Feet on the Ground, Eyes on the Stars: The True Story of a Real Rocket Man with Jim Ogle (8/3/37 – 8/15/20)

User Defenders podcast
Personal Growth
Feet on the Ground, Eyes on the Stars: The True Story of a Real Rocket Man with Jim Ogle (8/3/37 – 8/15/20)
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Welcome to this very special, quite literally out of this world episode with my father, Jim Ogle. You know how they say it doesn’t take a rocket scientist? Well, my Dad is one. On a recent vacation to Florida to celebrate his 80th birthday, he spent nearly three hours telling me his compelling story.

BIO

Jim Ogle fell in love with airplanes at the early age of 8 years old. The circumstances that presented this initial passion were far from ideal.

He was recovering in a hospital bed following a 7-hour surgery to essentially re-attach his badly mangled right leg from a horrible school bus wreck. He awoke from the operation to see a model airplane hanging down from a wooden structure over his bed that was to be used as a traction device to slowly pull his left leg back into place. It was broken at the hip and rammed almost three inches into his lower torso.

His injuries would prevent him from being a pilot in the Air Force. But this reality would not deter him from being in the air with airplanes because 12 years later he became involved in space with missiles and rockets on his first job at Cape Canaveral, Florida in 1958. This was the beginning of his 51-year career of being associated with every manned moon mission and all 135 Space Shuttle missions. He finally got his layoff notice along with 8,000 other space workers following the final Shuttle mission, STS-135, in July 2011.

He likes to tell folks questioning his unusual longevity in this field that he was fortunate to be “in the right place at the right time and the right age.” He considers himself blessed for having had the opportunity to be a part of this truly exciting time in America’s beginnings in space.

Fun fact: He requires 10 lemons and multiple servings of tartar sauce with every seafood meal. The last lemon squeeze after the meal is used to clean his hands!

TIMESTAMPS

  • Tragic Beginnings (08:50)
  • Missiles (21:58)
  • Meeting Wernher von Braun (42:36)
  • Apollo I Fire (48:36)
  • Moon Missions (55:55)
  • How in the World Was this Possible? (67:27)
  • Space Shuttle (87:57)
  • Challenger: What Went Wrong? (105:35)
  • Columbia: What Went Wrong? (112:08)
  • Next Chapter of Space Travel (118:50)
  • Takeaways from Space Stories (132:32)
  • What Drove You to Overcome Your Adversity? (136:15)
  • Advice for Those in the Midst of Adversity (139:48)
  • In Closing (144:11)

Continue reading Feet on the Ground, Eyes on the Stars: The True Story of a Real Rocket Man with Jim Ogle (8/3/37 – 8/15/20)

044: Different Inputs = Different Outputs with Joshua Oluwagbemiga

User Defenders podcast
User Defenders podcast
Creativity
044: Different Inputs = Different Outputs with Joshua Oluwagbemiga
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User Defenders podcast - "Mr. Gradient" - Joshua Oluwagbemiga

Joshua Oluwagbemiga motivates us to allow different inputs to influence our visual outputs. He shows us the effective power of determination when pursuing the craft of design. He also reminds us that inspiration is all around us…if we’re looking for it.

Joshua Oluwagbemiga is a User Experience Designer currently working at Intelia in Lagos, Nigeria. Before that he was a lead designer at Amplify Digital agency. He graduated from Bowen University in Nigeria with a Bachelor’s in Computer Science. When he’s not designing and typing on a keyboard, he’s likely playing keyboard..the instrument, and not entirely terribly.

  • Secret Identity/Origin Story (7:05)
  • Biggest Superhero (18:50)
  • Biggest Failure (22:26)
  • Awkward Testing Story (26:14)
  • Design Superpower (29:59)
  • Design Kryptonite (30:55)
  • UX Superhero Name (33:37)
  • Fights for Users (35:15)
  • Habit of Success (38:21)
  • Invincible Resource (40:55)
  • Recommended Book (43:29)
  • Listener Question (45:40)
  • Best Advice (51:07)

LINKS
Joshua’s Dribbble
Joshua’s Behance
Joshua’s Adobe Blog Feature
Chris Do
Gnomon School
Spotify is incapable of empathy & doesn’t care about their users [ARTICLE]
Balraj Chana
DesignBetter.co

RESOURCE
Photoshop

BOOK
The Design of Everyday Things


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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 044: Different Inputs = Different Outputs with Joshua Oluwagbemiga

An Episode Apart with Eric Meyer and Jeffrey Zeldman

User Defenders podcast
User Defenders podcast
Special Episodes
An Episode Apart with Eric Meyer and Jeffrey Zeldman
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An-Event-Apart-Denver-Special-Edition

On this special episode, Eric Meyer, Jeffrey Zeldman and I discuss the premiere web and UX design conference they started over a decade ago. We talk about the game-changing innovations that have come out of An Event Apart, as well as what to expect at the very first Denver appearance on December 11-13, 2017.

WHO ATTENDS AN EVENT APART?
An Event Apart (AEA) attendees are UX professionals, developers, and designers—including interaction designers, graphic designers, and UI designers. Project managers, writer/editors, marketers, strategists, and even site owners and clients attend. This wide spectrum of roles speaks to the uniquely comprehensive and multi-disciplinary nature of this single-track event.

AEA attendees, like other conference attendees, want to improve job skills and make new community and business connections in an intense and fun environment. But unlike the typical conference goer, AEA attendees have that gleam in their eye that comes from the belief that through advocacy and hard work, they can make a meaningful difference.

LINKS
An Event Apart Denver
An Opportunity Apart
Persuading Your Boss
New A List Apart wants you!


SUBSCRIBE TO AUTOMATICALLY RECEIVE NEW EPISODES
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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.

Animation at Work with Rachel Nabors

User Defenders podcast
Special Episodes
Animation at Work with Rachel Nabors
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Animation at Work with Rachel Nabors

Rachel Nabors gives us a deep-dive into the art & science of web animation. She motivates us to sell animation as a UX enhancement, rather than a delight factor. She also exhorts us to animate ethically and responsibly.

BIO
Rachel Nabors began telling stories online as a teenager with her award-winning web comics. Her love of web technologies transformed into a career in front end development, where she has worked with Mozilla, the W3C, and currently Microsoft to build the web forward. She tends the web animation community via the Animation at Work Slack and her web animation newsletter Web Animation Weekly. She recently wrote an A Book Apart book called Animation at Work: a book on using animation in web design. When she isn’t traveling the world, giving talks and kissing puppies, she can be found perched in Seattle, sipping a cup of fancy tea! She also used to be an award-winning independent cartoonist with 400k teenage girls reading her weekly comics on an iVillage site.

  • Animation Origin Story (5:44)
  • Getting Animation Buy-off (14:01)
  • Animation is Not About Delight (20:47)
  • Do I Have to Draw to Animate? (33:42)
  • Web Animation Resources (36:41)
  • Future of Banner Ads (46:27)
  • Listener Question (50:59)
  • 24 Hour Comic (55:44)

LINKS
Rachel’s Twitter
Rachel’s Website
Rachel’s Newsletter
How to Sell Web Animation [ARTICLE]
24 Hour Comic on Amazon Prime [VIDEO]

RESOURCES
After Effects
Principal for Mac
Lotti by AirBnB
Kite App
Hype
Animatron
Web Animations API
Greensock GSAP
Barba.js


SUBSCRIBE TO AUTOMATICALLY RECEIVE NEW EPISODES
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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.


043: Making New Designers with Laura Klein

User Defenders podcast
User Defenders podcast
Product Design
043: Making New Designers with Laura Klein
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User Defenders podcast - Laura Klein

Laura Klein shows us how User Experience happens whether we design it intentionally or not. She paints a picture of what the the future of UX Design looks like. She teaches us if we’re too close to a project, we ought to step back and let others do the research. She also uses a really effective medical analogy to remind us of the value of specialization.

BIO
Laura Klein fell in love with technology when she saw her first user research session over 20 years ago. Since then, she’s worked as an engineer, UX designer, and product manager in Silicon Valley for companies of all sizes. Her books, Build Better Products, and UX for Lean Startups help teams learn more about their users, and apply that knowledge to make products people use and love. She helps teams build products, advises early stage startups, and consults with companies that want to improve their research, UX, and product development processes. When she’s not working with clients, she’s blogging and podcasting at her site Users Know. Fun fact: She couldn’t use the working title of her first book because there was too much profanity in it.

  • Secret Identity (5:44)
  • Origin Story (10:56)
  • Where is Design Going? (16:04)
  • Do Titles Matter? (24:50)
  • It Just Works? (29:20)
  • Is Everyone a Designer? (32:56)
  • What Drew you to User Research? (39:16)
  • Awkward Testing Story (44:44)
  • Listener Question? (49:58)
  • Habit of Success (55:42)
  • Invincible Resource (59:24)
  • Recommended Book (63:00)
  • Best Advice (65:30)
  • Contact Info (68:55)

LINKS
Laura’s Twitter
Laura’s Website
Laura’s podcast (What’s Wrong with UX?)
Build Better Products
Mixed Reality & the Future of Design

RESOURCE
Sticky notes & Mural.co

BOOK
Radical Focus


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 043: Making New Designers with Laura Klein