Episode Archive - Page 12 of 22 - User Defenders®

042: Practical Design Discovery with Dan Brown

Design Thinking

042: Practical Design Discovery with Dan Brown

00:00 / 1:17:26

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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041: Everything’s Terrible, and That’s Great with Matt Griffin

Leadership

041: Everything's Terrible, and That's Great with Matt Griffin

00:00 / 1:25:18

Matt Griffin shows us how empathy and sensitivity to the world around us is the key to great design. He teaches us how as a leader, the worst decision is no decision. He explains how hands are his most invincible UX resource or tool. He also inspires us starting out to take ‘every damn opportunity we can get’.

Matt Griffin is a designer and founder of Bearded and Wood Type Revival, and the director of What Comes Next is the Future, a documentary film about the web. He’s a speaker, writer, and an avid advocate for collaboration in design. He’s also a letterpress printer, and one of the creators of Wood Type Revival, a project which seeks out lost historic wood type and converts it into digital fonts for modern designers. Matt lives in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania with his wife Elizabeth, and his son Argus. Previous to entering the world of design, Matt was an active musician (drums, mostly). He toured all over and played on a fair number of records. His band in college got kind of famous in Japan.

Secret Identity (4:46)
Origin Story (7:18)
Bearded Closing its Doors (17:04)
Biggest Failure (31:45)
Awkward Testing Story (43:21)
Design Superpower (45:44)
Design Kryptonite (46:54)
UX Superhero Name (50:07)
Fights for Users (51:48)
Habit of Success (63:25)
Invincible Resource (65:22)
Recommended Book (70:54)
Best Advice (78:12)

Continue reading 041: Everything’s Terrible, and That’s Great with Matt Griffin

040: Should Developers Design with Laura Elizabeth

Web Dev

040: Should Developers Design with Laura Elizabeth

00:00 / 66:35

Laura Elizabeth reveals how developers can learn design. She articulates the importance of reflecting on our users’ needs more than our personal tastes. She touches on how making a product makes us better designers. She also inspires us to always be genuine in our dealings with our customers if we want to build (and keep) trust.

Laura Elizabeth is an independent designer with a hankering for cross stitch and rockets. She runs Design Academy which aims to help developers conquer their fear of design. She recently launched her first product called Client Portal—a client-friendly way to keep projects organised. When she’s not writing or speaking, she’s likely watching reruns of Star Trek Voyager or Next Generation.

Secret Identity (4:05)
Origin Story (9:55)
Biggest Superhero (13:32)
Biggest Failure (16:23)
Design Superpower (20:54)
Transition from Freelance to Product (23:04)
Design Kryptonite (26:13)
Design Superhero Name (29:34)
Should Developers Design? (34:10)
Habit Of Success (42:59)
Invincible Resource (48:55)
Book Recommendation (52:09)
Listener Question (54:58)
Best Advice (59:39)
Connect & Keep Up (64:08)

LINKS
Laura’s Twitter
Laura’s Website
Design Academy
Client Portal
Laura Elizabeth at Smashing Conference on Selling Design Systems [VIDEO]
William Shatner Sings Rocket Man At the 1978 Science Fiction Film Awards [VIDEO]

[RESOURCE] Styleguides.io
[BOOK] Badass: Making Users Awesome

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039: Good Designers are Good at Business with Joe Leech

Product Management

039: Good Designers are Good at Business with Joe Leech

00:00 / 63:04

Joe Leech shows us how psychology helps frame what we’re seeing in user research. He articulates why the superpower we need is understanding how business works. He inspires us get out of our seat and talk to executives in the organization more about the business. He also challenges us to not just always be shipping, but always be shipping the right things.

ABOUT JOE LEECH
Mr. Joe Leech, Joe to his friends is a user experience consultant based in Bristol, UK. He’s the author of “Psychology for Designers”. He’s a 13 year UX veteran who’s worked with organizations like MoMa, Raspberry Pi, Disney, eBay and Marriott. He’s a recovering neuroscientist who spent a spell as an elementary school teacher. He’s also the Series Editor of Aspects of UX, a book series on UX from SitePoint.com. He once had a sauna with Meatloaf (the rock star, not the food).

TIMESTAMPS

Secret Identity/Origin Story (4:39)
Biggest Superhero (14:50)
Biggest Failure (22:37)
Awkward Testing Story (30:03)
Design Superpower (32:03)
Design Kryptonite (33:34)
Design Superhero Name (36:52)
Fight For Users (42:03)
Psychology & Design (43:05)
Habit Of Success (49:48)
Invincible Resource (51:26)
Book Recommendation (54:40)
Best Advice (57:49)
Contact Info (59:46)

LINKS
Joe Leech’s Twitter
Joe Leech’s Website

[RESOURCE] Excel spreadsheet that shows the business case for what they’re doing.
Business Model Generation [BOOK]
Value Proposition Design [BOOK]
Gross Psychology [BOOK]

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Continue reading 039: Good Designers are Good at Business with Joe Leech

Part II: Mixed Reality & the Future of Design with Austin Knight

Special Episodes

Part II: Mixed Reality & the Future of Design with Austin Knight

00:00 / 56:34

In case you missed Part I

“Do yourself a favor and show this to as many people as you possibly can, because this is going to be the world that we’ll be living in. Being able to show this to somebody and see that click happen, and hear them say, ‘Oh my God, my whole life just changed’ is a really cool thing to witness.” – Austin Knight

This entire conversation is an exploration into what Austin believes is the biggest renaissance for design and technology since the invention of the PC.

We both bring our own unique roles to this conversation. I initially take on the role of one who’s sincerely concerned with the social/cultural implications of having a device strapped on our heads, or spectacles always drawing our attention away from the human right in front of us. However, like in any good story, you will see my character arc in this very special two-part series when we uncover the potential of just how much good these nascent technologies can do for humans.

Austin’s role in the conversation is as one I like to call a glad scientist. He’s been diving deep into VR, AR, and the new cool kid on the block…MR (Mixed Reality) for quite some time now and as you can hear in his voice and articulation of where we are now, and especially where we’re going, is super-excited about what this means for designers, problem-solving and even entirely untapped revenue streams.

Fasten your seatbelt Toto…because we’re definitely not in Kansas anymore!

LINKS
Labster (virtual science labs)
Lowe’s turns to virtual reality for home improvement
Google Earth VR
Journalism (Washington Post VR Room)
Chris Milk: How virtual reality can create the ultimate empathy machine [VIDEO]
The Future of Virtual Reality | Phil Kauffold [VIDEO]
Silicon Valley (Oculus Headset)
Racist Soap Dispenser [VIDEO]
Casey Yee on UX & Growth
Reticle (Pattern)
Snap Spectacles
Sunglasses at night [VIDEO]
Google’s secret VR weapon is Project Tango
Mozilla Web VR (aFrame Open Source)
Sony Playstation VR
NextVR
8I (Holograms and Volumetric VR)
NVIDIA (Graphics Processing VR/AR)

GETTING STARTED
Google Cardboard
UXofVR.com
Apple ARKit
WebVR
AR.js
Blender (3D Modeling)
Unity 3D
HTC Vive

AUSTIN LINKS
Austin’s Twitter
Austin’s Website
UX & Growth Podcast

ABOUT AUSTIN
Austin Knight is a Senior UX Designer at Hubspot where his work impacts more than 8 million visitors per month. He’s an international speaker and author. He’s a fellow podcaster co-hosting the UX & Growth podcast. He serves as a UX and IxD mentor at Columbia University and General Assembly. He also has a popular UX Design blog and newsletter at AustinKnight.com. Fun fact about Austin: He’s terrified of flying. Even though he flew 150,000 miles last year and has willingly jumped out of three planes skydiving…he has yet to overcome that fear.

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SUPER-CRED
Editing by Chris Combs