Backstage Talks is produced in conjunction with By Design Conference, a design and business event held every summer in Bratislava. The conference brings together designers, artists, architects, and other creative people, and the magazine captures a snapshot of what happened over the weekend. But it’s not interested in printing a summary of the speakers’ presentations, though, and instead it gives a taste of what was happening away from the main stage, giving a sense of the conversations taking place backstage, over lunch or at the bar. And for this seventh issue the overarching theme is empathy in design and business.

 
In this issue:

• Art director Anna Kulachek on the joys and challenges of teaching
• Author and academic Heidi L Maibom on what empathy actually is (and what it’s not)
• How to treat interns
• The Urban Talks section presents stories of urbanism and architecture
• And an introduction to regenerative design