Designing Understanding

A professional microphone mounted on a black adjustable stand with a black foam windscreen, set against a gradient background transitioning from beige to orange.

Designing Understanding is an audio essay series exploring communication, learning, leadership, and human connection with a focus on how ideas land, conversations unfold, and shared understanding is built in teams and organisations.

I’m Nick Praulins, and each piece is read aloud exactly as it was written, so ideas can be heard the way they were meant to land.

What this is (and why it exists)

Designing Understanding didn’t begin as a podcast.

It started as a way to make written work more accessible, and to explore how meaning shifts when ideas move from the page to the voice. Many people process ideas more easily through listening than reading, or prefer to let thoughts unfold while they work.

Most episodes are blog articles read aloud, created with accessibility in mind. They’re usually under ten minutes long and designed to sit comfortably in the background; something to listen to at your desk while ideas slowly take shape.

What the essays explore

The essays reflect on questions that show up repeatedly in organisational life, including:

  • how communication shapes understanding and trust

  • how learning happens (and often doesn’t) at work

  • leadership, judgement, and credibility

  • narrative, clarity, and sense-making

  • the small choices that influence how ideas are received

They’re written for people who care about how communication actually works; not in theory, but in real teams and organisations.

Why audio matters here

Communication isn’t only about words. It’s also about tone, rhythm, pause, and emphasis.

Reading these essays aloud is part of the work. It’s a way of testing whether ideas hold up when spoken, and whether they land with the care and clarity they’re meant to carry. The format slows things down slightly, making space for reflection rather than reaction.

A note on voice and delivery

Alongside this work, I’ve also done professional voice work for jobs.ch and jobcloud.ch; two of the most recognised and trusted brands in the Swiss job market.

That experience sharpened my attention to how messages are heard, not just written: how tone builds trust, how pacing shapes meaning, and how clarity is experienced rather than declared. (Audio examples will be added here.)

Where to listen

Designing Understanding is available on Spotify and other major audio platforms. Each episode corresponds to a written essay, read in full.

How this connects to my work

This series reflects the same approach that informs my work in workshop facilitation, learning design, and internal communication.

It’s grounded in the belief that clarity is rarely about simplifying the work. It’s about making complexity workable through thoughtful language, considered structure, and attention to how communication actually lands with people.

FAQs

  • It’s best described as an audio essay series. Each episode is a written piece, read aloud in full.

  • No. Each episode is a single reflective essay, not a discussion or interview.

  • Yes. The themes reflect the same questions that show up in organisational communication, learning, and leadership.

  • Because they’re designed to support reflection without demanding attention. Short formats fit more naturally into working days.

Get in touch

If you’re interested in this work (or in how these ideas translate into organisational settings) feel free to get in touch.

Contact