User Defenders – UX Design & Personal Growth
Being a great UX designer begins and ends with being a great human. We can't pour an empty cup into another. We can’t lead others where we are not.
This UX podcast helps UX’ers become the best, most powerful designers (and humans) they can be. Yes, you'll discover how-to’s, but much more importantly you'll discover why-to’s.
Every episode is sure to inspire and equip you on how to better fight for your users and business, and dare I say change the world (even if only for one human at a time) in a much deeper and more tangible way than you ever thought possible.
Latest episodes
Mar 14, 2016 • 48min
016: Meaning Comes from Making with Alexa Leigh Herasimchuk
Alexa Leigh Herasimchuk inspires us to go find our why and to not fear reaching out to people who inspire us. She teaches us that the future of UX should be integrated into our education system. She reminds us that we can’t make people care, but we can build things people care about. She also […]
Feb 29, 2016 • 51min
015: Going the Distance with Rachel Andrew
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. […]
Feb 15, 2016 • 36min
014: Design Write with Khoi Vinh
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 […]
Feb 1, 2016 • 37min
013: Practice What You Do with Dan Mall
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 […]
Jan 18, 2016 • 53min
012: You Can Only Keep What You Have if You’re Willing to Give it Away with KaL MichaeL
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 […]
Jan 4, 2016 • 1h 8min
011: The Best Interface is No Interface with Golden Krishna
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 […]
Dec 28, 2015 • 17min
2015 Year End Review
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 […]
Dec 21, 2015 • 36min
010: Pay Attention to the Unseen with Jeff Barnaby
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 […]
Dec 14, 2015 • 54min
009: There is No “Big Time”, There’s Always Something Ahead with Josh Clark
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 […]
Dec 7, 2015 • 44min
008: There’s a Lot of Opportunity for Those Who Are Willing to Take Some Risks with Ben Callahan
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 […]
