Being excellent LINERs who really put LINE STYLE into practice — whether it's enjoying the challenges, ensuring the details are perfect, or meeting user needs — requires that we communicate with each other regularly, to help inspire our colleagues and learn from each other.
That communication can come in many forms, from meetings at work to casual conversation around the office. But most of us could use more opportunities to interact with our fellow LINERs, to ensure we "Stay a Step Ahead" and are operating at peak efficiency.
Which is why we created the LINE+ in-house podcast called "PDCast", to present LINERs with the fascinating diversity of stories that comprise LINE, and hopefully inspire all of us to be the best LINERs we can be!
Designing a Truly LINE Podcast
In creating PDCast, we started by asking the most core questions: What is unique about the culture of designers? What are the key characteristics of our designers here at LINE+? How can our designers communicate and operate closely when so many of us are working from home these days? In order to find answers, we studied the organizational culture of design teams at many companies looking for striking success stories, and sought communication channels that LINERs could create themselves.
One thing about designers that we noted was how many of us listen to music or other broadcasts when working alone. Many designers find listening to something helps unlock their creativity. This made us realize that podcasts could be a very useful way to reach our designers, to create a communications channel people could listen to while working, whenever they were in the mood — kind of like how many of us listened to the radio when studying when we were students.
LINE Welcomes All Challenges
Among the LINE STYLE key ideas, the general direction "Get It Done" really stood out to us. Getting something done entails working intensely and with focus, being a step ahead, and working without fear or regrets. So that's how we approached our podcast.
Check out the LINE sound studio
On the 10th floor of LINE+ office in Bundang in Korea, there is a large steel door that says Sound Studio. It's an unassuming door that kind of looks like the entrance to an air defense shelter. If we wanted to make a podcast, clearly we needed a place to record it, so we decided this was the right place.
Finding great guests
The plan was to invite designers from LINE for some fun conversations, so first of all we had to find some guests. We choose some promising designers and got them to agree to participate. Now we were ready to record.
Creating an internal website using LandPress
The LandPress is a platform where LINERs can build their own websites. It won a 2021 WOW Award (LINE's internal annual award) because it's easy to access, it has a user-friendly guide and can be used by any LINER. With the LandPress platform we could easily create an internal website where podcasts could be uploaded and used for communicating. In addition, when we encounter problems, a LandPress team member is available to help us solve the issue quickly.
Thanks to LINE's unique open atmosphere that welcomes all challenges, we were able to create an in-house podcast less than a month after planning got started. PDCast comes from subtracting the "o" from the "pod" in podcast, creating a play on words with PD, which means Product Design. With a name in place, a studio all ready to go, and a website, we were ready to start recording.
From an ordinary office worker to show host
"The first thing I did after scheduling the recording was writing a broadcast script," Sangeun said. "I didn't know what kind of script I was writing, but I wrote down a detailed program and prepared questions by bringing back memories of radio content that I listened to when I was young. I finally entered the sound studio, half nervous and half excited, with a water bottle and a script that looked plausible."
Two designers from the Product Design organization participated in the pilot episode. Talking about an ordinary day-in-the-life of a single-person, one of the guests told us the story of the day he locked himself in his veranda by accident — to tried asking for help from passers-by, but in the end had to walk to a nearby convenience store in pajama pants and bare feet.
Since then, we have listened to the stories of Generation Z designers from their time as interns and who later joined LINE officially, as well as live performances and songs from the guests of the Sound team. People talked about how to work and take care of their kids at the same time, how to develop hobbies while working, overseas business trips that felt like war, and more. As we progressed, we realized that there were so many different and wonderful people who are all LINERs.
Off the record
After uploading each episode, we publish "Off the record," a newsletter with a list of the songs for each episode, along with useful information given by guests and behind-the-scenes stories to further boost the usefulness of the podcasts. Guests also introduced their own projects and we used them to promote each organizational service.
In fact, after the kickoff, we needed more help than we thought. Thankfully, many people pitched in, especially the graphic designers at LINE, who took turns drawing wonderful illustrations for each episode. In addition, recording in thef studio was tough because people who usually work from home had to come to the office. But with everyone's help, we were able to create PDCast together.
PDCast grows and goes
PDCast grew in large part due to the complications created by the COVID-19 epidemic. But now that this podcast is firmly established, we're pleased to see it has taken on a life of its own, and grown into a truly useful tool people use to communicate more with each other. It's yet another way that LINE closes the distance, not just for our users, but for LINERs too.
