The Product Design Podcast

Welcome to the Product Design Podcast!

In episode 56 of The Product Design Podcast, Seth Coelen interviews Niel McLean, Director of Product Design at Evolus. Niel brings his perspective of a servant leader, sharing what he has learned about leadership throughout his career.During our chat, Niel shared how he got his start in design and how mentorship had been a key to his long-term success. He discusses how to gauge if your team is burning out and how to nurture your team to ensure their long-term success. This episode will help leaders to make a more significant impact on their organization and product designers looking to grow into leadership roles.During our interview with Niel, you will learn:

In episode 55 of The Product Design Podcast, Seth Coelen interviews Adam Perlis, CEO and Founder of Academy, which offers UX recruitment and staffing. He has had a fascinating design journey that led him to where he is today.During our talk, Adam shares the career lows that launched him into his career highs, his unique approach to UX recruitment, and what he looks for in product design talent. Adam also gives excellent strategies for applying to different companies, regardless of how long you have been in the industry.During our interview with Adam, you will learn:

In episode 54 of The Product Design Podcast, Seth Coelen interviews Sheryl Cababa, Author of Closing the Loop: Systems Thinking For Designers and Chief Strategy Officer at Substantial. Her book dives into how powerful a systems thinking mindset is for designers and provides tools and frameworks to help define the systems that surround your work.During our chat, Sheryl provides us with an overview of the three concepts of systems thinking for designers, the cascading impact and barriers of systems thinking, and her take on the shortcomings of user-centered design. This episode will help you think deeper about the impact of the products you work on and understand the systems and context that can surround your design decisions.During our interview with Sheryl, you will learn:✍️ Sheryl's journey into design

In episode 53 of The Product Design Podcast, Seth Coelen interviews Mimi Nishiguchi, Senior Product Designer, and YouTube Content Creator. You have probably seen her YouTube channel, where she shares videos on all things UX, including topics like boot camps, a day in the life of a UX Designer, and her couch confessions related to her experience switching to a career in UX.During our chat, Mimi shares her take on boot camps, tips on switching to a UX career, advice on getting an initial interview, and talks to Seth about some of his favorite videos on her channel. This episode is full of great advice for anyone considering a switch to UX, and if you have been a fan of Mimi for a while, you will get to hear about her long-term vision for her YouTube Channel.During our interview with Mimi, you will learn:

In episode 52 of The Product Design Podcast, Seth Coelen interviews Nathalie Stratton, Co-founder and Head of Product Design and Engineering at Hearth. Hearth Display is a digital touchscreen for family management and productivity, made to lighten the load of organization for busy families.During our chat, Nathalie discusses her early transition from architecture to product design. Nathalie shares how she was inspired to create Hearth, the challenges she faced during the product design and launch process, and what she feels is the most valuable skill set for anyone looking to launch their product into the world. This episode is filled with great advice and learnings on bringing a product to market!During our interview with Nathalie, you will learn:

In episode 51 of The Product Design Podcast, Seth Coelen interviews Danielle Thompson, Founder of Design Match,where they connect ambitious startups with the perfect designers for their projects!During our chat, Danielle talks about how she has progressed along her career path by creating products and launching businesses. Danielle dives into how powerful the proper support can be along your product design career path and why working on your emotional intelligence will set you up for long-term success. She also shares how she came up with the idea for Design Match and how she found quick success with this product. If you are looking to get work as a Product Designer, Design Match may be for you! This episode is filled with fantastic advice for all designers, regardless of how long they have been in the game.During our interview with Danielle, you will learn:

In episode 50 of The Product Design Podcast, Seth Coelen interviews Bryan Zmijewski, Chief Instigator at ZURB, where Helio was created and a product design company that has been in business since 1998.During our chat, Bryan shares how ZURB was created and his approach to running a business for 25 years. Bryan gives his point of view on what it takes to be a successful business owner for several years, how he builds trust with his clients and team, and the steps he takes to gain clarity so he can lead the direction of a project effectively. This episode is filled with tips and tricks for anyone already running a business or those who want to get started and would like to understand more of what goes into running a business in our industry!During our interview with Bryan, you will learn:

In episode 49 of The Product Design Podcast, Seth Coelen interviews Shruti Goli, Co-Founder & Co-CEO at Trymata, where you can build digital experiences users love with their usability testing and product analytics solutions (formerly TryMyUI.)During our chat, Shruti shares her journey into tech and her inspiring take on how failure can propel you forwardalong your career path. She gives advice on what she learned while landing an internship at Microsoft (on her second attempt) and failing five times before making her breakthrough product. This episode is packed with the tips and tricks you need if you are just starting in product design or are ready to create and launch your own product now!During our interview with Shruti, you will learn:

In episode 48 of The Product Design Podcast, Seth Coelen interviews Brent Palmer, Product Design Manager at Mixpanel, a leading product analytics software company.During our chat, Brent shares how his career path led him into product design leadership and how he knew that was the right path for him. He advises where he has found success in managing a large design team and nurturing culture at scale while helping his team do their best work and flourish in their career paths. This episode is packed with advice for product designers at any stage of their career path, whether you are a junior looking to grow into a manager or a senior leader looking to improve your management style.During our interview with Brent, you will learn:

In episode 47 of The Product Design Podcast, Seth Coelen interviews Jason Garrison, Qualitative UX Researcher at AnswerLab, a full-service user experience insights firm helping create experiences people love.During our chat, Jason shares his UX journey and path from internship to full-time UX Researcher. He offers fantastic insights into what led him to his current role, including strategies on portfolio development, networking, interviewing, and how to accept feedback from your manager or team once you land the job you want! This episode is filled with excellent advice for anyone looking to get into UX, especially if they are curious about becoming a UX Researcher!During our interview with Jason, you will learn:

In episode 46 of The Product Design Podcast, Seth Coelen interviews Chris Shepard, Cofounder & CEO at Wisiwig, the collaborative browser design tool to achieve pixel-perfect UI design.During our chat, Chris shares how a free meal led him to his first UX Design role, how he decided to take the entrepreneurial route and start his own product, and what you can learn from his journey from ideation to launching Wisiwig! This episode is filled with fantastic advice if you have ever considered creating and launching your own product!During our interview with Chris, you will learn:

In episode 45 of The Product Design Podcast, Seth Coelen interviews Justin Zalewski, Director of Product Design & Strategy at Studio Science, a design and innovation agency that exists to help smart businesses deliver experiences that work better.During our talk, Justin shares his experience building a successful freelance business, offers advice on breaking into the UX space, and gives advice on building and leading a design team at an agency.During our interview with Justin, you will learn:

In episode 44 of The Product Design Podcast, Seth Coelen interviews Jarvis Moore, Sr. Product Designer at LinkedIn.During our talk, Jarvis shares insights on separating yourself from the pack when networking and interviewing, and determining if a company culture will fit your needs before accepting a position.During our interview with Jarvis, you will learn:

In episode 43 of The Product Design Podcast, Seth Coelen interviews Karsten Rowe, Director of Product Design at Axon; a mission-based organization focused on public safety.During our chat, Karsten shares how he launched his career path, the soft skills he believes are underrated, where he has found the most powerful bursts of career growth, and his advice on breaking into mission-driven product design.During our interview with Karsten, you will learn:

In episode 42 of The Product Design Podcast, Seth Coelen interviews Scott Hurff, Founder and CPO at Churnkey, a platform that fixes every type of churn by supercharging all aspects of customer retention. Scott is also the creator of Super Like, a product feature he led while at Tinder, which allowed users to pay extra to get an edge at making a match.During our chat, Scott shares where he gathers creative inspiration away from the screen, what he learned while working at Tinder, and the secret he believes can make your product make you a lot of money!During our interview with Scott, you will learn:

In episode 41 of The Product Design Podcast, Seth Coelen interviews Kim Hodges, Director of Digital Accessibility at the University of South Carolina. Kim has a fascinating origin story that led him to accessibility, which he tells us in the full episode. He has over fourteen years of personal and professional experience making digital environments more functional for individuals with disabilities.During our chat, Kim shares exactly what led him to a career in digital accessibility, the biggest mistakes and most common misconceptions of accessibility, and the best strategy to follow when starting a new project to ensure your product is functional for individuals with disabilities. Kim's interview is packed with things to consider, from an accessibility standpoint, as you approach your next project.During our interview with Kim, you will learn:

In episode 40 of The Product Design Podcast, Seth Coelen interviews Kate Syuma, Head of Growth Design at Miro. Over the last five years at Miro, Kate has grown from an IC Product Designer to a Product Design Lead and up to her current role. Her insights on career growth and keeping things fresh as your career progress are fantastic!During our chat, Kate shares how to organize your career path and grow as a designer while not getting tired of your job. We also talk about how she set herself up to land her first job and then be discovered by Miro. Kate's approach to growth will help you no matter where you are in your career path right now!During our interview with Kate, you will learn:

In episode 39 of The Product Design Podcast, Seth Coelen interviews Sarah Doody, Founder and CEO of Career Strategy Lab, a job search and career accelerator program for people in UX, tech, and product. Sarah started as a UX Researcher and Designer with different startups in New York City. She opened a research and design consultancy in 2012 and is now focused on career development and coaching with Career Strategy Lab.During our chat, Sarah shares how she strategically designed her career path and grew her network while honing a critical skill she believes launched her into her successful career! We also discussed Sarah's 3-part product strategy to propel your career path, and the top myth UX professionals believe about recruiters.During our interview with Sarah, you will learn:

In episode 38 of The Product Design Podcast, Seth Coelen interviews Ahmad Kadhim (also known as AK), Co-founder and VP of Product at 3RM, a Web3 startup. He made his way into tech over ten years ago through a Bootcamp and has worked as a developer, designer, and product manager during his career.During our chat, AK advises how to break into tech and the latest on the Figma acquisition by Adobe. We dive into what we hope to see come out of this shift that has rocked our industry and AK's inspiring closing thoughts on how this acquisition could change the future of design.During our interview with AK, you will learn:

In episode 37 of The Product Design Podcast, Seth Coelen interviews Brad Frost, Creator of the Atomic Design Philosophy and Design Systems Guru. He runs his own consultancy where he helps people with design systems and assists companies by setting them up to design systems correctly.Brad shares where the Atomic Design philosophy came from, what he did to spread this concept to others, and the power a design system can have for any organization. He also gives tips on how to set up a design system when you do not have a dedicated resource to do it for your company.During our interview with Brad, you will learn:⚛️ How Brad went from studying music to writing Atomic Design

In episode 36 of The Product Design Podcast, Seth Coelen interviews Adam Sadowski, Design Director here at UX Cabin! Adam joined our team a few months ago and has been doing fantastic work leading and mentoring the UX Cabin design team.Adam shares what he has learned along his career path, from breaking into product design to moving up through mid-level management and then up to a senior-level role where he leads an entire design team. His advice can help you figure out what to do next to level up and set yourself on the right path for a senior-level product design leadership position. No matter where you are currently on your product design career path, there is so much to learn from this episode!During our interview with Adam, you will learn:

In episode 35 of The Product Design Podcast, Seth Coelen interviews Kelsey Houghton, Chief Product Officer at Finotta, a FinTech startup that builds software to help financial institutions increase revenue while simultaneously improving the financial health of their customers.Kelsey offers her perspective on many topics, including the difference between product and project management, digital ethics in FinTech, and the importance of diverse thought in product design. She also discusses with Seth the barriers she has faced as a woman in tech and the soft skills that can help build confidence when experiencing imposter syndrome.During our interview with Kelsey, you will learn:

In episode 34 of The Product Design Podcast, Seth Coelen interviews Colton Schweitzer & Ludovic Delmas, Co-Founders of Kickass UX, an online training platform to help transition designers into a career in UX design. During their individual journeys into UX, they identified the need to help designers get the experience they need to move into UX design.They decided to work together and create Kickass UX, an opportunity for designers to build their skillset and learn how to create research-based products for businesses and users. Seth, Colton & Ludovic discuss the varied paths into UX so you can determine what would work best for you!During our interview with Colton & Ludovic, you will learn:

In episode 33 of The Product Design Podcast, Seth Coelen interviews Jess Brown, Staff Product Designer at Faire. During her career, Jess has worked as the Head of Design and Director of User Experience. Still, she decided to switch up her career path and head back into working as an individual contributor.Jess shares why she decided to return to IC after working in management and her insights on how her work experience still applies to her current role. Seth and Jess also discuss the difference between the two career paths and how you can decide which route is best for you.During our interview with Jess, you will learn:

In episode 32 of The Product Design Podcast, Seth Coelen interviews Morgan Denner, Chief Experience Officer at Tech Fleet and Lead UX Designer at hopscotch. He has a background in sales, IT, and product development which ultimately led him to UX.While transitioning into UX, Morgan identified a gap between his education and practical, real-world experience. This gap inspired him to create Tech Fleet, a community-driven re-skilling platform for UX, Product Management, Development, and many other tech roles. He shares what he has learned along his career transition into UX and tips for finding your edge in the industry to lead to success in the application process. During our interview with Morgan, you will learn:

In episode 31 of The Product Design Podcast, Seth Coelen interviews Jeremy Miller, Senior Staff Experience Architect at GE Aviation! He is also a mentor and a Retro Time Podcast host where they talk about software, from product design to software development, and the soft skills needed to make it in our industry.Jeremy has worked in agency, startup, and large corporate environments throughout his career. During our chat, he let us know what led him to enterprise UX for a large corporation. Jeremy also shares the skills that have helped him climb the ranks and tips for working in a large corporate environment.During our interview with Jeremy you will learn:

In episode 30 of The Product Design Podcast, Seth Coelen interviews Jayneil Dalal, Staff Designer, Mentor, and Host of the design MBA Show! He took a significant leap of faith and transitioned into design after starting a career as an electrical engineer.During Jayneil's career in design, he has worked as a Product Designer, Lead, and Instructor and gained so much wisdom along the way. At the lowest point of his career, he realized the need to become an expert at networking to create opportunities for himself. He has developed and fine-tuned his cold email, networking, and job application techniques ever since. In this episode, Jayneil shares all of his secrets with us!During our interview with Jayneil you will learn:

In episode 29 of The Product Design Podcast, Seth Coelen interviews Simran Mhatre, a Product Design Intern at Meta. Simran is originally from India and moved to the United States in 2021 to further her education. She is a graduate student at Indiana University Bloomington, studying Human-Computer Interaction. Simran worked long and hard to land her internship at a FAANG company and shares all the tips and advice she put into action to get where she is today. If you are trying to break into UX or looking to change jobs in UX, listen to her fantastic advice on portfolios, resumes, and networking!During our interview with Simran you will learn:

Kicking off season two with episode 28 of The Product Design Podcast, Seth Coelen interviews Steven Steiner, Founder of Career Coach for Designers, where he coaches designers to help them level up during any point of their career.Steven has gained over ten years of experience as a designer and design manager at agencies, start-ups, and in-house teams. This experience and his passion for helping others led him to career coaching and gave him so much valuable advice to share that he has learned along his career path.During our interview with Steven you will learn:

In episode 27 of The Product Design Podcast, Seth Coelen celebrates the end of season one by looking back on the top fan-rated clip from each featured guest on the show! It is hard to believe a year has passed since we initially launched the podcast, and it is really fun to hear the best pieces of advice from throughout the year. It has been quite the ride, and we genuinely hope that you have gotten as much out of it as we have!Over the last year, your support helped us reach over 14,000 downloads, and we have received so many comments on how helpful the conversations on the show have been! You all are the reason we do what we do. Bringing valuable advice to our audience is our number one goal, and it means so much to have all of your support!During this episode, we cover topics including:

In episode 26 of The Product Design Podcast, Seth Coelen interviews Michael Riddering, Founding Designer of Maven and Creator of Figma Academy. Many of you may already know him as Ridd!Ridd has worked for his own startup and spent time building more experience through freelancing and agency work. He currently lives in Michigan and started working remotely for Maven last year. He spends his days thinking about online course platforms, marketing, and teaching design.During our interview with Ridd you will learn:

In episode 25 of The Product Design Podcast, Seth Coelen interviews Brian Lin, Director of Product Design at Lunchbox, where he oversees product design and product research teams.Brian has been in the game for over twenty years and has witnessed the evolution of product design firsthand. This episode brings tons of advice straight from a hiring manager's perspective, which will help you regardless of what level you are at in your product design career path.During our interview with Brain you will learn:

In this episode of The Product Design Podcast, Seth Coelen interviews Matias Fiori, Lead Product Designer at UX Cabin, who lives in Uruguay. Matias has worked at UX Cabin for over two and a half years. Over the last couple of years, Matias has grown from an individual contributor on projects to helping to lead design teams for various projects. He brings so much value to our team through his graphic and product design expertise and shares excellent advice on how he has found success in product design during this episode.During our interview with Matias you will learn:

In episode 23 of The Product Design Podcast, Seth Coelen interviews Tom McCormack, a Career Coach specializing in product design and product owners. During Tom's career, he has worked primarily with product designers but has experience in other fields like data science, data analytics, web development, and product management, to name a few.As a career coach in the product space, Tom has a different perspective on how to break into  UX. From the length of time it can take to find a new job to the pitfalls he has seen job seekers fall into, Tom shares loads of advice in this podcast episode that can help give you a fresh perspective during your job search.During our interview with Tom you will learn:✍️How Tom made his way into career coaching

In episode 22 of The Product Design Podcast, Seth Coelen interviews Jed Bridges, who is currently a digital designer working on products and digital experiences during the day. At night he works on traditional print design, graphic design, and personal projects.During Jed's career, he has collected a lot of great advice to help product designers at any stage of their careers. He shares what to focus on during your education and what not to do in an interview. He also sheds some light on finding the right mentor for you and the best approach to different job opportunities. This episode is packed with advice to help you along your career path.During our interview with Jed you will learn:

In episode 21 of The Product Design Podcast, Seth Coelen interviews Danielle Justilien, a UX Designer at IBM who works on software design for IBM's partner experience. Danielle's early interest in graphic design and her expertise in marketing led her to UX.Once Danielle decided to make this change in her career path, she determined her next steps. She started with a free Bootcamp, extended her network as she learned, perfected her portfolio, and after starting her search for her first job in UX, she quickly landed her position at IBM. Danielle has tremendous insight into how to get a strong launch into UX Design. During our interview, Danielle shared what she did to boost her portfolio and set herself up for success in the interview process as she moved into UX Design.During our interview with Danielle, you will learn:

In episode 20 of The Product Design Podcast, Seth Coelen interviews Elizabeth Alli, a Product Designer, Mentor, and Founder of DesignerUp, where you can learn UX/UI and Product Design online!Elizabeth shifted from her education in classical music to product design early in her career. This transition led her to become an entrepreneur that headed into Silicon Valley, where she continued to learn and grow in her craft and experienced many of the highs and lows of her career path. Elizabeth shares what she has learned and offers advice on navigating a career switch and getting into product design!During our interview with Elizabeth you will learn:

In episode 19 of The Product Design Podcast, Seth Coelen interviews Peter Loving, Founder of User Active, his agency where they create software interfaces that users love. He is a Product Designer based in Barcelona and originally from London in the UK. Peter transitioned from a degree in product design focused on interior lighting and furniture but quickly realized that the toolkit he gathered in this area easily translated into UX and software design. He shares with us his journey into freelance and then how he founded and has grown his agency from there! During our interview with Peter you will learn:

In episode 18 of The Product Design Podcast, Seth Coelen interviews Joseph España, a Senior Product Designer at UX Cabin who lives in California. Joseph has worked at UX Cabin for over a year now and brings many gifts and talents to the design team.Joseph shares valuable advice on what to learn when you are getting started in product design and how to find your way to a high point in your career, even as you may experience bumps along the way.During our interview with Joseph you will learn:

In episode 17 of The Product Design Podcast, Seth Coelen interviews The UX Cabin interns, Muneerah Abdulrahman (aka Moon), David Applebee, Joe Montero, and Karen Mork. These four individuals were selected from over 800 applicants who applied to participate in the UX Cabin Internship 2.0 back in the fall.During our interview with the UX Cabin interns, you will learn about the unique experiences that each Intern had during their time at UX Cabin. They share the good, the bad, and the ugly and how they feel about the field of product design now that they have finished this part of their learning journey. We are so excited for you to listen!During our interview with the UX Cabin interns you will learn:

In episode 16 of The Product Design Podcast, Seth Coelen interviews Jesse Showalter, a freelance UI/UX designer, and online educator. You have probably watched his popular YouTube Channel, which just hit 200K subscribers where he shares videos about design, code, and life!

In episode 15 of The Product Design Podcast, Seth Coelen interviews Dennis Cortés, the Head of Design at Northstar, a financial wellness company. He has worked in teams of all sizes, both in-house and agency, during his career. You may also know of him through his YouTube Channel, where he shares product design tips and the music he creates, which is excellent to listen to while you create! This episode is filled with loads of career and leadership advice, no matter how long you have been in product design or your current role. During the episode, Dennis shares how he transitioned into management and works as a team leader. We are so excited for you to listen!During our interview with Dennis you will learn:

In episode 14 of The Product Design Podcast, Seth Coelen interviews Femke, a Product Designer from Toronto, Canada. She currently works at Wealthsimple, which is a financial services company. Previously she worked for Uber on both the ride and Uber Eats sides of the business.She keeps busy with content creation for her YouTube Channel supported by her Instagram, email newsletter, and Design Life podcast. She also supports the design community through a job board to help designers find jobs and mentors designers through superpeer.Femke shares her advice on getting into product design and provides details on how she has successfully moved along her career path. We are so excited for you to listen to this episode!During our interview with Femke you will learn:

In episode 13 of The Product Design Podcast, Seth Coelen interviews Jadene Aderonmu, a Senior UX Designer at a digital design consultancy in the UK called Methods! She transitioned from a degree in traditional graphic design to a career in product design, where she also enjoys focusing on user research. She also spends time creating content for her design advice-based YouTube Channel and helping others as a Design Mentor!Jadene shares several tips on how to move into a career in product design when you have a degree in a different area of design. We are so excited for you to listen to this episode!During our interview with Jadene you will learn:

In episode 12 of The Product Design Podcast, Seth Coelen interviews Travisse Hansen, a UX/UI Designer and Developer that is part of the UX Cabin team! He is a founding member of UX Cabin and has added value to the team through his skills and expertise for almost two years.Travisse shares valuable advice that he has collected as he moved from product management to product design and development. We are so excited for you to listen to this episode!During our interview with Travisse you will learn:

In episode 11 of The Product Design Podcast, Seth Coelen interviews Furquan Ahmad, a Product Designer in the UK. Furquan has a unique journey into product design, where he completed an apprenticeship at Ford. The experience he gained during his time at Ford prepared him to move into a new role in big tech. Furquan is heavily involved in the Figma community, provides excellent content on his YouTube Channel, and has a massive amount of advice to share to help you along your career path! We are so excited for you to listen to this episode!During our interview with Furquan you will learn:

In this episode of The Product Design Podcast, Seth Coelen interviews Jake Taylor, a Principal Product Designer who lives just outside of Denver, Colorado. Jake has had experience in pretty much every single role you can imagine in the UI, UX, product design space, so he has loads of advice to share!During our interview with Jake, you will learn:

In episode 9 of The Product Design Podcast, Seth Coelen interviews Denise Francis, a product designer working for a large CRM company in the Atlanta area. She shares how an early interest in fine art led to an educational path towards architecture and then how she landed in product design!During our interview with Denise, you will learn:

In episode 8 of The Product Design Podcast, Andrea McKinley chats with Seth Coelen about the bold career pivot from teaching k-12 to becoming a UX designer. Andrea joined UX Cabin full-time, following her participation in our first internship program earlier this year.During this episode, you will learn: