NN/G UX Podcast

Latest Episodes:

7. Lessen Digital Misery with Complex Apps (feat. Page Laubheimer, Sr. UX Specialist at NN/g) Feb 05, 2021

Show notes

"Keep it simple," is one of many great UX mantras... but how exactly does someone "keep it simple" when working with complex applications? In this episode, Page Laubheimer, Senior UX Specialist with NN/g, shares his expertise in information architecture (IA) and complex app design, recommends a few ideas to "lessen digital misery" on business-to-business (B2B) and enterprise applications, and offers advice for when you have to redesign a legacy application that is part of a user's everyday life.

Resources cited in this episode:

Designing Complex Apps for Specialized Domains (full-day course)
Data Visualizations for Dashboards (4-min video)
Dashboards: Making Charts and Graphs Easier to Understand (NN/g article)
Why I Now Use “Four-Threshold” Flags On Dashboards (Nick Desbarats' article)
Tesler's Law (Wikipedia article)
Page's NN/g Articles and Videos (bio page)

6. Ethics in UX (feat. Maria Rosala, UX Specialist at NN/g) Jan 01, 2021

Show notes

Aren't all "user-centered" designs ethical by default if we're giving people what they want? Not exactly. Maria Rosala, UX Specialist at NN/g, shares her thoughts about how we can be better researchers and designers by asking critical questions about our research and design decisions, evaluating important tradeoffs, and ensuring we include the right people in our research and design process.

Resources Cited in this Episode:

User Interviews (UX Certification course)
Design Tradeoffs and UX Decision Frameworks (UX Certification course)
Ethics in User Research (1-hr online seminar)
You Are Not The User: The False-Consensus Effect (free article)
TED Talk: How I'm fighting bias in algorithms | Joy Buolamwini (9 min YouTube video)

Also related: How Inclusive Design Expands Business Value (1-hr online seminar)

5. ROI: The Business Value of UX (feat. Kate Moran, Sr. UX Specialist at NN/g) Dec 04, 2020

Show notes

How do you evaluate the impact of UX work? As the world faces another bout of pandemic lockdowns, UX teams are finding themselves in a tough position of justifying their work to business decision-makers. Kate Moran, Senior UX Specialist at NN/g, shares insights from her recently published report on UX Metrics and ROI (return on investment) and offers advice on how to prove your worth. In this episode, we cover: what ROI is and why it matters, avoiding common pitfalls when calculating ROI, and how to stay growth-oriented without harming long-term business strategy.

Resources cited in this episode:

UX Metrics and ROI report (297-page report)
Measuring UX and ROI (full-day course)
Myths of Calculating ROI (free article)
Don't Shame Your Users Into Converting (4-min video)
Stop Shaming Your Users for Micro Conversions (free article)
Kate's NN/g Articles and Videos (bio page)

4. Creativity During a Crisis (feat. Aurora Harley, Sr. UX Specialist at NN/g) Nov 06, 2020

Show notes

"Diamonds are made under pressure," but what does that mean for creativity and productivity? Aurora Harley, Senior UX Specialist, shares some advice on staying creative and productive during times of stress, thoughts on reframing constraints as opportunities, and tips for nurturing an environment that fosters innovative thought regardless of distance.
Resources Cited in this Episode

Effective Ideation Techniques for UX Design (full-day course)
Changing Role of the Designer (Don Norman) (5 min video)
Ideation Techniques for a One-Person UX Team (2 min video)
Remote Ideation - Synchronous or Asynchronous Techniques (4 min video)
Troubleshooting Group Ideation: 10 Fixes for More and Better UX Ideas (free article)

3. UX Careers: Growing in (and out of) Your Current Role (feat. Rachel Krause, UX Specialist at NN/g) Oct 09, 2020

Show notes

What does a typical UX career path look like? Are there even typical career paths in UX? How can you become a UX leader? What should new and seasoned UX professionals keep in mind as they move through their careers? Rachel Krause, a UX Specialist at Nielsen Norman Group, shares her insights from her research on the UX profession, and perspectives from her own journey into the field of user experience.

Resources Cited in this Episode:

What a UX Career Looks Like Today(free article)
User Experience Careers(90-page report)
Management vs. Specialization as UX Career Growth (3 min video)
The State of UX Job Descriptions (3 min video)
Being a UX Leader: Essential Skills for Any UX Practitioner (full-day course)

2. Empathy, Adaptability, and Design (feat. Sarah Gibbons, Chief Designer at NN/g) Sep 04, 2020

Show notes

Sarah Gibbons & Therese Fessenden discuss empathy and adaptability as critical design skills (perhaps now more than ever) and share thoughts on how design plays a bigger role than meets the eye.

Resources cited in this episode:

NN/g Instagram: @nngux
Service Blueprinting (full-day course)
Design Thinking is Like Cooking (2 min video)
UX Roadmaps (full-day course)
UX Roadmaps: Definition and Components (free article)
Sarah's NN/g Articles and Videos (bio page)

Also related: Brené on Comparative Suffering, the 50/50 Myth, and Settling the Ball (Unlocking Us with Brené Brown podcast episode)

1. What is UX, anyway? (feat. Dr. Jakob Nielsen, the usability guru) Aug 10, 2020

Show notes

Nielsen Norman Group is celebrating its 22nd anniversary by launching our very own NN/g UX Podcast. Join host Therese Fessenden as she interviews NN/g co-founder Dr. Jakob Nielsen on the most important questions about our industry: What really is "user experience," anyway? And what is the state of UX now, compared to when NN/g started 22 years ago?

Resources Cited in this Episode:

The Definition of User Experience (article)
WAP Mobile Phones Field Study Findings (article)
Describing UX to Family and Friends (3-min video)
Usability 101: Introduction to Usability (article)
User Experience vs. Customer Experience (article)
Jakob Nielsen's Profile, Articles, and Videos

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