Shows
UX CakeShaping Design Careers, featuring Jason MesutDo you want your career to be sustainable and aligned with what truly matters to you? Designing a holistic career that embraces every part of who we are can be a complex and meaningful challenge. This week Leigh and guest Jason Mesut have a captivating discussion about the significance of aligning personal values with work and finding meaning in one's career. Jason is an experienced design strategist and leader, who conducts workshops on and has written extensively about shaping one’s future in design. Jason sheds light on the limitations of traditional career la...
2023-06-0141 min
UX CakeSystems Thinking for Designers, featuring Sheryl Cababa & Leigh Allen-ArredondoIn this episode, we chat with Sheryl Cababa, Chief Strategy Officer at Substantial and author of "Closing the Loop: Systems Thinking for Designers." She introduces the concept of systems thinking, which is a way to consider the broader implications of design decisions. By examining the entire problem and understanding the interconnections between various components, designers can anticipate and address potential issues and create more holistic and impactful solutions.🎤About Our Guest:Sheryl Cababa is the Chief Strategy Officer at Substantial, and the Author of “Closing the Loop: Systems Thinking for Designers”, which wa...
2023-05-1743 min
UX CakeThe Quiet Leader: Strategies for Introverts with Tim YeoThis episode is about quiet leadership - how you can be an authentic leader even if you don’t have the loudest voice in the room. We’re joined by Tim Yeo, a design leader and speaker who helps introverts have an impact and influence without having to pretend to be extroverts. Tim is the brain behind The Quiet Achiever, where he coaches introverts to use their strengths to their advantage. Tim shares his experience working in environments where strong opinions and loud voices are the norm, and how he was pressured to speak up more. Tim i...
2023-05-0140 min
UX CakeAdding Strategic Value to Tactical Work with Laura BarbozaAre you a UX practitioner who's frustrated with feeling like you lack agency in your work? Or maybe you're someone who wants to take their UX game to the next level by incorporating strategic outcomes into your tactical deliverables? You’re not alone! Listen (or watch) on…This week I’m joined by my long-time friend, colleague, and UX Strategy expert Laura Barboza for the beginning of our 4th season of UX Cake! Laura and I explore the differences between strategic and tactical work in UX research and design. We start by discussing why it...
2023-04-0655 min
UX Cake(Best of) On Recovering and Reinvention: Navigating Career Changes with John MaedaWith so many people facing changes in their work and careers right now, navigating the complex and turbulent waters of layoffs, org changes, and economic adjustments can be incredibly challenging.My guest today is renowned design leader and author John Maeda - who is no stranger to career shifts and changes. In this inspiring episode, John shares his message of focusing on recovery instead of failure, the importance of intentional reinvention, and the benefits of renewal and rebuilding.This episode is a replay from 2019, and it's just as relevant today as it was...
2023-02-2229 min
UX CakeUnleashing Your Best Work Through Healthy Conflict and Feedback with Billie MandelDo you want to unlock your creative potential and foster innovation? We know that collaboration and communication are vital to producing outstanding work, but what you might not know is that the foundation of that is healthy conflict. Without it, we can't achieve our creative best.On this episode, we welcome Billie Mandel, a seasoned expert in design, coaching, and education with a focus on critique, conflict, and creativity. We'll delve into the importance of expressing divergent ideas, how to ask difficult questions, and creating a safe space for diverse thoughts, mistakes, and asking "what am...
2023-02-0946 min
UX CakeDo More With Less: The Power of a Strategic MindsetIf you're in UX, you've likely heard the question, "How can we do more with less?" especially during any economic squeeze. Many companies are cutting back on resources and downsizing teams, while still expecting the same results. Some common approaches are to argue the value of UX, or simply say "no" to requests due to lack of resources. But there’s another way, one that can increase the value of your work and foster cross-team relationships. You can look for ways to be more strategic in the work that you do.In UX, being more strategic me...
2023-02-0113 min
UX CakeMaking Space For Meaning and Success with Tutti TaygerlyAs human beings, it is embedded in us to seek purpose in everything we do. We want to do meaningful work that affects other people or pursue the passion within us.But many people wonder, is it too much to ask for an opportunity to work on something valuable?In today's episode, we are joined by Tutti Taygerly, a Leadership Coach, speaker, and author of the book “Make Space To Lead: Break patterns to find flow and focus on what matters” Tutti's primary focus is to help high-achievers make space for s...
2023-01-1945 min
UX CakeBeyond Titles: The Real Meaning of LeadershipJoin host Leigh Allen-Arredondo for this UX Cake Pop - short and sweet when you just want a bite of UX Cake! In this UX Cake Pop, I’m sharing my experience with the true meaning of leadership, which is not about having a specific job title or position of authority, but about inspiring and guiding others towards a shared goal. Anyone can be a leader at any point in their life, regardless of their title or level of experience. There are different ways of being a leader without a traditional leadership title or authority, starting wi...
2023-01-1209 min
UX CakeOutsiders In Design - with Ryan RumseyIn this episode I’m talking with Ryan Rumsey about feeling like an outsider in design,the very human need to belong, and some of the affects that feeling like an outsider can create in our lives and in our careers. Find out how we’ve overcome feeling like outsiders, and what we’ve done to find community. My guest Ryan Rumsey is author of Business Thinking for Designers and CEO of Second Wave Dive and the Chief Design Officers school. Before founding Second Wave Dive, Ryan worked for over 20 years as a designer and exe...
2023-01-0449 min
UX CakeBuilding Design Teams That Scale with Anjali DeswandikarA business can only grow as much as its people. That is why it is important to build teams with the knowledge that each of them is a key member who will eventually become a senior as you grow. In this episode, Leigh Allen-Arredondo interviews Anjali Deswandikar, the Design Director at Terralogic, Inc. and Design Team Lead at Lollypop Design, about building design teams that scale. Anjali talks about the process it took to build her teams across the globe, seeing as they grew from a handful to over 250. She takes us through the structures in place as well as h...
2022-10-0340 min
UX CakeDesigning For Accessibility With Chimmy KaluAccessibility needs to be the gold standard for everything. If you have the power to make things more accessible and inclusive, strive for that. You are actually leaving money on the table if you don't design with accessibility in mind. There are billions of persons with disabilities, and companies need to consult them. If you're a small company, then it's okay to start small. Start with what you can control and change first. Join Leigh Allen-Arredondo as she talks to product designer Chimmy Kalu about the importance of designing with accessibility. Chimmy is the Chief Des...
2022-08-1937 min
UX CakeDesigning With Developers - Abhishek NayakGreat digital products don't just happen. They're the result of a strong designer-developer relationship. That is because the two groups bring different but complementary skill sets. By understanding and respecting each other's strengths, the designer and developer can work together to create user-friendly and technically sound products. In this episode, Abhishek Nayak talks about how their company, Appsmith, addresses some of the common issues in the designer-developer relationship and how they have set up both sides for success. Abhishek is the CEO and Co-founder of Appsmith, an open-source low-code tool that helps developers build dashboards and admin panels very qui...
2022-08-1042 min
UX Cake(Best of) Leveling up with UX StrategyLevel up with UX StrategyIn this episode of UX Cake Podcast, we discuss how you can create a UX strategy for better outcomes for your users, and the products or services you help create.There are many different perceptions about what UX Strategy actually is. My guest Jaime Levy - who wrote the book "UX Strategy" - defines as the intersection between business strategy and UX design, with a key component being early and continuous validation of the value proposition with customers. It’s a high-level plan of how your product or fe...
2022-07-1934 min
UX CakeScaling UX Research : Democratization 2.0Scaling user research, means doing more, doing more research, and doing more with user research, through democratization, or enablement.Democratization in UX, is a topic of controversy, yet this episode is a conversation and not My an argument debate. I think partially because the term democratization and the concept of democratization really has some baggage.Instead of having to spend your time evangelizing the importance of research, which takes up a lot of a lot of time, you are able to spend your time enabling research through systems, infrastructure and...
2022-07-0538 min
UX CakeUX Writing - with Laura CostantinoIn this episode of the UX Cake podcast, we’re bringing you lots of great information about UX writing as a specialty within UX. In this special Ask Me Anything format we cover some of the most useful soft skills for a career in UX writing, hard skills that are transferable from other industries, ideas on how to upskill your UX writing, finding a mentor, and career trajectories for UX writers.My guest is Laura Costantino (they/them), a senior UX writer at Google. For the past 10 years, Laura has worked at the intersection of editorial ma...
2022-06-2239 min
UX CakeShow Me What It Means - with Thomas WatkinsThis episode is all about creating meaning from data, and making it easy for your audience to understand by making it visual. We can apply the same principles we use to design dashboards to presentations - whether you’re communicating design concepts (and the data-driven decisions behind your design) or user research findings. I had such a great time talking with my guest Thomas Watkins about how to show meaning using data, I know the term ‘data visualization’ sounds a little overwhelming to some people in UX, if you aren’t designing dashboards. But it doesn’t need to be. I thin...
2022-06-0744 min
UX CakeInfluencing without AuthorityIncreasing our influence also increases the impact our work can have. This is especially important in user experience design and research… when not everyone we work with may have the same user obsession as we do, so it sometimes takes extra effort to see the impact we want. Often the UX folks are not the ultimate authority in the room, or on a project. And then add to that the fact that others’ bias can also undermine your authority - biasis about gender, race, age, disability… I had a chance to talk about all of this with 3 ot...
2022-05-031h 01
UX CakeChallenging Assumptions to Transform ResultsNo doubt you're practicing challenging assumptions in your user-centered work already -- identifying what you think you know (or assume) about users' beliefs and actions, and finding out if those assumptions are true, or what else is true. What if you take that same approach towards the people you work with, and in your own career? The result can be surprising, and even transformational.********If you enjoy this podcast, there are some really simple ways you can help us: follow us on twitter - like and reshare our...
2022-04-1221 min
UX CakeTransitioning Into User Research with Eniola AbioyeHave you found interest in User Research, but are unsure if a career change is possible?Today I'm talking to Eniola Abioye, a Sr. User Researcher at Meta, specifically about transitioning into user-focused or design research from research-related backgrounds in other disciplines. Eniola herself came from biotechnology before moving into the design research space.Eniola has a passion for helping others figure out how to utilize their existing experience, and to learn through doing, getting relevant experience in the real world to create a fulfilling career in UX without necessarily going back to school.
2022-03-2937 min
UX CakeUX Strategy Sprints with Craig NishizakiThis week we're talking about UX Strategy, and UX Strategy Sprints. The term UX Strategy gets defined in different ways by experts across our discipline. I like to define UX Strategy at it’s simplest, highest level as identifying business objectives and user needs to create a vision that aligns those two things. And while that might sound simple, getting to that vision for a product or a service is anything but simple. My guest today is Craig Nishizaki, Head of Business for UpTop, a User Experience Design and Development agency based in Seattle. Craig's perspective co...
2022-03-1544 min
UX CakeDeep Listening with Indi YoungIf we want to make products and services that people want and use, we have to talk to those people. Whether you’re involved in product strategy, UX, development, marketing, any part of building products or a business or a service – you’ve got to understand what your audience or user’s goals, what will really serve their needs, what motivates them. And how do we do that? We talk to them. More importantly, we listen to them talk. So, how do we get them to talk about what’s really most important to them? Today we’re going to explore a...
2022-03-091h 02
UX CakeUX Cake is back with Season 3!UX cake podcast is coming back for Season 3 !!I have missed you all so much these last couple of years while the podcast has been on a break ,and I'm really excited to share with you some of the changes that are coming in season three and give you just a little glimpse into some of the great content and learning that you have to look forward to.UX cake has always been a podcast that helps you become more effective in your work and to really grow in your career, tune in...
2022-03-0703 min
UX CakeLearn UX: Career Growth Through Community InvolvementEp. 43: In the third of 3 episodes in our special mini-series called Learning UX, guest host Leo Zhang talks with Sara Hubbard and Caryn Wylie, the organizers of the meetup group Seattle Women of Design and UX, about growing your network and experience by getting involved in the UX community around you. From Leo:In our third and final Learn UX episode of the mini-series I wanted to bring on the founders of Seattle Women of Design and UX meetup (seaDUXX). Caryn Wille and Sara Hubbard are some of the most-respected advocates of women in UX i...
2020-02-1737 min
UX CakePermission to Speak - LaDonna WillemsEp. 42: Maybe there are times you’ve found yourself hesitating to speak up, to put your voice out there… this happens a lot, it’s not just a UX issue but is a common complaint in UX, and in tech in general. And it happens at every level, I’ve been in leadership roles for 20 years and I still experience this at times. My guest is LaDonna Willems, who is the associate editorial director at Dropbox. LaDonna is a writer, and she’s an expert on voice. So when she realized that she wasn’t always speaking up...
2020-01-2339 min
UX CakeLearn UX: Aligning UX ValueEp. 41: This episode is the second in our special mini-series called Learning UX, hosted by Leo Zhang. In this mini-series, Leo talks in-person with local UX leaders about their careers and topics they’re passionate about. This episode Leo is talking with Kimberly Wiessner, about her career spanning design, creative direction and product strategy, and about bringing teams together to align on UX value.From Leo Zhang: In our second Learn UX episode of the mini-series I wanted to bring on a friend with a knack for aligning, teaching, and driving UX work across different teams. Kimb...
2020-01-1733 min
UX CakeBias Is The Context We're InEp 40: Since I started asking users questions as part of my design process over 20 years ago, I’ve often asked myself, how could I ask better questions. Am I asking the right questions? What bias am I bringing into the interaction? As we progress in our research practice and go beyond the 101 lessons like avoiding leading questions, asking questions that are open-ended, leaving silence in the spaces to allow participants to talk more, learning to interpret actions and expressions not just words… those are all important, that’s where we start, but how can we go beyond that. a...
2019-12-0532 min
UX CakeLearn UX: Mentoring and HiringWe're introducing a new series, called Learn UX, hosted by Leo Zhang. Leo started a meetup here in Seattle called Learn UX, aimed at UXers in earlier to mid-career, that hosts great speakers like Torry Podmajersky, who we had on our show talking about strategic UX writing back in episode 33. Leo is adapting his content to a podcast format for UX Cake, and we're trying out a three part series of to see how that resonates with our listeners. So we totally want to hear what you think about this! Chat us up on twitter or IG or FB o...
2019-11-2049 min
UX CakeUplevel Your Career With UX StrategyEp. 38: This week I got to talk with Jaime Levy, a UX pioneer, and Author of the book ‘UX Strategy’, about 'moving beyond’ being a designer or researcher in UX, and ‘leveling up’ in your career by moving into UX strategy or digital transformation. We talk about the difference between UX Strategy as a process or workflow vs. UX strategy as a role, and what that takes. Then we talk about Digital Transformation as the next step up in leveling up, from UX Strategy.There are many different definitions of ux strategy out there, if you google ‘ux...
2019-10-2336 min
UX CakeCollaborative ResearchThis episode was a live recording for the podcast at the 5th annual Radical Research Summit in Vancouver BC. Our panel topic was collaborative research - Working with people in other disciplines, in other teams, or even in other organizations to produce really impactful research that will get integrated into the experiences we’re creating. The panelists were Ariba Jahan, Innovation Director at Ad Council, Judd Antin, Director of Research at Airbnb, and Komal Faiz, a UX researcher at Zensurince. You’ll get a fuller introduction of them at the beginning of the panel.This episode is sp...
2019-10-0938 min
UX CakeResearch Beyond WordsEp 36: Sometimes words just can't get you the research insights you need. This week we’re talking about alternative ways of gathering insights in user research, beyond just verbal and written communication. There are many circumstances when words just aren’t the best way for people to tell us what they’re thinking, feeling, or doing, so being able to use physical or tactile methods can really affect the insights you’re able to gather. My guest today is Anna Macaranas who is a Senior Design Strategist at Digitalist Group & Network, in Vancouver BC. Anna has some great insights and exampl...
2019-09-2532 min
UX CakeDesign For The FutureFor any experience you’re designing, you want to know what the current trends are, but if you’re looking for innovative solutions, you want to predict what future trends will affect your audiences' needs & motivations & obstacles so you can design for the future. Our topic this episode has a fairly unsexy name but is thoroughly intriguing — innovation-based trend forecasting. This isn’t currently a common methodology in UX today, but it’s something that could definitely be a game-changer for your organization.My guests are experts in trend forecasting: Lillian Pontius-Goldblatt is a senior strategist and brand stor...
2019-09-1142 min
UX CakeThe Cognitive Diversity Issue in UXEp #34: Today’s episode is a conversation with Melanie Polkosky who is a UX Psychologist with a PhD in cognitive psychology and a long history in tech. After Melanie left a 13-year career at IBM, she wrote a book called Uncovering Truffles, a book about the scarcity and value of Women in Stem. And something she wrote about in her book stood out to me as really relevant to many people UX, across genders. In researching her book, Melanie found that certain cognitive styles can make it more difficult to get ahead in tech and leadership, and that contributes to...
2019-08-2739 min
UX CakeGetting The Work You WantEp. #14 (re-run) Much of the work in UX and in our careers requires convincing others, about our ideas, our work, or our ability to do the work we want to do. My guest is Fiz Yazdi, a managing director at cxpartners in London and Bristol, UK. Fiz developed an approach to selling based on what’s called a ‘consultative’ model which Fiz adapted into a simple framework she uses in her own UX practice and has begun sharing it with others. More about Fiz YazdiFiz is an enthusiastic design leader. She’s been consulting...
2019-08-2037 min
UX CakeWords Make Experiences WorkEp #33: This week I’m talking with Torrey Podmajersky about her new book, Strategic Writing for UX - how to drive engagement, conversion, and retention with every word. Torrey is not only an expert at UX Writing, she’s an expert at getting the right words into the experience — which is half the challenge sometimes, even if you’ve determined what the right thing to say where is, getting the rest of the team to see the value can be harder than it should be. So of course, we talk about that. Her book has so many great tips and tech...
2019-08-0536 min
UX CakeNegotiate the Salary & Title You DeserveEp #32: Welcome back to UX Cake! We took a short break and now we're back on our regular publishing schedule. In this episode I talked with Tamara Adlin, a UX strategy expert, speaker, and author, who was a guest in season 1, episode 10, talking about creating alignment personas. This time we're talking about a really important topic that plagues many of us and that she is really passionate about, she’s been sharing her wisdom in meetups and conferences in Seattle, and I wanted to make this available to the larger UX community. Negotiating a salary or title in UX in...
2019-07-2239 min
UX CakeInfluencing Without AuthorityThis week's episode was a live recording at the ConveyUX conference in early March with a panel of UX pros talking about Influencing without authority, which is such an important topic and clearly very relevant based on the turn-out - it was standing room only. This episode is almost twice as long as our normal episodes — but you won’t want to miss the second half, where we turned it over to audience members to ask advice about their own situations, kind of mini-mentoring sessions, on a variety of things, from getting stakeholders to respect your quantitative research, to dealing wi...
2019-04-0154 min
UX CakeWhen UX and Agile Meet...This week we’re talking about incorporating UX into an Agile product development process. It’s been a common complaint for the past couple of decades most agile processes don’t allow time for ux research and design. Teams that want the best human-centered design outcomes have to be intentional about that and it means adjusting their agile processes in some way, so they can use ux resources more effectively. But many teams don’t even know they need to do this, or if they do know they have issues with their UX, they don’t know how or what to ch...
2019-03-1230 min
UX CakeRecipe for Effective User ResearchAre you committed to doing user research in order to design and build products and services that work well, solve real needs, and create engaging experiences? Chances are pretty good that if you produce user research in your work, at some point you will feel like your research is just not making the impact it should be. Or you may have trouble making a case for doing more research — and the number one way to get your organization on board with doing more research is to make sure the research that IS done is super effective. So, how can yo...
2019-02-2527 min
UX CakeUX Cake Pop: Getting Buy-inA UX Cake Pop is like a bite-sized piece of UX Cake. In this Cake Pop, we're talking about being more effective through getting buy-in early. We interviewed a few UX pros who were attending the Interaction19 conference while we were there, and got lots of great responses to our question: What's the biggest challenge you've been dealing with in your work lately? We got a great response from Marie Williams, who’s the founder and CEO of Dream Networks CIC in London, about both the difficulty and the importance of getting buy in. This is something that’s often...
2019-02-1803 min
UX CakeFast and effective - Agile Strategy with Marty NeumeierIn this episode we talk with the renown brand strategist Marty Neuemeier about a strategy framework he calls Agile Strategy. Marty’s written many strategy books - design strategy, brand strategy, business strategy - and his most recent book Scramble has a very unique approach to the business book genre. It’s set as a novel - Marty calls it a ‘business thriller’ I haven’t read any other business book like it. Marty tells us about why agile strategy is more likely to create innovation and bold change, what are some things to keep in mind if you want your...
2019-02-0431 min
UX CakeRecovering and Reinvention with John MaedaEp #27: I’m really excited to share with you my conversation with John Maeda — about Reinvention. This episode covers a lot of ground John talked about why we should focus on recover fast vs. fail fast, why inclusive design is so important, and why we should be using Anpanman to train our AI platforms. John is well known for so many things, across design, tech, and business worlds. He wrote one of my favorite books, titled “The Laws of Simplicity.” He’s also written extensively on design, leadership, and technology, has been a professor at MIT Media Lab, the president of...
2019-01-2827 min
UX CakeDesigning The Impossible with Nelly Ben HayounEp #26: This week we are talking about designing the impossible, with Dr. Nelly Ben Hyoun, founder and experience designer of Nelly Ben Hayoun Studios in London. They create large scale, extreme experiences like being an astronaut, or erupting volcanos, or recreating natural disasters, for organizations as diverse as Nasa, the European Space Agency, Google, Mattel, Nike, Lego, the list goes on and on. So designing impossible things is just part of every day for Nelly and her teams — and even though it sounds kind of wonderful and magical, maybe the end result is magical but the process is what she...
2019-01-2136 min
UX CakeChanging the Disability Design NarrativeEp. #25: This week we’re talking about designing withdisability, rather than fordisability, with my guest Liz Jackson. Liz is a disability advocate who is trying to shift the disability narrative. We talked about how the way we currently approach disability in design can actually cause more problems that solutions for people with disabilities, and how language - phrases we commonly use in design, like accessibility and inclusion, and even design thinking methodology - makes disabled people the recipients, rather than the drivers, of design. And what a product or design team can do to get the perspectives they need and make su...
2019-01-1434 min
UX CakeDesign a Better World, with Don NormanEp. #24: Welcome to season 2! We are kicking the season off with a fascinating conversation about changing the world with design, with Don Norman. Don Norman has been a well-known name in the design field for over 30 years, and is currently Director of Design Lab at UC San Diego, where he spoke to us from, in between trips around the world spreading the practice of design to change the world. You might know Don from his book The Design of Everyday Things, or maybe you know him as a co-founder of the Nielsen Norman Group, or any one of the oth...
2019-01-0835 min
UX CakeDesigning a Life You LoveThis week, I had the opportunity to speak with Ayse Birsel, a renown designer and the co-founder of Birsel + Seck, an award-winning design and innovation studio in NY, working with Herman Miller, IKEA, and Toyota, among others. Ayse is also the creator of Design the Life You Love, which is a guide for anyone who wants to create their very best life. Ayse developed this transformative process when she decided to try out a design methodology she created called Deconstruction-Reconstruction, on her own life. Also, we talked about how this is a process you can apply to designing anything...
2018-11-2736 minUX CakeBeing in UX at a StartupI recently joined a start-up called Spruce Up so topics related to startups have been top-of-mind for me. In this episode of UX Cake, I am joined by Phillip Hunter of Pulse Labs and Cassie Wallender of Invio, Inc. We really enjoyed recording live in Seattle and had a candid conversation about the challenges and benefits of being in UX at a start-up and shared the techniques we have found effective while working in this type of start-up environment. Phillip Hunter is VP of Products at Pulse Labs in Seattle, WA, and has designed and created s...
2018-11-0746 minUX CakeRedesigning The Way We WorkThis week on UX Cake I had a chance to catch up with David and Mary Sherwin about their new book, Turning People Into Teams. I love this topic — how do we go from being just a bunch individual people with different motivations, attitudes, working styles, communication styles, into a team where the whole is better than the sum parts? It’s about redesigning the way we work together. And the exciting thing about it is that it can happen in small incremental ways; it doesn’t mean a big re-org or overhaul. This is great for all...
2018-10-2337 minUX CakeCreating and Nurturing a Culture of Diversity and InclusionEven if we consider ourselves advocates for diversity and inclusion when it comes to considering gender, race, age, LGBTQ or ableness, how do we stretch ourselves even further? How can we create a truly diverse team in thought, background, and culture, and how do we make sure we are creating products that are inclusive to all? How do we break the molds that are exclusive in their very nature? On today’s show, I have a candid conversation with Timothy Bardlavens, an outspoken advocate for equity, about cultivating a culture of diversity and inclusion, and what that really means.
2018-10-0840 min
UX CakeWork Together Better to Design Great ProductsEp. #19: Much of the time we like to work independently, maybe because of work environment, preference, or pride. And yet we know there are great benefits and advantages to working as a team and collaborating with other people. This week’s episode is a re-edit of episode 3, one of my favorite episodes, when I spoke with David and Mary Sherwin, co-founders of Ask the Sherwins, about doing the impactful work we want to do, through improved collaboration and effective teams. David and Mary work with companies and teach workshops around the globe about effective teamwork and affecting change within the...
2018-08-2943 minUX CakeDesigner-founded startupsEp. #18: Over the past few years we’ve seen a growing trend of designer founded startups. There are a few really notable designer-founded startups like — Airbnb, Kickstarter and Lynda.com have paved the way… and in general startups are realize the value of user-centered design as a competitive differentiator, so there’s definitely more value placed on design and user experience. But the designer as founder is still not the norm for startups. This week I’m talking with designer-founder Will Sykora of Covailnt, to find out more about the benefits and challenges he's faced as a designer in the startup...
2018-08-1436 minUX CakeOutcome-focused Design - Tarot Cards for TechEp. #17: Using tarot cards to create outcomes-focused designis a very out-of-the-box approach, and yet it's actually really simple and approachable. In this episode I talked with Sheryl Cababa, an executive creative director at Artefact Group design agency, about their Tarot Cards of Tech. It's a card deck of prompts for team discussions, a fun product that's meant to be playful, but with a serious purpose – to get teams thinking differently about their strategy and design. In this fun interview we touch on everything from British vs american spelling, and "satanic strategists,” to the more serious subject of design ethics and taking...
2018-07-3135 minUX CakeShark-proofing Your UX PresentationsEp. #16: This special episode of uxcake was a panel discussion recorded live in front of an audience in Seattle on June 28. If you’ve been in ux design or research for awhile, it's almost certain you’ve been involved in a review of your work, or your team’s work, and chances are you’ve experienced a review that goes off the rails, or that causes chaos after the fact, or you just don't get the feedback you really need. In this episode we discuss lessons learned and techniques you can use to make ux reviews more effective, and how to pr...
2018-07-1645 minUX CakeUnderstanding Client DynamicsEp. #15: Have you ever had a meeting with a stakeholder or client who you thought you were in alignment with, and afterward thought “What the heck just happened in there?” Well it happened often enough to Morag Johnston and her team that she’s created a website and blog dedicated to the problem of understanding client dynamics, called understandingclients.com. Morag is a digital strategist and leadership coach at Effective by Design in Toronto, Canada, and she joined me for a conversation about how to have more effective UX outcomes through understanding client dynamics, and she shares some specific techniq...
2018-07-0226 minUX CakeGetting More of The Work You Want to DoEp. #14: Besides needing strong technical skills, much of the work in UX and in our careers requires convincing others, about our ideas, our work, or our ability to do the work we want to do. My guest is Fiz Yazdi, a managing director at cxpartners in London and Bristol, UK. Fiz developed an approach to selling based on what’s called a ‘consultative’ model which Fiz adapted into a simple framework she uses in her own UX practice and has begun sharing it with others.Fiz Yazdi is generously offering her tips on 'Getting the work you wa...
2018-06-1836 minUX CakeDesign & Dev: How to create solutions togetherEp. #13: No one would argue about the relationship between UX and development being a critical one, but it’s not easy. Join us for a conversation with Jaime Lopez, an experienced developer and co-host of the More Than Just Code podcast (www.mtjc.fm) about the UX and developer relationship, creating solutions together, and increasing collaboration and communication.Jaime is an experienced software developer with a focus on iOS development. He led the iOS development team at OfferUp where he helped make the buying and selling experience simpler, faster, and safer. Jaime is currently an iOS de...
2018-06-0444 minUX CakeGoing Independent, part 2 – Making it work for youEp. #12: Part 2 of Leigh & Laura's conversation about freelancing. In this episode we focus on ways to be more effective in your freelance career, from finding and managing clients to managing balance, and continuing to grow in your career. If freelancing is something you’re considering, or maybe you’ve been doing it for awhile and wondering what other people do, or what mistakes other people make, then listening to our experiences might fill in some blanks. And for lots more online resources, check out the show notes page on our site at uxcake.co, where you can also get the U...
2018-05-2142 minUX CakeGoing independent – is it for you?Ep. #11: In this episode, Leigh and Laura discuss being an independent UX pro — contract, freelance, or consulting. The flexibility is what draws a lot of people to independent work, whether it's to have more time to travel or more time for family or a hobby, but of course there are drawbacks as well. Is there a personality type that works better for independent work? What are the benefits and drawbacks during different parts of your career? How does it affect your career over the long run? If you’ve been wondering if it might be for you, tune in to th...
2018-05-0736 min
UX CakeCreating Personas That Align StakeholdersEp. #10: We’re talking with Tamara Adlin, a persona pioneer, about a process for creating personas that not only aligns executives and stakeholders, but that also actually gets those personas used. Tamara’s honed this process over the last decade, and she shares with us what "alignment personas" are, how and why she creates them, and how you can create them too. Plus, how to navigate this potentially political process that is fraught with danger!Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/uxcake. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
2018-04-2332 minUX CakeTransitions in UX - AR/VREp. #9: Many UX practitioners are interested in transitioning into emerging technology but aren’t sure where to start, or what that path looks like. In this episode we’re talking about the practical aspects of getting into augmented, virtual, or mixed reality, with Di Dang, who’s a UX specialist in AR/VR, and leads an emerging tech department at POP agency in Seattle.Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/uxcake. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
2018-04-1637 minUX CakeOvercoming Mentoring ChallengesEp. #8: Mentoring is one of the most powerful tools for developing talent and leadership… it’s also often taken for granted as something anyone who’s been working for awhile can do. So we end up with senior practitioners going into a managerial track with no management training, and no real mentoring experience. And yet, think about how important managers have been in the jobs you've had, whether they've been good, or bad. Mentorship is part of management, but it's also a practice unto itself.Being a good mentor doesn’t just happen — it takes intention & thoughtful...
2018-04-0231 minUX CakeTransitioning in UX: Voice DesignEp #7: How people interface with technology is constantly evolving, but we’re seeing big changes in the technolgy platforms themselves, and that means big changes in the UX field. This week is the beginning of an occasional series on UX careers in transition, starting with voice design, talking with Cheryl Platz, a principal designer at Microsoft. Cheryl has worked on high profile voice platforms including Cortana and Alexa, and she has also moved between voice-based design and visual-based design throughout her career. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/uxcake. Hosted on Acast. See acast...
2018-03-2040 minUX CakeAugmented Humanity & Our Changing RealityEp #6: Technology is changing the way we perceive reality — whether you have some kind of headset on or not… and it’s much more than pokeman go. In this episode we hear from Galit Ariel, self-proclaimed ‘digital hippy’ and author of Augmenting Alice, and Chirryl-Lee Ryan, a trans-disciplanary design leader, two brilliant multi-disciplinary UX experts, on two different sides of the globe, about augmented reality, the minister of loneliness, and experience design as the ‘muse’ of product development.Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/uxcake. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information
2018-03-1238 minUX CakeAdding To Your Creative ToolboxEp #5: Generating, sustaining, and selling creative ideas requires a lot more than inspiration.There is process and structure - which doesn't sound or even always 'feel' creative. It isn’t always easy or straightforward. As author Scott Berkun says, it’s a dance, which he talks about in his latest book, The Dance of The Possible. In this episode we talk about some of the tools you can use for staying creative, selling creative ideas, or motivating your teams' creativity. Which may or may not include getting locked in a closet. And which Scott definitely does not recommend that you do...
2018-03-0535 minUX Cake004: Improv for Empathy & Make Better ProductsWhen you're designing products for people, having empathy for those specific people (aka users) is critical. Yep, you know that, but how can you increase empathy for the users from the entire team, and stakeholders too? In this episode, Karen Reilly, UX Director at Iterate in Dublin, Ireland, shares insights and techniques inspired by her work in improv for developing more empathy, not only for users but within our teams as well. Karen is an expert both at creating user-centered products, and at improv, not to mention being an advocate for cows who do yoga. You’ll get great id...
2018-02-2632 minUX CakeBetter Cross-team Collaboration - Made Fun!Episode #3: Collaborating across teams is hard, and it doesn't happen without intention, and some structure. But the benefits for your product, wow - it's like the difference between a beautiful chocolate soufflé and... just a mess on your kitchen counter. (Guess which one has a better UX.) David and Mary Sherwin are experts in teamwork (and design & innovation) and, as they put it, 'helping teams make better cake.' They joined me for a fun and informative conversation about how to make a better cake... er, better teams (sorry, we really like cake metaphors!). Support this show http...
2018-02-2042 minUX Cake002: Executive Buy-in for UXWe know showing the business value of UX is the way to any MBA's heart/wallet, but it's often still a struggle. In this episode we get practical advice and techniques from former Amazon executive and UX champion, Eva Manolis.Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/uxcake. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
2018-02-2028 minUX Cake001: UX Mentor MastersExploring the benefits of being a UX mentor with Rachelle Kauffman, UX Designer at Zillow. The benefits can be surprising, including improving your own design and research skills, increasing confidence, and upleveling your career in user experience or product design.Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/uxcake. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
2018-02-1826 minUX Cake000 Introducing UX CakeLearn a little about Leigh and Laura who make Amplify Alliance, the producer of UX Cake, and hear about what this podcast is about, why we're making it, and what's in store. UX Cake is a podcast for user experience professionals who want to be more effective and happy in their career. Every week we talk to experienced UX pros and industry insiders for practical advise on building skills to get the best outcomes for our selves, our teams, our users, and our UX careers. We'll hear stories from the trenches and hear from experienced pros how...
2018-02-1616 min