What’s stopping your work from shipping? It’s probably not the design itself. This week, I chat with Guy Segal about the soft skills that make the biggest difference—giving feedback, earning trust, and aligning with your team when things get tough. What if the biggest reason your designs aren’t making it to production has nothing to do with design? You know your work is solid. You’ve put in the hours, iterated on the flow, and covered every edge case. But when it comes time to hand it off or get...
Jun 26, 2025•59 min
Understanding how power works might be the most underrated UX skill. Thomas Wilson shares ways to navigate power, bridge generational gaps, and influence decisions, even when you don’t have direct control. Why do some designers influence major decisions while others get ignored? The answer might come down to how well you understand power. You can’t influence what you don’t understand. In this conversation, I sit down with Thomas Wilson to discuss the invisible structures that shape what gets bui...
Jun 19, 2025•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 127
Freelancing doesn't have to mean chaos and burnout. In this episode, we explore how to scale your freelance business without hiring a team by getting smarter with tools, strategy, and specialization. What if you could scale your freelance business without hiring a team, just by using the right tools? Most freelancers hit the same wall: they think going solo means doing it all. But today’s guest, Maciej Konarzewski, shares how that belief almost held him back, and how flipping the script helped h...
Jun 05, 2025•52 min•Ep. 126
What if becoming a manager isn’t the upgrade you’ve been led to believe? What if you could grow your influence and your impact, without giving up the work you actually love doing? In this episode, Filippos Protogeridis shares why traditional UX career ladders don’t always work and how he carved out a leadership path that didn’t require a team of direct reports. A lot of mid-level and senior designers assume the only way to advance their careers is to become managers. But what if that path isn’t ...
May 29, 2025•1 hr 20 min
Tired of stressing over your UX portfolio? Discover smart ways to showcase your value clearly, even if you’re buried in NDAs or complex enterprise projects. Learn how to simplify your story, prioritize content strategically, and confidently communicate your UX expertise without falling into portfolio overwhelm. How do you turn years of complicated UX work into a clear, concise story that hiring managers actually want to read? This week, I welcome back Aneta Kmiecik, who has made it her mission t...
May 22, 2025•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 124
Explore how psychology drives effective UX design. Learn practical methods for integrating psychological principles into your design process and gain insights into ethical considerations and storytelling techniques. Why do some apps just "feel right," while others completely miss the mark? Maybe psychology is the missing ingredient in your UX toolkit. Today, I sit down with a UX veteran who has spent years decoding the hidden psychology behind successful design. My guest has crafted user experie...
May 15, 2025•1 hr 15 min•Ep. 123
Building a design system is the easy part—getting your team to adopt it is the real challenge. We dive into the hidden elements that make design systems truly successful. What if the real blocker to your design system isn’t tooling or design, but trust? This week, I talk with Justin Crews, a senior product designer with a background in film, systems thinking, and complex enterprise UX. We dig into what it actually takes to build design systems that people want to use, not just systems that look ...
May 01, 2025•1 hr 15 min•Ep. 122
In this episode, I chat with Thomas Wilson, a veteran service designer, who challenges the conventional product-first approach in software and highlights the importance of broad, strategic thinking in design.Is the software industry focusing too much on products? Thomas Wilson thinks we’re ignoring the value our core services bring.In this episode, I chat with Thomas Wilson, a seasoned design veteran with a deep understanding of human-centered UX. Thomas has some concerns with the way software i...
Apr 24, 2025•1 hr 15 min
This week, Edward Chechique joins me to discuss rethinking design careers, ditching outdated career advice, and learning how to survive (and thrive) in 2025’s chaotic job market. We talk layoffs, AI, content creation, side hustles, and redefining what it means to be a UX pro today. What if your job title doesn't define your career? What if your "career" wasn’t the point at all? We were told that if we worked hard, got good at UX, and built a solid portfolio, we’d be fine. But in 2025, none of th...
Apr 17, 2025•59 min•Ep. 121
Discover how Stefon Towler's 5/15/5 framework transforms stakeholder relationships by understanding what truly drives decisions. Learn a systematic approach to uncovering stakeholder priorities and crafting messages that resonate with decision-makers at every level. What if you could predict exactly how your stakeholders would respond to your ideas before you even present them? Stefon Towler brings deep insight into the psychology of stakeholder decision-making, revealing how understanding their...
Apr 10, 2025•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 120
Explore how one successful project can create an unrealistic aura of perfection around team members, leading to skewed judgment and potentially risky decision-making in professional settings. Understanding the Halo Effect helps teams make more objective assessments. Have you ever wondered why some team members seem to get a free pass on everything after one big success? In this episode of 'The Cognition Catalog,' we dig into the halo effect, a cognitive bias where a person's success in one area ...
Apr 08, 2025•9 min•Ep. 9
This week, I have a candid discussion about the disconnect between UX design education and real-world practice with Joe Natoli. Joe shares insights on why traditional UX education falls short and reveals what it really takes to succeed in corporate environments beyond just following design processes. What if everything you learned about UX design in school was only 40% of what you actually need to succeed in the real world? Joe Natoli brings three decades of experience helping product teams achi...
Apr 03, 2025•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 119
Learn how strategic writing can transform your decision-making process and save your team from investing in the wrong ideas. Discover Amazon's PRFAQ framework—a powerful framework that helps identify potential failures before they happen. What if you could identify doomed projects before wasting months of effort and resources? This week, I chat with Marcelo Calbucci, an entrepreneur, technologist, and author with over 25 years of experience in the tech industry. Marcelo has held key roles at Mic...
Mar 27, 2025•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 118
A practical exploration of how teams can avoid the pitfalls of misremembered information, told through a revealing story of two confident leaders who remembered the same research differently—and were both wrong. What happens when you're absolutely sure about something that never actually happened? Picture this: A heated debate between two senior leaders, each absolutely certain about different user requirements. Both spoke with complete conviction. Both referenced the same research. And both wer...
Mar 25, 2025•7 min•Ep. 8
Explore the profound impact of mindset on your UX career. Discover how shifting from fixed to growth thinking can transform not just your skills but your entire approach to challenges and opportunities. What if your biggest obstacle isn't your skill level, your portfolio, or the job market? What if it's the way you think about your own potential for growth? Nick Mann shares his journey from a fixed mindset that limited his opportunities to embracing a growth-oriented approach that transformed hi...
Mar 20, 2025•50 min•Ep. 117
Uncover the critical distinction between knowing how to tell stories and being prepared to deliver them when it counts. Learn practical strategies for spontaneous storytelling and explore how improv techniques can elevate your UX communication skills. What if all your storytelling skills went out the window the moment you needed them most? How can you ensure you're genuinely ready to communicate effectively when it matters? Christopher Miller, a senior experience designer at Electronic Arts Fros...
Mar 12, 2025•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 116
Some tend to automatically trust and adopt new ideas, technologies, or methods while dismissing traditional approaches as outdated or irrelevant. This bias leads some to adopt unproven solutions prematurely. Is something bad just because it's old? Is something good just because it's New? This week, we dig into the 'Appeal to Novelty' cognitive bias. Discover why new isn't always better and how this fallacy can affect team dynamics, product development, and organizational decision-making. Learn p...
Mar 12, 2025•9 min
This week is a candid discussion with Staff Product Designer Florian Boelter about why there are no shortcuts in UX careers and the importance of putting in the work and avoiding quick-fix solutions. What if everything you've been told about fast-tracking your design career is making it harder than it needs to be? Join Jeremy and his special guest, Florian Bolter, in this episode of Beyond UX Design as they dive deep into the concept that there are no shortcuts in mastering UX design. They discu...
Mar 05, 2025•1 hr 10 min•Ep. 115
Discover the important distinctions between being a solo designer and a founding designer as Taylor Palmer reveals the often-overlooked realities of establishing design leadership in early-stage companies. What’s the real difference between being a startup’s first designer and being a founding designer, and why does it matter? Taylor Palmer brings a wealth of experience as an early-stage product designer who has worked for startups from seed stage to unicorn status for the last decade. As the fo...
Feb 27, 2025•1 hr•Ep. 114
How might stress from executive decisions and external pressures impact your software team's decision-making abilities? In this episode of the Cognition Catalog, we explore mood-congruent memory bias and its impact on software teams. We discover how stress from executive decisions and external pressures can hinder team dynamics and innovation. We also learn practical strategies for managing team mood, fostering empathy, and improving emotional intelligence to mitigate the effects of this cogniti...
Feb 25, 2025•8 min
Explore how the entrepreneurial mindset can revolutionize your career approach. Eli Woolery, co-host of the Design Better podcast, shares insights on applying entrepreneurial principles to any professional journey and offers actionable strategies for career growth and innovation. How can adopting an entrepreneurial mindset transform your career, even if you never plan to work for yourself? Eli Woolery, author, speaker, and co-host of the Design Better podcast discusses the concept of applying an...
Feb 19, 2025•57 min
We tend to perceive patterns in random sequences of data or events, even when there’s no actual correlation or causal relationship present. This bias reflects our brain’s tendency to seek order in randomness. What’s the opportunity cost of seeing patterns in random data? Join us for this week's edition of the Cognition Catalog as we explore its impact on our subconscious decisions. Learn how these hidden biases affect team dynamics, workplace decisions, and daily interactions. Discover practical...
Feb 19, 2025•10 min
People are constantly telling junior UX designers that they need to master their “storytelling skills.” But very few people really explain how to do that. Jeff White’s storytelling book and course is different. Jeff White’s book and course are actually helpful “Storytelling” is likely a skill you hear people talking about all the time. Very few of these people give helpful advice on how to improve that skill. You’ve probably gotten advice that your case studies need to include more compelling st...
Feb 14, 2025•1 hr 16 min
We often make unconscious associations between different things. These automatic associations can shape our behaviors and decisions, even when we consciously believe we are acting fairly and impartially. This bias illustrates the powerful influence of our subconscious mind on our everyday interactions and judgments. Are you as unbiased as you think? Join us for this week's edition of the Cognition Catalog as we explore its impact on our subconscious decisions. Learn how these hidden biases affec...
Feb 11, 2025•9 min
This week we chat with Tim Yeo, author of “The Quiet Achiever,” about the strengths of introverted leadership. Discover how introverts can excel without conforming to extrovert norms, and learn about Tim’s journey from a quiet designer to an influential leader. How can introverts truly thrive in leadership roles without compromising their authenticity? Tim Yeo, a veteran design leader, shares his unique perspective on how introverts can lead effectively without morphing into extroverts. Drawing ...
Feb 06, 2025•56 min•Ep. 112
We tend to determine our own social and personal worth based on how we stack up against others. This bias shapes our self-perception and the perception of others. It can lead to feelings of false inadequacy or, the opposite, false superiority. How can you identify a mature designer? In this episode of Cognition Catalog, we explore how to identify a mature designer and dig into the social comparison bias that can affect team dynamics and individual performance. Learn about upward and downward com...
Feb 04, 2025•12 min
How can UX designers make a meaningful impact in large enterprise orgs? I'm excited to chat with Stéfanie Walter, a UX researcher and strategist who has built an impressive career in enterprise software. With over 13 years of experience focusing on inclusive design and accessibility, Stef has established herself as an expert in enterprise UX. Her varied background spans industries from automotive to finance, giving her unique insights into the challenges of designing complex systems and processe...
Jan 29, 2025•1 hr 15 min•Ep. 111
We tend to overestimate the importance or impact of information that readily comes to mind when making decisions. As a result, our choices and judgments may be skewed, and we may overlook other important factors. What happens when we misuse research data? The focusing effect can have major implications for our personal and professional lives. It can dramatically influence how we make decisions about our own lives, like career decisions, and it can also have a huge impact on how our teams make de...
Jan 24, 2025•7 min
This week, we chat with career coach Meltem Naz Kaso, who shares a unique framework for overcoming career stagnation. Discover why feeling “stuck” might be an invitation to explore new possibilities and how you can strategically navigate your career. Are you truly stuck in your UX career, or is it just a phase? Meltem Naz Kaso is a UX career coach with a decade of experience in both in-house and consultancy roles. Meltem now dedicates her time to helping professionals rebuild their careers with ...
Jan 22, 2025•1 hr 12 min•Ep. 110
Join us for a thought-provoking discussion with Jen Blatz as we reimagine the role of personas in UX design. Discover how the Jobs to Be Done framework can lead to more meaningful, user-centric strategies that align with real-world needs. Is your UX design truly user-centered, or are personas leading you astray? Discover a game-changing approach that could redefine your strategy. Tune in as I chat with Jen Blatz, who challenges the conventional use of personas in design. With a rich UX research ...
Jan 16, 2025•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 109
