User Defenders – UX Design & Personal Growth

Latest Episodes:

015: Going the Distance with Rachel Andrew Feb 29, 2016

Show notes

Rachel Andrew inspires us to understand people who are not like us because most often the products we design are not for us. She motivates us with her successful habit of GTD (Getting Things Done). She teaches us that solid attention to detail and ability to execute can be more important than specific technical skills. She also proves to us that experience never gets old.

Rachel Andrew is a Web Pioneer and the Managing Director and founder of UK-based web development company EdgeOfMySeat.com. She’s a prolific author of a number of Web Development books including her most recent A Book Apart published “Get Ready for CSS Grid Layout“. She’s also an active speaker who has spoken at a number of notable web conferences. When she’s not writing code, or writing about writing code…she’s a taxi to teenagers and quite a fitness buff.

LINKS @RachelAndrew Rachel’s Web Site Perch CMS

[ARTICLE] Perfectionism or procrastination? Reframing the MVP [RESOURCE] Style guides and pattern libraries [BOOK] Atomic Design by Brad Frost [BOOK] The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right by Atul Gawande

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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: Cesar Lemus | Editing: Chris Combs | Prep: Win Goodbody | Music: Wyman Gentry

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014: Design Write with Khoi Vinh Feb 15, 2016

Show notes

Khoi Vinh teaches us that designers can do their best work by drawing on many different sources and working on different challenges simultaneously. A big fan of breaking large problems up into actionable chunks and making lists of all those things that need to get done, Vinh enjoys articulating the value of the design process to colleagues and executives. And for a guy with his hand in some of the latest new software tools for mobile, his advice for getting better at your design may surprise you: write.

Khoi Vinh (Mr. Subtraction) is an experience designer, prolific blogger, and the Principal Designer at Adobe. He has already and continues to make huge impacts in the creation of tools and methods toward designing on-the-go using mobile devices. He’s the former New York Times Design Director and one of the 50 most influential designers in America according to Fast Company. He’s also an author who’s written books like “Ordering Disorder”, “Grid Principles For Web Design”, and recently released “How They Got There” that interviews top designers and how they got where they are which is a great parallel and compliment to this show.

LINKS @Khoi on Twitter Khoi’s Website [MOVIE] Design is One: Lella & Massimo Vignelli [BOOK] How They Got There by Khoi Vinh [BOOK] The Inmates Are Running the Asylum by Alan Cooper

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

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013: Practice What You Do with Dan Mall Feb 01, 2016

Show notes

Dan Mall inspires us to get really good at what we do by constantly practicing it. He reminds us of the importance of work/life balance and setting the right priorities. He also reminds us that there’s a big difference between being a leader and being a boss, and how great leaders are always looking for ways to serve their people. He also shares with us that the future of good UX is the same as it’s always been…invisible.

Dan Mall (Vision) is the founder and Design Director of the magnificent design collaborative “SuperFriendly” based in Philadelphia where he teams up with his own Justice League of top-notch design superheroes such as Josh Clark (a.k.a. Dr. Touch) and Brad Frost. He’s the author of A Book Apart published “Pricing Design“. He’s been the Design Director at Big Spaceship, Interactive Director at Happy Cog, technical editor for A List Apart, and singer/keyboard player for contemporary-Christian band Four24. He has a passion for playing matchmaker between surprising art direction and intuitive interaction design. His most significant role I’d wager is as an enthralled husband and Dad.

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012: You Can Only Keep What You Have if You’re Willing to Give it Away with KaL MichaeL Jan 18, 2016

Show notes

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

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

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011: The Best Interface is No Interface with Golden Krishna Jan 04, 2016

Show notes

Golden Krishna teaches us that it’s possible to reduce our amount of screen time and still solve people’s problems elegantly in the background. He enlightens us to how much we’re all drowning in screens. He also shares with us that our stuff isn’t good enough, and it never will be because as designers we’re always striving to make things better.

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Buy the Book

Golden Krishna is a deeply thoughtful design innovator. Even though his website introduces him with the humble title of “UX Designer”, he’s the visionary superhero creating a powerful ripple effect in the UX world through his pioneering of the “No UI” movement starting with his popular essay that turned into his essential-reading book, “The Best Interface is No Interface“. In his work at Samsung, he’s been a part of the creation of products that the market has not even defined yet. He’s also worked at Cooper solving big UX problems for Fortune 50 companies.

LINKS Golden’s Website Golden’s Twitter [BOOK] The Best Interface Is No Interface [VIDEO] SXSW Talk

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

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2015 Year End Review Dec 28, 2015

Show notes

In lieu of our normal episode, I wanted to do a quick Year End Review to offer a retrospective of 2015 and a glimpse into 2016 by addressing these three things:

Things Accomplished
Top 3 Learnings From Guests This Year
What to expect from UX/UD in 2016

I can’t thank you enough for your enthusiastic support Defenders and can’t wait for all 2016 has in store!

010: Pay Attention to the Unseen with Jeff Barnaby Dec 21, 2015

Show notes

Jeff Barnaby inspires us to pay attention to the unseen and always keep it simple. He shares with us that organization is the most important factor to success. He also encourages us to keep ourselves and our clients educated and that ours and our clients personal preferences should come last and our users’ should come first.

Jeff Barnaby (Incognito) is a Creative Director, UI Designer, Web Developer and branding aficionado, He’s the man behind the powerful UX Design and creative agency Brandhorse based in Los Angeles. California. He’s also quite the chef and always a sharp-dressed man.

LINKS Jeff’s Twitter Brandhorse

[RESOURCE] Sketch [RESOURCE] Framer [BOOK] The Design of Sites

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

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009: There is No “Big Time”, There’s Always Something Ahead with Josh Clark Dec 14, 2015

Show notes

Josh Clark inspires us to not forget to splash in puddles and give ourselves permission to play in our work. He encourages us to not just tell our story, but to find out our users’ story and craft our experience and technology around that. He also shares with us that the things we make are not who we are and to think deeply about what kind of world we want to make…because we’re the ones shaping it.

Josh Clark (“Dr. Touch”) is a designer specializing in mobile design, strategy and user experience especially as it relates to touch. He’s the founder of the powerful design laboratory Big Medium (formerly Global Moxie). He’s the author of five books including the O’Reilly published Tapworthy and the newly released A Book Apart published “Designing for Touch”. He’s also a prominent blogger and speaker, the creator of the popular Couch to 5K running program, and he happens to be Maine’s 11th strongest man.

LINKS Josh’s Website Josh’s Twitter

[RESOURCE] Spending time with people. [BOOK] Enchanted Objects [BOOK] Designing Connected Products [BOOK] The Circle

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

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008: There’s a Lot of Opportunity for Those Who Are Willing to Take Some Risks with Ben Callahan Dec 07, 2015

Show notes

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)

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

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007: Focus More on Solving Problems and Less On Dribbble Likes with Rafal Tomal Nov 30, 2015

Show notes

Rafal Tomal inspires us to focus more on solving complicated problems for clients, and less on Dribbble likes. He also emphasizes the importance of keeping our UI and layouts minimal to make room for typography and especially to limit the number of choices we want our users to make to the most critical ones. He also inspires us to not shy away from starting with the most important tools we have…our brain, paper and a pencil.

Rafal Tomal (Typography Man) is the Lead Designer at Rainmaker Digital where he designs effective digital brands and experiences that convert for some of the most successful and respected digital entrepreneurs around. He’s also a blogger and eBook author focusing on teaching others how to make simple, smart, and effective designs that connect with the audience.

LINKS Rafal’s Website Rafal’s Twitter

[RESOURCE] InVision App [BOOK] Don’t Make Me Think

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

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