042: Practical Design Discovery with Dan Brown

User Defenders podcast
User Defenders podcast
Design Thinking
042: Practical Design Discovery with Dan Brown
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User Defenders "Dr. Discovery" Dan Brown

Dan Brown inspires us to get great at asking questions because ‘the question’ is one of our most invincible resources. He reminds us to maintain a spirit of collaboration with the the team members we’re struggling with since they care as much about the project as we do. He encourages us to always peer beneath the surface at the underlying structure of whatever we’re working on. He also motivates us to never settle.

BIO
Dan Brown is a web designer who specializes in information architecture, design research, and leading teams. He’s written three books: Practical Design Discovery (2017), Designing Together (2013), and Communicating Design (2011). He created a card game, Surviving Design Projects, to help designers practice their conflict resolution skills. Dan co-founded EightShapes, a UX design firm based in Washington, DC, in 2006 with his business partner Nathan Curtis. Professionally, Dan likes talking about design discovery, information architecture, user research, and team dynamics. Personally, Dan likes talking about cooking and board games. He also started an online support group for a rare disease he has.

  • Secret Identity (7:47)
  • Origin Story (9:29)
  • Biggest Failure (20:23)
  • Awkward Testing Story (23:27)
  • Design Superpower (28:04)
  • Design Kryptonite (30:52)
  • UX Superhero Name (33:50)
  • Fights for Users (36:08)
  • Habit of Success (40:54)
  • Invincible Resource (43:27)
  • Recommended Book (51:23)
  • Practical Design Discovery (53:40)
  • Overcoming Team Tension (57:00)
  • Best Advice (69:04)
  • Contact Info (71:48)

LINKS
Dan’s Twitter
Dan’s Website
Dan’s Instagram
Do as I say, not as I do [ARTICLE]
Stop Fighting, Start Designing [VIDEO]

RESOURCE
The Question

BOOK
Powers of Two
A More Beautiful Question


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USE YOUR SUPERPOWER OF SUPPORT
Here’s your chance to use your superpower of support. Don’t rely on telepathy alone! If you’re enjoying the show, would you take two minutes and leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts? I’d also be willing to remove my cloak of invisibility from your inbox if you’d subscribe to the newsletter for superguest announcements and more, occasionally.


Continue reading 042: Practical Design Discovery with Dan Brown

033: Design is About People with Andrea Picchi

User Defenders podcast
User Defenders podcast
Design Thinking
033: Design is About People with Andrea Picchi
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User Defenders "The Dark Knight" Andrea Picchi

Andrea Picchi reminds us that the core of design is always about people. He dives deep into the importance of design thinking. He motivates us to embrace ambiguity, and to fail as often as possible without losing the job. He also inspires us to believe in design and to always defend the user’s point of view.

Andrea Picchi has 20 years of experience in UX, UI and Product Design. He combines his skills in Cognitive Psychology and Computer Science with his passion for UX and Human-Centered Design to create integrated, multi-device experiences. He believes in design and connecting customer needs to business opportunities. He also practices Brazilian jiu-jitsu, kick-boxing and mixed martial arts.

  • Secret Identity/Origin Story (1:40)
  • Biggest Superhero (7:42)
  • Biggest Failure (12:18)
  • Awkward Testing Story (18:26)
  • Design Superpower (22:48)
  • Design Kryptonite (25:12)
  • Design Superhero Name (30:42)
  • Fight For Users (33:43)
  • Design Thinking (37:09)
  • Habit Of Success (47:06)
  • Invincible Resource (50:25)
  • Book Recommendation (52:08)
  • Best Advice (55:46)
  • Contact Info (60:57)

LINKS
Andrea’s Website
Andrea’s Twitter
Andrea’s LinkedIn

[RESOURCE] Interviewing people.
[BOOK] Creative Confidence: Unleashing the Creative Potential Within Us All


SUBSCRIBE TO AUTOMATICALLY RECEIVE NEW EPISODES
Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Pandora | Amazon Music | Stitcher | Android | Google Podcasts | RSS Feed

USE YOUR SUPERPOWER OF SUPPORT
Here’s your chance to use your superpower of support. Don’t rely on telepathy alone! If you’re enjoying the show, would you take two minutes and leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts? I’d also be willing to remove my cloak of invisibility from your inbox if you’d subscribe to the newsletter for superguest announcements and more, occasionally.

Continue reading 033: Design is About People with Andrea Picchi

026: We Are Not Our Users with Nikkel Blaase

User Defenders podcast
User Defenders podcast
Design Thinking
026: We Are Not Our Users with Nikkel Blaase
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User Defenders "Deep Thought" Nikkel Blaase

Nikkel Blaase reminds us that we are not our users. He encourages us to make time for deep thinking. He teaches us that without failing, there’s no learning. He guides us to not spend too much time figuring out a solution if we don’t know what the problem is. He shows us how creating value for our users creates value for our business. He also motivates us to never stop learning, practice as often as we can…and stay curious.

Nikkel Blaase (Deep Thought) is a product and interaction designer from Hamburg, Germany currently working at XING. He’s the founder of “Design Made For You” studio. He’s a fantastic writer who’s published viral articles on Medium, FastCoDesign and InVision. He’s passionate about bringing product thinking to the world of product development in order to as he says build products that people actually want. When he was a teenager, he played guitar in a punk rock band.

  • Secret Identity (2:55)
  • Origin Story (5:18)
  • Biggest Superhero (7:55)
  • What Is Product Thinking (9:26)
  • Second Career Choice (11:10)
  • Biggest Failure (12:08)
  • Do Designers Lack Empathy For Their Businesses? (17:32)
  • Awkward Testing Story (20:45)
  • Design Superpower (24:17)
  • Design Kryptonite (26:42)
  • Design Superhero Name (29:51)
  • Fight For Users (35:46)
  • Future Of UX Design (39:01)
  • Generalist vs. Specialist (44:05)
  • Habit Of Success (44:58 )
  • Invincible Resource (46:11)
  • Book Recommendation (48:24)
  • Favorite Conference (51:13)
  • Best Advice (52:20)
  • Most Excited About (54:07)
  • Next Big Blog Ideas (55:07)
  • Contact Info (56:00)

Continue reading 026: We Are Not Our Users with Nikkel Blaase

003: Don’t Launch Anything. Validate and Test Everything with Craig Morrison

User Defenders podcast
Design Thinking
003: Don’t Launch Anything. Validate and Test Everything with Craig Morrison
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User Defenders "Validation Man" Craig Morrison

Craig Morrison inspires us to know why we’re building what we’re building by looking for an opportunity in a market that needs something, and then by giving it to them. He also reminds us to do all the user research needed until we’ve built a product that people want to use.

Craig Morrison (Validation Man) is an extremely curious and generous UX Design Consultant focusing in the area of startups. He’s an active blogger who’s authored some very popular UX articles including “Why You Shouldn’t Hire a UI/UX Designer” and my personal fave “How to Land a Job in UX with No Experience“. He’s also quite the comedian and has a video channel where he and a buddy set some really peculiar records.

Continue reading 003: Don’t Launch Anything. Validate and Test Everything with Craig Morrison