Being a great UX designer begins and ends with being a great human.

Ever since I can remember, I’ve been fascinated by superheroes. Early on, it was their amazing superpowers that drew me in. As I grew older, it was the realization of a very tangible connection between us and them.

Superheroes typically possess a strong moral code, including a willingness to risk one’s own safety in the service of good without expectation of reward. Even though they still fall and fail often, they always get back up, learn, and continue to make things better.

Sound a little like UX?

I also discovered this little-known, world-changing link between UX Design and personal growth after beginning my own personal growth journey in 2015 (just before starting this podcast & community) that quite literally changed my life.

The reality is, we cannot pour an empty cup into another. There’s a reason why on every flight we’re told to put our oxygen mask on first…

We can’t help others unless we first help ourselves. We can’t lead others where we are not.

What the world needs now is not just love, but especially more empathy. We live in some of the most divided times in human history. It’s true empathy isn’t everything, but please don’t design or ship a product or experience meant for other human beings without it!

This UX podcast will help you become the best, most powerful UX designer (and human) you can be.

As you listen to the most inspiring and influential UX superheroes in the world tell impactful stories, reveal their design superpowers/kryptonite and offer game-changing advice–you’ll be moved and inspired to unleash your growth mindset, grow in your empathy for others, all while being enlightened, informed and even entertained as you learn about the most important issues facing our UX community today.

Yes, you’ll discover how-to’s, but much more importantly you’ll discover why-to’s

Every episode is sure to inspire and equip you on how to better fight for your users and business, and dare I say change the world (even if only for one human at a time) in a much deeper and more tangible way than you ever thought possible.

If this is your first time here, and you’re looking for relevant episodes to start with, I highly recommend visiting the topics page, and definitely subscribe to automatically receive future episodes.

Thank you for stopping in dear Defender. Please make yourself at home in discovering the best UX podcast content in the known Universe! 👊 Jason

About Your Host – Jason Ogle

I’ve been designing for Tim Berners-Lee’s World Wide Web via CRT monitors, 2400bps modems and a mere 216 colors since 1996.

Around that time, I fell in love with the marriage of design and technology and realized I wanted to do this for the rest of my life. Just shy of Y2K, that dream became (and still is) a reality.

I have been greatly inspired in my work by those design greats who came before me and helped blazed the trail.

I desire to use this UX podcast as an avenue to help inspire, enlighten and entertain those passionate about making a difference in their work and staying hungry and inspired in this exciting and ever-changing medium.

Ideal Guests

On this UX podcast, I want to talk to design leaders (famous or not), who are wonderful storytellers with many compelling stories to tell. They must have an insatiable passion for making the world a better place using the superpowers of empathy + design that can be verified through a well-documented journey (e.g. blog, website, pub links). They must believe in staying human in an ever-increasingly artificially intelligent world. They must also have a personal growth mindset, unquenchable thirst for knowledge, and heart for making us (the listeners) better through generous sharing conveyed with high vulnerability, authenticity, and transparency.

If that’s you or someone you know, feel free to reach out at userdefenders [a t) gmail (dot] com.