UI Breakfast: UI/UX Design and Product Strategy

Today we'll talk about reverse-engineering. You can apply this thought process virtually anywhere — in choosing the right client or the right lifestyle. Our special guest is Drew Thomas, an ecommerce expert and seasoned entrepreneur. We talk about our agency experiences in the past, and why we can "do what we want" these days. You'll learn how to start with the most important criteria, and work your way backwards to the desired client or lifestyle.

Pattern libraries can help you streamline the design process and build a flexible system (instead of static pages). Today we’re exploring this concept with Laura Elizabeth — a fantastic designer, writer & speaker. You’ll learn how to plan and build a pattern library, how to document it, and how to make your clients fall in love with the result.

How do you go about finding a mentor? Today our guest is Greg Gilbert, a serial entrepreneur and founder of multiple companies. Greg shares his great story of being mentored and becoming a mentor himself. You'll learn why mentoring is different from coaching or mastermind groups, how to find the right person, and how to start the relationship at the right terms.

Email marketing for software products differs from classic content marketing. We're looking into that today! Our special guest is Christoph Engelhardt, the founder of LinksSpy and the author of SaaS Email Marketing Handbook. You'll learn about the best practices, what campaigns work best during different lifecycle stages, and how users communicate with your software through transactional emails and reports.

Social media these days resembles a war of bots. However, it's still a powerful tool — if you do it right. Today's guest, Mojca Mars of Super Spicy Media, helps people find their voice and become successful in social media marketing. You'll learn what formats and visuals work best, what you should write about, how to approach advertising, and how to do genuine, helpful outreach.

We're back after a short break! Today we're exploring user experience in online stores. Our special guest is Kurt Elster, the guru of ecommerce and the founder of Ethercycle. We break down the entire purchasing flow and explore design specifics of each step: product list, item description, shopping cart, and checkout. You'll learn how to showcase your products, reduce friction, and motivate your customers.

Hiring a good designer has never been easy! Today I'm talking to Sarah Doody — a guru UX designer, teacher, and writer from New York City. You'll learn how to approach the hiring process in your particular case, whether education matters, how to navigate in the variety of design professions, and what skills to look for. Designers, on the other side, will get an insight how to better present themselves.

Writing proposals isn't fun, but they're a crucial part of any design project. Today our guest is Nathan Powell — designer, author, and founder of Nusii (online proposal software). You'll learn how to do discovery work, what to include in your proposal, how to structure it, and how tiered pricing can help you make an unbeatable offer.

Design or development? You can say "yes" to both! Today we're exploring the story of Sacha Greif, the founder of Sidebar.io and the author of Discover Meteor. He successfully combines the roles of a designer and a developer, and achieves results in both fields (all while being a community star). Join us to hear about his straightforward approach to life, projects, and the learning process.

Smart, narrow positioning is the key to success for anyone who sells their services. Who is your best customer? What kind of work do you want to be famous for? The world-class positioning expert Philip Morgan gives away a ton of actionable advice on this topic. You'll learn how to stop being a generalist, quit the pricing game, and become a successful specialist by employing your best talent.

Your creative skills aren't worth much until you practice them regularly. But how do you find time for that? Our special guest today is Shawn Blanc — author of The Focus Course, a creative entrepreneur, and my role model from years ago. You'll learn how to set goals, avoid distractions, build personal integrity, adopt the right habits, and live a truly focused life.

Customer support is the key part of user experience. But how do you handle it right? Our guest today is Alex Yumashev, the founder of JitBit Helpdesk, who has been in this industry for many years. You'll learn why customer support can't be a temporary job, how to approach it in a human way, and why even CEOs should still be doing support on a regular basis.

When does A/B testing have a positive impact on your business? How do you make intelligent, informed decisions? How do you prevent your ego and past experience from interfering? Today our guest Nick Disabato, my good friend and a world-class expert in A/B testing, talks about his research-driven work process and his humble philosophy.

Dear friends, the podcast is finally back after the break! Our guest today is Heidi Pun, my designer friend from Slovenia. We talk about The Design Superpower — a free email course we just launched. We break down the entire process: how we came up with the idea, solicited articles from the top design superheroes, put the course together, and launched it across multiple platforms. If you're planning a product launch anytime soon, our takeaways will be super-valuable!

Instructional design is about teaching people and designing training materials. Our special guest today is Stacey Howe-Lott — a guru of instructional design who helped dozens of entrepreneurs develop successful online courses and training programs. In this episode you'll learn how to approach any educational activity, set realistic objectives, counteract conventional wisdom for the "surprise" learning effect, and structure various types of courses.