archive

Every episode of Why Design.

Honest conversations with the people shaping physical products. Search by guest, company or what they build.

Ep S5E7Apr 22, 2026

Why getting into John Lewis still wasn't enough

Phil Staunton · D2M Product Design

Phil on building a consumer pushchair brand from scratch, what actually happens after you land the dream retail listing, and the lessons he took from a failure that looked like success.

Watch & listen
Ep S5E6Apr 16, 2026

Why the best hardware careers look like wrong turns from the outside

Felicity Boyce · Koroyd

Material scientist on factory-floor learning and the long road to building tubular core technology that actually ships.

Watch & listen
Ep S5E4Apr 1, 2026

Why half the country can't access clean energy

Rob Hallifax · Windfall Energy

Designing compact home batteries for renters and flat-dwellers, and why most of the market quietly ignored them.

Watch & listen
Ep S5E3Mar 25, 2026

Why nobody fixed this $12 billion surgical problem

Liz McGloughlin · Tympany Medical

Redesigning surgical instruments from a clinical perspective, and what design teams keep getting wrong about the OR.

Watch & listen
Ep S5E2Mar 18, 2026

Why the worst thing you can do is be the designer everyone wants you to be

Dan Salisbury · Automata

Building a design language inside an engineering-led deep tech startup, and the politics of getting industrial design taken seriously.

Watch & listen
Ep S5E1Mar 11, 2026

Why fertility treatment is broken

Tess Cosad · Béa Fertility

On designing accessible, home-based fertility treatment products, and the long road to building a category from scratch.

Watch & listen