What if design is not really about products at all, but about bridging the gap between the world as it is and the world we hope for?

In this episode of Data Malarkey, Master Data Storyteller, Sam Knowles, speaks with Judah Armani, Head of the Public Service Design Practice CIC. Judah is a collaborative designer, educator, and social entrepreneur. The two discuss design as problem solving, insight as a "liquid understanding", and the role of care, curiosity, and creativity in tackling some of society's toughest challenges.

Judah's work spans public service design, education, prison reform, and systems change. From founding the world's first record label launched in prison and run by prisoners, to creating football-based learning programmes and teaching around the world, he offers a completely different lens on how data, information, and human understanding can lead to action.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• Why Judah sees design as the connective tissue between reality and aspiration

• Why solving problems is something everyone does, not just trained designers

• How gathering information, specifying intent, and taking action underpin most problem solving

• Why taxonomy shapes what we can see and what we miss

• Why efficiency can quietly erode care if we are not careful

• How Judah defines insight as a "liquid understanding"

• Why outliers, clues, and hints often matter more than neat summaries

• How InHouse Records was created inside prison to reduce reoffending

• Why Judah sees AI as useful for summarising, but not yet for true creativity

Topics we cover:

• Design as problem solving

• Retirement, mission, and a life spent solving problems

• Taxonomy, categorisation, and reordering information

• von Humboldt, Ruskin, and different ways of seeing the same world

• Care, efficiency, and what modern systems make us lose

• Socratic inquiry and the different states of knowledge

• Outliers, patterns, and the power of different vantage points

• InHouse Records and designing for social impact

• AI, creativity, and the limits of large language models

About the guest:
Judah Armani is a collaborative designer, educator, and social entrepreneur whose work focuses on social change, public service design, and reimagining systems for those most often left out. He has worked across product design, charities, education, and justice, and is the founder of projects including InHouse Records and Crossbar.

Links and resources mentioned:

• Judah's LinkedIn profile - https://www.linkedin.com/in/hodajudaharmani/

• His CIC's home page - https://www.hodajudaharmani.design/

• InHouse Records - https://www.inhouserecords.org/

• Crossbar Education Innovation Programme - https://ifdesign.com/en/winner-ranking/project/crossbar/744665

• Take the Data Storytelling Scorecard: https://data-storytelling.scoreapp.com

What turns data into insight, and why does that distinction matter so much in media, research, and strategy?

In this episode of Data Malarkey, Master Data Storyteller, Sam Knowles, speaks with Louise Twycross-Lewis, Managing Partner and Head of Insight at media agency PHD. They address how insight teams move beyond "what is happening" to uncover "what it means" and "what should happen next".

Louise shares her definition of insight, the practical tools and techniques she and her teams use to get there, and how AI is changing the way research teams work - from open-text analysis to identifying themes at scale. They also explore the promise and risks of synthetic data, the danger of bias in AI-trained systems, the challenge of training junior talent in an AI-assisted world, and the findings from PHD's Culture Currents research into optimism and anticipation.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• Why insight is so much more than a hypothesis or a chart

• Why clear objectives and hypotheses matter before research even begins

• How Louise uses AI to speed up analysis while keeping humans in the lead (not just in the loop)

• Why human truth still matters more than efficiency alone

• How bias in AI systems can distort decision-making

• Why the industry needs to think hard about how it trains junior talent

• What PHD's Culture Currents research says about optimism in a difficult world

• Why anticipation has become more valuable, not less

• How brands and media can play a role across the full anticipation journey

Topics we cover:

• Defining insight in media and communications

• Moving from data to story

• AI-assisted analysis and human oversight

• Synthetic data and the limits of generated research

• Bias, representation, and "ultra-processed" data

• Entry-level roles, compression culture, and learning by doing

• Culture Currents research and optimism

• Culture Current research and anticipation, eventification, and dopamine

• Why brands should think beyond the moment of reward

About the guest:
Louise Twycross-Lewis is Managing Partner and Head of Insight at PHD. She has spent her career in media research and insight, working across media owners and major agencies, and is a recognised leader in the industry as well as a champion of cultural and ethnic diversity.

Links and resources mentioned:

• Louise's profile on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/louise-twycross-lewis-1b655b2/

• PHD's Culture Currents research and publications - https://www.phdmedia.com/our-publications/

• Take the Data Storytelling Scorecard: https://data-storytelling.scoreapp.com

What happens when platform design, recommendation algorithms, and commercial incentives collide with teenage vulnerability?

In this episode of Data Malarkey, Master Data Storyteller, Sam Knowles, speaks to Andy Burrows, Chief Executive of the Molly Rose Foundation, about online safety, suicide prevention, tech accountability, and the systemic failures that continue to expose children to harmful content online.

Andy explains how the Foundation's research tested Instagram and TikTok through the eyes of a 15-year-old girl, why the findings were so disturbing, and how advertising, platform incentives, legal action, and regulation all fit into a bigger picture. He also reflects on Molly's story, the role of whistleblowers, the limits of self-regulation, and why the current approach to online safety remains nowhere near strong enough.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• How recommendation algorithms can intensify harm at scale

• What the Molly Rose Foundation's research found on Instagram and TikTok

• Why harmful content and advertising adjacency is such a serious issue

• How whistleblowers and legal disclosures have been so important

• Why advertisers may be part of the problem, but also part of the solution

• Why Andy sees recent US court rulings as a "big tobacco" moment for tech

• Why self-regulation has failed and stronger, safety-by-design rules are needed

• Why a social media ban is not the magic bullet many think it could be

• How AI risks are making the online safety challenge even worse

Topics we cover:

• Molly Russell's story and the mission of the Foundation in her name

• Testing harmful algorithmic recommendations

• Platform incentives and the economics of attention

• Brand safety and ad placement near harmful content

• Whistleblowers, disclosures, and Meta's conduct

• US litigation and the erosion of tech immunity arguments

• The Online Safety Act and Ofcom's limitations

• The Australia-style social media ban under the spotlight

• AI companions, AI slop, and history repeating itself

About the guest:
Andy Burrows is Chief Executive of the Molly Rose Foundation, which works at the intersection of suicide prevention, online safety, and tech accountability. He has spent much of his career representing vulnerable groups, previously working in regulation, consumer policy, and online safety, including on the Online Safety Act.

Links and resources mentioned:

• The Molly Rose Foundation: https://mollyrosefoundation.org/

• Molly vs the Machines on Channel 4 - https://www.channel4.com/programmes/molly-vs-the-machines

• Take the Data Storytelling Scorecard: https://data-storytelling.scoreapp.com