Summary5 min read

Daring Creativity – Bonus Episode: "To be really curious, you have to let it all in."

Host: Radim Malinic
Guest: Dora Drimales (Co-founder of Hybrid Design)
Release Date: April 24, 2026

Episode Overview

In this bonus episode, Radim Malinic revisits highlights from his recent conversation with Dora Drimales, co-founder of San Francisco’s Hybrid Design. The discussion unpacks how curiosity fuels long-term creativity, why resisting specialization keeps doors open, the pitfalls of creating with fear, and the true power of dreaming without constraints—demonstrated through unique client work such as the iconic LEGO Star Wars launch. Malinic celebrates the lessons from Hybrid's new monograph, Curiosity in All Things, emphasizing practical wisdom for anyone seeking to sustain inspired, daring creativity in their work.

Key Themes & Discussion Points

1. The Practice of Curiosity (00:57–01:45)

Letting It All In: Dora argues that genuine curiosity means allowing all influences, ideas, and inspirations, both expected and random, to enter the creative process.

“I think to be really curious you have to let it all in and you have to follow the inspiration…we’ve never wanted to specialize.…As a creative person, I can’t understand why I would just want to do one thing. It just seems like a great way to kill creativity.”
— Dora Drimales [00:57]
Resisting Specialization: Hybrid Design intentionally avoids narrowing their focus to retain creative breadth and adaptability for complex client needs.

2. Curiosity as an Active Choice (01:45–03:03)

Openness Over Protection: The episode explores how many creatives instinctively filter out ideas to protect their aesthetic or “lane,” but Dora’s career thrives on refusing this protective impulse.
Daily Recommitment: Keeping curiosity alive over decades isn’t luck but a continuous choice:

“…curiosity isn’t passive, it’s a daily act of openness.…Keeping that door open for 24 years isn’t accidental. It’s a choice made over and over again.”
— Radim Malinic [01:45]

3. Creative Vulnerability & Rejecting Fear (03:03–05:21)

Rejecting Overconfidence: Dora critiques the “expert” mindset and stresses the value of humility and collaborative questioning:

“I really shudder and I hate people that sound overconfident.…In a creative business, it’s really important that you listen and that you ask a lot of questions.…You can’t do what we do with fear because the work won’t be good.”
— Dora Drimales [03:03]
The Dangers of Fear: The host contrasts his early “fear is fuel” mantra with Dora’s lived experience, where fear stifles outcomes.

“…fear quietly ruin[s] the outcome. Fear of asking the wrong question, fear of pushing too hard…What she’s proposing is just a simple creative vulnerability. Being willing to say, ‘I don’t know yet, but let’s find out together.’ That’s not weakness, that’s the whole job.”
— Radim Malinic [04:12]
Long-term Client Relationships: Dora attributes Hybrid's lasting partnerships to a curious, inclusive process rather than delivering predictable results.

4. Investment in Creativity: It’s Not About Budgets (05:21–06:18)

Budget Myths Debunked: Dora insists that beautiful work isn’t inherently tied to big budgets:

“You can make beautiful things with small budgets. Absolutely…It costs the same to print ugly and to print beautiful, right?”
— Dora Drimales [05:21]
Accumulated Knowledge Adds Value: The creative magic comes from years of learning and curiosity, not financial scale.
Host Reflection:

“…it costs the same to print ugly as it does to print beautiful. It’s dismantling the excuses that great work requires great money. It doesn’t. It requires great thinking, great curiosity, and the accumulated weight of everything you’ve learned.”
— Radim Malinic [06:18]

5. Dreaming Without Constraints: The LEGO Star Wars Story (07:26–09:04)

Unlocking Client Imagination: Dora recounts pitching a life-size X-Wing for LEGO’s first Star Wars campaign after her husband asked, “What if…”

“…my husband…said, ‘You just need to make a life size X wing and let’s fly it into Times Square.’…LEGO said, ‘You know what? Yeah, that is the answer.’”
— Dora Drimales [07:26]
Sequence Matters: She explains her process: first ask what’s possible if all constraints disappeared, then bring real-world limits back in.

“When you remove the constraints, you can dream for a while and then you put back in all the constraints…and you get the project done right.…But it’s also good to teach the client how to dream bigger.”
— Dora Drimales [07:26]
Host Analysis:

“The real insight here is that it isn’t about dreaming big for its own sake, it’s about sequencing.…Most briefs start with a constraint…Dora flips it though.”
— Radim Malinic [09:04]

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

| Timestamp | Speaker | Quote | |-----------|--------------------|-------| | 00:57 | Dora Drimales | “To be really curious you have to let it all in…our clients have more complicated problems…as a creative person, I can’t understand why I would just want to do one thing.” | | 03:03 | Dora Drimales | “I really shudder and I hate people that sound overconfident…In a creative business, it’s really important that you listen and that you ask a lot of questions.” | | 04:12 | Radim Malinic | “Fear quietly ruin[s] the outcome…What she’s proposing is just a simple creative vulnerability. Being willing to say, ‘I don’t know yet, but let’s find out together.’ That’s not weakness, that’s the whole job.” | | 05:21 | Dora Drimales | “You can make beautiful things with small budgets.…It costs the same to print ugly and to print beautiful, right?” | | 07:26 | Dora Drimales | “My husband…said, ‘You just need to make a life size X wing and let’s fly it into Times Square.’…LEGO said, ‘You know what? Yeah, that is the answer.’” |

Episode Flow & Structure

00:01–00:57 — Host sets up the episode’s focus: curiosity at every level of creative practice.
00:57–01:45 — Dora discusses the necessity of letting all influences in, resisting specialization.
01:45–03:03 — Host and Dora on the activeness of curiosity and the continual choice to stay open.
03:03–05:21 — The harms of fear and overconfidence; vulnerability as the foundation for meaningful, innovative work.
05:21–06:18 — Budgets as a myth: beauty and creativity are products of experience, not money.
07:26–09:04 — The LEGO Star Wars campaign: teaching clients to dream before confronting constraints, and why this approach unlocks the best ideas.

Summary: For Listeners

This bonus episode is an inspiring masterclass in curiosity as a deliberate, everyday creative practice. For Dora Drimales and Hybrid Design, refusing to specialize, embracing uncertainty, and inviting clients into a process of open questioning have produced decades of vibrant work—often with modest resources and constraints. The stories and wisdom shared invite listeners to let curiosity in, create fearlessly, and always ask: “What if?” before settling for “what is.”

For more insights and resources on creative courage, check the full episode and Radim’s books at radimmalinic.co.uk.

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Transcript9 lines

[00:01]
Host
Hey, welcome to this bonus episode of the Daring Creativity Podcast. I'm back to unpack some of the gems from this week's conversation, pulling out those moments that deserve a second look and dig deeper in what makes them special. This week I spoke to Dora Drimales who is the co founder of Hybrid Design who are based in San Francisco. In our conversation we explored what it takes to keep creativity alive across decades of real client work, why curiosity has to be a studio wide practice, and the monumental effort behind Hybrid's debut monograph titled Curiosity in All Things. The episode published a few days ago was, well as you can guess, titled Dare to Find Curiosity in All Things, based on the title of the book and it was a conversation about creating without fear and asking all possible questions. If you haven't checked out the full episode, let me start with these four standout moments.
[00:57]
Dora Drimales
I think to be really curious you have to let it all in and you have to follow the inspiration and the beauty of being I've worked in House and I've worked at an agency on the outside. And the beauty of being on the outside is your clients are different. Different clients are going to come in through the door and we've never wanted to specialize. I feel like our lives would have been a lot easier as business people if we focused on one thing, if we were a branding shop, only if we were a web studio. But our clients have more complicated problems. Our clients have campaigns with multiple touch points and our interests are varied. So as a creative person, I can't understand why I would just want to do one thing. It just seems like a great way to kill creativity.
[01:45]
Host
Curiosity is actually one of the chapters in my upcoming book, Daring Forever. I spent a whole chapter about curiosity and this topic. It gets me excited. Talking about curiosity is curiosity itself. Because when we think about it, this quote to be curious you have to let it all in. It sounds very simple. It sounds like yeah, of course I know we should do this. But then you realize that most of us do the opposite. At some point we start filtering at what we allow in, either while protecting our signature style or aesthetic or the brand or the colours or protecting even our lane. Dora's whole career was built on refusing that impulse. Hybrid never specialized because specializing would have meant closing doors and closed doors are but curiosity goes to die. What she's really saying is that curiosity isn't passive, it's a daily act of openness. You don't stumble into great unexpected world by staying comfortable. You get there by letting a glider pilot training kit and The Italian vase and a vintage toy sit next to each other until something sparks. Keeping that door open for 24 years isn't accidental. It's a choice made over and over again.
[03:03]
Dora Drimales
I really shudder and I hate people that sound overconfident. And there's one way to do things, and we're the experts. Anyone who comes across that way to me, and I hate it, because in business, this is how you do things. But in a creative business, it's really important that you listen and that you ask a lot of questions. And that's a different way to approach work, It's a softer way to approach work. It's a curious way to approach work. And only really confident business people appreciate that. You can't do what we do with fear because the work won't be good. You have to approach it with curiosity and you have to ask a lot of questions and you have to bring your client along the journey with you. And the clients that do this with us together are the clients that we've had for 20 years, for the many years, right? These are relationships that we build and that we have together. But I felt like there was a need for a voice that was softer and weirder.
[04:12]
Host
Once upon a time, I wanted to do a poster that says the fear is the fuel. Fear as fuel. But is it really? Or is it just adrenaline? Because Dora's you can't do creative work with fear. Alarm's hard in our conversation. Its her lived in experience is not a motivational poster. Unlike mine, fear is the fuel. Dora has sat in rooms with brilliant clients, brilliant budgets and brilliant briefs, and watched fear quietly ruin the outcome. Fear of asking the wrong question, fear of pushing too hard, fear of looking like you don't already know the answer. What she's proposing is just a simple creative vulnerability. Being willing to say, I don't know yet, but let's find out together. That's not weakness, that's the whole job. And clients who get it, they stay for 20 years. The ones who want certainty upfront tend to get exactly what they already imagined. Which, as Dora would say, is a good way to guarantee you never surprise anyone, including yourself.
[05:21]
Dora Drimales
We've all seen people spend a ton of money on terrible work, right? You can do that. You can spend a ton of money on terrible work. And I tell people all the time that you can make beautiful things with small budgets. And here's proof. It's nice to have a mixture of budgets. I'm not courting all the small budgets in the world, but you can make beautiful Work with small budgets. Absolutely cost the same to print ugly and to print beautiful, right? When you're putting just say four color ink on paper, running it, taking the time to run it through a press or build a website or whatever, it's time, right? You're paying for time. So if you think about it and if you've done all the homework and the years of learning right, you're carrying all that, all those experiences with you, it shows up, right? All of that curiosity and weird facts and beautiful sci fi films and posters and all the things that you learn along the way.
[06:18]
Host
During the episode, Dora mentioned that she's a student of books. And one of the reasons why we had our conversation was to celebrate their debut monograph titled Curiosity on All Things. And it's always an amazing moment when you get a fellow book lover talking, waxing lyrically about the medium because it's magical. And in this case, you know, what Dora believes in, what they do, it just lands throughout the episode. And in this instance, it costs the same to print ugly as it does to print beautiful. It's dismantling the excuses that great work requires great money. It doesn't. It requires great thinking, great curiosity, and the accumulated weight of everything you've learned along the way. A press run costs what it costs, regardless what you put it on the paper. The difference is entirely in the case of knowledge brought to the table before it even gets there. For anyone who's ever heard we don't have the budget for something special and accepted it, this is a reframe. The investment isn't financial. Sometimes it's just a willingness to care more than the bully demands.
[07:27]
Dora Drimales
It's these weird moments of working with LEGO and reminding them this was when, back when LEGO was first getting into licensing. And you think, oh, they've always been doing licensed kids, right? Not the case. So when they were first partnering with Star wars, we worked with them to imagine how do we launch this collaboration with LEGO and Star Wars. And my husband, who's got an amazing imagination and is a big kid, said, you just need to make a life size X wing and let's fly it into Times Square. And that's that. Life size X wing. That's the answer. And they LEGO said, you know what? Yeah, that is the answer. Let's make a life size X wing. So that's how they launched the announcement. So it's these projects where you say, what if at the beginning of a project, I like to ask a client, if you didn't have your constraints, money, I'm if there were no constraints, what would success look like? And it doesn't have to be a concrete answer. It could be an emotional reaction to a campaign. What would it do for the business? How would we all feel personally? And when you remove the constraints, you can dream for a while and then you put back in all the constraints, right? Time, money, et cetera, and you get the project done right. I love a deadline, I love to beat pencils down, I love to say we're finished. But it's also good to teach the client how to dream bigger. Then maybe people lock down their abilities.
[09:05]
Host
This moment perfectly links to the previous one when we talked about sometimes investment isn't financial, sometimes just a willingness to care more. And in their story they talked about a Lego project which was a perfect illustration of what happens when you actually ask this question and hold the space for the answer. Dora uses it as a tool to unlock the version of the client that isn't yet hampered by budget anxiety or internal sign of change. And the version is almost always more interesting. The real insight here is that it isn't about dreaming big for its own sake, it's about sequencing. You ask the unconstrained questions first, capture that energy and intention, and then bring the real world limits back in. That order matters enormously. Most briefs start with a constraint, which means the creative thinking never fully escapes them. Dora flips it though. The difference between a Lego press release and a life size start fighter in the Times Square is exactly that flip. If you haven't checked out a full episode with Dora Dramalas, I encourage you to do so. It's a beautiful, eloquent conversation with someone who's really pursuing curiosity in all things, looking around the corners and asking all the questions. So. So yeah, please do check it out and thank you for being here. I'll catch you next week with a first live episode from of festival recorded with PJ Richardson. If you enjoyed this episode and would like more accessible resources to help you discover your daring creativity, you can pick up one of my books on themes of mindful creativity, creative business, branding and graphic design. Every physical book purchase comes with a free digital bundle, including an ebook and and audiobook to make the content accessible wherever you are and whatever you do. To get 10% off your order, visit novemberuniverse.co.uk and use the Code podcast. Have a look around and start living daringly.