Q&A with Mike Buzzard

My name is Mike Buzzard, or Miguelito Zopilote if you're one for pseudonyms. I am a design manager at Google on the Google+ team where I am focusing on things related to design culture, community, talent, and product. Prior to joining Google, I founded a boutique design agency called Cuban Council, which was around for about 10 years and did a full spectrum of work for a diverse mix of clients.

Hardware

I have a corporate issued 13" MBA, a Chromebook Pixel, and a personal 11" MBA – I also use a Nexus 7 and an iPad mini from time to time. I have a MotoX for a hotspot, as well as a Karma hotspot, and a pair of Google Glass for some hands-free fun.

Software

Mostly Mac OSX, but the Chromebook Pixel runs ChromeOS.

Dream setup

Mobility. Right now I carry around this bag of technology, and it would be great if my latop had a built-in hotspot (yes, the Chromebook Pixel does) and all of that fit into an 11" MBA type device that had 12+ hours of battery life that could also sync with my camera and Nexus 7 and Google Glass – those three items for being "on the go", and an easy connection to a larger screen at home or the office.

Cooperation with Tom Waits

When starting the website work we met at an inn to talk about the concept more than the execution. We worked through content, audience considerations, things like that. From there we went back and forth with the label on art direction and more of the tactical aspects of the site. In general it's been a lot of fun to work with Tom, I suppose it'd be an understatement to say it was "cool".