Better World With Design

Join Gary Crossey as he kicks off 2026 with a deep dive into Better World With Design's new direction. This episode explores the decision to center marginalized voices through the Voices from the Margins series, examining why representation matters, how design shapes justice, and what it means to build with intentionality. Discover the year's content strategy, thematic focus areas, and the personal journey that led to this shift in purpose.

In this episode of Better World with Design, host Gary Crossey explores Sara Ahmed's groundbreaking work Queer Phenomenology: Orientations, Objects, Others. This dense but rewarding philosophical text challenges us to rethink how we orient ourselves in the world, and how people design spaces around normative assumptions.

Gary shares his honest experience wrestling with Ahmed's challenging ideas, from her insights into lesbian networks and queer women's experiences to her analysis of how heteronormativity functions as a spatial arrangement rather than just a sexual orientation.

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A deeply personal narrative about a domestic fire that becomes a metaphor for family dysfunction, addiction, and the hidden struggles of growing up in a home marked by tension. This story examines a moment when an ordinary kitchen accident—a grill pan left on too long—reveals the deeper fractures in a family held together by patterns of escape and avoidance. Through vivid details and honest reflection, it explores how crisis doesn't always bring people together, and how sometimes the most dangerous fires are the ones that never produce visible smoke.

Better World with Design is a narrative podcast exploring the intersection of faith, design, and human connection through fiction and cultural commentary. Hosted by Gary Crossey, the show features original short stories set in Northern Ireland alongside episodes on design thinking, creative philosophy, and the quiet ways we build meaningful lives.

The Northern Irish Short Story series presents fifteen interconnected character-driven tales set in Belfast—intimate portraits of ordinary people navigating duty, desire, and the weight of history. These stories explore the particular pressure of life in a place where obligation runs deep and small rebellions ma...

The third story in the Better World with Design Northern Irish Short Story series. In 1980s Belfast, while bombs and checkpoints divided the city, a small American religious community tried to build their own version of wholesome recreation. "The Elect" follows two young men navigating a church disco in Bangor, exploring themes of faith, performance, and belonging. Inspired by James Joyce's "Two Gallants" and drawn from journal entries kept during the my early years in Northern Ireland, this fictional narrative examines what happens when spiritual structures reward the appearance of goodness more than its practice. Part of a 15-story...

In "Working the Floor," a young man working in a Belfast shoe shop finds connection in the careful ritual of fitting shoes—and in the brief, electric touch that can change everything while changing nothing at all. This is the second story in a series drawn from journal entries kept during my early years in Northern Ireland, transformed into fictional narratives that explore the quiet negotiations we make with ourselves and others in spaces that don't always make room for us.

Set in a divided city where every street has two names, this story follows a day th...

In this episode, I will present "The Bowler Hat", a quietly powerful story set in Belfast during the Troubles. When a young man buys a bowler hat from a second-hand shop, he embarks on an unexpected journey through a divided city. Neither protest nor performance, his daily walks in the hat become something else entirely: a small, stubborn act of bridging.

Through precise, poetic prose, this story captures the careful grammar of a place where kerbs keep their colors and streets answer to two names. It's about the weight of symbols, the courage of small gestures...

Join us for a fascinating deep dive into the life and legacy of Willem de Kooning, the Dutch-American painter who redefined Abstract Expressionism and broke all the rules. This episode explores his contradictions as an artist, the infamous $160 million art heist of his painting "Woman-Ochre," and the philosophical questions raised by his work during the onset of Alzheimer's disease. Discover the untold story of how a stolen masterpiece ended up in a bathroom in rural New Mexico, and what it all means for our understanding of art, possession, and creative genius.

🎧 Listen now on the Better World wit...

Welcome back to Better World with Design. I'm Gary Crossey, and this is perhaps the hardest story I've shared in this Northern Irish short story series.

"The Living Room Violence" recounts a brutal night in the 80s Belfast, marked by flying eggs, sleeplessness, and a child's realization that normalcy inflicted lasting harm.

I drew this story from journal entries I kept during my early years in Belfast. Every detail—the brown curtains, the eggs, the 1:45 AM phone call—happened exactly as described. These are fictional narratives in form, but rooted in the emotional trut...

When a giant walls off his garden, winter settles in for good—until one small act of welcome changes everything. In this immersive reading of Oscar Wilde’s “The Selfish Giant,” you’ll hear gentle sound design, a faithful performance of the text, and a warm reflection on why this simple fairy tale still melts hearts today. We connect this story to our earlier Oscar Wilde episode, The Canterville Ghost, showing how Wilde pairs wit with compassion and why his work matters now more than ever.

Why Wilde? Born in Dublin and beloved for his dazzling language and humane...

Join Gary Crossey for a deep dive into Truman Capote's luminous autobiographical story, "A Christmas Memory." This episode explores far more than fruitcakes and friendship—it's a journey into a vanished America, examining Southern hospitality, the lingering effects of Prohibition in 1930s Alabama, and the profound loss of trust that separates our modern world from Capote's childhood.

Discover how Prohibition shaped the story's context, why homemade fruitcakes were once treasured gifts but would be met with suspicion today, and what we've sacrificed in the name of safety and regulation. Through Capote's beautiful, heartbreaking narrative, we examine th...

In "The Unclaimed Sum," the fifth story in The Belfasters series, Ciarán navigates the emotional complexity of saying goodbye to Elder, a departing missionary whose church obligation has defined relationship with him rather than a genuine connection. When confusion arises over a forty-pound debt—neither can remember who loaned money to whom—the unresolved sum becomes a metaphor for the impermanence and transactional nature of missionary relationships. This story, set against the backdrop of Belfast's Europa Hotel, which survived repeated bombings during the Troubles, explores the structural loneliness of faith communities built on temporary bonds, the exhaustion of perfo...

In this episode of Better World with Design, host Gary Crossey takes you on an in-depth journey through Porridge Radio's 2024 album "Clouds in the Sky They Will Always Be There for Me." This isn't your typical music review—it's an honest, unvarnished conversation about what makes this record work, where it falls short, and why emotional authenticity matters more than sonic innovation.

We explore Dana Margolin's raw vocal performances, the album's refusal to romanticize mental health struggles, and its treatment of recovery as ongoing work rather than a triumphant destination. From the isolation captured in "Anybody" to...

In this episode, Gary Crossey examines Norman Ohler's "Blitzed: Drugs in the Third Reich," which reveals the widespread drug use in Nazi Germany during World War II. The book explores how methamphetamine, cocaine, and opioids were used by soldiers, leaders, and civilians to fuel the German war machine. Particular attention is given to the transformation of substances from "miracle medicines" to dangerous drugs, and the troubling parallels with modern pharmaceutical and enhancement cultures.

This episode of "Better World with Design" examines Bruce Goldfarb's "18 Tiny Deaths" and reveals how Frances Glessner Lee's innovative dioramas revolutionized crime scene investigation. We explore how her unique approach combined craft skills with scientific methodology to transform an entire field, creating lasting impact through thoughtful design interventions.

Join Gary Crossey for a complete reading of Oscar Wilde's beloved supernatural comedy "The Canterville Ghost." This episode features:

First published in 1887, "The Canterville Ghost" tells the story of an American family who moves into a haunted English country house. When the pragmatic Americans refuse to be frightened by the centuries-old ghost, Sir Simon de...

POWERFUL AND HAUNTING: In this podcast, Gary Crossey takes you inside Claire Keegan's masterful novella "Small Things Like These," where one man's moral choice challenges generations of institutional abuse in 1980s Ireland. With personal stories and unflinching honesty, Crossey connects Ireland's traumatic past to the uncomfortable silences we maintain in our own communities today. A must-listen exploration of complicity, courage, and the moments that define our humanity.

What would you risk to stand against an entire community's willful blindness? Gary Crossey's passionate analysis of "Small Things Like These" examines how Bill Furlong's simple act of defiance illuminates...

Join host Gary Crossey for an in-depth analysis of Lola Young's haunting track "dealer." In this episode, we explore the song's raw emotional landscape, examining themes of addiction, dependency, and the complicated desire for escape. Through careful lyrical analysis, we unpack how Young masterfully captures the paralysis of emotional distress, the isolation of modern urban life, and the cyclical nature of destructive patterns.

This episode breaks down:

Join host Gary Crossey as he explores timeless philosophical ideas and applies them to modern life. Each episode unpacks complex ideas from history's greatest thinkers and makes them relevant to today's challenges in design, technology, and society.

Join me on a candid, track-by-track journey through The Cure's brand new 2025 remix album, 'Mixes Of A Lost World.' In this episode, I share my honest, fan-driven review of all 24 remixes from their acclaimed 'Songs of a Lost World' LP.

From the initial disappointment with the early singles (looking at you, Paul Oakenfold and Four Tet!) to the unexpected, genre-bending triumphs by Meera, Âme, and Mental Overdrive, this album is a true mixed bag. We'll explore the moments where remixers bravely transformed The Cure's sound into 'Ibiza tunes' and 'uplifting bangers,' and even where some...