Episodes

This is an update to let you know that we have reached the end of Season 3. Have a great summer, and perhaps Per will see you at Camp Digital in Manchester, England, and perhaps James will see you at Web Summer Camp in Opatija, Croatia. References: Our Backstage mailing list get a heads up about the new season: Sign up here Contribute with your time as a volunteer: Support UX Podcast <– Always appreciated! Per Axbom speaking about the spectacular lies of maps at Camp Digital James Royal-Lawso...

S03E11 (#339). Karen Hawkins, accessible design practice lead at Level access and chair of the W3C ARRM group joins us to discuss accessibility and design systems. Design systems can really help improve accessibility, but in reality design teams often don’t know their exact responsibilities, leading to accessibility gaps in implementation. We talk about considering accessibility from the start, and in the fundamentals of design systems as well as the need for a culture of inclusivity where acc...

S03E10 (#338). About 15 years ago Katrina Alcorn suffered from burnout while managing a team of designers and raising a family. Drawing from her own experience, Katrina highlights during our conversation the importance of autonomy, connection, as well as purpose in the workplace. We discuss the ways in which burnout can be avoided and how to create a supportive workplace. Katrina emphasised the need for clear communication, flexible work policies, and healthy team dynamics. “We spend a lot of ...

S03E09 (#337). Cal Thompson, VP of Product Design and Research at Headspace, joins us to talk about the evolution of Headspace from a pure mindfulness app to a comprehensive mental health platform, including health coaches and therapists. We chat about Headspace’s internal culture and how they manage being a healthy workplace as a health company. We also discussed the importance of measuring success by using human outcomes metrics, such as stress reduction and improved sleep, rather than tradit...

S03E08 (#336). Inspired by feedback from his booked UX for beginners, Joel Marsh has written UX for business. A comprehensive guide for designers navigating real-world challenges. We talk to him about his own journey from design principles to practical business applications. We chat about Joel’s VDP methodology: Value, Diagnosis, and Probability, emphasizing the importance of understanding user needs and business goals. Joel stresses the need for designers to communicate effectively with stakeh...

S03E07 (#335). Lou Downe, author of Good Services and former director of design for the UK government joins us in this episode. We sat down with Lou and asked—Where is service design going wrong, and are we even doing service design? Among the topics we discussed were: The complexity of modern services and the complete reliance on infrastructure, as well as the importance of service literacy for leaders. “Sometimes it’s the first time that [managers] have seen or experienced the service that t...

S03E06 (#334). Aarathi Krishnan is an international aid expert, specialising in humanitarian futures and strategic foresight. In a world where the sets of rules that have governed us as humanity are rapidly changing, how will we know if the solutions that we are designing now are going to be fit for purpose? Aarathi pushes the importance of accountability, guardrails, and awareness in our decision-making, as well as highlighting the need for organizations to explore potential harms. We discuss ...

S03E05 (#333). A linkshow. James and Per discuss two articles they’ve stumbled on. This time we feature articles about things that slow down your website’s experience and why you can’t do anything about it plus the concept of “failing early” but not in a “failing fast” startup way. Article one is Six things that slow down your site’s UX (and why you have no control over them) by Tammy Everts. “You have a lot of control over the design and code for the pages on your site, plus a decent amount o...

S03E04 (#332). Two years on from when Sheryl Cababa released Closing The Loop, her book about systems thinking for designers, we hear Sheryls reflections and insights about what she’s learnt during that time and we grapple with the challenge of applying system thinking as designers “out of the box”. We work in a complex space, with many complex as well as complicated issues, but making use of systems thinking doesn’t have to be complicated. “I want a designer to pick up this book and discover ...

S03E03 (#331). Your destiny isn’t tied to a role. You were a person before your role. Leadership expert and strategist Christina Joy Whittaker talks to us about the murky middle, a phenomenon rooted in misalignment and purpose and quite distinct from i...

S03E02 (#330). Oobah Butler, journalist and filmmaker known for his prankster antics, joined us to discuss his work, including “The Great Amazon Heist” and “The Shed at Dulwich”. Oobah highlights the relative ease of manipulating algorithms, such as TripAdvisor and Amazon, to boost fake products’ rankings. We also discussed the broader implications of algorithmic manipulation,... The post The Great Amazon Heist with Oobah Butler appeared first on UX Podcast.

S03E01 (#329). In the first episode of Season Three, James Royal-Lawson and Per Axbom discuss the concept of dark mode, its benefits, and its implications for UX design, user experience and accessibility. We delve into the European accessibility directive, and the EN 301 549 European standard which includes a section on user preferences, requiring user... The post Dark mode appeared first on UX Podcast.

This is an update to let you know that we are delaying the start of season 3 as Per is soon to have a heart operation. We’re aiming now to start Season 3 in the new year, once Per has recovered. Per is currently in preparations to undergo open-heart surgery in about a month’s time,... The post A heartfelt update from James and Per ❤️ appeared first on UX Podcast.

This is an update to let you know that we have reached the end of Season 2, a sensible 10-month season this time rather than more than 10 years! It’s time for us to take a short break before we kick off Season 3 on August 9th. We are already busy with planning the episodes... The post Season 3 update from James and Per appeared first on UX Podcast.

S02E18 (#328). Over ten years have passed since the first edition of Steve Portigal’s legendary book Interviewing Users was released. Together with Steve, we reflect on how user research has evolved during the past decade, and how the importance of user research in order to understand people and their needs is still crucial. We discuss... The post Interviewing users with Steve Portigal appeared first on UX Podcast.

S02E17 (#327). A linkshow. James and Per discuss two articles they’ve stumbled on. This time we feature articles about how certain features of e-commerce sites have to go, and how a design mistake impacted civic engagement in Iceland. Article one is The lazy load, endless scroll, and color slicing have to go by Bethany Sadler-Jasmin. “UX... The post The President of Iceland appeared first on UX Podcast.

S02E16 (#326). Nathan Shedroff, author of A Whole New Strategy, talks to us about how we as designers can have strategic impact. Through an expanded understanding of the context you are working within, and building both situational and operational awareness, we can bridge the gap between design and business. We look at how some of... The post Strategic impact with Nathan Shedroff appeared first on UX Podcast.

S02E15 (#325). Ellen Lupton, designer, educator and author, helps us stock up our toolbox of design principles and methods, starting off with storytelling in visual design, and the “rule of three” before we move on to linear and non-linear experiences. Will we follow the rule of three and have a third topic? We talk about... The post The rule of three with Ellen Lupton appeared first on UX Podcast.

S02E14 (#324). A slightly different episode to usual. Eva-Lotta Lamm joins us to hold a visual thinking sketching workshop – Eva-Lotta, James and Per have fun going through three sketching exercises set by Eva-Lotta that can help you with your creativity, team-building, visual thinking and much more. Grab some pens, and perhaps even a couple... The post Sketching workshop with Eva-Lotta Lamm appeared first on UX Podcast.

S02E13 (#323). We are in the age of design-driven change. Maria Giudice joins us to talk about being changemakers – How we can design change in a complex world. We start by looking at the history of change management and how we are now firmly in the age of design-driven change and that requires change... The post Change leadership with Maria Giudice appeared first on UX Podcast.

S02E12 (#322). Asking the right question and wanting to get a good response. How do we handle that as researchers? Meena Kothandaraman joins us to talk about our curiosity as researchers, the different lenses of inquiry we can apply from exploratory to validation. We talk as well about being curious and the skill of getting... The post The right question with Meena Kothandaraman appeared first on UX Podcast.

S02E11 (#321). How do we know when to trust a system? Carol Smith leads the Trust Lab team at Carnagie Mellon Universty, where they conduct research into making trustworthy, human centered, and responsible AI systems. Our conversation highlights the importance of guardrails and ethical considerations in AI development, as well as to ask the right... The post Building trust in AI with Carol Smith appeared first on UX Podcast.

S02E10 (#320). What does it mean to own something? We talk with David about the concept of ownership, going beyond the legal definition and into the wider concept of ownership and how digital artefacts lead us to re-think and re-evaluate some of the concepts that we have previously relied on. We talk about copyright, creative... The post Digital Ownership with David Dylan Thomas appeared first on UX Podcast.

S02E09 (#319). A linkshow. James and Per discuss two articles that have caught their attention. The articles in this episode are about pragmatic discovery; delivering value to projects, and how UX Strategy should focus on, understand, and design, across all touchpoints, for the users – Experience strategy. Article one is Don’t get stuck in discovery... The post Experience strategy appeared first on UX Podcast.