Designdrives

"Unfortunately or fortunately UX design is now being the hot topic everybody wants to give you suggestions. So how not get irritated but understand that why people are showcasing so much of interest is because our discipline matters and take it constructively and take that opportunity to educate people about not being a pretty picture but how it is driving strategy is important." - Kadambari Sahu.

We are super excited to launch another episode of Designdrives where we explore why, how, and what design drives forward.

In EP63 We chat with Kadambari Sahu SVP Design at ValueLabs, about her learnings working as a design leader for many years.

Recently she has been winning many global design awards and building up her design competence at Value Labs India.

Kadambari creates design cultures by infusing design thinking within organizations and businesses to create a holistic strategy and marketing experience.

We learn how she positioned up and build design within the company from scratch and grow raw responsibilitiesof design and value of design within the organization.

We also have a super interesting chat on one of her most awarded projects called "Sniffing out the differences" where we not only learn about the challenges and opportunities designing with smell as a creative medium but also the business value considering it in a commercial setup and what it could be if brands would invest into the design with sniffing.

With Kad, we jump into;

What were the key challenges that she had to face in the “Sniffing out the differences” project?

How can interaction designers and companies incorporate the sense of smell more into their projects?

What are the positive outcomes when designing with the “smell in mind”.

How does she grow and position design within the company?

What strategies she uses to communicate the business value to design.

Thanks a lot for your time and for learning Kad!

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The Guest

Kadambari Sahu is a Design Leader, working as SVP Design at ValueLabs.

She founded the award-winning design team, User Experience Group at ValueLabs, and is currently leading 50+ designers to create world-class and award-winning products and services to have a positive impact on businesses.

Kad is the founder of Sniffing out the Differences collective, which started with the grant received from Prince Claus Fund and the British Council to explore storytelling through multisensory installation with a focus on smell interactions.

Her forte lies in building, growing, coaching, and mentoring high-performance design teams from scratch.

She creates a design culture by infusing design thinking within organizations and businesses to create a holistic strategy and customer experience.

Her practice in design allows her to work on intangible and tangible aspects of design breaking the boundaries between physical, digital, and service design and creating a seamless experience across media, devices, touchpoints, cultures, and geographies.

She has worked for clients across geographies spanning, North America, Europe, Australia, and Asia.

She has won many awards for her work.

The latest includes Red Dot awards 2020, Vega Digital Award, DNA Paris 20 awards for Interactivity and Graphics, India’s Best Design Project 2019, India’s Best in-house design team, and many others.

She has been part of many national and international fellowships such as BMW Doathon, VR storytelling guild, etc.

She is an international speaker on design and has given talks at many design conferences such as Interaction 20, Interaction 18, organized by IxDA, UXindia, and many others.

She is on the international committee of World interaction design day and organizes and hosts the same in Hyderabad.

She is an alumna of the National Institute of Design, India, where she did her Post-graduation in New Media Design, which has led her to examine the impact that technologies have on human interactions and culture.

She has been curious about the role of design in everyday life and how human interactions can be mediated, shaped, enhanced, or augmented by technologies.

“We can take a lot of inspiration from our engineering friends in this department. I think engineering is always at least a few years ahead in any company because they are usually the first people to start working at a startup”. — DARSHAN GAJARA.

We are super excited to kick off 2022 with a fresh episode of Designdrives.

In EP62 we had the chance to chat with Darshan Gajara Head of Design at GraphCMS a growing startup based in Berlin.

He is also the creator of Product Disrupt.com which is a popular newsletter and website for design resources linked towards the best design blocks, the best podcasts, the best resources, and also a great newsletter for young designers to advance themselves as a designer.

With Darshan, we jump into;

What it means to join an early-stage startup as a designer as he joined GraphCMS as the founding designer.

What it means to grow together with the team and the company as a designer.

What kind of challenges come ahead as you work in such an environment.

We also talk about why and how you can use the power of online education and inspirations to advance yourself as a designer using good resources and online programs.

During the episode, he also shares his insights on:

As a designer how you can find fresh materials online.

What to expect and how to adapt to your job role after joining a startup.

How to stay agile and structure the design projects?

How to set up projects and design teams?

Thanks a lot for your time and for learning Darshan!

******

The Guest

Darshan Gajara is a Product Designer driven by the passion for making products and helping others do the same, or even better.

He is Head of Design at GraphCMS and runs ProductDisrupt.com where he shares his insights and curated list of resources to learn product design for young designers and wannabees.

The reason why he created this side-project ProductDisrupt.com is he is an internet-made designer and strongly believe in giving back to the internet.

He also holds a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Engineering from the University of Mumbai.

Darshan experienced in delivering end-to-end product solutions for India’s top ticketing portal BookMyShow and building a crowdfunding platform for creatives – Wishberry.

He also worked towards building a community of design enthusiasts for Panda Network.

His key skills included business requirement mapping, product specification, user experience by user research, user interface and interaction design and studying the user feedback on an iterative basis.

He has been working as an independent Product Design Consultant for 6+ years now.

His clients include startups and established businesses from US, UK, UAE, Canada and India.

“It doesn’t necessarily take advanced technology to have a great impactful project. I think sometimes as technologists we forget that”

— JOSH CLARK

We are thrilled to launch our EP61 featuring Josh Clark founder of Big Medium in New York.

Josh is a vivid speaker, a brilliant author, and an expert on UX design for AI.

With Josh, we jump into how AI could influence creative decision-making and how it’s already influencing our day-to-day activities and decision-making.

We also discuss what’s his perspective on why AI as a complementary aspect to human decision making should give, signals, recommendations but also what level of confidence the AI actually has in the signal to make it transparent to humans.

He also shares his experiences working with AI projects, making it a super inspiring conversation on the future of AI.

During the episode we explore:

The impact of technology on human decision-making

One of the biggest challenges in designing AI experiences

Why questions are more important than answers when designing for AI

What are the challenges in “probabilistic design”?

How much "AI/Data" do you need to prototype an experience?

How can design foster development in AI?

The Dark side of AI (Optimism and Practical Skeptmism)

Thanks a lot for your time and for learning Josh!

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The Guest

Josh Clark is a UX design leader who helps organizations to build products for what's next.

He is the founder of Big Medium, a New York based design studio specializing in future-friendly interfaces for artificial intelligence, connected devices, and responsive websites.

His client’s list includes Samsung, Time Inc, ExxonMobil, About.com, TechCrunch, Entertainment Weekly, eBay, O’Reilly Media, and many others.

Josh has written several books, including "Designing for Touch" and "Tapworthy: Designing Great iPhone Apps."

He is also an Editorial Board Member at Rosenfeld Media and an Advisory Board Member at Third Wave Fashion.

In 1996, he created the popular “Couch-to-5K” (C25K) running schedule, which has helped millions of skeptical would-be exercisers take up jogging. (His motto is the same for fitness as it is for software user experience: no pain, no pain.)

He speaks around the world about what’s next for digital interfaces.

The goal is to be in line with the vision and then the way in which you align with the vision that's where you get to creative.

Brittany Arthur

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We are excited to announce our EP60 featuring Brittany Arthur, Co-founder & Director of Design Thinking Japan & Business Karaoke Podcast.

With Brittany, we dive into the connection between culture and innovation.

We learn how design as facilitation can foster business innovation and growth and where Brittany saw people's life change to create problem-solving.

Further, we dig into how design thinking can break company structure hierarchies and bridge cultural differences.

She also shares how to measure the impact of design facilitation and how to leverage the digital layer on a hybrid world of digital-physical facilitation.

During the episode we explore:

How do you evaluate if a workshop or design thinking session was a success?

How do you ensure your projects have an impact and not get "lost in the transition to implementation".

How do you ensure facilitation has a long-term impact on your work/workshops.

The design and innovation culture in Japan and how it differs to other regions in the world?

How the right facilitation can bridges cultures and bring people together.

Best practices in design facilitation

How to keep the alignment with the business vision and strategy, but still foster positive transformation

How to navigate design facilitation in a hybrid world of physical and digital sessions

Thanks a lot for your time and for learning Brittany!

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ABOUT THE GUEST

Brittany Arthur supports companies in Japan to bring their business aspirations to life and to ignite creative confidence at the Japanese workplace by equipping people with tools for innovation.

She specializes in innovation, Design Thinking and Design Sprints in Japan and in Japanese.

She is the Co-founder Director of Design Thinking Japan & Business Karaoke Podcast, the only English-Japanese, 🇬🇧🇯🇵, innovation podcast because innovation is driven by the power of storytelling.

She also founded the ToYoko Design Thinking Network, the only English-Japanese, 🇬🇧🇯🇵, innovation MeetUp because innovation requires robust ecosystems of community and partnership.

She has a equal passion for Rotary.

Brittany is a member of the Rotary Club of Berlin-International, Past Rotary Foundation Scholar, Past President of Rotaract Club Berlin and Past Vice-Chair of the Rotary International Joint Committee for Young Leaders and Alumni Engagement.

She also a member of the Australian and New Zealand Chamber of Commerce in Japan.

She’s continued to contribute to the creation of new industry knowledge and exchange ideas around the new world of work.

EP59 with Fabrice Pöhlmann, Founder and CEO at HelloDesignWith Fabrice,we talk about why, how, and what to focus on behavior design principles and how he's now implementing these principles to any kind of project.

We also discuss how to use behavior design to drive business goals and actually get stakeholders motivated to use gamification in order to drive business KPIs.

Further, we dig into a specific project where he actually had the chance to use gamification for making help content accessible to the generations.

During the episode we explore:

How do design with gamification in mind

How to design for behavior

How you can infuse behavior design in any project

How to start a design agency and grow it

How to understand the relationship between target group and choosing the right content & UX strategy

Thanks a lot for your time and for learning Fabrice!

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The Guest

Fabrice Pöhlmann has been teaming up with creative agencies and start-ups to create sticky brands, converting websites and lovely digital products for almost a decade.

Today He’s the Founder and CEO at HelloDesign besides this he’s also a Lecturer for Design Thinking at Hochschule Fresenius in Germany.

In his role as CEO of HelloDesign, he helps organizations combine behavioral science and design thinking to develop products that help their users live happier and healthier lives.

Here are some recent website projects that he had involved in,

User Research: Studio Sasch

Information Architecure: Reinhard Ernst Museum

UX & UI Design: Pure Perfection | Award Winning Aesthetic & Skincare Clinic

He was the Keynote Speaker at Hochschule Darmstadt / Code University Berlin / Product Camp 2020.

We are thrilled to launch EP58 with Bob Baxley, Senior Vice-President of Design at ThoughtSpot.

Before ThoughtSpot he served as a Senior Manager of Design and product management at Apple and Head of Product Design at Pinterest.

With Bob, we talk about the software as a creative medium and a potential opportunity for designers.

We also talk about the Design-Culture at Apple and what makes it so unique when it comes to Customer-Experience.

During the episode we explore:

Why the team comes first and how important team and culture is done any product innovations.

What Bob has learned working with Steve Jobs

How Apple wins through design

How Apple drives UX design and user research

Why great design needs great engineering

How design visions can bring teams together and bring together design and engineering

Over a million users, no user research, why every project needs a tailored approach

Thanks a lot for your time and for learning Bob!

### THE GUEST ####

Bob Baxley is a design executive, advisor, mentor, and advocate that has built, managed, and led UX teams at some of Silicon Valley’s most respected companies.

With a career spanning three decades, Bob's work at Apple, Pinterest, Yahoo!, and elsewhere has touched hundreds of millions of users around the world.

Currently, Bob serves as the Senior Vice-President of Design at ThoughtSpot, a business intelligence and data analytics platform.

An advisor to Project Invent, Bob is committed to recruiting and inspiring the next generation of designers by mentoring individuals and advising organizations that are working to improve the profession and practice of digital product design.

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The Guest

Catherine Nygaard has been making well-designed and meaningful products, services, connected systems and environments for over a decade. She is the Design Director at WhatsApp in London.

Before that she was Experience Design Director at Airbnb in San Francisco and Head of Product Design + Research at THE NET-A-PORTER GROUP in London.

In addition to that she was also Design Director at Spotify and Method where she worked with many design studios around the world.

Her experience spans retail for digital and physical environments in fashion, connected home, gaming and video streaming for cross-platform/devices environments.

She gained experience in both designing and leading and growing design teams.

In EP57 we have the chance to learn with Catherine Nygaard, Design Director wat WhatsApp and former Director at Airbnb and Spotify.

With Catherine, we explore how to grow design teams, foster creativity in your team, and what she has learned working with some of the world’s best product teams in the world.

We also learn her personal approach towards design and what she has learned managing design teams and working in transformative business environments: for example her time at Airbnb during the times of COVID.

During the episode we explore:

How to design for billion+ users.

How to drive productivity in your team.

How to empower users.

The importance to know the ‘why’ of your innovation.

What makes your product stand out.

Why culture is key for foster creativity.

Thanks a lot for your time and for learning Catherine!

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The Guest

Catherine Nygaard has been making well-designed and meaningful products, services, connected systems and environments for over a decade. She is the Design Director at WhatsApp in London.

Before that she was Experience Design Director at Airbnb in San Francisco and Head of Product Design + Research at THE NET-A-PORTER GROUP in London.

In addition to that she was also Design Director at Spotify and Method where she worked with many design studios around the world.

Her experience spans retail for digital and physical environments in fashion, connected home, gaming and video streaming for cross-platform/devices environments.

She gained experience in both designing and leading and growing design teams.

In EP56 we have the chance to learn from Margot Bloomstein, author of Trustworthy: How the Smartest Brands Beat Cynicism and Bridge the Trust Gap (2021) and Content Strategy at Work (2012).

She is the principal of Appropriate, Inc., a brand and content strategy consultancy based in Boston.

With Margot chat about the driving content design and strategy.

During the episode we explore:

The three-legged stool of content design.

How to collaborate with stakeholders in content design.

The upside of shared ownership to push ideas forward.

Synergies of digital content and product design.

Challenges of aligning Brand and Content Strategy

Choosing the channel for content is key.

Quality over quantity in marketing

Thanks a lot for your time and for learning Margot!

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The Guest

Margot Bloomstein is the author of Trustworthy: How the Smartest Brands Beat Cynicism and Bridge the Trust Gap (2021) and Content Strategy at Work (2012).

She is the principal of Appropriate, Inc., a brand and content strategy consultancy based in Boston.

As a speaker and strategic adviser, she has worked with marketing teams in a range of organizations over the past two decades.

The creator of BrandSort, she developed the popular message architecture-driven approach to content strategy.

Margot teaches in the content strategy graduate program at FH Joanneum University in Graz, Austria, and lectures around the world about brand-driven content strategy and designing for trust.

Very excited to launch our 55th episode featuring Jaime Levy an American author, lecturer, interface designer, and user experience strategist.

She wrote one of O’Reilly’s bestselling books called UX Strategy: Product Strategy Techniques for Devising Innovative Digital Solutions.

She first became known for her new media projects in the 1990s. For more than 30 years, Jaime has been a pioneer in the creation of game-changing digital products and services.

Her passion is to help business leaders and internal teams transform their product visions into innovative digital solutions that customers want.

With Jaime chat about the driving UX Strategy and touch base on the following topics: Why is the relationship of UX and Product Strategy is critical for any business How to run User Research programs

How to define the right scope for a client

How to run benchmarking projects around UX and Product Strategy

How to use Social Media to validate assumptions and learn about user behaviour

How small changes in the UX strategy can create a completely different product (Tinder vs Bumble)

You can get her book here: https://www.amazon.de/-/en/Jaime-Levy...

You can also explore her new audio version of the book, via Audible.

And check her website here: https://jaimelevy.com T

Thanks a lot for your time and for learning Jaime!

In EP54 we have the chance to learn from Philipp Steiner a Design Leader, former Executive Director at IDEO, and Senior Director at Teague.

With Phillip chat about the driving industries with future thinking.

During the episode we explore:

The power of mixing design disciplines.

Aviation Experience x Service Design

The importance of future thinking and advanced design.

Using "backcasting" in design.

How to structure advanced design projects.

Why prototype very early is key.

Why bringing "whole-self" to project can create magic.

Why shared ownership is key for projects.

Why design leaders should act as role models.

How to foster creativity in your team.

Thanks a lot for your time and for learning Philipp!

The Guest

Philipp Steiner believes everyone has a creative capacity to support ongoing, meaningful, and positive transformations of great businesses. With expertise in using Human-Centered Design, Philipp focuses on unlocking creativity in people so they can actively shape the world around them.

As a creative leader, Philipp has extensive experience generating award-winning work across industries for companies such as Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard (HP), Boeing, Ford, Starbucks, and Nike.

He has recently exited the role of Executive Director at IDEO having led their evolution of intangible design capabilities and supported their growth in areas of design strategy, innovation, and mobility.

As Senior Director at Teague, Philipp built and led a world-class team of Creative Directors.

Collectively, this group oversaw all projects originating at Teague’s Aviation Studio in support of Boeing’s R&D and their airlines’ fleets branding/customization efforts.

Philipp is an experienced keynote speaker at industry conferences such as IDSA, Semi Permanent, PD+I, and AIX.