Eli Woolery (5:17)

So we've got a very special design better episode for you today. We have with us the designer and magician, Andrew Evans. And we'll get into his bio shortly, which is also fascinating. But since he's a magician and we are at the magic patio, we thought let's start off with a magic trick.

Andrew Evans (5:35)

Let's do it. Put me on the spot to begin with. I like it. Okay, we're going to try a little something that I find rather fun. So you know, card Tricks. I love a good card trick. It's funny. That's not really what I focus on as much on stage these days, but I think there's something wonderfully accessible about cards. Everyone's familiar with the. These objects, actually. I'll give you this. The bicycle deck. Classic one. But here's the deal. So when I had someone choose a card and I try to find it, the problem with that is, like, people know sleight of hand exists, right. So I could make you check a card or, like, something like that. So there's this new thing that a friend and I kind of came up with, but a friend had a kid at school where they had these cards with a bunch of numbers and then, like, different addition, multiplication, all that symbols. And the idea was you would, like, randomly create math problems that you would have to solve. So this is like a way to do that by picking a card truly randomly. I call this a random card generator. Okay. Actually, here, you can start with that. If you fold in half, like, hot dog style to. Yes. That's what I always remembered is. Yeah. Hot dog versus hamburger. So, like, all of these cards, Right. Are represented roughly on that thing. And then you can tear that in half. So that's how we do this. And then so here, Eli, I'll actually just have you go ahead and take a card. Anyone you'd like. Anyone at all. Okay. Keep that face down. Don't. Did you look at it? Oh, perfect. Keep it. Yeah, that way, actually, no one knows what that is. We get a random one, and then we'll get another random one. Okay. Put those together on top of each other. Yep. And then fold those again hot dog style. Break those in half. Yeah. I feel like this is just the fastest way I know how to break these. And then stack those on top of each other. Okay. And then hold out your hands, Eli, and just start tearing those into. Yeah, like squares into Eli's hands and drop them on in. So we're gonna get all of these in there. Let me know when you got them all. I know this is, I think, the most efficient way to do this, by the way. I've thought a lot about this. All right. Okay. Okay, you got em, Eli, cover your hands. Shake them up. You picked that card at the beginning, and you haven't seen it. I don't know what it is. Okay, I want you to dump these out, like, kind of randomly on this table. Anything face down. Go for it. Anything face down, we're gonna eliminate. So just start. Yeah, so just start moving them out. We can do this together to kind of save some time. Cool. Keep them coming, Keep them coming. This guy. Actually, I probably shouldn't even touch him, but great. And then take. Okay, this is good. So we've got a couple suits left, which is good. Cause we're gonna go for a suit and a number. So take all of those, squeeze here, scoop them into your hand, and you do it this time. I'll get rid of these. We'll get. Cool. Shake them up, shake them up. Dump it over. Sweet. We're getting rid of more. Okay, okay, pause. At this point, we only have one suit left anyway, so we are going with apparently diamonds. All right, Go ahead. Get rid of these. Shake up the rest. Yep. Shake, shake, shake, shake, shake, shake. This is as random as we can get. Beautiful.

Aaron Walter (8:13)

We got two.

Andrew Evans (8:14)

Eli, go for it. Or either one. Yeah. Just kind of get more folks involved. This is. There you go. Take them all. Give them a shake. I know. This is a moment. Ooh, last one. Take them. Give em a shake. Okay, here we go. Oh, we're. Wait, sure. Actually bring those up as they are. Okay. This is a moment. Put them on the table. They fell on the floor. They fell on the floor.

Aaron Walter (8:36)

And 7.

Andrew Evans (8:37)

Truly as random as it gets at this point. A seven and a seven of diamonds. And Eli, at the beginning, you picked a random card. Can you. Let's see. Flip it over for a face. Let's see. Show that to the camera. Seven of diamonds. Just like that. That's.

Aaron Walter (8:59)

That's pretty incredible.

Andrew Evans (9:00)

Crazy, right?

Eli Woolery (9:00)

Yeah.

Andrew Evans (9:01)

Magic. That's what we do. Yeah, there it is.

Eli Woolery (9:04)

So that's an amazing trick. If you're just listening to this, we will post a video on our sub stack so you can check it out. Or better yet, come to the magic patio. We'll give you the details on that at the end of the show. So let's rewind, and we want to talk about how you got here, but let's start, like, way, way back.

Andrew Evans (9:23)

Okay.

Eli Woolery (9:23)

Andrew, at age 7, 8, did you love magic? Were you into something else? What was your.

Andrew Evans (9:29)

Well, if we go back one more year to age 6, then the answer was yes, I loved magic. I guess. Actually, let's go back to year three. When I was three years old, we went to Disneyland for the first time. I don't have this memory, but apparently we saw a show at the Golden Horseshoe, and I was just constantly recreating that show for, like, the rest of whatever, my third year of life, I think. So I think there was something that I was naturally drawn to with performing but then magic really started. When I was 6, I had a VHS tape that was put out by this amazing magician who's still incredible performing today. His name was Michael Amar. And I believe the thing was just called the Magic Video or the Magic Tape or something, but it was a video I got. Learned how to do some tricks, things you could even make yourself, and they weren't that hard, and that was the starting point for me. So then I performed in my elementary school talent show when I was six years old. I did, like, a trick, you know, it was probably this small for probably 500 people by the time the parents and the kids were all there. And I'm sure no one really saw it, but I figured out how to play for larger crowds later in life. But, yeah, I mean, I've always been pretty deep with my hobbies and passions. So prior to magic, it was funny enough car washes, like, I could just go down the list. But, yeah, I always liked going pretty deep on stuff.

Aaron Walter (10:42)

Is that an ADHD thing?

Andrew Evans (10:44)

Do you think it's funny you ask that? I have recently questioned that for the past couple years. If that's actually something that I should look into or ask about more from, like, a proper diagnosis perspective, I don't know.

Aaron Walter (10:56)

Yeah, it resonates with me and just the way my brain works as well. But we carry forward. And you ended up going to Stanford and studying design, so you've got all these hobbies and interests, but ultimately you're trying to build a career and you find your way into design. Why design? And how did that then transition into what you're doing today?

Andrew Evans (11:15)

Yeah, I mean, I'll continue the rewind a little bit. So prior to Stanford, I went to Brown for undergrad. And really one of the reasons for that was at Brow, there's no core requirements for graduating. You just have to complete your major. But you can do everything else, like an extracurricular. So I have a degree in engineering, but I spend as much time doing theater, acting and directing, but also set design and building. And I almost feel like half of my engineering learnings came from the theater and how to build and just all of that kind of stuff. So I've always been interested in this intersection of science and engineering and art and the humanities. And it's always been a little funny to try to figure out how those things overlap. So in going to Stanford, that choice was really, for me, it was one of the few programs I found at that moment in time that was like, 2009, 2010, that seemed to also have this belief that there was a thing that existed at the intersection of engineering and art, and it was called design. And it was the first time I had really found another group of people who seemed to let both of those passions come together. And then adding the human centered lens was sort of the missing piece that I had never really approached at least much we touched on that kind of in engineering and design classes that I took at Brown. But yeah, what a beautiful education. So that was two years of just doing the things that I had been doing really my whole life, but with a group of people who also did it. And from there, I mean, I'm trying to create like the connection to here. I started working at IDEO right after that design program and I was at IDEO for about five years. But the whole time I was there, I was also doing a magic show in my backyard patio. Like the actual backyard patio of my apartment. Hence the name the magic patio. And I really think it was as much that whole experience and creating that with this incredible group of friends. Everyone brought something to that show. We had bartenders making incredible drinks, an artist making beautiful posters and watercolors, a lighting designer who's ex imagineering designing the lights for an outdoor backyard magic show. Right. But everyone was approaching that show from a place of design.

Aaron Walter (13:18)

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