Ep 159: Design vs Slop | John Roescher, Raw Materials

Austin Next

0:00

-53:07

Ep 159: Design vs Slop | John Roescher, Raw Materials

Intentional design as the OS for products, companies, and ecosystems

Jason Scharf

Jul 16, 2025

Transcript

We live in an age of unprecedented creative tools, from generative AI and design platforms to open access to code, capital, and talent.

Joining this episode is John Roescher, Founder and CEO of Raw Materials, the design firm behind the public-facing strategies of Anduril, Saronic, and Meta, to explore why design should not be treated as decoration, but as a cultural and strategic function.

Because in the end, with all this power, the outcome still comes down to a choice: Will we design with intention or default to slop?

Three Takeaways

1. Design is Strategy, Not Service
Design only works when it’s embedded in the core operating system not bolted on after the fact. Every pixel, word, and atom must trace back to a single goal. That’s what aligns teams, prevents drift, and turns creativity into a scaling function.

2. You Can’t Outsource Identity
Founders can contract talent, but not conviction. Real partnership starts with shared goals, not deliverables. When design is treated as a co-owned process, the mindset embeds across hiring, product, and partnerships.

3. Intentional Building Allows Ecosystems to Emerge
Innovation hubs don’t happen by accident, but they also can’t be rigidly engineered. Intentional design creates the conditions for emergence. When narrative, vision, and investment align, ecosystems build momentum. They are shaped not by control, but by shared purpose and strategic clarity.