Design Life
Charli Prangley, Femke Van Schoonhoven
Design Life is a podcast about design and side projects for motivated creators. It was born after your hosts, two serial side project addicts, saw a gap in the podcast market for a conversational show about design and the issues young creatives face, that was hosted by two females.
This show aims to tackle the big issues designers face like getting paid, overcoming a creative block or managing time, to name a few. We want to open up discussion about things we wish we heard people talk about when we were studying, and we want to chat to you about the joys and the frustrations of working in the tech industry by day, and on our passion projects in the rest of our waking hours. We hope that by doing so, Design Life will give you a dose of motivation or inspiration when you need it.
This show aims to tackle the big issues designers face like getting paid, overcoming a creative block or managing time, to name a few. We want to open up discussion about things we wish we heard people talk about when we were studying, and we want to chat to you about the joys and the frustrations of working in the tech industry by day, and on our passion projects in the rest of our waking hours. We hope that by doing so, Design Life will give you a dose of motivation or inspiration when you need it.
Episodes
Mentioned books
Aug 20, 2018 • 31min
134: Why we stopped freelancing
Aug 13, 2018 • 35min
133: Becoming a hybrid
Many designers want to welcome more development skills into their toolkit and become a hybrid. In reality however, it can be a struggle to fit in the learning required to develop complementary skills while also completing the tasks you were hired to do! In this episode Charli shares her experience of becoming a hybrid, and the practical steps she took to expand her skillset.
Treehouse
SUPERHi
Aug 6, 2018 • 38min
132: User Testing in the design process
User testing, or usability testing, can help designers get to know their user even better. It can reveal insights into the use of the product or site that the team otherwise might never know. In this episode we discuss how user testing at Uber works, and how user testing can help to further develop designer’s empathy for the user, benefitting designers and the design process at the same time.
Zoom conferencing tool
usertesting.com
WhatUsersDo
InVision
Jul 23, 2018 • 31min
131: Should you fake it till you make it?
In this episode we answer a question from a member of the Design Life community who is wondering if they should follow the advice to ‘fake it ’til you make it’. We discuss the pros and cons of ‘faking it’, how to use it as a tool to boost your confidence if you’re feeling unsure of yourself and when to know to stop.
Sarah Doody on ‘Faking it ’til you make it’
Fake it ’til you make it for designers
Jul 17, 2018 • 32min
130: How A/B testing can improve your design
Data can be a powerful tool in a designer’s toolkit. A/B testing can help to prove or disprove our design hypotheses by checking them against the data to see what actually works.
In this episode we discuss our experience with A/B testing and how it can help you to become a better designers.
Show Links:
How Netflix does A/B testing
A/B testing at Basecamp
Google Optimize
VWO
Jul 9, 2018 • 33min
129: When do you know it’s time to move on?
It’s easy to get stuck in the same routine – same job, same tasks, same projects. However there comes a time when maybe it’s time to move on to something new. In this episode we discuss experiences we’ve had with moving on to new endeavours, and how you know you’re ready for a change.
Webflow
Simplecast
Say hi on Twitter! And provide us feedback via email at hello@designlife.fm, review on iTunes, or in our community!
Jul 3, 2018 • 32min
128: Making time for new side projects
Have an idea for a new side project? With potentially a few already on the go, how do you make time for new side projects without neglecting your current ones? In this episode we talk about how we decide which side project ideas to pursue and how to decide which is worth investing in.
Craft & Commerce
Join the community!
Jun 19, 2018 • 37min
127: User research in the design process
User research is a vital part of the design process. It helps to inform your decisions and make sure that you’re designing the best solution to the problem. There are many different ways to do user research, and different points it could be involved in your process so that’s what we discuss in this episode!
Jan Chipchase – Masterclass
usertesting.com
HotJar – website surveying
Jun 11, 2018 • 35min
126: The rollercoaster of the creative process
The creative process is like a rollercoaster. It has ups and downs, it can put you in a spin, and sometimes things are moving so fast you don’t even know what’s happening. In this episode we talk about the creative process and how we handle the low points to keep things moving.
Jun 5, 2018 • 35min
125: Travelling for work
As designers our jobs can be done from anywhere! Ironically this can often mean that we don’t need to travel for work within a company, but opportunities can still arise to work with a team in another office, visit a client, go on a user research trip or perhaps travel to a conference. In this episode we discuss our experience with travelling for work, and share advice on how to stay productive during the break in your usual routine.
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