Send us a text In this episode of UX Leadership by Design, Mark Baldino sits down with David Hirschfeld, founder and CEO of Tekyz, about the Launch First methodology—a metrics-driven approach to de-risking product development and achieving product-market fit before building software. David shares insights from working with over 90 startups, highlig…

Send us a text In this episode of UX Leadership by Design, Mark Baldino sits down with Mike Nowak, Principal Product Manager at Deloitte Digital, to explore the philosophy and pragmatism behind product management. Mike shares his unconventional journey from theology and philosophy to product leadership, emphasizing the importance of humility, adapt…

Send us a text In this episode of UX Leadership by Design, Mark Baldino talks with Dave Seligsohn, founder of A2O Consulting, about creating a culture of innovation and driving business growth. Drawing from his rich background in education and leadership, Dave shares insights into the challenges small businesses face, such as breaking revenue ceili…

Send us a text In this episode of UX Leadership by Design, Mark Baldino sits down with Joe Sticca, a seasoned expert blending technology, digital experiences, and product innovation, to explore the transformative impact of generative AI on product management and design. Joe shares his journey from software development to digital experience leadersh…

Send us a text In this episode of UX Leadership by Design, Mark Baldino and Bruce McCarthy discuss the challenges and solutions around stakeholder alignment in product management. Bruce highlights the importance of bridging communication gaps across departments to achieve unified goals and emphasizes the role of empathy, strategic prioritization, a…

Send us a text In this episode of UX Leadership by Design, Rina Alexin, CEO of Productside, joins Mark Baldino , Co-Founder of Fuzzy Math, to discuss the state of product management today, including challenges like misaligned strategy, poor stakeholder management, and data utilization. She emphasizes the need for clearer communication of strategy a…

Send us a text In this episode of UX Leadership By Design, host Mark Baldino speaks with Gerard Dolan about the challenges teams face in communication, problem identification, and leadership in dynamic work environments. Gerard discusses practical strategies for addressing issues like silos of information, aligning teams, and the importance of buil…

Send us a text In this episode of UX Leadership By Design, host Mark Baldino speaks with Pablo Stanley. Pablo, a designer and artist, shares his journey from being a graffiti artist in his teenage years to becoming a creative director and founder of multiple companies. He discusses the challenges and triumphs of leading a team of creatives, includi…

Send us a text In this episode of UX Leadership by Design, host Mark Baldino speaks with Harry Max, author of the book "Managing Priorities: How to Create Better Plans and Make Smarter Decisions". We discussion the importance of intentional prioritization, particularly in complex organizational settings. Harry explains that while many people think …

Send us a text In this episode of UX Leadership by Design, Mark Baldino, co-founder of Fuzzy Math, speaks with Evan English, Vice President of Design and User Research at American Express. Evan shares her journey from product management to UX leadership at Amex, where she has spent 15 years. She highlights the company's significant investment in le…

Send us a text In Episode 7 of Season 2 of UX Leadership by Design, host Mark Baldino chats with Mike LaVista, CEO and Founder of Caxy, a digital transformation constancy. They explore the importance of clear goals, change management, and mitigating risks for successful transformations. They also highlight the need to involve customers in the proce…

Send us a text In Episode 6 of Season 2 of UX Leadership by Design, host Mark Baldino chats with Bridget McMullan, Director of Technology Innovation at Elevance Health, about the intersection of artificial intelligence (AI), user experience design, and product management. They dive into the critical role of human creativity and critical thinking in…

Send us a text In Season 2, Episode 5 of UX Leadership by Design, Mark Baldino is joined by Pooja Vijay Kumar from Autodesk to discuss the transformative shift from product-centric to platform-centric design. Pooja shares her journey and the strategic importance of breaking down complex systems into atomic elements for better communication and unde…

Send us a text In Episode 4, Season 2 of "UX Leadership By Design," Denise Tilles discusses the critical role of product operations in scaling businesses and enhancing product development. She underscores the necessity of integrating product and design teams with a strong emphasis on leveraging data and research operations to drive impactful busine…

Send us a text Welcome to Episode 3 of Season 2 of UX Leadership By Design. In this episode, Mark speaks with Mollie Cox, Director of Product Design at Fleet.io and Adjunct Professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Mollie shares her career journey and the connection between her early career, playing hopscotch, teaching, and leadership style.…

Send us a text The title says it all -- we cover a ton in Season 2, Episode 2 of UX Leadership By Design, as Mark Baldino talks with Shan Shen, a Principal UX designer at Custom Ink. Shan shares her background in design and her transition to a leadership role as they discuss the challenges designers face in a remote work environment and the importa…

Send us a text Welcome to Season 2 of UX Leadership by Design. In this episode, we talk to Bryn McCoy, a seasoned UX design leader, who shares her journey from a maker in tech to a design leader. Bryn emphasizes the importance of collaboration between product and design teams, addressing challenges in the tech industry, and the need for innovation …

Send us a text In this episode, we explore design leadership and entrepreneurship with Cameron Ridenour, Chief Design Officer of CoNote. Cameron brings listeners into the process of novel product design - highlighting the intricate journey of aligning user requirements with a company's strategic goals. Mark and Cameron discuss transitioning from a …

Send us a text In Episode 11 of UX Leadership by Design, Joana Castro, Director of UX at Buildium in Portugal explains how she leverages UX Maturity models at Buildium, and more broadly, how organizations can use UX maturity assessments to measure progress (and regression), demonstrate the value of UX, and secure investment in user experience. This…

Send us a text Are design leaders and their teams neglecting the power of wireframing in UX design? In the latest episode of UX Leadership by Design, Mark Baldino explores this question, and others, with Billy Carlson, a design leader and educator. The episode dives deep into the often underestimated process of wireframing, emphasizing its critical…

Send us a text In Episode 9 of UX Leadership by Design Mark talks to Tom Scotto, a design leader and consultant. Tom explains how embracing a quirky and creative team environment fosters innovation and collaboration and provides strategies to navigate and communicate the disruptive nature of design, both within your team and outside the design wall…

Send us a text EPISODE DESCRIPTION: UX design leader Maria Giudice joins host Mark Baldino to discuss the core qualities that UX leaders need to become effective change agents. Drawing from three decades of experience, Maria underscores the significance of integrating design principles into leadership roles, enabling anyone to champion change. Mari…

Send us a text In this UX Leadership by Design podcast episode, host Mark Baldino of Fuzzy Math talks with Alfred Kahn, an experienced design leader and author. They discusses navigating complex problem spaces, infusing consumer-grade UX principles into enterprise design, and strategies for collaborative success between the "tripod" - design, produ…

Send us a text Welcome to the "UX Leadership by Design" podcast, hosted by Mark Baldino, Co-Founder of Fuzzy Math. In Episode 6, we have the pleasure of featuring Santiago Viteri, the Associate Director of UX and Digital Accessibility Standards of the UX Center of Excellence at Bristol-Myers Squibb. Join us as Santiago shares his inspiring journey …

Send us a text In this episode of the "UX Leadership by Design" podcast hosted by Mark Baldino of Fuzzy Math, Greg Thomas, Director of User Experience at TaxSlayer, shares how his team captures user data at specific times to make data-driven decisions and presents a strong case to executives, business owners, and product leaders. By using a one-que…

Send us a text This episode of "UX Leadership by Design," the podcast by and for UX leaders, is brought to you by Fuzzy Math, the award-winning user experience design consultancy. In this episode, our host Mark Baldino chats with Nate Felt, a Senior Product Designer at Amazon, about stakeholder communication and management. As a designer, it's easy…

Send us a text On this episode of "UX Leadership by Design" join host Mark Baldino as he interviews Bryan Garvey, the Associate Director of User Experience and Insights at Radio Systems Corporation. Discover Bryan's multi-year journey in bringing UX design to the company, the crucial role of stakeholder management, and the power of fostering a grow…

Send us a text In this episode of UX Leadership by Design, host Mark Baldino interviews Chris Willis, the Chief Design Officer at Domo. As a Chief Design Officer and futurist, Chris combines data technology and emerging trends to make Domo an indispensable platform for its customers. The episode provides practical advice for UX designers looking to…

Send us a text Mark Baldino is the host of the UX leadership podcast and the co-founder of Fuzzy Math, a UX design firm. In today's episode, he interviews Parisa Bazl, the Head of User Experience at Commvault, an enterprise data protection and data management software company. Bazl's work focuses on scaling the impact of UX teams within an organiza…

Mirren Fischer is someone who finds herself at the confluence of some really big challenges: creating a sustainable future and leveraging the new methods which have caused such an acceleration in the role of digital experiences. She talks to MEX founder Marek Pawlowski about applying that approach to problems and places which have deep, physical ro…

Poetry and place...listening and lockdowns...Dan Phillips, who led the Royal College of Art's (RCA) work on 'Our Future Towns' talks to MEX founder Marek Pawlowski about how the research led to a different understanding of connectivity, mobility and transportation in our communities.It is a conversation with draws on Dan's breadth of design and res…

Mark Baldino’s path to co-founding a Chicago-based design agency wends its way from a degree in theology and working at non-profits in Washington DC to reading an early edition of ‘Information Architecture for the World Wide Web’ and a job as a late 90s web designer he claims he was totally unqualified for. What shines through today is a continuing…

Paul Campbell, a former chief designer at Ford, is now re-imagining the wheelchair at Centaur Robotics. In this conversation with MEX founder Marek Pawlowski, he shares the life experiences and human-centred insights which have shaped Centaur's new approach to personal, connected mobility. The discussion also explores Paul's deep experience of car …

Jared Ficklin’s approach of ‘think by making’ has led him to produce remarkable digital design work, often at the forefront of exploring new computing metaphors, from smartphones to spatial interfaces. In his conversation with MEX founder Marek Pawlowski, Jared gets to one of the big truths of the digital age: the major expansions in computing occu…

The conversation between Robert Fabricant and Marek Pawlowski spans a wide arc, from Robert's childhood design influences growing up in New York City to the multi-year journey of co-authoring (with Cliff Kuang) the acclaimed book 'User Friendly - How the Hidden Rules of Design are Changing the way we Live, Work & Play'. Along the way they explore R…

Jennifer Sukis returns to the podcast to discuss changes in her own role at the intersection of artificial intelligence and design, as well as IBM's growing focus on this area for its big enterprise clients. The chat with MEX founder Marek Pawlowski ranges from approaches to user research when designing AI-powered systems, how AI may influence futu…

Samar Héchaimé joins MEX founder Marek Pawlowski for a special discussion - recorded with a live web audience - exploring how we might transform our post-pandemic systems and organisations by putting people at the heart of future strategy. Drawing on deep cross-cultural experience – from the Middle East to the United States – and disciplines from a…

John Fagan is building technology to enhance the user experience of public transport through a better understanding of human behaviour. He talks to MEX founder Marek Pawlowski about how smartphone sensor data can be combined with real-time transport infrastructure feeds to deliver more contextually relevant digital services. John draws on his deep …

Ashton Snook, Head of Design for Digital & Physical Products at Hive, joins MEX founder Marek Pawlowski to share how Hive is approaching the complex, multi-touchpoint challenge of delivering good customer experience for its smart home products. Ashton talks about the user research and product design aspects, as well as the organisational journey he…

By MEX

Ben Scott-Robinson is designing the next generation of robot relations. Small Robot Company, the start-up he co-founded, must solve both the technical challenge of deploying rugged, autonomous robots on farms and the nuanced complexities of serving multiple users - from individual farmers to the animals the machines may encounter in the field. Ben …

Mark Rolston is working on the future, from mixed reality delivered via digital eyewear for the likes of Magic Leap, to experimental projects exploring how projected interfaces might materialise in the physical world. Mark talks to MEX founder Marek Pawlowski about his long career at frog design, where he led global creative after a 20 year tenure,…

Tom Wood, co-founder of Foolproof, joins Marek Pawlowski to talk about what it takes to build a user-centred design agency, from the initial inspiration 17 years ago during his time as Head of Advertising at Virgin Money, to setting a course for the future through an acquisition. The conversation ranges from the nuances of structuring design teams …

Jason DaPonte has been at the cutting edge of digital experience design since the late 90s and shares some of the insights gained along the way with MEX founder Marek Pawlowski. They talk about Jason's current strategy role at design agency ustwo, as well as revisiting the evolution of multi-touchpoint experience design. The conversation expands to…

Gavin Edwards directs product design and research for Skyscanner, a travel search platform serving 90 million users a month. He talks to MEX founder Marek Pawlowski about applying research insights at scale, the cultural nuances of users' travel behaviours and his own journey through design agency work to leading in-house teams. Along the way, the …

Anna Bäck has seen user-centred design from all angles: spending time as managing director of a small specialist agency, playing a leadership role at a larger agency as it became part of McKinsey and most recently as CEO of an expanding digital platform where she is nurturing a strong design culture throughout the organisation. She talks to MEX fou…

In-depth user research has been a touchstone throughout Lada Gorlenko's fascinating career. She talks to MEX founder Marek Pawlowski about her current role leading experience research for work management platform Smartsheet, as well as everything from her background in cognitive science, working in prisons and her time working on Microsoft's mobile…

From debuting concept cars in computer games to re-imagining autonomous vehicles as luxurious overnight sleeping cabins, Sam Livingstone has been advising the automotive industry on customer-led design strategy for over 20 years. He talks to MEX founder Marek Pawlowski about the opportunities for vehicle manufacturers to embrace digital experience …

Fiona Myles runs her own agency, Kin Branding, working at the intersection of brand strategy and design thinking. In addition, she works all over the world delivering workshops and education programmes to foster a design-led, creative economy with organisations like Nesta and the British Council. She shares the story of her career with MEX founder …

Tedde van Gelderen, founder of design agency Akendi and author of the book Experience Thinking, shares the story of his career journey with MEX founder Marek Pawlowski. From client-side roles with Philips and Nortel, to founding and selling an earlier agency business, Tedde talks about the career experiences which informed his book. The conversatio…