UX Podcast

Episode 278 is a linkshow. Per and James discuss two articles that have grabbed their attention – we feature articles about the era of design system in Russia and a status report on the toxicity in digital design. Article one is The Era of Design Systems Is Gone originally by Seryozha Plaschinsky and translated by...

As the covid pandemic struck and upended her art school project, Nathalie Nahai showed tremendous foresight when reflecting on the societal upheaval and its implications for sustainable business practice. In her newly released book, Business Unusual, she collects and elucidates important wisdom about how to ready your work for the unavoidable changes in consumer values,...

We talk to Denise Jacobs about how to banish our inner critic and remove the mental blocks that get in the way of creative thinking. We also talked about how you can improve focus and get your brain into a state where you can access creative ideas best. Later in the episode, Chris Noessel joins...

Virtual reality has had its big breakthrough in the gaming world, but what applications for this technology are there in helping the wellbeing of people who are ill? Almira Osmanovic Thunström is a Business Developer and Doctoral Researcher at Sahlgrenska University Hospital. She has spent years conducting research within the fields of AI and VR...

Episode 274 is a linkshow. Per and James discuss two articles that have grabbed their attention – we feature articles about how designers should be aware of data privacy and laws, plus how causal loop diagrams are a useful tool for understanding. Article one is It’s High Time for Product Designers To Become Privacy Practitioners...

“All humans are fully human, with many ways of being in the world”. Rather than study the process or solution, we should be studying humans. Indi Young, author of mental models and practical empathy, joins us to talk “purpose”. People may be complicated, but Indi says if we frame our studies by purpose we can...

We talk to Krystal Higgins, author of Better Onboarding, about what onboarding actually is, how to recognise it needs improvement, and what kind improvements might work.  We look at the difference between getting people to adopt your product and teaching them how to use it. Onboarding is like the “top layer of a bigger pyramid...

Episode 271 is a slightly different linkshow based around a tweet and article by Stephen Anderson, and two related articles, discussing arcs, loops and terrain in the context of service design. Stephen started off by tweeting his feelings around using customer journey (maps) for experiences where the linear sequence is very different from user to...

People will abuse our products and use them for harm. It’s not an “if”. People utilise the products we help make to  hurt others, to control, abuse, and stalk people in their lives.  Eva PenzeyMoog joins us to talk about how we can design for safety, prevent harm before it happens, and helping survivors of...

In this classic UX Podcast interview, we talk to Amber Case, author, researcher, designer and, at the time we talked to her, cyborg anthropologist. We chat about the ideas expressed in Amber’s popular TED talk “We are all cyborgs now” before turning our attention to the notion of calm technology. More and more things are...

Brad Frost joins us to talk about the nitty gritty of collaborating to create and manage design systems. We look back at the journey from responsive design to atomic design to design systems, and discuss the challenges with developing design systems and how important collaboration and culture are in order to succeed. We have a...

Are we all just putting on a show? A few years ago, Tanya Snook coined the phrase UX Theatre to describe when we are just acting like we’re doing user-centred design rather than actually doing it.  We learn from Tanya how to recognise UX theatre, how to transition from just acting to actually doing.  We...

From this summer, target size is going to become something we hear much more about. In this topic show, we look into what it is, what it means, why we’re going to start hearing more about it, and how this will impact design work (and design discussions).  Target size was introduced as a criteria in...

Back in 2015 we were lucky enough to meet up with Whitney Hess during her summer vacation in Sweden. In this classic episode we talk to Whitney about her journey from “producer of wireframes” to coaching UX-ers. How do you design yourself? How do you give yourself permission to do your best work? “You need...

In the second part of our 10th anniversary interview with Don Norman, we discuss externalities, the environmental aspects of design, ethics, systems and changing design education. This episode also includes James and Per’s reflections on the complete interview with Don. “I don’t know the answer to everything, but I do know the questions” In the...