UX Podcast - podcast cover

UX Podcast

James Royal-Lawson & Per Axbomuxpodcast.com
UXPodcast™ is a twice-monthly digital design podcast - hosted by James Royal-Lawson and Per Axbom - sharing insights about business, technology and people since 2011. We want to push the boundaries of how user experience is perceived and boost your confidence in the work you do.

Episodes

#309 Container queries and design thinking

Episode 309 is a linkshow. James and Per discuss two articles that have grabbed their attention – we feature articles about container queries being available to use in all major browsers and how design thinking was supposed to fix the world. Where did it go wrong?

Feb 23, 2023Transcript available on Metacast

#308 Systems thinking with Sheryl Cababa

What is systems thinking and how can designers make use of it in their work? In her book Closing the loop, Sheryl Cababa lays out her answer and approach to this question. We talk to her and discuss some of the core definitions and concepts. 

Feb 09, 2023Transcript available on Metacast

#307 Policy and design with Alexandra Schmidt

In this conversation with Alex Schmidt, author of Deliberate Intervention, we discuss “policy” in relation to digital design and tech. We discuss how even though designers intend to do good and have a positive impact, harm can still happen as a result of our designs. We talk about how it is natural for systems to...

Jan 26, 2023Transcript available on Metacast

#306 Human centred design with Alastair Somerville (UXP Classic)

We are constantly simplifying the world around us and the people within it. This is a perfectly understandable reaction to the messy things we have to work with. But with every step back we are building a wall between the user and what it is to be human. We talk to Alastair about human centred design. How...

Jan 12, 2023Transcript available on Metacast

#305 Dyscalculia and ChatGPT

Episode 305 is a linkshow. James and Per discuss two articles that have grabbed their attention – we feature articles about designing for people with dyscalculia and low numeracy, and How ChatGPT is blowing Google out of the water: a UX breakdown.

Dec 29, 2022Transcript available on Metacast

#304 Building a content strategy practice with Natalie Marie Dunbar

Getting anything up and running takes both time and planing. Content strategist Natalie Marie Dunbar joins us to talk about her content strategy practice blueprint and how it can help you when building a practice. What to do in order to avoid being an unheard and unappreciated silo as you grow from being a solo...

Dec 15, 2022Transcript available on Metacast

#303 Metacognition with Steve Fleming

We take a dive into neuroscience and metacognition. Thinking about thinking and thinking about other minds. We are joined by Professor Stephen Fleming, neuroscientist and author of the book Know Thyself to learn more about how our cognition works and the implications for our work as mind-creating creatives and in the development of AI.

Dec 01, 2022Transcript available on Metacast

#302 Articulating design decisions with Tom Greever (UXP Classic)

We talk to Tom Greever about Articulating Design Decisions. How do we talk about our designs effectively with stakeholders? Every designer has to explain (and justify) their design decisions to non-designers but what are the skills tactics and methods that are needed to pull this off in a way that opens the door for your project to create...

Nov 17, 2022Transcript available on Metacast

#301 Informed consent with Kim Foulds and Joyce Rafla

Informed consent is a critical part of the research process. We talk to Kim Foulds and Joyce Rafla about how they made use of videos featuring Sesame Workshop muppets to make taking a consent decision more inclusive, accessible and informed.

Nov 03, 2022Transcript available on Metacast

#300 Jokes and humour with Delia Chiaro

We’ve been tacking jokes onto the end of our shows since Episode 138. So to celebrate Episode 300, we take a look at jokes and humour. We’re joined by Professor Delia Chiaro, who has spent decades researching humour to learn more about what makes things funny and if it’s safe for us to be humorous...

Oct 20, 2022Transcript available on Metacast

#299 Best practice with Rich Brophy

“Let’s find out what’s best practice and just run with that”. That’s something many of us will recognise and have experienced. But what actually is best practice? Is it something we should follow? And can we? Rich Brophy joins us to talk about best practice and to offer some advice about what might be even...

Oct 06, 2022Transcript available on Metacast

#298 Colonised Thinking and Figma

Episode 298 is a linkshow. Per and James discuss two articles that have grabbed their attention – we feature articles about how car culture colonised our thinking, and how Figma is making you a bad designer.

Sep 22, 2022Transcript available on Metacast

#297 Complexity with Jonas Söder­ström (UXP Classic)

In this classic UX Podcast, Jonas Söderström joins us to talk about complexity. We like to think that we have made the world better through digitalisation, but perhaps all of the productivity gains were actually in the very early days of computing. 

Sep 08, 2022Transcript available on Metacast

#296 Introvert designers with Tim Yeo

How do you make an impact as an introvert without pretending to be an extrovert? Often designers find themselves as quiet people in a noisy world, struggling in silence and being frustrated at not being heard. Tim Yeo joins us to talk about how introverted designers and design leaders can work with their introversion and...

Aug 25, 2022Transcript available on Metacast

#295 Discovery with Dan Brown (UXP Classic)

We need to ask the big hard questions at the beginning of the process so we can make good design decisions later. We talk to Dan Brown about the “discovery phase” or, as Dan suggests, the “discovery mindset”.

Aug 11, 2022Transcript available on Metacast

#294 Sitemaps

Episode 294 is a linkshow. Per and James discuss two articles that have grabbed their attention – we feature articles about designing the perfect button, and how sitemaps are an essential tool in web design.

Jul 28, 2022Transcript available on Metacast

#293 Designing for stress with Katie Swindler

We often find ourselves in stressful situations. Sometimes that’s expected, but sometimes it’s not.  The same can be said about the things we design. Sometimes we knowingly design for stressful situations, but sometimes our designs are used (unexpectedly to us) by people while under stress. Katie Swindler, Author of Life and Death Design joins us...

Jul 14, 2022Transcript available on Metacast

#292 Product management with Christian Crumlish

What is product management? And “product”? And product designers? We talk to Christian Crumlish, author of Product Management for UX People to learn more about how designers can collaboration and contribute in a product organisation.

Jun 30, 2022Transcript available on Metacast

#291 Designing elevators with Reetta Ranne and Jussi Hiltunen (UXP Classic)

Lifts and elevators are things that we love to talk about in UX circles. Every elevator panel is capable of being the starting point for a user experience conversation. In this classic UX Podcast interview, we talk to Reetta Ranne and Jussi Hiltunen who, at the time of recording, were senior UX design specialists at...

Jun 16, 2022Transcript available on Metacast

#290 Web3 with Laura Kalbag

Web3 is a term that’s getting a lot of attention, along with associated concepts such as blockchain, crypto, NFTs. There are a lot of concepts and phrases to understand, some of them quite technical, before we can get to the question of what benefits they can deliver. Laura Kalbag joins us to help us gain...

Jun 02, 2022Transcript available on Metacast

#289 Diagramming with Abby Covert

Diagrams are everywhere and used by many people in many professions. But what is a diagram? When are they useful? And what makes a good one? Information architect and author of “How To Make Sense of Any Mess” Abby Covert joins us to talk about diagrams and diagramming – which is the topic of her...

May 19, 2022Transcript available on Metacast

#288 Native emojis 🐻‍❄️

Episode 288 is a linkshow. Per and James discuss two articles that have grabbed their attention – we feature articles about the problems with, and the alternatives to, the term “users” plus the surprisingly complex world of emojis.

May 05, 2022Transcript available on Metacast

#287 Endineering with Joe MacLeod

Joe’s first book “Ends”, back in 2017 was focused on why we don’t do endings, and how that links into consumerism. Joe’s second book, “Endineering” is about how to actively design endings, a ‘how-to’ book for improving how products, services and consumer relationships end.

Apr 21, 2022Transcript available on Metacast

#285 Brainstorming with Christopher McCann

Why don’t we just brainstorm that? Brainstorming as a tool for ideation has a number of drawbacks, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be useful. Design leader and leadership coach Christopher McCann joins us to discuss how we can improve our innovation processes, and hold better and more inclusive creative sessions.

Mar 24, 2022Transcript available on Metacast

#284 Additive bias

Episode 284 is a linkshow. Per and James discuss two articles that have grabbed their attention – we feature articles about additive bias and the current state of mobile UX.

Mar 10, 2022Transcript available on Metacast

#283 Core web vitals with Katie Hempenius

Your own vital signs are your heart rate, temperature, breathing and blood pressure. These are used to help get an idea of your health, and give a “heads-up” that something is not as performing as it should be. Google has come up with its own set of web vitals to give you an idea of...

Feb 24, 2022Transcript available on Metacast

#282 Older adults and tech with Carolyn Wilson-Nash

Carolyn Wilson-Nash together with Julie Tinson, both from Stirling University, published a research paper entitled ‘I am the master of my fate’: digital technology paradoxes and the coping strategies of older consumers. Carolyn joins us to talk more about her research and the impact technology has on older people’s lives.

Feb 10, 2022Transcript available on Metacast

#281 Organisational trauma with Vivianne Castillo

We often think of trauma as something that individuals go through, but organisations can experience trauma too. Vivianne Castillo was part of producing a research-based report that reveals the ways that organisations respond to trauma. The report also puts forward a suggestion of how organisations can handling healing better.

Jan 27, 2022Transcript available on Metacast

#280 Ethical experimentation with Craig Sullivan

Mass democratisation and access to AB test tooling has meant that hundreds of millions of experiments have been run on people, via digital products and services. Although we are not running pharmaceutical trials and tests, these experiments still raise numerous ethical issues that are shared with research or experiments in a medical scenarios. Craig Sullivan...

Jan 13, 2022Transcript available on Metacast