S02E15 (#325). Ellen Lupton, designer, educator and author, helps us stock up our toolbox of design principles and methods, starting off with storytelling in visual design, and the “rule of three” before we move on to linear and non-linear experiences. Will we follow the rule of three and have a third topic? We talk about IKEA and The Wizard of Oz, labyrinths and mazes. The use of colour to craft a narrative within larger experiences. The importance of pace, and that sometimes a challenge is good for the experience. “[Seven] is a beautiful number. It’s a prime number, it has an elegance withi ..read more

S02E14 (#324). A slightly different episode to usual. Eva-Lotta Lamm joins us to hold a visual thinking sketching workshop – Eva-Lotta, James and Per have fun going through three sketching exercises set by Eva-Lotta that can help you with your creativity, team-building, visual thinking and much more. Grab some pens, and perhaps even a couple of colleagues and join in as we work through the exercises. Eva-Lotta gets us drawing Squiggle Birds, puts us through “pass it on” sketching – and then a “describe and draw” exercise. “Who’s this person? What happens afterwards? Does he get a new coat? Or ..read more

S02E13 (#323).  We are in the age of design-driven change. Maria Giudice joins us to talk about being changemakers – How we can design change in a complex world. We start by looking at the history of change management and how we are now firmly in the age of design-driven change and that requires change leadership. We look at change making and understanding different types of people’s reactions and how to engage people of who have different attitudes to change. All of this in the context of organisations where leadership buy-in and cultural readiness are crucial for success “As long as th ..read more

S02E12 (#322).  Asking the right question and wanting to get a good response. How do we handle that as researchers? Meena Kothandaraman joins us to talk about our curiosity as researchers, the different lenses of inquiry we can apply from exploritory to validation. We talk as well about being curious and the skill of getting people to articulate their thoughts and describe something in depth. “Our job as researchers is not to just say, ‘I have a question that I want to ask you and you have to answer it’, we have to shepherd the team through a moment of reflection, where they really ..read more

S02E11 (#321).  How do we know when to trust a system? Carol Smith leads the Trust Lab team at Carnagie Mellon Universty, where they conduct research into making trustworthy, human centered, and responsible AI systems. Our conversation highlights the importance of guardrails and ethical considerations in AI development, as well as to ask the right questions and to be critical of the work we are doing – in order to make the best systems we can for the people who are using them or who will be affected by them.. “If the system is providing the right kind of evidence of how it’s making decis ..read more

S02E09 (#319). A linkshow. James and Per discuss two articles that have caught their attention. The articles in this episode are about pragmatic discovery; delivering value to projects, and how UX Strategy should focus on, understand, and design, across all touchpoints for the users – Experience strategy. Article one is Don’t get stuck in discovery with insights no one asked for by Martin Sandström. “What we should focus our attention on is less about solving the right problem and more, way more, about how we can bring value to the project.”   Article two is UX Strategy – What is i ..read more

S02E08 (#318). Zoë has been researching the history of some of the creative thinking methodologies we use as designers. In this episode she takes on a journey back to the origins of brainstorming, the double diamond, and design thinking. It turns out that the origins, and even the criticisms, of these methodologies go back further than you perhaps thought. We also discuss with Zoë the appropriation processes from one culture to another and the significance of culture more generally as part of problem solving. “The more sophisticated problem solving is, the more it is contextual” – Zoë Rose ..read more

S02E07 (#317). A slightly different linkshow featuring two articles, one by James and one by Per. The articles in this episode are about how the experience of a delayed flight highlights the wider impact of poor service design, and how the way in which you type can reveal who you are. Article one is Final call by James Royal-Lawson. “We are priming people to expect that digital services aren’t very good. This is the absolute opposite of what we hope to achieve.”   Article two is Your unique typing rhythm can reveal your identity by Per Axbom. “Common misspellings, errors, pre ..read more

S02E06 (#316). Reflections and Lessons from heathcare design. Kim Goodwin has spent many years working within the healthcare industry. We discuss design principles used in healthcare and how they are transferrable across industries, as well as how designers should be more accountable. We also talk about enterprise design, traceability, accountability, and being more professional as a design industry. Do the people hiring designers have the ability to judge if they are getting good designers? Would professional acreditation help with recruitment, accountability and the quality of what we design ..read more

S02E05 (#315). Death by screens. Presenting high stakes design work with Ben Sauer. We talk about how presenting is an experience that needs to be designed, and we discuss some of the ways in which you can approach crafting a presentation experience and become better at communicating your design work. As we have moved from agency work to more in-house work, the skills needed to create and deliver presentations, especially to people who are not designers, are not as practiced as they once were. We discuss storytelling, attention grabbers, presentation tactics, the importance of practice – and a ..read more