The Journey of a Design Graduate

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Braden Smith: I got into design sort of by accident. He was studying computer science at University of Illinois and working in a lab that did early virtual reality work. When he failed out of grad school, he realized Carnegie Mellon had rolling admissions to their HCI program. "I found immediately that I started to learn from the people around me"

Braden Kowitz reveals how human-centered design has everything to do with the humans we design and build with every day. He advocates for a genuinely supportive environment where it’s okay to be who you are, and where you’re encouraged to speak up, and openly share how you’re truly feeling. He reminds us to acknowledge that life isn’t perfect, and neither are we…and that’s also okay. He articulates the origin story and evolution of design patterns and explains why ‘ugly’ may sometimes appear to win. He also challenges us to consider how the metrics we typically depend on, may not be telling us the complete story.

Free Time (7:49)
Grounding Techniques (8:36)
Mindful Techniques (9:26)
Origin Story (16:25)
Form, Function, and Balance (19:38)
Managing Design Ambiguity (26:50)
Establishing Design Patterns (37:57)
What Have You Been Up To? (47:05)
From Designer to Co-Founder (49:09)
Dealing with Tradeoffs (52:02)
Creative Side Hustles (52:41)
Who Is This Product For? (53:47)
Design Superpower (57:00)
Design Kryptonite (58:15)
UX Superhero Name (59:45)
Habit of Success (1:01:03)
Recommended Book (1:02:59)
Best Advice (1:04:13)
Tips on Culture (1:05:11)

Check out the detailed show notes including mentioned links, transcript and Eli Jorgensen’s astonishing superhero artwork at userdefenders.com/068

This episode is brought to you by UC Irvine’s executive master’s program for Human-Computer Interaction and Design. As a user experience professional, UCI’s hybrid program will allow you to maintain your job while pursuing the master’s degree that will propel your career forward. Visit userdefenders.com/uci to learn more.

This episode is also brought to you by Porkbun. Head to userdefenders.com/porkbun now and use coupon code DEFENDERS on the checkout page to get literally a free year of a .design domain name.