Join Fuego's Alex Smith as he chats with the top leaders in UX research, strategy, design, ai and product. Alex explores top trends in leadership, making an impact, collaboration with cross functional teams and advice for taking your craft to the next level.
Watch on YoutubeIn this conversation, UX Pilot founder, Adam Fard, shares his insights on the evolving landscape of design and the impact of AI. He explains that UX Pilot is an AI platform for product teams to explore ideas, create wireframes, and generate high-fidelity designs, which helps improve communication and speeds up the design process. Adam believes AI is "raising the baseline" for design, making it easier for non-designers to visualize concepts, but that professionals will retain an edge in guiding the AI. He discusses how AI tools, by working directly with code rather than vectors, could potentially make traditional tools like Figma "obsolete" and advises new designers to focus on foundational design principles over specific tools.
Ube Urban shares a critical perspective on the transition to design leadership, emphasizing that true leadership goes beyond titles and demands constant self-reflection and genuine consistency across all aspects of life. The discussion pivots to the importance of empathy, not just for users, but for internal stakeholders, developers, and product managers, advocating for a working knowledge of their worlds to foster better collaboration. Finally, he offers profound advice for new designers entering the industry today, stressing that personal brand and work ethic, what makes you truly different, are far more valuable and enduring than any specific tool or certification, especially in the age of AI.
In this conversation, Ned Dwyer shares his journey from product management to founding Great Question, an all-in-one UX research platform, was spurred by the "painful" reality of running research in large companies. He discusses the democratization of research, arguing that non-researchers like PMs and designers should be empowered to handle low-risk areas like usability testing since decisions will be made regardless of a researcher's availability. The conversation shifts to the impact of AI, which is accelerating product development and design speed, thus requiring a bigger need for quality research to avoid "slop". Ned also shares his optimism and advice for the AI-native generation entering UX research, encouraging them to lean into new tools to become highly employable.
In this conversation, Dan Brown discusses his extensive design career, from early web work to co-founding 8 Shapes and his new firm, Curious Squid. He highlights his new podcast, which explores the critical need for designers to create information spaces more resilient to disinformation, especially in the era of AI. Dan emphasizes that Information Architecture (IA) is experiencing a renewed interest because many products have outgrown their structures, and AI demands better IA for both training data and presenting its probabilistic outputs. Finally, he introduces the concept of a designer’s "posture," which describes the essential behaviors and values they bring to their work that go beyond simple career goals.
In this conversation, Michael McWatters discusses the evolving landscape of design with the advent of AI. He emphasizes the importance of problem-solving in maintaining motivation and the challenges of competing in the attention economy. He also provides valuable advice for aspiring UX designers, highlighting the need for unique portfolios and the significance of demonstrating design thinking.
In this conversation, Karla Fernandes discusses her journey from graphic design to web development and ultimately opening her own company as a digital nomad. She shares fascinating insights on how language and culture significantly affect digital design, noting differences in design patterns, color usage, and even nuances in word meaning across countries. Karla offers advice on designing for new regions, emphasizing the need for designers who understand the local language, potential design breaks from long words, and differing views on data privacy. Finally, she encourages new designers to "play" with the available tools, go beyond basic UX/UI skills, and constantly experiment, citing her own use of AI to produce an album for her mother as an example.
In this conversation, Doreen shares her journey into design, emphasizing the importance of creativity, critical thinking, and ethics in design education. She discusses the role of AI in design, the necessity of teamwork, and offers valuable advice for new designers entering the workforce.
In this conversation, Dan Saffer explores the intersection of design and artificial intelligence, discussing his journey from a seasoned designer to an educator at Carnegie Mellon. They delve into the current state of AI, addressing the gap between expectations and reality, and the importance of user experience in AI tools. The conversation also touches on the challenges faced by new designers in an AI-driven job market and the evolving role of designers in creating meaningful AI experiences.
In this conversation, Andrew Hogan, Head of Insights at Figma, discusses his journey into user experience research and design, the impact of AI on the industry, and the increasing value of design in enterprises. He emphasizes the importance of prototyping with tools like Figma Make and offers advice for aspiring researchers and designers, highlighting the need to make things in public and refine one's understanding of good design.
In this conversation, Walky shares her journey from mechanical engineering to leading user research at Amazon, tracing her path through human factors, early voice interface design, and a PhD in cognitive psychology. She discusses building research cultures in organizations, partnering with engineering to bridge the gap between user expectations and product design, and empowering cross-functional teams to conduct objective, high-quality research. Walky explains how she balances deep strategic studies with rapid, tactical testing, scaling impact through collaboration and AI-powered workflows. She emphasizes the importance of keeping the human in the loop when using AI, fostering curiosity as a core skill for researchers, and advocating for users across diverse product contexts. Her insights offer valuable guidance for aspiring researchers and design leaders navigating today’s fast-paced, AI-enabled product environment.