062: UX School of No B.S. with Joe Natoli

User Defenders podcast
Land a Job in UX
062: UX School of No B.S. with Joe Natoli
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Welcome to Joe Natoli’s UX School of No B.S. Class is now in session. Joe reveals that there’s no limit to how far any UX’er with a healthy dose of grit and resilience can go. He puts jargon in a choke-hold, then proceeds to drop-kick it in the privates! He inspires us to be like Tom Hanks in “Big”…never afraid to ask questions for the betterment of the people and project. He motivates us to apply for any job we truly want, especially when we feel unqualified for it. He also teaches us how leaving a legacy should never start with one foot in the grave, it starts right here…right now!

Joe Natoli is a UX consultant, author and speaker. Everything he does is born from nearly three decades of consulting with and training the UX, design and product development teams of some of the world’s largest organizations. Every aspect of his training and consulting approach revolves around one single, critical idea: Great UX isn’t the result of what you do with your hands — it’s the result of how you use what’s between your ears. Change the way you THINK about the design and development decisions you make and you take the first step to infusing great UX into everything you do. Joe delivers practical advice delivered in clear, jargon-free language. Methods and advice that work in the messy reality of the real world, where we don’t always have the time, budget or approval we’d like. Fun-fact about Joe: He has nearly 2,000 hours of unreleased instrumental compositions, including classical music,that he still hasn’t worked up the courage to release into the world.

  • What Do You Like to Do When You’re Not Working? (7:42)
  • What Inspired You to Pursue a Career in This Field? (10:34)
  • How Do You Get an Entry Level Job That Requires 3-5 Years of Experience? (34:28)
  • What Is It About Jargon That Drives You Nuts? (47:31)
  • One Definition of What UX Is (1:01:15)
  • What Value Do Older UXers Bring to the Table? (1:08:16)
  • UX Advice for Juniors in the Field (1:13:15)
  • The One Thing You Wish You Knew When You Started (1:17:32)
  • If You Had One Word for Folks Trying to Get into UX, What Would That Be? (1:20:16)

Continue reading 062: UX School of No B.S. with Joe Natoli

Imposter Syndrome: Why We Have it, and How to Kick it in the Privates!

User Defenders podcast
Personal Growth
Imposter Syndrome: Why We Have it, and How to Kick it in the Privates!
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Imposter Syndrome: Why We Have it, and How to Kick it in the Privates on User Defenders podcast

Imposter Syndrome is a very common and unwelcome condition especially among creative people. In Jason Ogle’s very first monologue episode, he…wait, it’s me writing this (and my voice matters, dog gonnit!)…I tackle the important, and very common condition among creative people known as imposter syndrome. I address what it is, why we have it, and how to kick it in the privates!

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048: Pick Yourself with Cassie McDaniel

User Defenders podcast
Personal Growth
048: Pick Yourself with Cassie McDaniel
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Cassie McDaniel inspires us to get away from the ‘pick me’ mindset, and to pick ourselves. She challenges us to be willing to kill our darlings so that something better can emerge. She teaches us the importance of knowing our values, but also embracing the fact that they are going to change. She also encourages us to not just do what we’re good at, but do what we enjoy.

Cassie McDaniel runs a small, ambitious, friendly design studio with her husband called Jane & Jury. As previous Design Director at the Mozilla Foundation, she led a team of designers on the organization’s advocacy and digital literacy fronts. She founded the interview series Women&&Tech and runs a creative event and workshop series called Paris Lectures. She grew up in Florida, jumped around in England, and is now based an hour outside Toronto in rural Ontario, where she is deeply invested in the roots she puts down into her community both locally and online. She’s both a national champion collegiate water polo player, and a published poet.

  • Secret Identity (8:27)
  • Origin Story (20:56)
  • Being Mozilla Foundation’s Design Director (24:09)
  • Biggest Failure (36:36)
  • Kill Your Darlings (40:24)
  • Design Superpower (52:54)
  • Habit of Success (62:59)
  • Invincible Resource (67:39)
  • Best Advice (70:33)

Continue reading 048: Pick Yourself with Cassie McDaniel

046: Good Design Favors the Curious with Joe Johnston

User Defenders podcast
Empathy
046: Good Design Favors the Curious with Joe Johnston
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Joe Johnston inspires us to embrace the superpowers of curiosity and empathy for our users and business owners. He motivates us to always stay curious, and ask why to get to the heart of the problem faster. He encourages us to make sure we use the shiny objects available to us to actually solve a problem.

Joe Johnston has over 18 years of digital experience with extensive knowledge creating digital and physical experiences. His skill set focuses on the user experience and the creation of these experiences to help clients quickly test & validate soultions. He’s adept at navigating the rapidly evolving and shifting technological landscape, making intuitive decisions amidst information-abundance, where sparse facts mingle loosely with data-drenched opinions. He’s completed a wide variety of projects, performing duties that include Experience Director/Advisor/Consultant, Digital Strategy, Experience Design,Service Design and front end development. He believes experience design is driven by moments of engagement, or touch points, between people, brands, ideas, emotions and memories that these moments create. My experience design philosophy is holistic in nature and takes into account all components required to create engaging and emotive experiences. Little known fact about Joe: He grew up on a farm, raising sheep during the day and hacking on a Commodore 64 at night.

  • “Merhl” Backstory (7:40)
  • Secret Identity (11:38)
  • Origin Story (13:46)
  • Empathy is Still Important (18:52)
  • Biggest Failure (24:46)
  • Design Leadership/Culture (28:41)
  • Awkward Testing Story (33:24)
  • Design Superpower (41:50)
  • Shiny Objects Syndrome (44:12)
  • UX of Ambient-Driven Experiences (50:46)
  • UX Superhero Name (56:14)
  • Habit of Success (57:11)
  • Invincible Resource (60:05)
  • Best Advice (61:00)
  • Contact Info (63:34)

Continue reading 046: Good Design Favors the Curious with Joe Johnston

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

User Defenders podcast
User Defenders podcast
Leadership
041: Everything's Terrible, and That's Great with Matt Griffin
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User Defenders

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