Design Life

In this episode, Charli reflects on her 7-year journey at her current workplace, emphasizing the importance of difficult conversations in clarifying issues such as salary and job satisfaction. Femke talks about the struggles she experienced of leaving behind internal reputation and connections when transitioning roles, highlighting the value of established relationships within a company. They discuss the concept of "golden handcuffs" and the need to see if current job aligns with personal growth and challenges. Charli and Femke also share personal experiences of leaving previous jobs in tech, offering insights into recognizing signs for change and taking the first steps towards opportunities.Shownotes:01:02 Episode intro02:01 Life update05:42 Charli shares her journey at the current workplace and emphasises the importance of addressing concerns09:45 The value of reputation and relationships you’ve built within the company.10:48 What is golden handcuffs concept?11:35 How to identifying important things in your role if you are starting to think it’s time to move on?12:52 Why did Femke decide to move on from her first position?15:59 Charli shares why she moved on from her first job in tech.17:14 Why did Femke leave her second role?18:59 Femke shares the signs that made it clear to her that she should move on.20:27 What was the timeframe from the decision to taking the first steps to move on?24:44 Was there a moment at Uber when Femke thought it’s time to move on but then realised she should continue?Show links:Charli's Design Career Checkpoint worksheetFemke’s course “Product strategy for designers”Share your topic suggestions for the show with us at hello@designlife.fm

In this episode Charli and Femke talk about their experience of having retreats with their teams, how retreats should be structured, what is their purpose and how to make the best out of in-person time with your teammates.As remote work becomes increasingly prevalent and we usually do not get the chance to see our co-workers’ faces outside of video-calls, team offsites can greatly improve the team dynamic and subsequently enhance communication between team members. Changing scenery and experiencing new things with your team will create space for creativity to approach challenges and open doors to have crucial discussions, paving the way for growth and innovation.Show Timestamps:0:57 Intro01:50 Life update6:13 Femke’s offsite in Denver7:56 Charli’s team retreat in France10:00 Purpose of retreats at Charli’s workplace10:30 Retreats as a manager vs. an individual contributor (IC)11:46 Structure of the retreat17:22 Did the offsite match out to the expectations?20:50 Femke talks about her upcoming off-sight to San Francisco23:55 Is there anything that you learnt at an offsite in Denver that you will bring to San Francisco?24:33 Takeaways from this episode Show links:Charli's live workshop in New ZealandFemke’s course “Product strategy for designers”Share your topic suggestions for the show with us at hello@designlife.fm

In this podcast episode, Femke and Charli delve into the concept of personal branding. They discuss whether personal branding requires strategic planning and the level of intentionality one should have regarding their personal brand. Femke and Charli explore the distinction between personal and company brands, the objectives personal branding can help achieve and whether individuals can truly control others' perceptions of them through personal branding. Femke and Charli also touch upon the importance of personal branding for designers and how to cultivate it within a company they work at. Finally, the hosts address the issue of misalignment between one's perceived and desired personal brand, offering guidance on how to navigate this discrepancy.Timestamps:01:54 - Life update04:22 - Is personal brand something that is instinctive or do you need to be strategic about it?5: 00 Femke shares her thoughts on the difference between her personal and her company brands07:11 - What goals personal brand can helps you achieve? 09:40 - How intentional are you about your personal brand? Is it something that you change every year?12:52 - Can you control what people think about you with personal branding? 15:38 Why as designers we need to think more about our personal brand? How to build your personal brand internally in your company?17:54 Femke asks Charli how has her personal brand evolved over the years.18:47 - Is there anything that people reach out to you for surprises you?21:44 - What to do if people’s perception of you is not aligned with your personal brand?24:33 - Updates on Charli’s workshop Show links:Charli's live workshop in New ZealandFemke’s course “Product strategy for designers”Share your topic suggestions for the show with us at hello@designlife.fm

In this episode, Charli and Femke give an elaborate reply to one of the listener's requests: whether deadlines should be taken seriously. The hosts share real stories of how they approached deadlines in different projects, how unrealistic deadlines should be handled, what to do in situations when a deadline cannot be met, how to discuss deadlines and set reasonable expectations, and how one's perspective on them changes depending on their role in the project. Show Timestamps:01:13 Intro02:34 Charli’s workshop and life updates04:21 Femke’s life update07:01 Question submission from a listener about deadlines07:14 Femke and Charli share how they approach deadlines in different situations11:52 What is the importance of deadlines?17:02 Charli elaborates on why she does not like fake (buffer) deadlines19:00 Situation when the deadline is absolutely non-negotiable26:08 Femke and Charli discuss milestone approach to projects rather than working towards one big hand off29:08 Conclusion Show links:Charli's live workshop in New ZealandFemke’s course “Product strategy for designers”Share your topic suggestions for the show with us at hello@designlife.fm

In this episode Charli shares her personal experience of how she got burned out from her side projects. She talks about the subtle signs and symptoms that indicate burnout and how to confront them. Charli decided to drop her side projects and restructured her life to recover from burnout.Charli and Femke touch upon how burn out can affect your career choices, the importance of diversifying your daily activities and hobbies, why burnout is so prevalent in creative professions and the importance of defining what is healthy balance for you. SHOW TIMESTAMPS:1:18 Femke shares her latest life updates2:21 Charli shares her latest life updates3:26 Charli reflects on how she realised she has burnout and how she confronted it6:53 Charli delves into how stopping her side projects affected her full-time job7:55 Charlie talks about how publicly announcing that she stopped her side projects affected her relationships with people9:40 Charli shares what she does with the extra time and headspace she has now11:59 Charli reflects on how she recognised she has a burn out13:21 Charli gives advice for listeners who think they might be burned out14:25 Femke talks about the importance of defining what healthy balance is for her in order to avoid burnout15:54 Femke shares if she ever experienced burnout in her career16:49 Femke discusses if burnout lead her to decisions to change her jobs17:11 Charli shares how burn out affected her career choices19:32 Charli shares if she learnt anything new about herself after she stopped her side projects and started spending more time on her hobbies20:17 Femke discusses her perception of identity in relation to work21:40 Charli talks about how burnout can happen outside of job context24:05 Charli and Femke discuss why burn out is so prevalent in tech industry SHOW LINKS:Charli's live workshop in New ZealandFemke’s course “Product strategy for designers”Share your topic suggestions for the show with us at hello@designlife.fm

Welcome back, design enthusiasts! We're kicking off 2024 by bring you up to speed on our latest adventures and aspirations.🌟 Life Updates: Tune in as we share the latest updates from our lives – from career milestones to more personal things, we're laying it all on the table.💼 Career and Side Project Plans: Get ready to dive into our ambitious plans for the year ahead. We're talking side gigs, big dreams, and everything in between. Charlie is sharing her plans to organise an in-person meet up in New Zealand, her plans for the upcoming book, while Femke reveals the upcoming course you might still have the chance to sign up to.🎨 Hobbies: But wait, there's more! Discover our latest passions outside the design world. From creative writing to sewing, we're exploring new passions and keeping the creativity flowing. Who knows? You might just find some inspiration for your own creative journey.So, grab your favourite beverage, cozy up, and join us for a candid conversation about life, design, and the exciting adventures that lie ahead.SHOW TIMESTAMPS:1:15 Recent updates from Charli2:48 Recent updates from Femke4:02 Sharing vision, plans and projects for 20249:13 Anything new we would like to build this year?9:27 Charli’s live workshop in New Zealand10:20 Femke shares her plans for the upcoming year14:40 Thoughts on task delegation17:02 Charli’s career goals18:08 Charli’s book updates19:50 Charli shares how she started doing creative writing21:31 Discussing our hobbies24:11 New hobbies for 202425:36 Femke’s plans while being on maternity leave this year and how it can affect her content SHOW LINKS:Charli's live workshop in New ZealandFemke’s course “Product strategy for designers”Share your topic suggestions for the show with us at hello@designlife.fm

In this episode of the Design Life podcast we chat about all things copywriting!

Thank you Config for a fantastic conference! In this episode we recap our highlights and chat all about our meetup.

Are you attending a design conference this summer? In this episode we share our favourite tips for making the most of the conference experience to maximise learning, connection and most importantly - fun!

Preparing for a feature launch as a designer is such an exciting time! To see your work come to fruition brings with it a fantastic feeling, but it's not always plain sailing. In this episode we discuss the highs and lows of working on feature launches as a designer.

Today on the Design Life podcast we are answering a listener question from an engineer, who is looking for advice on how to validate a design and communicate this with the relevant stakeholders.

Wondering if you are on the right path in your design career? Fear not, we have a very reassuring conversation this week on the podcast! Hear all about how we've used the design career checkpoint to help reflect on our careers and set new goals.

This week on Design Life we’re chatting about learning throughout different stages of our design careers, and how our approach to learning has changed over time.

Find yourself in a new role and managing in different directions? Us too! In this episode we're talking how to make the most of managing in different directions.

In this episode of Design Life we chat about managing the split between IC work and being a manager and how we balance the responsibilities of both in our day to day work.

Are you an inexperienced designer if you don't name your layers? In our first episode of 2023 we discuss this question and why gatekeeping like this within the industry holds designers back.

In our last episode of 2022, we share our thoughts on the state of the design industry.

Planning your side projects for 2023? If you're thinking of expanding or starting a side project over the next 12 months we hope you find value in this episode as we share our plans and ideas for 2023.

It's that time of year again, time to start the annual planning for 2023. As a design lead in the tech industry, it can be difficult to know how to bring your team together to share their ideas or where to start with the planning so in this episode we share how we're tackling annual planning with collaboration in mind.

Trying to make the move from designer to manager? In this episode we chat about how to make your portfolio presentation speak for itself.