Kellan Shanahan, Lead Product Designer, Arktura
From Barriers to Entry by SANDOW Design Group, digby, and SURROUND
April 22, 2026 · 38 min · Season 4 · Episode 3
About this episode
Kellan Shanahan discusses the role of curiosity and experimentation in product design at Arktura.
Good Scaffolding This week Andrew welcomes Kellan Shanahan, a public artist turned-Lead Product Designer at Arktura, for a conversation about how curiosity, experimentation, and iteration shape the development of products and systems. A key player on the product design team, Kellan shares how his work helps drive Arktura's reputation for blending design, engineering, and manufacturing into a tightly integrated process. Andrew and Kellan explore how interdisciplinary teams work together to create greater outcomes by building strong creative “scaffolding”, why proximity to fabrication changes the speed and quality of design decisions, and how a culture of experimentation helps new ideas move from concept to real-world product. They also discuss how emerging tools—including AI—are beginning to fit into these workflows, not as replacements for designers, but as ways to accelerate exploration while keeping human judgment and craft at the center. Connect with our host, Andrew Lane, on LinkedIn Follow Kellan Shanahan on LinkedIn References and resources Arktura Get in touch with us at bte@sandowdesign.com Discover more shows from SURROUND at surroundpodcasts.com This episode…
People in this episode
Host: Andrew Lane
Guest: Kellan Shanahan
Topics covered
- product design
- interdisciplinary teams
- experimentation
- AI in design
- creative processes
Keywords
- product design
- interdisciplinary
- experimentation
- AI tools
- creative scaffolding
Sponsors
Arktura
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Arktura, SANDOW Design Group, SURROUND, Rob Schulte
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