Design & Donuts

It has quickly become an HR buzzword that represents months of pandemic-era employee experiences coming to a head. The Great Resignation is happening now. Employees are quitting their jobs in droves and in this episode we talk about why...and how to do better.  We need to take time to continuously check in with employees because we are not done going through this transformation. You need to be willing to be flexible, which can be scary when trying to scale, but is absolutely essential for the health of your employees and your organization.  Ryan makes the point that you can’t just opt out because it’s hard. If you opt out, employees will start to opt out…and you can say goodbye to your workforce. Let's dig in and do hard things together.  Thanks, as always for listening. Next time, feel free to bring a donut along as well. 

Doing UX well is only half the battle, because, as professionals, we step into a change management role and need to convince leaders that it is essential. Ryan shares a story about his personal bad employee experience and how it shaped his passion for this industry. He now spends his days in the trenches with companies to bring about digital change.  Emily brings up a great point that a bad employee experience can lead to an employee poisoning the customer experience. If I bring this problem forward will I be considered the problem? “I’m going to HR to complain” is the vernacular once upon a time. Today, we need to say “I’m providing feedback to HR.” In hopes that they will react. Bottom line, culture-centric companies, you don’t need a suggestion box, you need a continuous listening strategy. Thanks for tuning in to Design & Donuts. 

Today’s subject is how to be SEXY! Or more so, how to make your design deliverables easy on the eyes. UX design is a constant partitioning of time. Do you spend it designing? On methodology? On research? Emily says when you think of UX deliverables, the end project is what you have in mind and you need your plates to look beautiful in order to deliver impact. Delivering your findings with beautiful aesthetic design is half the battle. At what level of pretty do you need to be? The purpose of the deliverables is to create that empathy and approachability. When we think of deliverable, don’t think about “finished,” because we are always improving. Favorite quote from the episode from Ryan: I am in control of my donut destiny.

Do employees feel like they have everything they need to feel successful? Are organizations designing to maximize their experience? What benefits come from focusing on workforce experience design? On today’s episode, Ryan, Emily, and their special guest, Erika O’Neil, will explore the grey areas of UX Design. Emily looks for UX everywhere. She shares an impassioned story of how her husband experienced poor UX design and had an ah-ha moment. Yes, proper design takes a lot of time, but it’s worth it. Ryan shares a bold statement and sticks by it, “If we don’t care about employee experience, by extension, we aren’t caring about the customer experience.” Feel free to leave a comment and try to change his mind. Erika reminds us that WEX is difficult to measure. People data are difficult to collect, assign value, and bench mark against other organizations. The subject is so tantalizing that we will do an entire episode on it in the near future. Thanks again for tuning in and we will see you on the next episode!

First, for the most pressing questions, do you enjoy filled or non-filled donuts? Watch out, this gets deep. We welcome one of the most amazing designers we’ve ever worked with, Erica O’Neil, who shares her origin story where she journeys from architecture school to UX design after she discovered that she enjoys the people side of design. Erika believes that all organizations need to carve out dedicated time for design. “If you can’t get employees to respond to a survey, you need to restructure your priorities” Ryan gives an analogy of how much he loves to go fishing, but that it falls to number 10 when it comes to priorities in his life. It’s a recurring theme in this episode. Emily poses the question: How do you truly listen in order to influence your design and implement that feedback appropriately? The team discusses how long the process can take and to be patient. If you are wondering how to best implement n formal design process at your organization, this episode delivers a plethora of actionable next steps. Thanks for tuning in.

“Maybe I totally missed the purpose of school,” Ryan says as he reminisces on how much he liked school, while Emily mentions a completely different experience as she battled to be the next Valedictorian. The questions remains: Do you need to go to Design School in order to be a good designer? We answer pressing questions: Do you actually need a formal degree? Do I need a portfolio? How do you know if you have the “X-factor” when it comes to design? How do you find a mentor? Thanks for joining us for another insightful session!

Ryan and Emily bust a big myth in the UX world by proving that you don’t have to be a “creative” to be a designer. They spend some time describing the day to day work of a designer and showing you that there is a place for all perspectives. Ryan encourages listeners to write down the word “Creative:” and then define it….without Google. When it comes to design, the process is more important than the output. Key takeaway: creative is more about the failures than the successes. Thanks for listening and we’ll see you on the next episode.

We’re back with some more donuts and talk of Jelly Bellies with Ryan and Emily! “People don’t want a quarter inch drill bit they want a quarter inch hole.” This is a classic thought in line with Design theory and how to get things done. Ryan and Emily discuss the tools available to designers and how to use them correctly to achieve results.  A favorite moment from the episode is when Emily listens to Ryan respond to her thought and then states: "Ryan, you’ve changed MY mind!" That's a perfect example of talking through design and coming to new conclusions.  Ryan asks for a personal opinion: do you write personas in third person or first person? We'd love for you to share your answers with us! Thanks for tuning in and we'll see you on the next episode. 

In the last episode, Emily and Ryan defined UX Design. In this episode they dig further into the hard and soft skills required to excel in the craft. They build a list together of the most crucial skills, including: Empathy Storytelling Listening Curiosity These skills can be viewed as hypothetical constructs that are difficult to measure, but, according to Ryan and Emily, that is why it is so important to heighten our focus instead of ignore them. We also had a motivational speech from Ryan. "You can do amazing work at UX by finding what you are most passionate about. You don’t need a team of home-run hitters! Your skills and outlook are valuable to design better experiences for all." Emily also makes fun of Ryan for eating lean hotdogs.

Ryan and Emily dig deep into what it means to be a “designer,” from laying down a definition to understanding different types of designers. They answer all your most pressing questions, including: Where do I start? Do you need to be able to code to be a good designer? How can you find your niche in the UX space? What jobs are available to UX designers? What skills are required to be a good UX Designer? We dig into several articles including one that compares UX designers to hedgehogs and foxes, a hedgehog being Emily’s spirit animal, and Ryan, apparently, being called a Fox (we don’t believe him). Ryan and Emily encourage designers young and old to “just try stuff,” because finding out what you like and don’t like is going to continue to shape your path forward. There is a lot of purposeful ambiguity in this industry because there is no right way. If you want that cut and dry role given to you and tasks to accomplish, this is not the right field for you. Another content rich session with the UX Nerds, thanks for joining us.

You found us! We’re glad you are here. Did you bring a donut? Ryan didn’t either, but we are excited to share with you our new podcast series where we discuss all things UX. Have an unpopular opinion about design? This is the perfect place to share it. We love design so much that we are willing to discover the furthest corners of the practice and share them with you. Sit back and enjoy this intro episode with Ryan Malkes and Emily Dahl as they discuss the purpose of the podcast and why you should tune in. Thanks for listening! Connect with Ryan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryan-malkes/ Connect with Emily: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emmdahl/