User Defenders – UX Design & Personal Growth

Latest Episodes:

062: UX School of No B.S. with Joe Natoli Jun 24, 2019

Show notes

Artwork by Eli Jorgensen

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)

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061: Empathy as a Design Superpower with Jason Ogle Jun 10, 2019

Show notes

Jason Ogle proves that empathic design is not only possible, but essential in creating life-changing products and services. He enlightens us to our seldom talked about mirror neurons and the critical role they play in user testing. He shines a spotlight on incredibly powerful and moving examples of empathy in design. He also teaches us how empathy can not only be taught and learned, but practiced, because being great designer begins and ends with being a great human.

Jason Ogle is human, not dancer. He fails early and learns often. He’s a growth-minded, avid reader and listener whose vehicle is a rolling university, and a biz-minded, strategic designer who loves to make life better for his users. He’s a passionate user defender who fights for the users who are victims of bad design decisions. He’s an influential podcaster who uses the enchanting magic of audio to inspire and equip an audience of hungry and ambitious designers. He’s an evocative (often contrarian) writer who believeth in the power of the written word. He’s a self-aware and highly empathic servant-leader who believes that humans are so much more than resources. He’s also a loving husband, father of seven (one’s in heaven), and thankful believer who has a personal relationship with the Creator of the Universe. Fun fact: He once had to get a manicure to be a hand-model for a tech ad, and he has a rare essay titled “Altars of Satan” given to him and signed by Eldridge Cleaver.

Intro Story (00:24)
What is Empathy? (5:04)
Mirror Neurons (9:14)
Still Face Experiment (11:17)
Mirror Neurons and Movies (15:59)
Inspiring Examples from IDEO (19:19)
Doug Dietz’s Empathy for Terminally Ill Children (23:35)
Margaret Hamilton’s Empathy for Apollo 11 (29:44)
Can We Grow in Empathy? (34:07)
Seth Godin Explaining Empathy (35:21)
Put Your Oxygen Mask on First (36:10)
Seth Godin on Faked Empathy (39:19)
Seth Godin on Being Indispensable in an AI World (40:57)
Empathy & Mindfulness (43:23)
Rise to the Empathy Challenge (45:55)

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060: Improv & UX?! Yes, and… with Mike Gorgone May 27, 2019

Show notes

Original photo by Ged Carroll

Mike Gorgone unleashes his impromptu playbook to rescue us from our most unwelcome critic…ourselves. He teaches us how marrying the two seemingly disparate concepts of improv & UX, can help us break free from the crippling self-doubt that keeps us from our best collaborations. Yes, and he shows us how fun kills fear. He also reveals how even the “bad ideas” can lead us to great ones while building a fantastic UX punchline worthy of a standing ovation.

Mike Gorgone is someone who loves being part of a creative, supportive and collaborative design team that builds engaging experiences for digital products at a company that fosters a culture that values design thinking and makes it a priority in how the company runs and solves problems. He currently gets to do all of the above in the Experience Design (XD) Group at EY. He discovered Improv when he lived in Chicago and started taking classes at Second City and iO (formerly improvOlympic). Improv taught him how to be present and more aware of the moment as well as how to listen and absorb information instead of just listening to respond. I also learned (and frequently witnessed) that a group can create more amazing and incredible work when collaborating together in a non-judgmental and supportive manner than any of those individuals could have created working alone.

What Got You into Improv? (3:47)
What Was the Aha Moment That Inspired You to Combine Improv with UX? (7:43)
Are You Also Presenting at These Workshops? (9:44)
Are You Writing a Book on This Topic? (10:09)
Workshop Topics (11:09)
Where Does Improv Fit in the Design Process? (18:01)
How Does the Yes And Exercise Work? (20:57)
Coaching Through the Fears of Doing Improv (26:47)
Feeling Safe About Ideas in the Workplace (32:36)
What Can Help to Make You Better at Improv? (38:56)
How Can We Use This in the Field? (42:09)
Final Thoughts (51:50)

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059: Writing for Designers with Scott Kubie May 13, 2019

Show notes

Scott Kubie shows us how writing is designing with words. He reminds us that someone has to be the writer, and it’s our job to know who that person is. He calls on us to take up the task of writing when nobody else can, and warns of what leaving it till the end will do. He also shares some neat tricks to spur momentum and overcome those intimidating blank pages.

Scott Kubie is the Lead Content Strategist at Brain Traffic, and the author of Writing for Designers from A Book Apart. He can be found online at kubie.co, and in person at various grungy rock clubs around the Twin Cities. Since 2010, Scott has delivered over sixty public talks and workshops on writing, content strategy, and user experience design to audiences of designers, developers, artists, makers, and more. His academic career was marked by several superlatives for “Best Hair”.

Why Do We Forget About Writing? (6:30)
What’s Wrong with Lorem Ipsum? (9:36)
Present the Problem Before the Visuals (12:57)
Are Designers Expected to Be Writers? (15:55)
The Rough-In Process (20:08)
Getting Approval Through Stakeholder Participation (24:11)
Putting It All Together (30:12)
IKEA Instructions with Words (37:43)
Edit Yourself Later (41:49)
How to Level Up (47:10)

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058: Finding the Right Cultural Fit with Justin Dauer Apr 29, 2019

Show notes

Artwork by Eli Jorgensen

Justin Dauer implores us never settle in our important quest to find the right cultural fit. He reminds us that being human-centered doesn’t just affect our users, but especially the humans we interact with. He encourages us to think hard about where we choose to hang our hat, & understand what the ramifications of the wrong decision may be. He also reveals the maze of signals to watch out for in our search for the culture that will foster our creativity, & empower our passion to produce what could be our greatest work…yet.

Justin Dauer is a passionate user advocate, designer, writer, and denim elitist from Chicago. Through bloodshot tunnel vision, he’s drawn from career experiences across agency side, client side, design studio, and pure tech to foster healthy, dynamic, supportive, creative cultures. Crafting as the Vice President of UX & Development for bswift by day, his personal creative outlet by night (and day) is pseudoroom which also happens to be his Twitter handle. He eats a bowl of cereal every night before bed. Every. Night.

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What Does It Mean to Say “The Right Cultural Fit”? (5:07)
Why It’s Vital to Find That Fit (7:28)
What Are the Reasons You Made This Your Life Mission? (8:55)
Is It a Good Plan to Apply for Jobs Everywhere? (17:13)
The Best Ways to Vet a Company’s Culture (22:47)
Is It Worth Jumping into an Undesirable Culture to Gain Experience? (31:57)
Before Heading into an Interview (34:25)
Thoughts on Interview Questions (40:32)
Advice for Listeners Who Feel Stuck (44:35)

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057: Interviewing Like a Boss with Andy Vitale Apr 15, 2019

Show notes

Artwork by Eli Jorgensen

Andy Vitale teaches us all about how to interview for our next UX job like a boss. He emphasizes the importance of avoiding jargon, and at all costs the temptation to conflate confidence with arrogance. He reminds us to be prepared to get way out of our comfort zones, and even offers smart techniques on how to cope with the discomfort in those critical moments. He also points out that pay isn’t everything, and that a fantastic work culture can make all the difference.

Andy Vitale is the UX Director of Wholesale Banking at SunTrust Bank, one of the nation’s largest financial services companies, where his focus is on translating human insights into actionable experiences to improve the product and service ecosystem within the finance industry. Throughout his career, he has held multiple roles as a designer, entrepreneur, education department chair, and design leader. Aside from his primary role at SunTrust, Andy serves as Director of Design Impact for AIGA Minnesota and often speaks and writes about design. Not-so-fun fact: He was working at a company that suffered the first anthrax attack in the United States back in 2001.

The Importance of Soft Skills (4:55)
Calming Your Nerves (17:08)
The Importance of Body Language (22:18)
What Do You Love About Interviewing? (36:15)
What Do You Hate About Interviewing? (38:21)
How Much Should I Be Paid? (41:13)
Discussing Salary During an Interview (47:06)
Favorite Last Interview Questions (51:07)
Whiteboard Exercise Preparation (54:58)
How to Tell If a Company Understands UX (60:29)
Words of Encouragement (63:47)

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056: Building an Effective UX Portfolio with Sarah Doody Apr 01, 2019

Show notes

Artwork by Eli Jorgensen

Sarah Doody challenges us to think of our portfolio as one of the most important products we’ll ever create. She urges us to not only communicate our contributions, but to both show and tell the story of each project. In the end, she teaches us that using the right process is more than just about landing our next UX job–it will also make us better designers.

Sarah Doody is a user experience designer and product strategist based in New York City. She helps product teams create products people need and love. She does this through smart and fast research, prototyping, and experience design. She produces a highly acclaimed weekly newsletter called the UX Notebook. She created and taught General Assembly’s first 12-week User Experience program back in 2011. She was originally going to be a neuroscientist.

Ideal Number of Projects (4:07)
Lead with the Best Project (5:40)
Alternate Portfolios (7:13)
What a Recruiter Is Looking For Most (13:03)
Proving Your Knowledge (15:52)
What Does Storytelling Mean? (23:47)
Edit Your Work (29:48)
Do You Need a Website? (39:44)
Build a Portfolio Quickly (49:36)
The UX Academy (54:09)
Best Advice (56:31)

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055: How to Get Your Foot in the Door with Andy Budd Mar 18, 2019

Show notes

Artwork by Eli Jorgensen

Andy Budd reveals what the hiring minds of companies are really thinking. He answers how to navigate the recruitment process and presents an invaluable insight that shows how to subvert it altogether. He urges us to be more of who we are and to recognize that each of us has unique talents that are fit for the right organizations at the right time. He also emphasizes that it’s up to each job seeker to communicate their personal value if they want to land the job of their dreams.

Andy Budd is a user experience Designer and CEO of Clearleft. He’s a best-selling tech author, curates the dConstruct and UX London conferences and helped set-up The Brighton Digital Festival. He created Silverback, a low-cost usability testing application for the Mac, and co-founded Fontdeck, a web typography start-up. He’s a regular speaker at international conferences like SXSW, An Event Apart and The Next Web. He’s also a retired dive instructor, shark wrangler, trained cave diver, he used to juggle fire for money and did his first solo flight before he was legally allowed to drive.

Resumes That Stand Out (6:20)
UX Educations (28:45)
Does Your Appearance Matter? (38:23)
What About Soft Skills? (48:25)
The Recruiter Follow-Up (60:09)
Asking for Feedback (67:30)

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Radical Empathy with Seth Godin Nov 13, 2018

Show notes

Artwork by Eli Jorgensen | Photo by Brian Bloom

Seth Godin shows us what radical empathy looks like. He reminds us to do work that matters, for people who care by focusing on serving a minimum viable audience. He teaches us that the way to stay indispensable in our work is to do work where you can’t write down the steps. He also reveals how faked empathy is just as good as real empathy for the true professional acting ‘as if’.

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Seth Godin is the author of 18 books that have been bestsellers around the world and have been translated into more than 35 languages. He’s also the founder of the altMBA and The Marketing Seminar, online workshops that have transformed the work of thousands of people. He writes about the post-industrial revolution, the way ideas spread, marketing, quitting, leadership and most of all, changing everything. You might be familiar with his books Linchpin, Tribes, The Dip and Purple Cow. In addition to his writing and speaking, Seth has founded several companies, including Yoyodyne and Squidoo. His blog (which you can find by typing “seth” into Google) is one of the most popular in the world. In 2018, he was inducted into the Marketing Hall of Fame. His latest book, What To Do When It’s Your Turn is now in its fifth printing, and his new book, This Is Marketing, comes out this November. A fun fact about Seth is he did the first generation UX for educational computer games in 1983…when dinosaurs ruled the Earth.

Creating UX for Early Computer Games (4:23)
What Book Would the Seth Godin of the Industrial Revolution Write? (6:43)
How Do You Define Empathy? (9:30)
Why is Empathy Important in Doing Great Work? (12:01)
What’s Your Greatest Story of Empathy in Action? (14:50)
One of the Greatest Marketing Lessons Seth Ever Learned (18:44)
Status Over Empathy (25:07)
Empathy Learned the Hard Way (28:19)
What’s Your Best Advice in Building our Empathy Levels? (30:33)
Advice for Becoming Better Storytellers (32:51)
Are Our Smartphone Addictions Negatively Affecting our Empathy Levels? (34:27)
Seth’s Apple Rant (37:44)
Apple Could Solve the Texting & Driving Dilemma in 4 Minutes (If They Wanted To) (39:31)
How Do We Stay Indispensable In Our Work in an AI World? (41:16)
Faked Empathy is Just as Good as Real Empathy (43:59)
What Makes You Angry? (45:34)
Jason’s Blurb for Seth’s New Book “This is Marketing” (48:10)

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054: UX Research on a Budget with Becca Kennedy Nov 05, 2018

Show notes

Artwork by Eli Jorgensen

Becca Kennedy teaches us how to do UX research on a budget. She encourages newer designers to demonstrate their problem-solving superpowers by redesigning sub-par experiences they use regularly. She reminds us that users are human before they’re users. She also shows us how we can have anything in life we want, if we will just help others get what they want.

Becca Kennedy is a Human Factors Psychologist and a UX Researcher/Designer. After an academic career designing and evaluating healthcare training technology, she turned independent and co-founded a UX consulting company called Kennason in 2015 out of Albany, NY. Currently, Becca is the UX Designer for Agrilyst, an agriculture-tech startup based in Brooklyn. She also keeps busy with consulting projects and volunteering with organizations like AIGA Upstate New York. She was recently recognized by the Albany Business Review as a 40 Under 40 awardee. Fun Fact: She has three tattoos, and all are kind of nerdy: a symbolic nod to getting through a PhD program, a subtle Star Wars X-Wing, and a piece of the original Epcot branding in Walt Disney World.

Becca’s Tattoo’s Origin Story (5:31)
Why Psychology? (6:26)
What is Human Factors? (11:43)
How do we find research subjects? (24:06)
The Law of Diminishing Returns (31:16)
Awkward Testing Story (32:57)
Design Superpower (39:14)
Design Kryptonite (40:48)
Coping with Imposter Syndrome (44:49)
UX Superhero Name (49:10)
Should we Call Them Users? (53:45)
Fights for Users (56:33)
Habit of Success (59:11)
Invincible Resource (61:54)
Recommended Book (63:54)
Best Advice (66:09)
Contact Info (70:07)

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