The Human Centered Design Podcast (Premium)

NEWS: We have just launched our new community ‘CIRCLE’ - A Private Community for Ethically Conscious Designers and Changemakers / https://www.thisishcd.com/landing/circle-a-community-for-ethically-conscious-designers-changemakers Fast-track your career with our 12-week training programme: https://www.thisishcd.com/coaching-mentoring-for-innovators-change-makers We have an absolutely incredible treat for you on the show. Let me tell you a bit of a background. So when I’m travelling, or when I lived in Australia, and I get asked where I’m from, I say I’m from Ireland. But when I’m in Ireland, I say I live in Dublin, I’m from a place called Drogheda. And when I’m in Drogheda, I tell them where I grew up. Well the location is not only the place of my birth, but it’s really, really historic. It’s on the banks of the River Boyne, a hugely historic location in Irish history for various reasons but this river is known internationally as the Brú na Bóinne, which refers to the mansion or the palace of the Boyne. And from the age of about 8 or 9, I remember going on a school tour and I became somewhat obsessed with this area of the river because on the bend of that river is a Neolithic tomb that predates the pyramids and is approximately 3,200 years old, Before Christ. It’s a World Heritage Site and it’s quite simply a remarkable and a spiritual location, for me particularly, that I believe offers us a really rich connection to the past. In this episode, I speak with Anthony Murphy of Mythical Ireland. Now Anthony is also from where I’m from in Drogheda and over the last 30 or so years, he has really explored the surrounding areas of Newgrange and has become a well of knowledge about that area. Together with local artist Richard Moore, who coincidentally was instrumental in encouraging me as a teenager to pursue my love of design, well they’ve explored and uncovered knowledge that offers us new perspectives into what it might have been like at the time of Newgrange. Now of course, a lot of this is speculation, but we discuss nevertheless, what we believe we do know. There’s an unbelievable revelation for me in this conversation, about things like, how they transported these huge boulders that are engraved from over 120km away to the site at Newgrange, how do they do that? Back and forth from the UK and further afield using boats? I’m keen to learn more about the potential of the social structures at that time to try and get a peek of what it was like. Anthony was happy for me to get a clearer picture on what that might have looked like at the time. So from a Human Centered Design perspective, I’m really curious what we can learn and derive from the Neolithic period and where we are today. linkedin.com/in/anthony-murphy-42018622 https://mythicalireland.com/

NEWS: We have just launched our new community ‘CIRCLE’ - A Private Community for Ethically Conscious Designers and Changemakers / https://www.thisishcd.com/landing/circle-a-community-for-ethically-conscious-designers-changemakers Fast-track your career with our 12-week training programme: https://www.thisishcd.com/coaching-mentoring-for-innovators-change-makers We have the pleasure of hosting Elisabeth Graf, affectionally known as Lilli. We connected a number of months ago on LinkedIn and I was so impressed by Lilli’s awesome background and devotion to applying design to enable a greater sense of resilience for both businesses and the planet. Hailing from the beautiful area of Verona in Italy, somewhere I’ve never been but want to go, Lilli is truly on a mission to scale her knowledge, to maximize her impact, not only in her locale of Verona, but also globally through her dedicated community IMMA Collective, which we talk about in greater detail. Lilli, as you will probably get to see, is a wonderful human being and a really truly genuine example of what I refer to as a change maker. She’s taken personal and professional risks to really help enable change and I believe it is 100% worth connecting with her through her website or LinkedIn. Without further ado, let's dive into Lilli's incredible journey and learn more about her inspiring work. linkedin.com/in/elisabeth-lilli-graf https://www.immacollective.com/

NEWS: We have just launched our new community ‘CIRCLE’ - A Private Community for Ethically Conscious Designers and Changemakers CIRCLE - A Community for Ethically Conscious Designers & Changemakers Fast-track your career with our 12-week training programme: Coaching & Mentoring for Innovators & Change-Makers with Gerry Scullion In this episode, I speak with Kasper Bjørkskov. A former architect and activist based in Copenhagen. We speak openly about his role within the existing systems in society, and why he switched from architecture to activist. What triggered this? And also, what is he striving to achieve? He’s extremely passionate about raising awareness of what we do as a collective and what we need to do more of within the complex systems of impact around climate change, sustainability, and initiating more and more communities to change for the better. He’s a truly wonderful guest, you’re going to love this one. linkedin.com/in/kasper-benjamin-reimer-bjørkskov-660a4899

NEWS: We have just launched our new community ‘CIRCLE’ - A Private Community for Ethically Conscious Designers and Changemakers https://www.thisishcd.com/landing/circle-a-community-for-ethically-conscious-designers-changemakers Fast-track your career with our 12-week training programme: https://www.thisishcd.com/coaching-mentoring-for-innovators-change-makers Welcome to another episode of This Is HCD. In this episode, I speak with Erica Heinz, author of Think in 4D, a brand new book aimed at user experience designers. It's absolutely beautifully designed, designed by themselves. And we discussed the industry of user experience or UX in detail, where she feels this book helps cover some of the voids due to the perceived shift in the user experience industry over the last decade. Now, Erica has been working with many amazing organizations and brings an awesome and much needed fresh perspective to user experience. She's truly wonderful. I loved speaking with her. Let's jump straight in. linkedin.com/in/ericaheinz Discount code for 10% off 'Think in 4D' book (eBook or hardcover): THISISHCD Go to http://thinkin4D.com to redeem

NEWS: We have just launched our new community ‘CIRCLE’ - A Private Community for Ethically Conscious Designers and Changemakers / https://www.thisishcd.com/landing/circle-a-community-for-ethically-conscious-designers-changemakers Fast-track your career with our 12-week training programme: https://www.thisishcd.com/coaching-mentoring-for-innovators-change-makers Welcome back to the show to our old friend Christof Zürn. I actually had the pleasure of meeting this wonderful human being in person in Amsterdam earlier this month. Christof appeared on the podcast a number of years ago but since then has produced his book "The Power of Music Thinking”, published by BIS Publishers. In this episode, we speak more about the Jam Cards, which I'll link below. It’s an interactive and meaningful way to collaborate more effectively with yourself or with teams. We demo these Jam Cards in the episode, so you can listen to it or follow along on YouTube. Christof is absolutely awesome and I’m excited to share this one with you. https://musicthinking.com/jam-cards/  https://www.linkedin.com/in/creativecompanion/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/music-thinking/ youtube.com/@Musicthinking

NEWS: We have just launched our new community ‘CIRCLE’ - A Private Community for Ethically Conscious Designers and Changemakers / https://www.thisishcd.com/landing/circle-a-community-for-ethically-conscious-designers-changemakers Fast-track your career with our 12-week training programme: https://www.thisishcd.com/coaching-mentoring-for-innovators-change-makers Today on the podcast, I'm delighted to welcome Elliott Nelson, Chief HX Officer, which is Human Experience Officer at HXWize in the US. Now we connected through my good friend and our good friend, Marc Stickdorn in 2023, and had great conversations about the complicated processes within the world of HR and employee experience. So this episode is really for anyone who has been wondering about using service design methods. For employee experience. Elliott is truly awesome. He was a fantastic guest. I know you're going to find it really interesting to listen to him. I know you're going to love this episode. So let's jump straight in. linkedin.com/in/elliott-nelson-392343 https://www.hxwize.com/

NEWS: We have just launched our new community ‘CIRCLE’ - A Private Community for Ethically Conscious Designers and Changemakers / https://www.thisishcd.com/landing/circle-a-community-for-ethically-conscious-designers-changemakers Fast-track your career with our 12-week training programme: https://www.thisishcd.com/coaching-mentoring-for-innovators-change-makers Welcome to another episode of This is HCD. Several months ago, I started speaking with today's guest, Mike Parker, owner and founder of Liminal Coaching in Wales in the UK. I'd heard Mike's name mentioned several times over the years online, especially after reading the brilliant book by Dave Gray called Liminal Thinking several years ago. Now that book for me was transformative. Both personally and professionally, and over the years, as I explored ways and means to extend my level of knowledge in this space, I started to read more and more about the benefits of liminality to changemakers. So what exactly is liminality? And more to the point, what is liminal thinking? If you haven't read that book, I really encourage you to pick it up. It's a brilliant book and a brilliant read. Now, liminal thinking is a concept, an approach to problem solving and understanding. The world that deals with the power of the thresholds of perception and belief. Now, the term liminal comes from the Latin word limen, meaning threshold. And in a broader sense, liminality refers to a state of transition, the in between phase of a process of change, where you are on the threshold between one state and another. Some of Mike's work is really fascinating and involves holding space for yourself just to drift. So for anyone who knows me personally, they'd be familiar with the constant drive or chaos that surrounds my own life and is in constant conflict with this idea of just holding space. But I truly love it and I love practicing it. I might not be good at it. But I know I want to get better at it, but that's probably a really nice way of framing it. So this episode is going to be of interest to me, or of interest to you if you're like me in that sense, always running close to empty and always striving for perfection and really ultimately being critically hard on yourself from time to time. So in this episode we tackle some of those pieces and go deeper into Mike's practices. Let's get stuck in. linkedin.com/in/mikekparker

NEWS: We have just launched our new community ‘CIRCLE’ - A Private Community for Ethically Conscious Designers and Changemakers / https://www.thisishcd.com/landing/circle-a-community-for-ethically-conscious-designers-changemakers Fast-track your career with our 12-week training programme: https://www.thisishcd.com/coaching-mentoring-for-innovators-change-makers We speak with Suzanne Hanway, an occupational therapist from Dublin with 28 years of experience. Suzanne discusses her journey into occupational therapy, the focus on daily life aspects, and the impact on illness, disability, or neurodivergence. The conversation delves into neurodivergence, advocating for a unified term and emphasising acceptance. Suzanne highlights challenges faced by neurodivergent individuals in accessing services and the importance of strong connections between parents, schools, and therapists. The discussion covers the prevalence of neurodivergence, societal understanding shifts, and Suzanne's emphasis on a holistic, body-based approach, including movement breaks. The podcast concludes with Suzanne advocating for tighter policies, standards, and structured training to enhance collaboration in supporting neurodivergent individuals. A really interesting one, particularly for those with an interest or any personal links to neurodiversity. Enjoy! linkedin.com/in/suzanne-hanway-787692200

NEWS: We have just launched our new community ‘CIRCLE’ - A Private Community for Ethically Conscious Designers and Changemakers / https://www.thisishcd.com/landing/circle-a-community-for-ethically-conscious-designers-changemakers Fast-track your career with our 12-week training programme: https://www.thisishcd.com/coaching-mentoring-for-innovators-change-makers In this episode, stand in host Richard McMurray, service designer from the UK, meets Maren Hotvedt, service designer at Atlassian in the U.S., and Marc Stickdorn, service design expert from Austria. They delve into the world of customer journey management operations and discuss the practical application of journey maps as decision-making tools within organizations. Our host and guests share insights from their experiences, emphasizing the need for flexibility, scalability, and effective communication across teams. linkedin.com/in/marenhotvedt linkedin.com/in/stickdorn linkedin.com/in/richardmcmurray

NEWS: We have just launched our new community ‘CIRCLE’ - A Private Community for Ethically Conscious Designers and Changemakers / https://www.thisishcd.com/landing/circle-a-community-for-ethically-conscious-designers-changemakers Fast-track your career with our 12-week training programme: Coaching & Mentoring for Innovators & Change-Makers with Gerry Scullion On this episode, we catch up with Damian Kernahan in Sydney, Australia for an insight into his professional journey, spanning from the advertising industry to co-founding a service design firm. We discuss the challenges of navigating complexity and silos in large organisations and reflect on the limitations of personas in designing effective customer experiences. Damian emphasizes the importance of understanding customer needs and emotions, proposing a shift from brand promises to actionable service promises. The conversation also touches on the evolving baseline of customer expectations, the significance of consistent experiences across channels, and the role of service design in shaping the future Western Sydney International Airport. Ultimately, the episode advocates for a focus on keeping promises and delivering value to customers in a metronomic fashion. linkedin.com/in/customer-experience-innovation

NEWS: We have just launched our new community ‘CIRCLE’ - A Private Community for Ethically Conscious Designers and Changemakers / https://www.thisishcd.com/landing/circle-a-community-for-ethically-conscious-designers-changemakers Fast-track your career with our 12-week training programme: https://www.thisishcd.com/coaching-mentoring-for-innovators-change-makers Our guest on this episode is Jon Wallhouse, founder of Sutsu, a clothing label with a unique approach to fashion. Jon shares his journey, starting with his passion for design since childhood and his dream of owning a surf clothing label, setting the foundation for his future endeavors at the age of 15. We cover the evolution of Sutsu, initially launched as an "anti-brand brand" with a focus on positive environmental impact, the challenges faced during the financial crisis, leading Jon to pivot and start a design agency. The resurgence of interest in Sutsu during the lockdown prompted Jon to relaunch the brand online, resulting in unexpected success. The conversation delves into the tension between affordability and longevity surrounding Sutsu’s ethos and high-quality products. Overall, the episode provides insights into Jon Wallhouse's entrepreneurial journey, the philosophy behind Sutsu, and a broader discussion on the value of longevity in both products and personal endeavors. https://www.linkedin.com/in/jon-wallhouse/?originalSubdomain=uk

NEWS: We have just launched our new community ‘CIRCLE’ - A Private Community for Ethically Conscious Designers and Changemakers / https://www.thisishcd.com/landing/circle-a-community-for-ethically-conscious-designers-changemakers Fast-track your career with our 12-week training programme: https://www.thisishcd.com/coaching-mentoring-for-innovators-change-makers In this episode, Gerry interviews Munib Karavdic, a design innovation expert. Munib shares insights into his work at Wave Design, an Australian design innovation company, where the focus is on helping businesses design new programs to address pain points or improve user experiences. He emphasizes the importance of elevating the mindset of people involved in design projects and building capabilities within organizations. Munib discusses the challenges of intrapreneurship, drawing on Steve Jobs' experience at Apple and Pixar. He highlights the need for entrepreneurs within large organizations to navigate stakeholders, inspire teams, and develop a different set of skills compared to startup entrepreneurs. The conversation delves into the value of encouraging entrepreneurship in all organizations and the necessity of having a strategy in place to align innovation efforts with overall goals. Later in the episode, Munib introduces "WaveAssess," a tool developed during his time at AMP, aimed at assessing an organization's innovation and design maturity. He discusses the importance of problem framing to achieve alignment and shares a practical trick involving visual designers to facilitate discussions around solutions. The episode provides valuable insights into the challenges and strategies involved in driving design innovation within corporate settings. linkedin.com/in/humancentreddesign

NEWS: We have just launched our new community ‘CIRCLE’ - A Private Community for Ethically Conscious Designers and Changemakers / https://www.thisishcd.com/landing/circle-a-community-for-ethically-conscious-designers-changemakers Fast-track your career with our 12-week training programme: https://www.thisishcd.com/coaching-mentoring-for-innovators-change-makers The wonderful Morgan Miller shares his journey at Stanford, where he transitioned from an arts program coordinator to leading a service design team. Working in a complex higher ed environment, Morgan highlights the challenges and rewards of introducing service design to a technology-centric institution. Over the years, he navigated the intricacies of the organization, cultivated support for service design, and eventually formed an interdisciplinary consulting group. Morgan also discusses his initiative, Practical Service Design, aimed at demystifying service design and fostering a community interested in real-world applications of the discipline. The episode delves into the unique culture at Stanford, the role of brand identity, and the importance of leadership in advocating for service design in an institutional setting. https://www.linkedin.com/in/morganbrandonmiller/

NEWS: We have just launched our new community ‘CIRCLE’ - A Private Community for Ethically Conscious Designers and Changemakers / https://www.thisishcd.com/landing/circle-a-community-for-ethically-conscious-designers-changemakers Fast-track your career with our 12-week training programme: https://www.thisishcd.com/coaching-mentoring-for-innovators-change-makers We meet keynote speaker, trainer and coach Jeff Gothelf, and speak about how Jeff helps build collaborative cultures and adopt modern ways of working in organisations. Jeff tells us about his background in design, particularly the intersection of design and agile methodologies. He shares his experience in creating and popularising Lean UX, a process outlined in his book with Josh Seiden. The conversation delves into the challenges of selling and explaining user experience to businesses that didn't initially understand its value. Jeff emphasizes the importance of translating design work into language that business leaders care about, focusing on the impact on solving business problems. The discussion also touches on the evolution of user experience in tech and software businesses during a pivotal time. Jeff addresses the challenges in implementing Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) within organisations. He highlights the need for a qualitative approach to objectives and the importance of key results being metrics that measure human behaviour. The conversation provides insights into the foundations of UX and the current hurdles in fostering a deep understanding of OKRs within organisations. An interesting one to record and an interesting listen for sure. Enjoy! https://www.linkedin.com/in/gothelf

Fast-track your career with our 12-week training programme: https://www.thisishcd.com/coaching-mentoring-for-innovators-change-makers In this episode, we welcome Professor Sonia Livingstone with Kruakae Pothong from the London School of Economics, also involved in Playful By Design. The discussion focuses on childhood development and incorporating design into children's lives. Kruakae, originally from Thailand and with a background in journalism, highlights her shift to research at the intersection of policies, technologies, and society. Sonia, a social psychologist, shares her journey of exploring how children engage with the digital world and her involvement with the Five Rights Foundation, aiming to improve the digital space for kids. The conversation touches on design thinking, the collaborative efforts of the guests, and the role of design in shaping children's experiences in the digital world. A really enjoyable chat with our guests Sonia and Kruakae, thanks for joining us. https://www.linkedin.com/in/sonia-livingstone-6b0b8712/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/kruakae-pothong-28b24115/