UI Breakfast: UI/UX Design and Product Strategy

Freemium is a wildly popular pricing model these days. But how do you make the free plan work for your business, not disrupt it? Today our guest is Bridget Harris, CEO and co-founder of YouCanBook.me. You'll learn why freemium is a great marketing tool, why free and paid users almost never overlap, and how to find the right balance between free and paid features. I already applied many of Bridget'...

UX collaboration can be a challenge for people in the same room, not to mention distributed teams! Today our guest is Brent Heckerman, the founder or D-Fusion UX Design & Strategy, who now works with RealtimeBoard to help them build a great collaboration platform. In this super-actionable episode we walk through the key principles, tools, scenarios, and tactics for remote UX workshops. Podcast...

What's the best way to teach design skills? How do you connect theory with practice? Today our guest is Jarrod Drysdale — designer, writer, and author of multiple educational products. You'll learn what makes a good course, how to show-and-tell, and why it's difficult to capture the real-life design process on screen. Podcast feed: subscribe to http://simplecast.fm/podcasts/1441/rss in your favori...

What defines a successful UX team? How do you create one? Our guest today is Alberto Orsini, UX designer and co-founder at Takt Digital, previously the UX manager at HBO. We talk about the four pillars of user experience success, the ideal team structure, the hiring process, interacting with the rest of the company, and much more. Podcast feed: subscribe to http://simplecast.fm/podcasts/1441/rss i...

Video is rapidly gaining popularity as a training format. But no shortcuts here — it's hard to produce! Today we're getting together with Ed Vinicombe, the founder of UXClub.com. He shares the story of his UX training platform, and gives us an overview of his production process. You'll learn how to start shooting videos, how to prepare content, and how to behave in front of the camera. Podcast fee...

How do you introduce your software into a foreign market? How do you even make an informed decision about it? Our guest today is Joe Leech, UX and product consultant, and the author of Psychology for Designers. He has run research and design projects in 38 countries, and happy to share his experience — peppered with stories and amazing facts. You'll learn why international UX goes way beyond trans...

How about getting out of your comfort zone? Just one day of research can bring you amazing insights. Our guest today is Liston Witherill, marketer and CEO of Good Funnel. You'll learn how to perform the most effective research activities: customer interviews, passive research, analytics, and competitor analysis. Podcast feed: subscribe to http://simplecast.fm/podcasts/1441/rss in your favorite pod...

Pricing is hard! But it's particularly challenging for designers, when the value of your work is so intangible. Our guest today is Nathan Allotey — web designer, digital marketing strategist, and the author of Freelance Jumpstart. Our goal is to help you create your own successful pricing strategy! We talk about different ways of charging for design work, explaining value, hourly vs daily billing,...

This is an extraordinary plus-size interview with an outstanding guest — Claire Suellentrop of Love Your Customer, previously Director of Marketing and employee #2 at Calendly. You'll hear her best advice on a range of topics: customer interviews, landing pages, user onboarding, gaining traction, content marketing, and much more. You'll also learn an intriguing story how she got started with Calen...

How do you design products that people are actually going to use? Many answers hide in behavioral psychology. Our guest today is Susan Weinschenk, Ph. D. — a famous speaker, author, and behavioral scientist. How do you grab and hold user's attention? Why are micro-interactions so important? What are the seven drivers of motivation? We discuss these questions (and much more) in this value-packed in...

We all understand the value of UX reviews (also known as usability reviews or UI/UX audits). But how do you document your expert opinion? Today our guest is Jean-Michel Lacroix — co-founder of Capian, a tool for conducting usability reviews. You'll learn what hardships UX consultants face while documenting their reviews, why enterprise clients always ask for PDF reports, and why branding matters....

How do you grow an audience of true fans who trust you? How do you define your tribe? Our guest today is Paul Jarvis — a famous designer, author, and entrepreneur. Paul talks about the four components of his marketing formula and his unique way of doing business online. You'll learn how to build trust, fearlessly launch products, manage expectations, and grow a focused mailing list. Podcast feed:...

How do you make sure your design efforts are effective? There's no bigger mistake than just guess! Brent Palmer, a design lead at Zendesk, walks us through the tools and methods for data-driven design. You'll learn how to approach customer research the right way, why testing is important, and how to deal with the research results. Podcast feed: subscribe to http://simplecast.fm/podcasts/1441/rss i...

There are thousands of apps out there, dozens for every possible task. But how do you pick the right tools? How do you put together a toolbox that fits your own work process? Our guest today is Francesca Geens, the founder of Digital Dragonfly — a technology and productivity consultancy. We review the principles of human productivity, and then discuss popular tools for to-do lists, email, project...

It's episode fifty today! For this little anniversary, I invited my very first guest from episode one. Dennis Field is a famous design educator and entrepreneur, and also a brand evangelist at InVision. Today we discuss how creative individuals can partner up with large companies and become their evangelists. You'll learn how such relationships benefit both parties, how everything works, and how t...

In this special behind-the-scenes episode you'll meet Benedikt Decke who helped me build and launch Tiny Reminder (the new productivity tool for freelancers and consultants). Benedikt is a talented software engineer, awesome consultant, and founder of of Stage CMS. We talk through the entire process "from idea to launch" — how we determined the scope for the MVP, how we launched it, why...

Today we'll talk about reverse-engineering. You can apply this thought process virtually anywhere — in choosing the right client or the right lifestyle. Our special guest is Drew Thomas, an ecommerce expert and seasoned entrepreneur. We talk about our agency experiences in the past, and why we can "do what we want" these days. You'll learn how to start with the most important criteria, a...

Pattern libraries can help you streamline the design process and build a flexible system (instead of static pages). Today we're exploring this concept with Laura Elizabeth — a fantastic designer, writer & speaker. You'll learn how to plan and build a pattern library, how to document it, and how to make your clients fall in love with the result. Podcast feed: subscribe to http://simplecast.fm/p...

How do you go about finding a mentor? Today our guest is Greg Gilbert, a serial entrepreneur and founder of multiple companies. Greg shares his great story of being mentored and becoming a mentor himself. You'll learn why mentoring is different from coaching or mastermind groups, how to find the right person, and how to start the relationship at the right terms. Podcast feed: subscribe to http://s...

Email marketing for software products differs from classic content marketing. We're looking into that today! Our special guest is Christoph Engelhardt, the founder of LinksSpy and the author of SaaS Email Marketing Handbook. You'll learn about the best practices, what campaigns work best during different lifecycle stages, and how users communicate with your software through transactional emails an...

Social media these days resembles a war of bots. However, it's still a powerful tool — if you do it right. Today's guest, Mojca Mars of Super Spicy Media, helps people find their voice and become successful in social media marketing. You'll learn what formats and visuals work best, what you should write about, how to approach advertising, and how to do genuine, helpful outreach. Podcast feed: subs...

We're back after a short break! Today we're exploring user experience in online stores. Our special guest is Kurt Elster, the guru of ecommerce and the founder of Ethercycle. We break down the entire purchasing flow and explore design specifics of each step: product list, item description, shopping cart, and checkout. You'll learn how to showcase your products, reduce friction, and motivate your c...

Hiring a good designer has never been easy! Today I'm talking to Sarah Doody — a guru UX designer, teacher, and writer from New York City. You'll learn how to approach the hiring process in your particular case, whether education matters, how to navigate in the variety of design professions, and what skills to look for. Designers, on the other side, will get an insight how to better present themse...

Writing proposals isn't fun, but they're a crucial part of any design project. Today our guest is Nathan Powell — designer, author, and founder of Nusii (online proposal software). You'll learn how to do discovery work, what to include in your proposal, how to structure it, and how tiered pricing can help you make an unbeatable offer. Podcast feed: subscribe to http://simplecast.fm/podcasts/1441/r...

Design or development? You can say "yes" to both! Today we're exploring the story of Sacha Greif, the founder of Sidebar.io and the author of Discover Meteor. He successfully combines the roles of a designer and a developer, and achieves results in both fields (all while being a community star). Join us to hear about his straightforward approach to life, projects, and the learning proces...