Ep #19: Big News. Near Future Is Now Mostly Working. Why We're Changing, a Summit at Monzo, and Building a Brand with Claude

Tom and Jonny announce that the Near Future Podcast is becoming Mostly Working. They explain why they're closing the consultancy to back the podcast, unveil the Mostly Working Summit at Monzo on 22 October, and go behind the scenes of a new brand built with Claude Code.

In this episode:

• The Near Future consultancy is closing, and the podcast carries on every week as Mostly Working.
• We explain the three tests behind the decision: founder fit, how hard the work was to sell, and how much energy it gave us.
• At design + AI in Brighton, 30 senior designers built their own design tools in about an hour, from a Crazy Eights racing game to a skin analyser.
• The Mostly Working Summit runs at Monzo on 22 October: a free morning for 100 design leaders, then our final Build Your Own Design Tool workshop. Apply at mostlyworking.co.
• Tom walks through building the new brand, sketching the mark in Figma and having Claude Code generate palette tools, motion principles and even a jingle.

Chapters:

• 0:04 — The Near Future Podcast is becoming Mostly Working
• 1:03 — How the podcast started, 19 weeks in
• 2:17 — Winding down the Near Future consultancy
• 3:02 — Where the Mostly Working name comes from
• 4:30 — Founder fit, ease of sale and energy: why the consultancy - stopped
• 6:53 — Jonny on wanting to build, and joining a small tech company
• 11:09 — Tom's test: follow the most interesting conversations
• 13:21 — Thank you to Near Future clients
• 14:30 — What to expect from Mostly Working
• 17:24 — Build Your Own Design Tools at design + AI in Brighton
• 20:43 — Why the workshop builds keep getting better
• 23:15 — Hatch in Berlin: Paula Scher and Bob Baxley
• 26:33 — Announcing the Mostly Working Summit
• 27:57 — How the Mostly Working meetup grew from 70 to 160 sign-ups
• 31:45 — Summit details: Monzo, 22 October, fireside chats, roundtables and the workshop
• 36:13 — mostlyworking.co and the new brand
• 37:20 — Designing the M/W mark in Figma
• 39:09 — Claude Code generates palette tweakers, motion principles and a logo jingle
• 43:37 — Building brand tools by voice note from your phone
• 45:29 — Flora versus building your own image generators
• 47:22 — Tote bags, feedback and wrap-up

Mentioned in the episode

Mostly Working

• The Mostly Working Summit: AI x Design 2027 — Thursday 22 October 2026, Monzo, London
• Apply for the summit or book the workshop
• Mostly Working meetup

Events

• design + AI, Brighton, organised by Product Unleashed
• Hatch Conference, Berlin

People

• Tom Harman
• Jonny Burch
• Simon Amor, co-founder of Morse and co-host of the Mostly Working meetup
• Paula Scher, partner at Pentagram
• Bob Baxley, designer and former head of product design at Pinterest
• Domingo Widen, Fin
• Ini, Fin
• James Storer, Monzo

Companies

• Morse (formerly Sling Money)
• Monzo
• Fin
• Pentagram

Tools and products

• Claude Code
• Claude Opus
• Figma
• FLORA
• Suno
• OODA

About the pod

Mostly Working (formerly the Near Future Podcast) is a weekly conversation with design leaders about what they're building with AI. Send feedback to [email protected], and find everything at mostlyworking.co.