Curious Designer

OK, let’s dig deep and practice a little self-compassion.As humans we rely on our mistakes to help make us better people. In this episode, Rachel Zhang, Product and Experience Director at Ro&Co, teaches us her simple approach to bouncing back from mistakes and the importance of giving ourselves permission to royally screw up.The inspiration for this deeply cathartic episode came from a hilarious post Rachel shared on LinkedIn that I highly recommend you check out.In this episode:* [5:00] The pendulum swing of failure* [9:00] 5 steps for bouncing back from mistakes* [17:00] Failure resumés* [23:00] Rachel’s cringe moment* [23:30] Reaching out to RachelWarning: This episode contains strong language. If you are sensitive to this, you might want to skip! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit curiousdesigner.substack.com

Last night, I had the absolute pleasure of hanging out with a fantastic bunch of mentees from ADPList. We got together to shoot the breeze about design interviews and how we can up our game to snag that next big gig.Some people were looking to cut their teeth on their first design roles, others were looking for new opportunities after being swept up in industry layoffs. The common theme that resonated with everyone was the importance of personal presentation - finding the right techniques to showcase your authentic self.There were so many questions that I had no chance of getting through all of them but I wanted to share the most voted for questions and my responses. Caveat, I don’t have all the answers but, for what it’s worth, I’m happy to share my personal experience.To all of you on the lookout for your next adventure, have faith – it's out there waiting for you. I hope you can take away something valuable from my responses.-Mark This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit curiousdesigner.substack.com

If we're thinking about the ideal user journey, we're missing a trick...This week, Emily Anderson shared her sage advice with me on how we can build better products by paying more attention to risk and what users don't tell us.In her words:→ Users will always use things in ways we don’t expect.→ They cut corners, use workarounds, scan content.→ They find ways to reach their goal→ Even if it's not how it was designedSuper insightful conversation that I'll be sharing as part of the Curious Designer, later in October, but for now – here's a taster for what's to come.Take a look at Emily's Post on the matter: https://lnkd.in/ewb69WZV This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit curiousdesigner.substack.com

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit curiousdesigner.substack.com This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit curiousdesigner.substack.com

Hey, I'm Mark and this is The Curious Designer Podcast.I've been in product design for quite a few years now and I'm still learning a lot.So I'm on a mission to uncover the secrets of what it truly means to be successful in design by chatting with some of the industry's most ingenious minds.If you love design like I do, and you like podcasts, this might just be one for you.So join me as I sit down with design leaders from every corner of the creative universe to explore their journeys, give us advice, and tell us their grand ideas.You can catch the show wherever you get your podcasts, but I do want you to join the conversation.We're over at curiousdesignerpodcast.com.I'll see you there. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit curiousdesigner.substack.com