Beyond UX Design Podcast

Too many designers make the same mistake: They wait for their company to invest in them. ⇢ The conference budget. ⇢ The HR-approved training. ⇢ The green light from a manager. It’s OK! I’m 100% guilty of this, too! But here’s the truth: leaders don’t wait for permission. They invest in themselves first. And that investment pays off in ways a certificate never will: ⇢ Connections that open doors ⇢ Confidence to speak with authority ⇢ A mindset that treats growth as leadership This week on Beyond UX Design Podcast, I talk with Yao Adantor, an educator and founder of UXCON - User Experience Conferences | UXCON24 | UXCON25, about why owning your education is the key to long-term impact. We cover: • Why conferences are really about connection, not content • How sacrifice (time, money, energy) builds future opportunities • Why confidence is the real ROI of learning • How to lead yourself before you lead others 🎧 Check the comments for a link to listen! What’s the last thing you invested in for your own growth without waiting for approval? --- 🎯 Here are some key takeaways from our conversation 1️⃣ Stop waiting for permission: Too many designers wait until their boss approves a budget. Leaders take initiative. Even small self-funded investments, like an online course or meetup, can have an outsized impact on your career. 2️⃣ Think of education as more than school: Education isn’t just about degrees or certificates. It’s the time you invest in real experiences, networking, and connecting with people who expand your perspective. Every new interaction can teach you something valuable. 3️⃣ Apply the entrepreneurial mindset to your growth: Entrepreneurs don’t sit back and hope for resources. They find ways to make things happen. Apply that same mindset to your education. Be scrappy, resourceful, and proactive in finding ways to learn, even if the money or time isn’t handed to you. 4️⃣ Investing in yourself builds confidence: Confidence doesn’t come from a certificate on your wall. It comes from conversations, debates, and experiences that sharpen your thinking. Conferences and communities give you the practice and perspective to speak with authority when it matters most. 5️⃣ Your growth fuels your community: Education isn’t selfish. The more you grow, the more you can give back, whether that’s through mentoring, teaching, or simply showing up as a better teammate. Think of your investment not just as personal, but as a service to the people around you. --- This week’s episode is brought to you by Mobbin! If you're tired of staring at a blank Figma canvas, Mobbin gives you access to over 400,000 beautifully designed UI screens and user flows with a library that grows bigger every week. Kickstart your creativity, streamline your workflow, and level up your design process. Visit mobbin(dot)com/beyondux to get 20% off Mobbin Pro and never run out of inspiration again! ♻️ If you found this helpful, share it 🙏!

Most designers think their career stalls because they’re missing a skill. A better portfolio. Cleaner Figma files. Sharper UI. But that’s rarely the actual problem. The real reason mid-level designers get stuck? 👉 Complexity. Inside messy orgs, best practices don’t work the way you think. Politics, hidden networks, and shifting contexts take over. In this week’s episode of Beyond UX Design, I talk with strategist and lover of learning, Jen Briselli, about: ⇢ Why complicated ≠ complex (and why it matters for your career) ⇢ Why team dynamics can’t be forced, it has to emerge ⇢ How to spot and nurture hidden networks of influence ⇢ Why learning is the leadership skill nobody teaches you ⇢ How to adapt when best practices fail If you’ve ever wondered why your craft alone isn’t enough to move the needle, this conversation is for you. 🎧 Check the comments for a link to listen to the full episode. 🎯 Here are some key takeaways from our conversation 1️⃣ Know the difference between complicated and complex: Complicated problems can be solved with expertise and analysis. Complex problems—like navigating teams, politics, and human behavior—require flexibility and experimentation. Don’t waste time applying the wrong tools. 2️⃣ Stop chasing best practices: What worked for one team in one context won’t necessarily work for yours. In complex environments, practices must emerge through learning, learning, experimentation, reflection, and adaptation. Focus on sensing and responding quickly instead of clinging to someone else’s playbook. 3️⃣ Use learning as your engine: The best designers aren’t the ones with the cleanest Figma files. They’re the ones who help their teams learn faster. Treat every interaction as a chance to test, adapt, and grow. Learning isn’t a single event. It’s a muscle that keeps you and your team moving forward. 4️⃣ Pay attention to the hidden org chart: Influence often flows through informal networks: the trusted colleagues, Slack backchannels, and side conversations after meetings. Spotting and nurturing these connections can give you more leverage than any official “seat at the table.” 5️⃣ Think like a gardener: Things like design maturity, psychological safety, and trust aren’t things you can mandate. They emerge when the conditions are right. Focus on preparing the soil (safe spaces, slack in the system), planting seeds (ideas, experiments), and providing sunlight (ongoing support). Change will follow. ♻️ If you found this helpful, share it 🙏!

📅 DAY 3 SCHEDULE & FINAL DAY of actionable insights you can implement Monday morning! 💼 Day 3 delivers the final round of practical frameworks, proven strategies, and ready-to-use tools that will transform how you approach your UX work: 📅 October 2nd - Complete Schedule and names of the different parts of the day: TEMPLE OF TIME ----------------------------- 🎤 Kate Towsey - 12:30 PM (CEST) "Advanced Research Talk" UX Research Ops Expert 🎤 Ricardo Brito - 1:15 PM (CEST) "Going Solo: The Business of Becoming Yourself" Business & Career Advisor 🎤 Lena Kul - 2:00 PM (CEST) "You Don't Need a Job to Have a Career" Career Advice Expert GERUDO DESERT ----------------------------- 🎤 Julian Della Mattia - 3:30 PM (CEST) "The First Researcher: From Finder to Builder" UX Research Expert 🎤 Ben Callahan - 4:15 PM (CEST) "Wisdom from the Trees" Design Systems Expert HYRULE CASTLE: ----------------------------- 🎤 Darren Hood, MSUXD - 5:00 PM (CEST) "The Power of Holistic Empathy" UX Education Advocate 🎤 Amanda Jensen, MFA - 5:45 PM (CEST) "The UX Multiplier Effect: Infusing Design Thinking into Organisational DNA" Research Strategy Educator DAY 2 WORKSHOP ----------------------------- 🎯 Jeremy Miller - 1:45 PM (CEST) "From Chaos to Clarity: Stakeholder Mapping in Action" Host of Beyond UX Podcast - Workshop 💥 CHILL GLADE EVENTS ----------------------------- 👥 Panel - 1:15PM (CEST) Laurent Christoph(Wise), Patrizia Bertini (Aligned Consulting), Antonia Landi(Coach & Consultant), and Su Milazzo (1Password) 🎤 Arek (Arkadiusz) Radek - 3:30 PM (CEST) "Greater Good - How UX in Space Helps Save Lives of Millions" Design Leader 🎤 Theo Johnson - 4:15 PM (CEST) "From Chaos to Clarity: Strategic Journey Maps in Complex B2B Ecosystems" Assistant Director, Strategy 🎤 Rajeev Subramanian - 5:30 PM (CEST) "The Invisible Rules of UX Careers: Why Talent Isn't Enough" Design Educator It will be bittersweet to reach our final day, but we hope that by the time you pass these three days, the amount of insights, strategies, and connections will create lasting value in your UX journey. ---------------------------------------------------------------- 📅 - 30th September — 2nd October 📍 - Online. All you need is a working laptop 💵 - Free to attend. Donate what you think the Value you got from a speaker directly to the speaker #ValueUX #UXConference #UserExperience #UXCommunity 🚀

Most designers are told the same story: Climb the ladder. Fight for a “seat at the table.” That’s what success looks like. But what if that seat costs you your health, your joy, and your sense of self? Rashmi Lopez knows that story firsthand. After 15 years in tech, she earned the leadership title she thought she wanted... only to realize it left her burned out and drained. A layoff became the turning point. Instead of chasing another corporate ladder, she chose to build her own table. In our conversation, Rashmi shares: ➡️ Why titles and tables don’t guarantee respect or influence ➡️ How to spot burnout creep before it becomes the norm ➡️ Why community support outlasts corporate validation ➡️ How to use boundaries as a strategy, not just self-care ➡️ The role of personal projects in keeping your craft (and joy) alive If you’ve ever questioned whether the “seat at the table” is worth it—or wondered what success could look like on your own terms—this episode is for you. --- 🎯 Here are some key takeaways from our conversation 1️⃣ Don’t confuse titles with success: Titles can look impressive, but they don’t always translate to influence, respect, or fulfillment. Instead of chasing a role because it looks good on LinkedIn, ask: will this role give me the life I want? Will it align with my values, energy, and personal goals? 2️⃣ Burnout creeps in slowly: Burnout rarely arrives all at once. It’s a series of small compromises: late emails, skipped lunches, weekends lost to “just one more thing.” Notice these shifts before they become your norm. Reverse them with small resets—log off on time, reclaim breaks, and model healthy work for your peers. 3️⃣ Community provides the support titles can’t: Corporate culture often ties support to performance. But a community offers care without conditions. Invest in friendships and networks where support flows both ways, regardless of output. 4️⃣ Build boundaries into your career: Saying yes to everything doesn’t earn respect; it erodes it. Protect your time and energy by setting clear limits on availability and workload. Boundaries aren’t selfish; they’re a strategy for long-term influence and career survival. 5️⃣ Create for joy, not just for business goals: Corporate projects may hit metrics, but they rarely feed your creative spirit. Keep a practice of personal projects like sketching, branding experiments, writing, or art, without worrying about productivity. --- This week’s episode is brought to you by Mobbin! If you're tired of staring at a blank Figma canvas, Mobbin gives you access to over 400,000 beautifully designed UI screens and user flows with a library that grows bigger every week. Kickstart your creativity, streamline your workflow, and level up your design process? Visit mobbin(dot)com/beyondux to get 20% off Mobbin Pro and never run out of inspiration again! ♻️ If you found this helpful, share it 🙏!

🧑🎨 Designers estimate in hours. 🧑💻 Engineers estimate in points. 🤡 Product managers are left to juggle both. No wonder everything feels misaligned. ➡️ Designers commit to “10 hours” that never account for iteration. ➡️ Engineers estimate in Fibonacci points that sound like developer math. ➡️ Stakeholders assume both mean the same thing. They don’t. And that mismatch kills trust. Here’s the thing: story points aren’t just for developers. When designers estimate in story points, they: ⇢ Align with engineering on a shared language of effort ⇢ Set realistic expectations with product managers ⇢ Protect creative time without overpromising ⇢ Earn credibility by planning consistently This week on Beyond UX Design Podcast, I chat with Naresh Shan to unpack why story points are the most underrated tool for UX teams, and how adopting them transforms collaboration. Check the comments for a link to listen! 🎯 Here are some key takeaways from our conversation 1️⃣ Stop equating effort with hours: Estimating design in hours compresses the creative process and sets false expectations. Shifting to effort-based points acknowledges the messy, iterative nature of design while still providing a predictable way to plan. 2️⃣ Use story points to build credibility: When designers speak the same estimation language as engineers, it immediately boosts trust. Story points make it clear you’re not guessing. You’re aligning effort with measurable outcomes. 3️⃣ Create a shared definition of “done”: Story points force teams to break down tasks and agree on what’s included. This prevents scope creep and ensures everyone—designers, PMs, and developers—knows what success looks like. 4️⃣ Plan capacity with confidence: Tracking velocity across sprints gives managers the data they need to balance workloads and push back on unrealistic demands. No more guessing how much your team can handle. 5️⃣ Build trust through consistent planning: Consistency in story point use shows stakeholders that design is reliable. Over time, this builds trust, reduces last-minute requests, and strengthens the working relationship between UX, product, and engineering. --- This week’s episode is brought to you by Mobbin! If you're tired of staring at a blank Figma canvas, Mobbin gives you access to over 400,000 beautifully designed UI screens and user flows with a library that grows bigger every week. Kickstart your creativity, streamline your workflow, and level up your design process? Use the link in the comments to get 20% off Mobbin Pro and never run out of inspiration again! ♻️ If you found this helpful, share it 🙏!

I’ll be honest. AI has made me anxious about my role as a designer. ⇢ When a product manager can whip up mockups… ⇢ When an exec thinks ChatGPT can replace discovery… ⇢ When tools are building full apps from a single prompt… It’s hard not to wonder: *what’s left for me to do?* But here’s the thing... this isn’t all doom and gloom. It’s actually a chance to rethink what design really means. That’s why I brought Dennis Lenard, co-founder of Creative Navy UX Agency, to talk about AI and its impact on the Design profession. We dug into: 👉 Why designers feel the loss of control more than other roles 👉 How ambiguity and anxiety distort our judgment 👉 Why our real edge isn’t production—it’s prioritization and empathy 👉 What it looks like to reframe “design” as connecting the dots across a system, not just making screens AI may change the tools we use, but it can’t replace the skills that make us indispensable. 🎧 Check out the comments for a link to listen to the full episode! --- 🎯 Here are some key takeaways from our conversation 1️⃣ Shift your focus from production to prioritization: AI can make endless screens, but it can’t tell you which ones matter. Your value comes from framing tradeoffs and making decisions, not just producing designs. 2️⃣ Treat your team like your users: Apply the same curiosity to PMs and engineers as you do to customers. Use that knowledge to adapt how you communicate, frame problems, and build influence inside the team. 3️⃣ Redefine design beyond the interface: Design isn’t just pixel pushing, it’s managing systems, surfacing assumptions, and connecting the dots between users, tech, and business. 4️⃣Control what you can, and name what you can’t: Shift focus from what’s outside your control to what you *can* influence: your attention, conversations, and how you explain your thinking. 5️⃣ Do the research on your own role: Run a SWOT analysis on yourself and your team. Mapping strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats reveals gaps and new ways to add value. --- This week’s episode is brought to you by Mobbin! If you're tired of staring at a blank Figma canvas, Mobbin gives you access to over 400,000 beautifully designed UI screens and user flows with a library that grows bigger every week. Kickstart your creativity, streamline your workflow, and level up your design process? Visit mobbin(dot)com/beyondux to get 20% off Mobbin Pro and never run out of inspiration again! ♻️ If you found this helpful, share it 🙏!

Ever feel like your work goes nowhere? ⇢ You do the research ⇢ You design the screens ⇢ You pour hours into thoughtful decisions… And then: ➡️ Your PM changes direction ➡️ Engineering says it’s not feasible ➡️ Leadership wants to "circle back"… but never does It’s exhausting. And it’s not just you. The truth? Your work might be solid. What’s missing is *context*. ⇢ Understanding how decisions actually get made. ⇢ Understanding what your teammates care about. ⇢ Understanding *why* your ideas aren’t landing. This week, Thomas Stokes and Lawton Pybus, two PhDs in human factors and founders of Drill Bit Labs, join the show to dig into what empathy really means and how to use it to build better software. We talk about: ✅ Why your empathy can’t stop at the user ✅ How to build influence without being fake ✅ Tools for mapping org dynamics and power ✅ What to do when you feel blocked or sidelined If you’ve ever thought, “Why doesn’t anyone listen to us?” this one’s for you. 🎧 Check the comments for a link to listen! --- 🎯 Here are some key takeaways from our conversation 1️⃣ Empathy is a repeatable process, not just a personality trait: Empathy isn’t innate; it’s a skill. Just like we use frameworks to understand users, we can use them to understand our coworkers. Stop expecting it to come naturally and start practicing it with intention. 2️⃣ Use stakeholder interviews, just don’t make them weird: Don’t treat coworkers like test subjects. Skip the script and have a real conversation. Ask what matters to them, what they’re solving for, and what success looks like. It builds trust and context. 3️⃣ If you're new to a team, build a relationship map early: Thomas recommends using your first week to talk to as many people as possible. Learn what they care about and who they work with. It’s one of the fastest ways to understand power, priorities, and org dynamics. 4️⃣ Start from the assumption that you'd act the same in their shoes: When tensions flare or decisions don’t go your way, it’s easy to assume bad intent. But most people are doing the best they can with the context they have. Perspective-taking helps reduce friction and opens the door to better collaboration. 5️⃣ Don’t mistake influence for manipulation: Intentional relationship-building isn’t fake. Remembering your coworker's kid’s name or checking in about their last project builds trust. Influence is neutral. It’s how you use it that matters. --- This week’s episode is brought to you by Mobbin! If you're tired of staring at a blank Figma canvas, Mobbin gives you access to over 400,000 beautifully designed UI screens and user flows with a library that grows bigger every week. Kickstart your creativity, streamline your workflow, and level up your design process? Visit mobbin(dot)com/beyondux to get 20% off Mobbin Pro and never run out of inspiration again! ♻️ If you found this helpful, share it 🙏!