40 best creative podcasts to liven up your day

Featuring key voices from design, illustration and other disciplines from all over the world, they're full of inspiration and advice, and it's just generally lovely to hear people chatting about the things that matter to them personally. What's more, they're usually free and help to pass the time while you're doing other things, from household chores to sunbathing in the back garden.

There's only one problem: there are thousands of podcasts that it can seem like an impossible task to pick one to listen to. So below, we've selected 40 excellent podcasts for you to sample, all of which are insightful, entertaining and informative. Also, look out for another excellent podcast—Shillington's very own podcast, Pathfinder, which will be launching in June.

1. The Creative Boom Podcast

Launched this year, The Creative Boom Podcast features fun and frank conversations with some of the world's leading creatives, including the likes of Ian Anderson, Malcolm Garrett, Anthony Burrill, Rankin, Jon Burgerman and Rankin. Presenter Katy Cowan's approachable, personal style and keen journalistic focus raise this podcast above the norm, and she often elicits some surprising and revealing revelations from her guests.

2. Creative Rebels

Hosted by David Speed and Adam Brazier, the co-founders of Graffiti Life and Parlour Tattoo, Creative Rebels features inspiring interviews with people who've rebelled against the nine-to-five and offers advice on how you can follow in their footsteps.

3. Never Not Creative

Never Not Creative is a community of creatives who want to make the industry a better place. Its lively podcast features interviews with community members, as well as discussing issues and making announcements.

4. Vince Frost Design Your Life

In his 2015 book, Design Your Life, Vince Frost laid out his central idea that design thinking can apply to everything from business to life. His accompanying podcast expands on this theory and explores how successful people have changed their lives for the better.

5. Design Matters

In 2005, Debbie Millman started a radio show, Design Matters, which became the first-ever podcast about design and creative culture. The show's still going strong today, and features interviews with some of the world's best-known designers, artists and cultural leaders.

6. The Honest Designers

The Honest Designers Show offers insight into how to succeed in the creative industry, as well as giving you an under-the-hood look at some of the less glamorous hurdles you need to overcome. It's's presented by Tom Ross, Ian Barnard, Lisa Glanz and Dustin Lee.

7. Perspective Podcast

If you're a designer or artist seeking discussions on hard topics like mental health, growing an audience, pricing your services, and attracting work, then this podcast is for you. Each week, Scotty Russell of Perspective-Collective and his guests give you the tools for thinking bigger, overcoming adversity, and making an impact with your work.

8. Being Freelance

Since 2015, Steve Folland has spoken to more than 100 freelancers for this podcast, about the trials of being freelance. Through hearing their stories, he aims to help his listeners become better freelancers, as well as himself.

9. Creative Pep Talk

The host of Creative Pep Talk Andy J. Miller is passionate about helping creative entrepreneurs strike the perfect balance between art and business. Through bizarre analogies, personal stories and artist interviews, he hopes to help you break free from confusion and guide you towards career success.

10. HUSH+1

Born out of experience design agency HUSH's internal speaker series, this podcast asks leaders from all creative walks of life – including design, art, technology, architecture, fashion, engineering, fabrication, psychology, music and urban planning – to explain what they do and why they do it.

11. Building a Storybrand

If you're struggling to get the word out about your product or service, this podcast aims to help. Host Donald Miller brings you practical advice about clarifying your message so that customers will listen and you can grow your company effectively.

12. Arrest All Mimics

Hosted by illustrator, author and art director Ben Tallon, Arrest All Mimics features interviews with some of the most exciting people and projects across the creative industries.

13. Australian Design Radio

Australian Design Radio is a podcast based in Sydney that aims to provide the global creative community with conversations and commentary on Australian design. In each episode, presenters Flyn Tracy and Matt Leach invite an industry guest to tell their story, discuss their work, and debate current creative issues.

14. Digital Noir Presents

This podcast from Adelaide web design agency Digital Noir takes a deep dive into the world of digital design industry and helps you get to know the real people behind it. The focus here is on freeform conversations with marketing professionals and business owners making an impact in the world.

15. No Such Thing As A Fish

The brilliant titled No Such Thing As A Fish is a weekly podcast about interesting facts from the makers of hit BBC comedy panel show QI. Every week, each of the researchers, collectively known as "The QI Elves", present their favourite fact that they have come across.

16. Overshare

Subtitled ''Honest Conversations with Creatives'', Overshare is all about addressing topics that don't get enough attention. In each episode, Working Not Working co-founder Justin Gignac sits down with his favourite creatives to discuss, in his words, "the tough stuff we don't talk about in public often enough".

17. The Reflex Blue Show

A podcast about graphic design, pop culture, web design, and the people working in the industry, The Reflex Blue Show is hosted by Donovan Beery, a designer living and working in Omaha, Nebraska.

18. Do By Friday

Fast-paced, quick-witted and frequently weird, Do By Friday is a weekly challenge show covering politics, media, tech and other subjects. Hosted by three internet personalities, Merlin Mann, Alex Cox, and Max Temkin, it's a whole heap of fun.

19. North v South

North v South is a podcast hosted by two English graphic designers; one from ''up North'', the other one from '' down South''. They talk about design, illustration, technology, books and pies, and sometimes they have guests too.

20. F24 Podcast

Every week on the F24 podcast, David Samuel of RareKind invites creatives of all stripes to his studio in North Acton, London, to talk about their lives and interactions in the UK capital, within the worlds of culture and creativity.

21. Do Good Podcast

Hosted by Rob Watson, The Do Good Podcast shares people's inspiring and uplifting stories from around the world. In between most interviews, Rob shares his thoughts on the things that inspire him to become a better version of himself. A warm blast of feelgood audio.

22. Hurry Slowly

The design equivalent of the Slow Food movement, this podcast focuses on how you can become more productive, creative and resilient through the simple act of slowing down. Jocelyn K. Glei presents it.

23. Adventures in Design

This daily talk show for creatives explores how to design happiness into your professional life. Presenter Mark Brickey and his guests aim to keep you entertained, educated and inspired while you create a better-designed world for yourself.

24. Design Life

Design Life is a podcast about design and side projects for motivated creators. It was born when two serial side project addicts, Charli Prangley and Femke van Schoonhoven, saw a gap in the podcast market for a conversational show about design and the issues young creatives face.

25. Art Curious

Hosted by Jennifer Dasal, ArtCurious is an art history podcast that explores the unexpected, the slightly odd, and the strangely wonderful.

26. The Futur

Out of Santa Monica, California, The Futur aims to empower creative entrepreneurs to live a sustainable life, doing what they love. Hosted by Chris Do, host of YouTube channel The Process, topics covered include branding, design, business and UX design.

27. The Collective

Created and hosted by designer and director Ash Thorp, The Collective aims to explore the struggles of work/life balance and to share the experiences of influential creatives from all kinds of media, including designers, illustrators, visual effects artists, writers, painters and programmers.

28. Badass Creatives

Badass Creatives is hosted by Mallory Whitfield, a digital marketing and SEO specialist based in New Orleans who's also an artist, speaker, and author of How to Make Money at Craft Shows. Her podcast features marketing and business advice for creatives, as well as interviews with a diverse range of handmade artists, performers, makers, and creative entrepreneurs.

29. Design Better

The Design Better podcast delivers insights from some of the best-known design leaders. Interviewers are conducted by Aarron Walter and Eli Woolery, to empower teams to transform their practice and build remarkable products.

30. Overtime

Twice a month, Dribbble's official podcast shares in-depth interviews with renowned designers. Dan Cederholm, designer and co-founder of Dribbble, chats to them about their process, the tools they use, and the stories behind their most popular shots.

31. The Deep End Design

Hosted by working designers Wes McDowell, Mikelle Morrison and Nick Longo, each episode of The Deep End Design podcast tackles a different graphic design topic, from finding better clients to online portfolios to making sure you get paid.

32. Face to Face

Hosted by Marcus Fairs, the editor-in-chief of Dezeen magazine, Face to Face features conversations with the biggest names in architecture and design about how they got to where they are today.

33. Make and Break

This interview series on industry leaders and young creatives comes from D&AD and WPP. Each episode discusses a different topic related to creativity, such as storytelling, authenticity, or dealing with tight deadlines.

34. Reply All

Reply All is a podcast about how to survive modern internet life. In each episode, hosts PJ Vogt and Alex Goldman find great narrative stories with exciting plots and compelling characters.

35. Clever

In this weekly podcast, Amy Devers and Jaime Derringer of the Design Milk blogs pursue candid and revealing conversations with some super-smart designers, including graphic designer Stefan Sagmeister, interior designer Elena Frampton and industrial designer Catherine Bailey.

36. Stack

Stack is a company that delivers a different independent magazine to your door every month. Its fine podcast features conversations with independent publishers, who tell behind the scenes stories of how well-known magazines operate.

37. The Honest Designers Show

In this career-focused podcast Tom Ross, Ian Barnard, Dustin Lee and Lisa Glanz give you a completely honest look at what it takes to flourish as a professional creative. You'll discover actionable tips to land more clients, find your style, successfully brand yourself, and ultimately find satisfaction in your work.

38. Meet the Creatives

Rob Johnston is an independent graphic designer and photographer based in New York. His podcast aims to bridge the gap between entry-level creatives and top talent from companies like Facebook, Google, Adobe, Nike, Airbnb, Twitter, Huge and Pentagram.

39. On Design

On Design is a brilliant podcast hosted by Justyna Green that brings you insightful conversations with art and design's most inspiring figures - from designers to musicians, dancers to architects and everybody in-between. If you want to know what inspires them, how they work and how they see the world, this is one to subscribe to.

40. Type Radio

Are you obsessed with typography? Then you'll want to make a beeline for this podcast, which features interviews with prominent type designers and type specialists including Erik Brandt, Roel Wouters and Michiel Schuurman.