AIGA Design Podcast

In this preview clip, Matthew McIver and Lee-Sean Huang, AIGA's senior director of learning and programs, discuss the important role of financial margins and padding in business. The AIGA Design Podcast will be going on a brief mid-season spring hiatus and return with our full episode with Matthew on May 20, 2024.

💼 Matthew McIver is a creative entrepreneur and owner of Commence Studio based in Reno, Nevada. Commence Studio is a B2B Brand and E-commerce Agency that helps purpose-driven companies be seen & heard.

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How do you package your unique career journey?

In this episode, Sarah Doody, founder of Career Strategy Lab™, and Lee-Sean Huang, senior director of learning and programs at AIGA, delve into the intricacies of crafting a career roadmap to navigate your professional journey. Join us as we explore the importance of setting short and long-term goals, building your compass statement, and leveraging unique strategies to stand out in the design industry.

Topics include:

1️⃣ Crafting a career roadmap: Discover the value of setting short and long-term goals to guide your professional journey.

2️⃣ Building your compass statement: Learn how to articulate your vision and filter opportunities that align with your career aspirations.

3️⃣ The power of anti-networking: Explore strategies for building meaningful relationships and standing out in a crowded job market.

🤝 Sarah Doody is the founder of Career Strategy Lab™, a program that helps UX and product professionals at all career stages navigate their job search and articulate their skills and experience through individualized and group coaching. She is also the host of the Career Strategy Lab podcast.

Since 2021, professionals who have worked with Sarah have increased their salaries by 40% on average and have been hired at prestigious brands such as Microsoft, Amazon, Salesforce, Nordstrom, Spotify, Blue Origin on average in 3.5 months. The program has been so successful since it’s launch that the combined salary of program graduates hired topped nearly $6 million.

Sarah has been named a Future of Work expert by Forbes and is a regular Forbes.com contributor. She has also been featured in Fast Company, Insider, Fox Business, and more. Sarah is also to author her first book, The Product of You: How to Design, Market, and Sell Yourself in Your Career, forthcoming in 2024.

✨ Connect with Sarah on YouTube, LinkedIn, Instagram, or Twitter.

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On the next episode of the AIGA Design Podcast, guest Sarah Doody discusses applying product design principles to your career, crafting a career roadmap, and more. Full episode release: March 18, 2024.

🤝 Sarah Doody is the founder of Career Strategy Lab, a program that helps UX and product professionals at all career stages navigate their job search and articulate their skills and experience through individualized and group coaching. She is also the host of the Career Strategy Lab podcast.

Topics include:

1️⃣ Crafting a career roadmap: Discover the value of setting short and long-term goals to guide your professional journey.

2️⃣ Building your compass statement: Learn how to articulate your vision and filter opportunities that align with your career aspirations.

3️⃣ The power of anti-networking: Explore strategies for building meaningful relationships and standing out in a crowded job market.

Has design research hit a plateau?

In this episode, Danny Spitzberg and Humphrey Obuobi, two design researchers in the San Francisco Bay Area, and Lee-Sean Huang, senior director of learning and programs at AIGA delve into the challenges and explore the gap between personal and professional learning in design research.

Topics include:

1. the value of co-design catchphrases and why they keep resurfacing

2. the challenges and rewards of collaborating with marginalized communities on designing solutions that address their needs

3. how design and policy can intersect more effectively to address social challenges and promote equity

🔍 Danny Spitzberg, a user research expert in the cooperative economy, co-founded the Workers’ Algorithm Observatory. He sheds light on auditing algorithms for workers and allies, advocating for concrete improvements in digital technology standards.

🔍 Humphrey Obuobi, founder of LETS Studio, focuses on building infrastructure for a healthier democracy. A student-researcher with UC Berkeley’s Possibility Lab, Humphrey is dedicated to local, community-powered social innovation.

📖 Read Danny and Humphrey's Q&A article published on AIGA.org

🙋 LETS Studio, Humphrey's professional practice, invites collaborations and volunteers at letsstudio.org.

🔬 The Workers’ Algorithm Observatory advocates for algorithmic accountability; explore their studies at wao.cs.princeton.edu.

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Preview clip of our upcoming episode with Danny Spitzberg and Humphrey Obuobi on Why Design Research is Stuck. Full episode release on February 20, 2024.

Designing success outside the lines – AIGA's 2024 journey begins at the margins.

Welcome to the first episode of the 2024 season of the AIGA Design Podcast! Join Lee-Sean Huang, senior director of learning and programs at AIGA, as he explores the theme "MARGINS" and sets the stage for an exciting year of AIGA Design programming.

🎟️ Register for the Yale BPCL Open House webinar.

📚 Learn more about the AIGA Professional Design Certification.

🏆 Learn more and enter AIGA Design Competitions.

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Want to join us as a guest on a future show? Fill out this form here.

Listen to the full interview with Colton Schweitzer, co-founder of Kickass UX here: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/aigadesign/episodes/Colton-Schweitzer-on-Kickass-UX-e2ci2ke

Use code AIGA75 for $75 off your first month of ⁠Kickass UX's UX/UI Expert course

In this episode Colton Schweitzer, co-founder of Kickass UX and Lee-Sean Huang, senior director of learning and programs at AIGA talk about:

• How Banksy inspired Colton to get into graphic design
• How creating a board game introduced Colton to UX and landed him a job
• The differences between a design bootcamp and a college degree program
• How to identify and address common gaps in UX design education
• How recent design graduates can make their portfolios stand out and some hope for current UX job seekers
• What makes the Kickass UX program different and how graduates of the program have found success
• Why graphic designers should learn UX even if they aren’t planning a career pivot
• How can designers overcome subjectivity when dealing with stakeholders
• What are the “Treasure Map” and “Kung Fu Master” metaphors for the UX process and how do they make you a more powerful designer with a “why skillset”
• How Colton applies UX principles to designing the pedagogy and business model for his venture, Kickass UX
• And more!

Use code AIGA75 for $75 off your first month of Kickass UX's UX/UI Expert course

AIGA's Design Futures research referenced in the episode

Colton's cartoon alter ego, ⁠Kitty AF⁠ recently released a holiday book How the Cat Ruined Christmas

Irish Bouzouki clip by PhotoCapeBreton via Pixabay

This is the final episode of 2023. Happy holidays! See you next year.

Maigen Thomas is a senior UX designer, career switcher, and "Maven of Mentoring" for fellow UI/UX bootcamp graduates. In this episode, Maigen and Lee-Sean discuss leveraging life experiences into design, what to do in the first 30 days of a new job to set yourself up for success, gamification, and more!

Maigen's Real World Experience Workshop:https://maigenux.gumroad.com/l/real-world-exp-workshop

Octalysis Prime:https://join.octalysisprime.com

Debbie Millman interviews Pentagram partners Emily Oberman, Giorgia Lupi, Marina Willer, Natasha Jen, and Paula Scher. Recorded LIVE at the 2023 AIGA Design Conference in New York City!