022: The Little Details can Make a Big Difference with Jordan Dobson

User Defenders podcast
User Defenders podcast
Prototyping
022: The Little Details can Make a Big Difference with Jordan Dobson
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User Defenders "Minutia" Jordan Dobson

Jordan Dobson inspires us to never stop learning and be generous in sharing knowledge with others. He encourages us to craft prototypes in order to gain valuable insight early and often. He challenges designers to gain empathy for their developers by learning a bit about code. He also shows us how the little details can make a big difference.

Jordan Dobson (Minutia) is a hybrid designer, developer and prototyping visionary with over 17 years of experience. He brings motion into visual, product & UI design to build amazing digital products. He’s a freelancer currently contracting at Skype. He’s worked at Microsoft and is also co-founder of the Seattle FramerJS Meetup. Back in the day he could ollie off a launch ramp clearing four trash cans & land it.

  • Secret Identity/Origin Story (2:16/5:18)
  • Biggest Superhero (13:44)
  • Second Career Choice (14:43)
  • Biggest Failure (16:47)
  • Awkward Testing Story (22:12)
  • Design Superpower (25:22)
  • Design Kryptonite (28:52)
  • Design Superhero Name (33:48)
  • Fight For Users (35:07)
  • Future Of UX Design (37:21)
  • Habit Of Success (39:50)
  • Coder Who Designs Or Designer Who Codes (42:34)
  • Should Designers (43:01)
  • Best Path To code (51:18)
  • Invincible Resource (54:28)
  • Book Recommendation (56:52)
  • Best Advice (58:29)
  • Listener Question (1:00:17)
  • Most Excited About (1:04:06)
  • Contact Info (1:06:33)

Continue reading 022: The Little Details can Make a Big Difference with Jordan Dobson

020: Stay Enchanted with Jeffrey Zeldman (Part I)

User Defenders podcast
Web Design
020: Stay Enchanted with Jeffrey Zeldman (Part I)
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User Defenders "Zeld Man" Jeffrey Zeldman

Don’t miss Part II of this unforgettable interview with Jeffrey Zeldman.

Jeffrey Zeldman dives deep into his origin story to enlighten us on how he got started on the Web. He inspires us to not get caught up in the buzzwords, but to keep it simple and clear. He also gets vulnerable to reveal how overcoming his biggest failure has led to his greatest successes.

Jeffrey Zeldman is the Godfather of Web Design, and unquestionably the greatest friend of the Web. He’s a guy behind highly esteemed Web Design content initiatives such as A List Apart, An Event Apart and A Book Apart. He’s a prolific speaker and heavily influential blogger. He’s the Author of the our industry’s staple: Designing with Web Standards. He’s the host of The Big Web Show. He’s also the founder of renown Web Design studio Happy Cog. Back in the day, he played synth and Casiotone with The Insect Surfers, a DC post-punk techno-surf band.

LINKS
Jeffrey’s Twitter
Jeffrey’s Website


DESIGN SUPERPOWER
I think it’s my ability to talk and communicate. I never learn the buzzwords. As long as I’ve been in this field, I still speak in down-to-earth terms and I think it’s really helpful. I went through a period of extreme pretension in my early 20’s in the way I expressed myself. I wanted everyone to know how smart I was it was…like the one thing about myself that I was proud of I guess–and man it’s a big mistake. I’m able to listen, synthesize and feed-back what seems to be happening in a way that makes sense.

DESIGN KRYPTONITE
Bullying. People can steamroller me. I hire good people, let them do what they do, and try not to interfere. My worst characteristic is that I’m not always strong enough with my people. I’m better with clients. I’m not afraid of clients–it’s mainly people that I’m close to, and I don’t want to confront them.

SUPERHERO NAME
Zeld Man

HOW DO YOU FIGHT FOR YOUR USERS?
It’s a combination of listening, research, testing, and also just gut instinct. I don’t want to underrate gut instinct. I think you have to have a tremendous instinct as a designer, and say I wouldn’t do it this way. And then you have to test those assumptions because you’re often wrong. The longer we’re designers, the more we think differently about other people and therefore the natural way we would do something isn’t the way that everyone else would do it. You have to have a feeling for what things work, and then you have to test. I think we underestimate users a lot.

FUTURE OF UX
I think all the principles we’ve been discussing are going to stay the same. We’re still going to be facilitating people uploading their own content and interacting with their friends’ content. We’re still going to be facilitating people watching professional content, and reading professional content. There’ll be a continual blurring of the the lines between both. More wearables, smaller screens like watches. They’re going to be more things we interact with using part of our bodies. Where we interact without looking at something. There will be many more sensors in place to make people’s lives easier, more convenient and more fulfilling. Those are the challenges. The other challenges are keeping it human. I think we’re going to have to be protecting people, and liberating and empowering, but not enslaving. And that’s always tricky.

HABIT OF SUCCESS
Writing. I would not know what I believed if I didn’t write it down and express it. I wouldn’t have design opinions. I love instincts and working on instincts, but I really need to use words to just step back from the trance of doing design as a physical practice.

BEST ADVICE
Don’t be discouraged. Don’t stop. And don’t settle.


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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.

SUPER-CRED
Artwork by Cesar Lemus | Editing by Chris Combs | Music by Wyman Gentry

016: Meaning Comes from Making with Alexa Leigh Herasimchuk

User Defenders podcast
User Defenders podcast
Mentorship
016: Meaning Comes from Making with Alexa Leigh Herasimchuk
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User Defenders "Essence" Alexa Leigh Herasimchuk

Alexa Leigh Herasimchuk inspires us to go find our why and to not fear reaching out to people who inspire us. She teaches us that the future of UX should be integrated into our education system. She reminds us that we can’t make people care, but we can build things people care about. She also encourages us to design systems that are helpful (not harmful) to future generations.

Alexa Leigh Herasimchuk is a Product Designer at Yelp where she designs thoughtful ways to connect people to local businesses, and business owners to their communities. She also cares about people…a lot. So much so that she started a really interesting project with her partner called “Practice Happy” where they set out to redefine the understanding of happiness. She created a project called #100DaysOfThinking where she posts inspirational quotes and thoughts each day to help make better sense of the world and to relate with others. She’s a designer because she wants to be a part of crafting something greater than herself and for the world to be better because she was here.

LINKS
@AlexaLeighH
Alexa’s Website
Practice Happy

[RESOURCE] Do something not related to design. Get outside, or listen to interesting podcasts. Find a great mentor.
[RESOURCE] Dear Design Student
[VIDEO] We Are What We Build by Eric Meyer
[BOOK] Just Design
[BOOK] Designing for Social Change


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.

SUPER-CRED
Artwork: Cesar Lemus | Editing: Chris Combs | Prep: Win Goodbody | Music: Wyman Gentry

Continue reading 016: Meaning Comes from Making with Alexa Leigh Herasimchuk

012: You Can Only Keep What You Have if You’re Willing to Give it Away with KaL MichaeL

User Defenders podcast
User Defenders podcast
Empathy
012: You Can Only Keep What You Have if You’re Willing to Give it Away with KaL MichaeL
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User Defenders KaL MichaeL

KaL MichaeL teaches us that empathy is less of something we practice and more of a result of patience and perseverance. He challenges us to remain humble enough to know that we do not know everything, and what we don’t know will always far surpass what we do know. He also encourages us to own our skill sets and to not do anything blindly like following trends for the sake of trends.

KaL is a passionate UI and Experience Designer and has been affecting change and improving lives through his design work for the past 14 years. Five and a half of those years were spent as Lead Creative at Apple improving the retail corporate site experience and building internal sites for enhanced communications. He’s utilized his expertise in iOS and Mac design solutions through his design of the award-winning PDF Expert app. He also has a meticulous attention to detail always remains open and teachable in advancing the tech industry. One way he’s doing that is through his work as a Mentor with Cascade SF.

LINKS
KaL’s Website
KaL’s Twitter
ODI
Spark
Plaaying for Mac

[RESOURCE] Draw everything.
[BOOK] What Customers Want


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.

SUPER-CRED
Artwork by Cesar Lemus | Editing by Chris Combs | Music by Wyman Gentry

Continue reading 012: You Can Only Keep What You Have if You’re Willing to Give it Away with KaL MichaeL

008: There’s a Lot of Opportunity for Those Who Are Willing to Take Some Risks with Ben Callahan

User Defenders podcast
User Defenders podcast
Leadership
008: There’s a Lot of Opportunity for Those Who Are Willing to Take Some Risks with Ben Callahan
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User Defenders "Mr. Middleman" Ben Callahan

Ben Callahan inspires us to be passionate about the interfaces we design and put ourselves in the shoes of the people who are using them to do amazing things. He shares a really interesting parallel from Jazz music to the work we do. He reminds us to make every day count by first thinking about what’s truly important and impactful for that day. He also encourages us to not be afraid to make stuff and put it out there because we’ll only get better by trying.

Ben Callahan is the president of the insanely talented and nimble web design studio Sparkbox in beautiful Dayton, Ohio. Ben is unquestionably one of today’s foremost experts on Responsive Web Design and building responsibly. He’s an active blogger and TedX speaker who has been invited to speak at pretty much any notable web design conference that exists. He’s also a family man, a fellow coffee snob, and one of the nicest, down-to-earth guys I’ve met in this industry.

LINKS
Ben’s Twitter
Ben’s Website
Ben’s Blog
Sparkbox
Codepen Redesign
[VIDEO] Ben’s TedX Talk

[RESOURCE] UIE Library
[BOOK] On The Run (A Fugitive Life In An American City)


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.

SUPER-CRED
Artwork by Cesar Lemus | Editing by Chris Combs | Music by Wyman Gentry

Continue reading 008: There’s a Lot of Opportunity for Those Who Are Willing to Take Some Risks with Ben Callahan