This episode is me apologizing for the literal radio silence and filling you in on all the very valid reasons why I’ve been MIA with new content here in this feed, and what the new plan is going forward.
I miss you, and I miss putting content out regularly, but there have been (and continue to be) some significant transitions in my own world, not to mention the world at large that have impacted me and this show…
Amazingly, we were able to cover all of this in just under an hour!
Thanks to the co-founders of An Event Apart, Jeffrey Zeldman + Eric Meyer for letting me share a stage I’ve revered for over a decade now, thanks to Toby, Marci, Mike & company for the amazing work behind the scenes at every AEA event. Also, very special thanks to Todd Libby for capturing this amazing 4K video on his new iPhone he got just to do this for me. 🤗
Shaheena Attarwala defends a woman’s right to design her own future, especially in the face of fierce adversity and opposition. She champions living ruthlessly amid oppressive whims and societal precepts. She’s a magnet that brings the issues forward and carries the water for anyone who dreams of raising their standards and never settling for status quo expectations. She’ll persuade you to hunker down, prove your grit, and rattle some cages if you have to. This episode is not just about design. So make your way or step aside. It’s time to hear her metaphoric journey, examine your own life, and bring more awareness to poverty and oppression. In other words…sh*t’s about to get real!
Shaheena is a UX Design Manager at Zoomcar, India’s first self-drive platform. At Zoomcar, Shaheena leads the UX team to build a definitive, hyper-local, multi-modal urban mobility transport solution for India and emerging economies, with close collaboration with cross-functional teams.
Born to a conservative family in a village of Uttar Pradesh to growing up in the grimy slums of Mumbai, her repugnant experiences propelled her to reduce ‘bad’ human experiences by creating more impactful and empowering solutions through a seamless union of human-centred design, curiosity, intuition and logical reasoning. In this journey of adversity, Shaheena is the first generation in her clan to rebel her way towards educating herself and changing mindsets about a girl child.
Shaheena harnesses her life experiences while building solutions. Living a frugal life has taught her empathy and compassion for fellow humans and the planet.
She’s passionate about human behaviour and cross-cultural experiences and loves reaching out to people and sharing perspectives, for she believes that is a sincere way to learn and form sustainable communities!
Apart from making the digital world a better place by building better experiences every day, she also endeavours to reshape the lives of the less fortunate by blending design, technology and her legal skills. Over the years, her initiatives to create a positive impact has received recognition from the United Nations.
Fun fact: She loves children’s bedtime stories even now. She asks close friends, her mom or siblings to tell her stories. If that’s not possible, she puts some online to listen to, and falls fast asleep 🙂
Sophia Prater reminds us that we’re all pioneers in a field that is changing every minute. She encourages us to use forcing functions by getting the gig first, and then figuring it out. She introduces us to a design philosophy she pioneered called Object-Oriented UX which is all about taking really complex problems, and breaking them down into parts and organizing them. She also reminds us that in order to be successful in this field, we must become lifelong learners.
Sophia Prater is the Chief Evangelist of Object-Oriented UX (OOUX), a methodology she started popularizing in 2013. She teaches OOUX methodologies at conferences, within companies, and through 1-on-1 coaching. She loves mentoring— She leads the Atlanta chapter of Ladies that UX and she created the UX Hustle Summit Conference and she hosts the UX Hustle Podcast. Before starting Rewired, she led UX efforts for clients such as AT&T, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Athena Healthcare, Coca-Cola, the IRS, and the Australian Tax Office. As a UX designer at CNN.com, she designed the responsive 2012 election night experience viewed by over 200 million. In 2016, she returned (as a consultant) to do it again. Today, she focuses on bringing the magic of OOUX to companies and teams around the world. Fun fact: She’s super into city planning and urban design for walkability and public transit (the UX of a city!) — she’s been car-free in Atlanta for about 10 years!
Dr. John Whalen teaches us what it means to design for how people think. He reveals the powerful principals behind what he calls the six minds of user experience, and explains how anybody can harness them to build better products (no doctorate degree required!). He reminds us that it takes serious research to reveal the deep insights that genuinely make our products successful for the user and the business. He also encourages us to understand that no one is more qualified than anyone else in solving unique problems.
Buy the Book
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John Whalen is the founder and Lead of Psychological Insights & Innovation at Brilliant Experience. He is an international speaker, and author of the recently published book Design for How People Think: Using Brain Science to Build Better Products (O’Reilly). John helps businesses use psychological research to strategically position their products, services, and marketing. He has a PhD in Cognitive Science and 15+ years of experience working in user research and product design with Fortune 500 companies and design agencies including Google, PayPal, Bloomberg, eBay, Cisco, Capital One, and Johns Hopkins. Little known fun filled facts: He’s camped North of the Arctic Circle on 12 feet of ice and he’s a green-eyed, left-handed Psychology PhD, making him (statistically at least) 1-in-a-million.
