

This is HCD – Human-Centered Design, UX & Service Design Thinking Podcast
Gerry Scullion
Welcome to This is HCD – Human-Centered Design, UX & Service Design Thinking Podcast, the global show for designers, innovators, and changemakers who want to create better products, services, and experiences.
Hosted by Gerry Scullion, with over 1-million downloads worldwide.
Each episode dives into conversations with leading voices in service design, UX design, interaction design, customer experience, and design strategy. Together, we explore the methods, mindsets, and real-world stories that bring human-centered design and design thinking to life.
Whether you’re a UX researcher, service design practitioner, product manager, or design leader, you’ll find actionable insights, practical tools, and inspiration to elevate your practice and drive meaningful change.
Tune in and join the global human-centered design community — learn how to design with purpose, create inclusive solutions, and shape a more thoughtful future.
Hosted by Gerry Scullion, with over 1-million downloads worldwide.
Each episode dives into conversations with leading voices in service design, UX design, interaction design, customer experience, and design strategy. Together, we explore the methods, mindsets, and real-world stories that bring human-centered design and design thinking to life.
Whether you’re a UX researcher, service design practitioner, product manager, or design leader, you’ll find actionable insights, practical tools, and inspiration to elevate your practice and drive meaningful change.
Tune in and join the global human-centered design community — learn how to design with purpose, create inclusive solutions, and shape a more thoughtful future.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Dec 18, 2017 • 38min
Gerry Gaffney (Live audience) 'How forms reveal the true nature of an organisation'
If you like our content, be sure to sign up to our weekly The Design Compass Newsletter. Design Smarter. Lead Better.Leave a review (+ help us grow): https://ratethispodcast.com/hcdThis was a show of firsts! Our very first live podcast in front of an audience, and also the first time we had the wonderful Gerry Gaffney on the show. The show was recorded at the incredible offices of FutureYou, a boutique recruitment consultancy based in downtown Sydney.It's also our 10th episode of This is HCD!Creators & Guests
Gerry Scullion - Host
Stef Murphy - Producer
Like what we do? Make a Tip.OrLeave a review: https://ratethispodcast.com/hcdSponsor links10x your service design offering with Smaply. Take 20% off your order with ''ThisisHCD20off'Sign up https://auth.smaply.app/sign-upCheck out This is HCD x Sutsu range. Gerry wears and endorses Sutsu ethical clothing. Get 10% off ScenarioCards.org when you used our link https://scenariocards.org/HCD10

Dec 4, 2017 • 25min
Cyril Secourgeon 'The secrets of successful stakeholder engagement in large organisations'
If you like our content, be sure to sign up to our weekly The Design Compass Newsletter. Design Smarter. Lead Better.Leave a review (+ help us grow): https://ratethispodcast.com/hcdIn this episode, we caught up with Cyril Secourgeon, the Principal Human Centered Designer practitioner at Westpac group, one of Australia’s big four banks.We discussed the methods that the wider HCD team in Westpac use to help keep stakeholders engaged. Cyril explains the signs to look out for with engaged and disengaged stakeholders and how to work with them to build trust. He takes us through the project process right from the start of projects, and the engagement dos and don’ts when working in large-scale organisations.Creators & Guests
Gerry Scullion - Host
Stef Murphy - Producer
Like what we do? Make a Tip.OrLeave a review: https://ratethispodcast.com/hcdSponsor links10x your service design offering with Smaply. Take 20% off your order with ''ThisisHCD20off'Sign up https://auth.smaply.app/sign-upCheck out This is HCD x Sutsu range. Gerry wears and endorses Sutsu ethical clothing. Get 10% off ScenarioCards.org when you used our link https://scenariocards.org/HCD10

Nov 19, 2017 • 31min
Panel Discussion 'Diversity at work: understanding & breaking through the barriers'
If you like our content, be sure to sign up to our weekly The Design Compass Newsletter. Design Smarter. Lead Better.Leave a review (+ help us grow): https://ratethispodcast.com/hcdThis episode focusses on discussing all the different challenges faced for organisations and try and hack some of those and figure out why these problems still exist and where these challenges actually come from, and what the outcome is if we can actually manage to deal with them and make some positive change.Creators & Guests
Gerry Scullion - Host
Stef Murphy - Producer
Like what we do? Make a Tip.OrLeave a review: https://ratethispodcast.com/hcdSponsor links10x your service design offering with Smaply. Take 20% off your order with ''ThisisHCD20off'Sign up https://auth.smaply.app/sign-upCheck out This is HCD x Sutsu range. Gerry wears and endorses Sutsu ethical clothing. Get 10% off ScenarioCards.org when you used our link https://scenariocards.org/HCD10

Nov 5, 2017 • 38min
Kirsten Mann 'Why Organisations are designed not to value Design'
If you like our content, be sure to sign up to our weekly The Design Compass Newsletter. Design Smarter. Lead Better.Leave a review (+ help us grow): https://ratethispodcast.com/hcdKirsten Mann, VP Product and Experience at Aconex explains that organisations are not designed to value design. Instead, organisations are focused on short-term financial metrics instead of delivering great customer and business outcomes. To change the narrative and to help organisations see the value in design, product folks and designers need to continually engage the Executive team in conversation and demonstrate the value of design by solving broader business problems.Creators & Guests
Gerry Scullion - Host
Stef Murphy - Producer
Like what we do? Make a Tip.OrLeave a review: https://ratethispodcast.com/hcdSponsor links10x your service design offering with Smaply. Take 20% off your order with ''ThisisHCD20off'Sign up https://auth.smaply.app/sign-upCheck out This is HCD x Sutsu range. Gerry wears and endorses Sutsu ethical clothing. Get 10% off ScenarioCards.org when you used our link https://scenariocards.org/HCD10

Oct 19, 2017 • 30min
Jennifer Philippe – ‘Building HCD at Scale’
If you like our content, be sure to sign up to our weekly The Design Compass Newsletter. Design Smarter. Lead Better.Leave a review (+ help us grow): https://ratethispodcast.com/hcdIn this episode, we ask the big questions about human-centred design and large organizations. Why design teams alone, are not enough to become customer lead, and why we need to look at a sustainable way to scale human-centred design in organizations.Creators & Guests
Gerry Scullion - Host
Stef Murphy - Producer
Like what we do? Make a Tip.OrLeave a review: https://ratethispodcast.com/hcdSponsor links10x your service design offering with Smaply. Take 20% off your order with ''ThisisHCD20off'Sign up https://auth.smaply.app/sign-upCheck out This is HCD x Sutsu range. Gerry wears and endorses Sutsu ethical clothing. Get 10% off ScenarioCards.org when you used our link https://scenariocards.org/HCD10

Oct 10, 2017 • 29min
Tarra Van Amerongen - 'Why your idea never gets built and the story of business designers as the unsung heroes of service design'
If you like our content, be sure to sign up to our weekly The Design Compass Newsletter. Design Smarter. Lead Better.Leave a review (+ help us grow): https://ratethispodcast.com/hcdJoin the This is HCD Newsletter We send out a fortnightly newsletter for anyone interested in human-centered design, updates about new podcasts, and any related news that we think you might be interested in. https://www.thisishcd.com/join/subscribe-to-our-fortnightly-newsletterCreators & Guests
Gerry Scullion - Host
Stef Murphy - Producer
Like what we do? Make a Tip.OrLeave a review: https://ratethispodcast.com/hcdSponsor links10x your service design offering with Smaply. Take 20% off your order with ''ThisisHCD20off'Sign up https://auth.smaply.app/sign-upCheck out This is HCD x Sutsu range. Gerry wears and endorses Sutsu ethical clothing. Get 10% off ScenarioCards.org when you used our link https://scenariocards.org/HCD10

Sep 2, 2017 • 29min
Barbara Spanton - 'Disposable design and our obsession with the redesign'
If you like our content, be sure to sign up to our weekly The Design Compass Newsletter. Design Smarter. Lead Better.Leave a review (+ help us grow): https://ratethispodcast.com/hcdIn this episode, we caught up with the wonderful Barbara Spanton from Ottawa in Canada. Barbara is a UX lead in Shopify and in this episode, Barbara is joined by Aman Braich, Principle designer for Intuit Australia, as well as Mark Catanzariti, service designer at Telstra. In today’s episode, we discuss the industry’s obsession with redesign.There seems to be a culture of throwing out existing designs rather than going back to perfect or tweak them. Today we explore why we do that, how to maybe stop doing that and what opportunities exist if we spend less time redesigning and throwing out perfectly good things. We take a look at how we can focus more on mindset rather than methodology, to build – or should we say re-furbish – a more sustainable design future. Take a listen!Key Points From This Episode:How Barbara got involved with human centered design.Disposable design: Why we throw out perfectly good things.Why should businesses care about disposable design?Suggesting alternatives to the businessThe obsession with metrics.Methodology versus mindset.How do we know if we are making a system better?Behind every merchant, there is a story.Barbara’s re-design stories from Central Bank.Ditching superiority complexes in the industry.Barbara’s advice for emerging HCD talent.And much more!Creators & Guests
Gerry Scullion - Host
Stef Murphy - Producer
Like what we do? Make a Tip.OrLeave a review: https://ratethispodcast.com/hcdSponsor links10x your service design offering with Smaply. Take 20% off your order with ''ThisisHCD20off'Sign up https://auth.smaply.app/sign-upCheck out This is HCD x Sutsu range. Gerry wears and endorses Sutsu ethical clothing. Get 10% off ScenarioCards.org when you used our link https://scenariocards.org/HCD10

Aug 17, 2017 • 32min
Megan Dell - 'What does effective design leadership look like?'
If you like our content, be sure to sign up to our weekly The Design Compass Newsletter. Design Smarter. Lead Better.Leave a review (+ help us grow): https://ratethispodcast.com/hcd Download this Episode | RSS Feed | iTunes | PocketCIn this episode, we speak to the brilliant Megan Dell. Megan is a Human Center of Design leader based in Melbourne Australia and is currently head of UX for 99 Designs. We get Megan’s perspective on what makes a good and a bad leader and drill deeper into the organizational and cultural considerations that let the Human Center of Design methodology bloom.Creators & Guests
Gerry Scullion - Host
Stef Murphy - Producer
Like what we do? Make a Tip.OrLeave a review: https://ratethispodcast.com/hcdSponsor links10x your service design offering with Smaply. Take 20% off your order with ''ThisisHCD20off'Sign up https://auth.smaply.app/sign-upCheck out This is HCD x Sutsu range. Gerry wears and endorses Sutsu ethical clothing. Get 10% off ScenarioCards.org when you used our link https://scenariocards.org/HCD10

Jul 23, 2017 • 44min
Adrienne Tan - 'How Service Design and Product Management co-exist'
If you like our content, be sure to sign up to our weekly The Design Compass Newsletter. Design Smarter. Lead Better.Leave a review (+ help us grow): https://ratethispodcast.com/hcdIn this episode, we speak Co-Founder of leading Australian product management consultancy Brainmates. We discuss how the roles of service design and product management work together within organisations.Martin Dowson is Head of Design Forward at Lloyds Banking Group a small team who design 3-10 yrs into the future to challenge and articulate the LBG vision for Digital Customer Experience. Martin’s career has evolved through UX Research, UX Design, Information Architecture, Organisational Design, Start-ups, Service Design, running his own agency before going in-house. He speaks, lectures and mentors on Design Leadership internationally.Creators & Guests
Gerry Scullion - Host
Stef Murphy - Producer
Like what we do? Make a Tip.OrLeave a review: https://ratethispodcast.com/hcdSponsor links10x your service design offering with Smaply. Take 20% off your order with ''ThisisHCD20off'Sign up https://auth.smaply.app/sign-upCheck out This is HCD x Sutsu range. Gerry wears and endorses Sutsu ethical clothing. Get 10% off ScenarioCards.org when you used our link https://scenariocards.org/HCD10

May 19, 2017 • 44min
Anthony Quinn 'Dealing with career challenges, and increasing your influence as a designer in your organisation'
If you like our content, be sure to sign up to our weekly The Design Compass Newsletter. Design Smarter. Lead Better.Leave a review (+ help us grow): https://ratethispodcast.com/hcdWe caught up with Anthony Quinn recently and had a fascinating conversation.For anyone who has seen Anthony speak at design, conferences will know what a strong design thinker he is. We chat about how he got into design, how motivations and also took questions relating to the topics of career challenges from people working in the industry, and also how to increase your influence in an organisation.Creators & Guests
Gerry Scullion - Host
Stef Murphy - Producer
Like what we do? Make a Tip.OrLeave a review: https://ratethispodcast.com/hcdSponsor links10x your service design offering with Smaply. Take 20% off your order with ''ThisisHCD20off'Sign up https://auth.smaply.app/sign-upCheck out This is HCD x Sutsu range. Gerry wears and endorses Sutsu ethical clothing. Get 10% off ScenarioCards.org when you used our link https://scenariocards.org/HCD10