It’s been twenty years since the day I started a little website called Design Mom. Twenty years. TWENTY YEARS. Two entire decades. I can hardly believe it.
Picture it: I’m sitting at a desk in a dark, depressing basement of our rental in New York, my first generation iMac (the sort-of bubble looking version that came in lots of colors) is in front of me. The date is July 8, 2006.
I’d turned 32 a few weeks before, and I’m currently on maternity leave—my newest baby, Betty, is 2 months old. She is my fifth child. The 4 others are ages: 1-Oscar, 4-Olive, 7-Maude, and 8-Ralph. I’d been married 10 years (my 11th wedding anniversary would be the following month).
At that time I’ve been in search of a creative project; something that will help me keep postpartum depression at bay. Everyone around me seems to be starting blogs, just for fun. I’ve been reading essay blogs for a few years, and even tried to start one but felt my writing wasn’t strong enough.
I had also discovered design blogs. They would post much more frequently than essay blogs, but just quick easy posts—maybe a product image and a few short paragraphs. Those short posts felt like something I could maybe handle with a newborn — I could picture typing up a post with one hand while the baby nursed, or typing with two hands while the baby napped.
But what would I write about?
My degree was in graphic design, and I’d been working in New York as an art director at an advertising agency. I was also the mother of five children. My two main identities at that moment: designer and mother. I thought about the kinds of questions I often received from my peers who were having their first baby — they wanted my advice as a mother, but also as a designer who had a good eye. Where should they find design-forward maternity clothes? Do they need to throw a 1st birthday party? Are there such a thing as toddler shoes that don’t have Disney characters on them?
I figured I could write posts that would answer those types of questions. My blog would draw on my expertise as a designer and a mother.
So I went to a website called Blogger.com (it still exists! I believe it’s now owned by Google, but wasn’t back in 2006), and I created a new blog called Design Mom. The tagline: The intersection of design and motherhood. And I’ve been posting here ever since.
Want to know how I’m commemorating this anniversary?
We Made an 8-Episode Podcast to Celebrate!
To mark this momentous occasion, I thought it would be really interesting to interview each of my kids on what it has been like to grow up with a chronically online mother, and then share the interviews with you.
So we recorded an 8-episode podcast series, called Design Mom 20, wherein I interview each of our six kids, and I interview Ben Blair. For the 8th episode, Ben interviews me.
I have published each episode on Substack (you can find them in the podcast tab), and I am also pushing them out to Apple Podcasts, which should eventually make them available on whatever podcast platform you prefer. I published them in the order we did the interviews:
Episode One – I interview Oscar
Episode Two – I interview Betty
Episode Three – I interview Flora June
Episode Four – I interview Ben Blair
Episode Five – I interview Olive
Episode Six – I interview Ralph
Episode Seven – I interview Maude
Episode Eight – Ben interviews me
I hope you enjoy each episode!
You should know that Oscar handled all the sound tech, the production, and the editing. It was a labor of love and I’m so deeply grateful.
Some of you have been here since the very beginning, most of you found me somewhere between 2006 and 2026. Whenever and however you found me, I’m glad you’re here.
Thank you for supporting my work by reading, sharing, and when possible, subscribing. It’s a big deal that I’ve been able to sustain this work for 20 years, and I could not have done it without you.
I can hardly describe how meaningful this community is to me. Thank you for being here.
kisses,
Gabrielle
P.S. — Our family had a great time recording these podcast episodes, and that’s what got us thinking about a family podcast. We’ll keep thinking about it and working on it and see if we can make it happen.