Sera Tajima Podcast

Gaya Herrington, an acclaimed sustainability researcher and wellbeing economist, discusses the urgent need for a shift from traditional growth models to one prioritizing human and ecological wellbeing. She explores how the obsession with perpetual growth is intertwined with fossil fuel dependency and critiques the narrow view of sustainability. Gaya also emphasizes the importance of redefining success beyond GDP, advocating for a well-being economy that connects emotional richness with societal contributions, while cautioning against the environmental consequences of unchecked growth.

Fonz Morris is lead designer for Netflix monetization growth team. Based in San Jose, he has worked with Netflix since 2020 after leading the design team at Coursera. He was named one of Business Insider’s Most Innovative Designers in 2021 and speaks regularly at tech conferences. Get Sera's weekly updatesLearn Sustainable Growth Design live with Sera (ft Fonz)Chapters(00:00:00) Background on Netflix(00:03:07) Growing up in Brooklyn, NY(00:06:26) How Fonz got into design(00:08:37) Building a design agency(00:11:26) Video conferencing startup(00:13:15) How does being an entrepreneur differ?(00:17:11) Interview process at Netflix(00:21:33) Growth design cohort 2(00:24:59) Growth Design at Netflix(00:30:59) Password sharing on the monetization team(00:38:47) A culture of documentation (PRDs, Specs & design briefs)(00:44:50) Tying in design to business goals(00:48:30) Examples from password sharing project(00:51:05) Empathy in the design process to prioritize retention(00:53:34) Access to data and data scientists(00:57:00) Lightning Round ⚡️Where to find Fonz:Fonz’ LinkedinWhen Everyone leadsWhere to find Sera:LinkedIn⁠⁠YouTube⁠Website⁠Become a sponsor: podcast@the-craft.io

⁠⁠⁠Sera Tajima is your host, Founder of The Craft, Startup Advisor, and Climate Investor. ⁠⁠⁠⁠Get Sera's podcast highlights & resources.⁠⁠⁠⁠Join Cohort 2 of Sustainable Growth Design Chapters(00:00:00) An Introduction to growth thinking(00:02:00) Advance your design career with business thinking(00:03:53) The intersection of growth hacking and product design (00:05:28) Identifying the business lever (00:07:38) How to think about the customer lifecycle and growth frameworks(00:09:52) Risks associated with growth hacking(00:10:36) A strong growth strategy starts with retention (00:12:31) Good growth practitioners are humanity centered(00:14:48) Where your power lies as a technologistConnect with Sera:⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠ ⁠Become a sponsor: podcast@the-craft.io

Dan Mall is Founder of Design Systems University. He's an expert in helping companies scale design systems. In this episode Dan and Sera talk design systems, why they matter, and how to implement them. Get Sera's weekly highlights ✍️ Join October cohort 👩🏻‍💻 Use code [podcast] for 30% off (3 spots) Chapters (00:00:00) Dan intro (00:01:58) How Dan got into design (00:04:17) Starting his agency (00:07:10) Find equilibrium as a business owner (00:08:40) Design Systems (00:10:16) The spectrum of design systems (00:13:50) What organizations Dan works with (00:15:15) Get buy-in to scale something that's working (00:16:29) Dan's approach — "Piloting" (00:18:57) Designers need to learn the language of business (00:22:36) We are not a great representation of users (00:23:47) Design Politics (00:27:14) Have your own opinions (00:32:36) Templates, patterns, and packages (00:36:06) How to get started (00:43:37) No parity between design and code (00:47:15) Get people to spend less time in Figma (00:49:15) Build a tool that people use (00:51:50) Publicize your Design System (00:53:20) Design Systems democratize design Where to find Dan Mall: Design Systems ⁠ LinkedIn Twitter Website⁠ Where to find Sera: LinkedIn YouTube Sera's Website The Craft To become a sponsor contact podcast@the-craft.io. 🎤

Sera Tajima is your host, Founder of The Craft, and Climate Tech advisor and investor. ⁠Get on the waitlist to learn Sustainable Growth Design ⁠ (Sold Out )⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠Get Sera's podcast highlights & resources.⁠ Chapters (00:00:00) Introduction (00:00:25) Misunderstanding design (00:01:12) Example: The evolution of cars (00:02:02) Continuous improvement for users (00:02:30) Great design is invisible (00:03:00) Design's impact on society (00:03:10) Design as problem solving (00:03:27) Form follows function (00:04:40) The role of aesthetics (00:05:06) My experience as a product designer (00:06:48) Expanding the impact of design (00:07:26) Product Designers (00:07:50) Creating an experience (00:08:55) Identifying the right problem to solve (00:09:54) Collaborating with teammates and aligning stakeholders (00:11:06) Creating a functional solution (00:12:30) The importance of design (00:12:53) Unintended consequences of design (00:14:00) The conscious design movement Connect with Sera: ⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠YouTube⁠ ⁠ Become a sponsor: podcast@the-craft.io

Tommy Geoco is Founder and author of UX Tools. After serving in the U.S. military, he worked in Product Design for over 14 years now. He has a combined social media following of over 1 million. 🔥 Chapters (00:00:00) Tommy Introduction (00:01:21) Making design education better with UX Tools (00:02:01) The design industry is competitive (00:02:50) The bootcamp business model (00:04:10) The best way to learn is on the job (00:07:14) Ditch the cynicism of the way things evolve (00:09:09) All companies have dysfunction (00:10:10) Tommy's journey into design (00:15:35) Learning online and the shapes of work (00:26:20) How to attract the right fit (00:30:00) Make time for play (00:46:39) Have a growth mindset (00:51:41) Build real relationships (00:55:13) Newsletter & Micro Courses Join Sera live to learn Sustainable Growth Design. ⁠Get Sera's podcast highlights & resources.⁠ Where to find Tommy: UX Tools: ⁠⁠https://uxtools.co/⁠⁠ Tiktok: ⁠https://www.tiktok.com/@designertom⁠ LinkedIn: ⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/tommygeoco/⁠⁠ Website: ⁠https://www.designertom.io/⁠ Where to find Sera: LinkedIn: ⁠⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/seratajima⁠⁠⁠ YouTube: ⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@SeraTajimaPodcast⁠⁠

Sera is your host & Founder of The Craft. Learn growth design with me. Chapters(00:00:00) Welcome newbies 🎉(00:01:17) Please like & subscribe (this helps me bring in high quality guests)(00:01:29) Emotions Make Us Human(00:02:16) What Are Emotions?(00:03:13) Don Norman's Three Levels of Emotional Processing(00:05:18) Merging The Internal & External(00:06:51) How Do We Identify Emotions?(00:08:18) How Emotions Influence User Behavior and Decision-Making(00:09:38) Emotional Attachment(00:14:50) Aaron Walter’s Hierarchy of Needs(00:17:22) Join my live Maven cohort (00:18:31) How To Design For Emotional States(00:21:52) 5 Good Tenets of Emotional Design(00:22:39) 5 Core Methods to Create Emotionally Intelligent Design(00:26:52) Ethical Considerations(00:30:01) Future of Emotion Recognition TechnologyJoin the Newsletter (sources here)Where to find Sera:LinkedIn⁠YouTubeWebsiteBecome a sponsor: podcast@the-craft.io

Christopher Nguyen is Founder of UX Playbook. He went from zero experience to head of design in just 4 years. His mission is to Make UX education accessible. He’s also working on a new project called Backlog: a community for designers-turned-entrepreneurs.Chapters(00:00:00) Beyond UX Podcast(00:01:04) How Chris Got Into Design(00:03:10) Posting on Linkedin(00:05:00) UX Playbook organic growth (00:10:14) Expanding the funnel on Linkedin(00:16:11) Product Bundle Experiment(00:19:32) Free 5 Day Growth Challenge(00:23:49) What the Market Wants(00:27:33) Downsells are More Effective than Upsells(00:29:02) Pricing Experimentation (00:32:37) Sera’s Business Journey(00:39:36) Create Urgency Getting Your Product Out(00:45:55) What Gives Designers Business Superpowers(00:50:33) Biggest Mistakes Chris Made(00:54:20) A Workday With Chris Chris’s Resources: Backlog UX Playbook My First Million Lenny’s PodcastWhere to find Chris Nguyen: LinkedinWhere to find Sera Tajima: LinkedIn Website

Frank Bach, aka “Zen Daddy,” is a Staff Product Designer at Instagram. Frank not only designs the creator experience at Meta, he also runs his own company, Sunshine Shop, and plays in his band, Monk. 🎶 Chapters(00:00:00) Frank’s universe(00:05:24) Frank’s band Monk(00:06:55) Continue your passions(00:08:44) Running a small studio (00:10:37) Product Design at Redbull(00:13:07) Headspace and meditation (00:19:33) Getting a job at Headspace(00:26:36) Product Design at Headspace(00:29:15) Always be building your portfolio (00:31:31) Getting laid off(00:36:40) Instagram creators team (00:39:33) Becoming a speaker(00:47:37) Frank’s business Sunshine Shop(00:56:38) Performing with the band and time management(00:59:50) What’s in Frank’s future?Resources: Thich Nhat Hanh Be Here Now, Ram Dass Zero to One, Peter Thiel Hacking Growth, Sean Ellis & Morgan Brown“Support local music” 🎶Where to find Frank: Frank’s Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/francoisbach/ Frank’s Insta: https://www.instagram.com/zen.daddy/ Monk’s Insta: https://www.instagram.com/monk.losangeles/ Sunshine Shop: https://www.sunshineshop.la/ Sunshine Shop’s Insta: https://www.instagram.com/sunshineshop.la/Where to find Sera Tajima: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/seratajima Website: https://www.seratajima.com/ Sustainable Growth Playbook: https://www.the-craft.io/ Discord: https://discord.gg/Ke4MxXvSsn

Ridd, aka Michael Riddering, is the Founder of Figma Academy, Host of podcast Deep Dives, and the founding designer behind Maven. Chapters(00:00:00) Ridd’s background(00:02:02) Learning coding(00:04:06) Startup failure & finding design(00:13:04) Transition to agency life(00:15:33) Visual finesse and raw talent(00:16:45) Becoming a Founding Designer with Maven(00:21:20) Building the Maven team(00:25:31) Twitter as testing for Figma Academy(00:28:44) Design Media Business(00:31:09) It’s not work, it’s a game(00:41:02) What makes Figma Academy successful(00:52:16) Prototyping is a superpowerGet the Conscious Design Newsletter 🗞️Get the free 5 day course on Sustainable Growth 🌎Where to find Ridd:Twitter: https://x.com/ridd_designDive Club Podcast: https://www.dive.club/Figma Academy: https://www.dive.club/advanced-figmaWhere to find Sera:LinkedIn: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/seratajima⁠YouTube: ⁠https://www.youtube.com/@seratajimapodcastWebsite: https://www.seratajima.comBecome a sponsor: podcast@the-craft.io