Not Just Pixels (Guo Chen)
Explore every episode of Not Just Pixels
| Pub. Date | Title | Duration | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 23 Aug 2022 | 011 - Imposter Syndrome, Ethical Design, and Working in Different Industries with Alicia Warren of Rippling | 00:40:02 | |
Today, I’m talking to Alicia Warren. - Alicia is currently the Product Design Director at Rippling, an all-in-one HR & IT platform. Before Rippling, she was a UX Lead at JPMorgan Chase. In addition, she’s an adjunct professor at Columbia College Chicago teaching experience design and design operations. On top of all these, she’s a city co-organizer for Ladies that UX, a welcoming community promoting women in UX. - When I first saw Alicia’s profile, what stood out to me was her diverse work experience in an array of industries such as academia, higher education, and more. But, her road to product design was not easy. As you heard in the beginning, in her early days, she was once unemployed for a full year and seeing where she is now as a director of product design, her journey has been nothing but inspirational. - We delved into a variety of topics such as imposter syndrome, the impact of working in different industries, ethical design, and so much more. I really appreciated the vulnerability Alicia showed during this chat, and I’m sure you’ll enjoy this one. And also, Alicia told me post-interview that Rippling is planning to hire new grad designers and interns towards the beginning of next year! So definitely check out the job board link in the show notes! Now, without further ado, here’s my conversation with Alicia Warren. === Highlights ⭐ How to cope with imposter syndrome ⭐ Ethical design & real-life examples ⭐ Responsibility as a director of product design ⭐ Teaching experience design at college ⭐ Her early day struggles & how she overcame them === Links 🔗 Dan Brown’s “Eight Principles of Information Architecture” === Not Just Pixels is a student-led UX Design podcast that strives to help you grow as a designer and get that next design internship or job. This is the podcast I wished I had as a design student, and I hope you’ll get something valuable from this show. === Have a great day! :) | |||
| 21 Feb 2023 | 027 - How to be a Great Junior Designer and Beyond with Catt Small of All Turtles | 00:45:44 | |
Today, I’m talking to Catt Small. - Catt, on this day of posting, is on a work sabbatical. Before, Catt worked at All Turtles. an early-stage startup studio, as the Director of Product Design. Before All Turtles, she worked at Asana, Etsy, Soundcloud, and other companies. Also, in 2016, Catt co-founded Game Devs of Color Expo, an organization with a mission to amplify the creative power held by people of color in games. - I first discovered Catt through her wonderfully playful website. And what I discovered was a treasure trove of her blog articles, talks, and resources! To this day, I am still amazed by her willingness to give back to the design community. So, naturally, after spending hours consuming her content, I was like, “I have to reach out to her!” And lo and behold, we’re here! And it was an absolute blast. We focused on solely one topic - junior designer. So if you’re a junior designer, you’ll love this one. So, without further ado, here was my conversation with Catt Small. === Highlights ⭐ What makes a junior designer stand out? ⭐ How to speak up in meetings ⭐ What is one thing that you wished you knew before entering the “real world”? ⭐ How to grow as a junior designer ⭐ Should junior designers specialize or generalize? === Links === Not Just Pixels is a student-led UX Design podcast that strives to help you grow as a designer and get that next design internship or job. This is the podcast I wished I had as a design student, and I hope you’ll get something valuable from this show. === Have a great day! :) | |||
| 21 Mar 2023 | 029 - Biggest Challenges, Working with Cross-Functional Team Members, and Growth Mindset with Minjun Chen of Spotify | 00:49:42 | |
Today, I’m talking to Minjun Chen. - Minjun currently works at Spotify as a product designer on the Ad Studio team. Before Spotify, she worked at Microsoft, Amazon, and Wayfair. - I first discovered Minjun through one of her community videos titled “How to Design a Stellar Portfolio Presentation.” And she has been very active in the design community whether that’s through mentorship or giving online talks. Thus, I was very excited to chat with Minjun, and the conversation was amazing. Before I start, I want to say one thing. On her resume, you might see all these big-name companies. But, after this episode, you’ll learn that Minjun’s design journey has not been butterflies and rainbows. In fact, it was quite the opposite. We delved into challenges she faced, working with cross-functional team members, mentorship, and a ton of topics. Thus, without further ado, here was my conversation with Minjun Chen. === Highlights ⭐ Minjun’s biggest career challenges ⭐ Setting goals as a designer ⭐ How to work with cross-functional team members ⭐ Reason for mentorship ⭐ The importance of a growth mindset === Not Just Pixels is a student-led UX Design podcast that strives to help you grow as a designer and get that next design internship or job. This is the podcast I wished I had as a design student, and I hope you’ll get something valuable from this show. === Have a great day! :) | |||
| 18 Oct 2022 | 015 - Design in the Automobile Industry, 3-Month Sabbatical, and Finding Your Why with Michael Dimaano of Ford | 00:39:36 | |
Today, I’m talking to Michael Dimaano. - Michael now works at Ford Motor as the Product Design Lead. And before Ford, he worked at Hertz as the Product Design Lead as well. - During our conversation, what really stood out to me was Michael’s emphasis on the importance of finding your "why" - what truly matters to you. At one point, he felt so much imposter syndrome as a product manager that he eventually resigned and took a 3-month sabbatical. And that was the turning point for Michael’s career, which we delved deep into in this episode. We also talked about his transition from web design to product design, human-centered philosophy, work in the automobile industry, and so much more. This was definitely one of the first conversations where I seriously didn’t know where it was going, but there were so many golden snippets from this. So, without further ado, here’s my chat with Michael Dimaano. === Highlights ⭐ Web design to product design ⭐ Imposter syndrome from being a PM ⭐ Takeaways from a 3-month sabbatical ⭐ Working as a designer in the automobile industry ⭐ Personal life vs work life === Not Just Pixels is a student-led UX Design podcast that strives to help you grow as a designer and get that next design internship or job. This is the podcast I wished I had as a design student, and I hope you’ll get something valuable from this show. === Have a great day! :) | |||
| 01 Jul 2022 | 008 - Serial Entrepreneurship, Design for Commerce, UX Methodology with Heidi Finn of GoDaddy | 00:38:24 | |
Today, I’m talking to Heidi Finn. - Heidi is currently the Sr. Director of Product Design on the Commerce team at GoDaddy, a domain register and web hosting company. Before GoDaddy, she worked at PayPal as the Sr. Design Manager and co-founded two startups - TripCraft and Videoo. - In our conversation, we delved into a variety of topics, including designing for commerce, the pros & cons of joining a startup as a designer, UX methodologies, and so much more. Personally, the most eye-opening part was when Heidi talked about the challenges of designing e-commerce vs physical commerce where cultural differences need to be considered. So, without further ado, here’s my conversation with Heidi Finn. === Highlights ⭐ Being a serial entrepreneur ⭐ Pros and cons of working at a startup as a designer ⭐ Challenges designing for commerce ⭐ UX methodologies ⭐ How to communicate with stakeholders === Not Just Pixels is a student-led UX Design podcast that strives to help you grow as a designer and get that next design internship or job. This is the podcast I wished I had as a design student, and I hope you’ll get something valuable from this show. === Have a great day! :) | |||
| 27 Jun 2023 | 036 - Pillars of Product Design, How to Be Data-Informed, and the Beauty of the Internet With Kyle Turman of Retool | 00:48:44 | |
Today, I’m talking to Kyle Turman. - Kyle, on this day of posting, no longer works as the Director of Product Design at Retool, but for great reasons, which you can read more about in his latest article - “Oh Hey, I Quit My Job.” Before Retool, he worked at Slack as the Sr. Director of Product Design. And before that at Dropbox, Etsy, and many other companies. - I first discovered Kyle’s portfolio a while back, and man - if you haven’t seen it, it’s in the show notes. Go check it out - this is what I call a portfolio with personality and style. Now, I got in touch with Kyle thanks to another amazing guest - shoutout to Catt! And I was so, so excited to chat with Kyle, and it sure did not disappoint. We talked about a variety of topics including the pillars of product design, learning business as a designer, the beauty of the internet, and so much more. I am so glad I chatted with Kyle, and I’m sure you’ll enjoy this one too. So, without further ado, here was my conversation with the World Wide Web Mad Scientist - Kyle Turman. === Highlights ⭐ Pillars of product design ⭐ Learning business as a product designer ⭐ The importance of data ⭐ Beauty of the internet ⭐ Relationship between AI & human === Links 🔗 You're Telling Me Designers Should Business? 🔗 Bento 🔗 Partiful === Not Just Pixels is a student-led UX Design podcast that strives to help you grow as a designer and get that next design internship or job. This is the podcast I wished I had as a design student, and I hope you’ll get something valuable from this show. === Have a great day! :) | |||
| 31 Jan 2023 | 025 - How to Land a UX Design Internship at Microsoft | 00:19:00 | |
Have you ever wondered how to land a UX Design internship at Microsoft? Well, today we’re gonna try to answer exactly that. - In this episode, you’ll hear from three design interns who worked at Microsoft last summer: 🎨 Favour Adeniyi - Graduate who studied Information Technology at Marymount University 🎨 Sushanth Hegde - Master’s student studying Human-Computer Interaction at the University of Maryland 🎨 Karis Wang - Senior studying Industrial and Product Design at Georgia Tech. === Highlights: ⭐ What’s the application process at Microsoft? ⭐ How did you prepare for the interview stages? ⭐ What do you think Microsoft looks for in design interns? ⭐ Any advice for future applicants? === Not Just Pixels is a student-led UX Design podcast that strives to help you grow as a designer and get that next design internship or job. This is the podcast I wished I had as a design student, and I hope you’ll get something valuable from this show. === Have a great day! :) | |||
| 04 Oct 2022 | 014 - Watercolor Side Business, Being a Director of UX, and Perfectionism with Amanda Santello of Forge | 00:45:52 | |
Today, I’m talking to Amanda Santello. - Amanda is currently the Experience Design Lead at Forge, a construction company building the next-gen trades community. Before Forge, she worked as the Associate Director of Product Design at Chewy, and before that, the Director of Experience Design at Accenture. - I got a chance to meet Amanda for the first time during a club competition back at Tufts. And I’m so glad we got the chance to sit down and chat about a variety of topics including her watercolor side business, early days at an agency, what’s it like to be a director of UX, and so much more. I really enjoyed our conversation, so without further ado, here’s my conversation with Amanda Santello. === Highlights ⭐ Amanda’s watercolor side-business ⭐ Early days working at a design agency ⭐ Work at Accenture & Forge ⭐ Differences between an IC vs director ⭐ The idea of perfection === Links 🔗 Amanda's watercolor business - Design As You Wish === Not Just Pixels is a student-led UX Design podcast that strives to help you grow as a designer and get that next design internship or job. This is the podcast I wished I had as a design student, and I hope you’ll get something valuable from this show. === Have a great day! :) | |||
| 08 May 2022 | 003 - Power of Storytelling, People First, and Understanding Mental Models with Eli Gold Ferrer of Upwork | 00:31:39 | |
Today I’m talking to Eli Gold Ferrer. - Eli is now a Product Design Manager on the Payment & Services Team at Upwork, the world’s work marketplace. Before this role, he was a product design leader in companies such as Wabtec, Home Depot, and more. - During our conversation, we went over a variety of topics such as the power of storytelling, being a design manager, working with cross-functional teams, and so much more. === Highlights: ⭐ Do design processes matter? ⭐ Power of storytelling ⭐ Why did you become a design manager? ⭐ How to work with cross-functional team members ⭐ Advice for a new manager === Not Just Pixels is a student-led UX Design podcast that strives to help you grow as a designer and get that next design internship or job. This is the podcast I wished I had as a design student, and I hope you’ll get something valuable from this show. - Have a great day! :) | |||
| 02 May 2023 | 032 - How to Get Started in XR Design, Biggest Problems Designers in XR Are Solving, and Current State of XR With Daniel Robbins of Adobe | 00:43:50 | |
Today, I’m talking to Daniel Robbins. - Daniel currently works at Adobe as a Principal Designer working across a suite of 3D projects. In the past, he has worked on Horizon Worlds at Meta, AR at HTC-Vive, VR at Visual Vocal, and more. - If you can’t tell already, Daniel’s design focus is XR design, which stands for “extended reality.” This is an umbrella term that covers VR (Virtual Reality), AR (Augmented Reality), and MR (Mixed reality). Thus, I was very excited to learn more about XR design from him. And man did I learn a ton. We talked about how he got into XR design, the biggest challenges designers in XR are solving, how to get into immersive design, and a ton of related topics. But, on top of that, what I really appreciated was Daniel’s attention to detail. You’ll hear in this conversation multiple times that Daniel would often either rephrase my question or ask me to clarify my question. It’s a great reminder as a host myself to be intentional with my questions & the clarity of them, so I really appreciate Daniel for doing so. Now, without further ado, here was my conversation with Daniel Robbins. === Highlights ⭐ How Daniel got into XR design ⭐ What are the problems designers in XR are trying to solve ⭐ How to get started in XR design ⭐ Current status of XR design ⭐ The difference between design & art === Links === Not Just Pixels is a student-led UX Design podcast that strives to help you grow as a designer and get that next design internship or job. This is the podcast I wished I had as a design student, and I hope you’ll get something valuable from this show. === Have a great day! :) | |||
| 13 Jun 2023 | 035 - Technically Wrong, Hard Truths about Tech, and Advice for Junior Designers with Sara Wachter-Boettcher of Active Voice | 00:41:02 | |
Today, I’m talking to Sara Wachter-Boettcher. - Sara currently is the founder and CEO of Active Voice, a leadership development company on a mission to make work culture better for everyone. - In 2018, Sara wrote a book titled “Technically Wrong: Sexist Apps, Biased Algorithms, and Other Threats of Toxic Tech.” From the title of the book, you know that this episode will be different from the rest. We talked about the…not-so-great and even harmful side of the tech industry and advice for junior designers who are about to enter the workplace. There are a ton of golden nuggets in this episode, and I’m sure you’ll learn as much as I did. So without further ado, here was my conversation with Sara Wachter-Boettcher. === Highlights ⭐ Discussion about Sara’s 2018 book “Technically Wrong” ⭐ What has changed in tech workplace culture ⭐ Problematic area of the design industry ⭐ Things good to know for junior designers before entering the workplace ⭐ What should junior designers do if they join a bad company === Not Just Pixels is a student-led UX Design podcast that strives to help you grow as a designer and get that next design internship or job. This is the podcast I wished I had as a design student, and I hope you’ll get something valuable from this show. === Have a great day! :) | |||
| 30 May 2023 | 034 - Building 0 to 1 Products, Work Sabbatical, Career Intentions with Sankalp Sinha of Harbor | 00:46:35 | |
Today, I’m talking to Sankalp Sinha. - Sankalp currently works as the Founding Lead Designer at Harbor, a testing infrastructure company in the web3 space. - Now, the reason I wanted to chat with Sankalp was because I read an article he published last summer. It was titled “After 6+ months of personal sabbatical, I’m joining Harbor as Founding Lead Designer.” Now, the title might just seem like an announcement, but it was so much more. What inspired me the most was just how intentional Sankalp is with his design career. For example, he looks for core characteristics such as 0 → 1 product journey, lead designers role, product clarity in founders, and more. As an early career designer, I was just fascinated by how clear he was in his job search. Thus, we hopped on a call and here we are! We talked about what’s it like to build products 0 → 1, the benefits of a work sabbatical, and Sankalp’s specific take on the job search! So, without further ado, here was my conversation with Sankalp Sinha. === Highlights ⭐ What fascinates Sankalp about 0 → 1 journey? ⭐ How to turn an ambiguous idea into a product ⭐ Why should you take a work sabbatical? ⭐ How to plan your career ⭐ Sankalp’s proudest invention === Links === Not Just Pixels is a student-led UX Design podcast that strives to help you grow as a designer and get that next design internship or job. This is the podcast I wished I had as a design student, and I hope you’ll get something valuable from this show. === Have a great day! :) | |||
| 20 Sep 2022 | 013 - How to Land a UX Design Internship at Google | 00:19:25 | |
Have you ever wondered how to land a UX Design internship at Google? Well, today we’re gonna try to answer exactly that. - In this episode, you’ll hear from four design interns currently working at Google: 🎨 Gabi Naoum - Master’s student studying Interaction Design at California State University 🎨 Rishabh Soni - Master’s student studying Human-Computer Interaction at the University of Texas 🎨 Christy Hu - Senior studying Graphic Design at ArtCenter College of Design 🎨 Mudra Nagda - Master's student studying Human-Computer Interaction at Georgia Tech === Highlights: ⭐ What’s the application process at Google? ⭐ How did you prepare for the interview stages? ⭐ What do you think Google looks for in design interns? ⭐ Any advice for future applicants? === Links 🔗 Christy’s Portfolio Presentation === Not Just Pixels is a student-led UX Design podcast that strives to help you grow as a designer and get that next design internship or job. This is the podcast I wished I had as a design student, and I hope you’ll get something valuable from this show. === Have a great day! :) | |||
| 29 Nov 2022 | 019 - How to Land a UX Design Internship at LinkedIn | 00:23:27 | |
Have you ever wondered how to land a UX Design internship at LinkedIn? Well, today we’re gonna try to answer exactly that. - In this episode, you’ll hear from three design interns who worked at LinkedIn last summer: 🎨 Madhumita Elan - Senior studying Interaction Design at California College of the Arts 🎨 Yuhan Xie - Masters student studying Human Centered Design & Engineering at the University of Washington 🎨 David Mai - Senior studying Interactive Arts and Technology at Simon Fraser University 🎨 Huge thanks and apologies to Taylor Speed for helping to record. However, due to audio issues I figured editing very last minute, I wasn't able to include our conversation in the episode. But, we had a fruitful conversation, and I'm extremely grateful for her time. It's my fault as a podcast host that I did not address this early on, and I will not make this mistake again for the show 🙏 === Highlights: ⭐ What’s the application process at LinkedIn? ⭐ How did you prepare for the interview stages? ⭐ What do you think LinkedIn looks for in design interns? ⭐ Any advice for future applicants? === Links 🔗 Book - Solving Product Design Exercises 🔗 Apply for LinkedIn’s 2023 Product Design Internship! === Not Just Pixels is a student-led UX Design podcast that strives to help you grow as a designer and get that next design internship or job. This is the podcast I wished I had as a design student, and I hope you’ll get something valuable from this show. === Have a great day! :) | |||
| 27 May 2022 | 006 - Product Triad, Being Your Authentic Self, and Biggest Design Failure with Aimee Franco of OpenTable | 00:31:45 | |
Today, I’m talking to Aimee Franco. - Aimee is currently a Product Design Manager at OpenTable, an online restaurant reservation service company. If you’ve ever tried to reserve a restaurant, you’ve probably heard of this company before. - She started out her career as an industrial designer, later transitioned into UX, and worked at companies such as Caremerge, CDW, and now at OpenTable. In our conversation, what really stood out to me was the vulnerability that Aimee expressed in the end when she talked about her past struggles of bringing her authentic self to work. And for early-career designers, this is so important to remind ourselves: to be an authentic human being and designer. - We talked about working with engineers and PMs, the design culture at OpenTable, her biggest design failures, and so much more. So without further ado, here’s my conversation with Aimee Franco. === Highlights ⭐ Transition to UX with an industrial design background ⭐ Working with engineers & PMs ⭐ Day-to-day as a Product Design Manager at OpenTable ⭐ Design culture at OpenTable ⭐ Her biggest design failure & learnings === Not Just Pixels is a student-led UX Design podcast that strives to help you grow as a designer and get that next design internship or job. This is the podcast I wished I had as a design student, and I hope you’ll get something valuable from this show 🙏 === Have a great day! :) | |||
| 16 May 2023 | 033 - Designing in Healthcare, Developer Tooling, and Scaling up Design at a Startup With Diana DeMarco Brown of Mux | 00:41:41 | |
Today, I’m talking to Diana DeMarco Brown. - Diana currently works at Mux as the Director of Product Design. Before Mux, she worked both in the developer tooling and healthcare industry. - I reached out to Diana in the first place because, as a designer, I’m about to enter the world of developer tooling and B2B product design. Thus, on top of talking about both of these topics, Diana also shared what it’s like to design in the healthcare industry, why she moved towards design leadership roles, and her experience scaling up design at startups. Overall, this was a fun and fruitful conversation, and so with that, here was my conversation with Diana DeMarco Brown. === Highlights ⭐ What’s it like designing in healthcare ⭐ Why Diana moved into design leadership ⭐ Biggest challenges when building tools for developers ⭐ Common mistake as a junior designer ⭐ How to scale up a design team at a startup === Not Just Pixels is a student-led UX Design podcast that strives to help you grow as a designer and get that next design internship or job. This is the podcast I wished I had as a design student, and I hope you’ll get something valuable from this show. === Have a great day! :) | |||
| 08 May 2022 | 005 - How to Land a UX Design Internship at Meta | 00:17:13 | |
Have you ever wondered how to land a UX Design internship at Meta? Well, today we’re gonna try to answer exactly that. - In this episode, you’ll hear from three incoming design interns at Meta:
- I asked them a series of questions such as ⭐ What’s the application process at Meta? ⭐ How did you prepare for the app critique & presentation? ⭐ What do you think Meta looks for in design interns? ⭐ Any advice for future applicants? === Not Just Pixels is a student-led UX Design podcast that strives to help you grow as a designer and get that next design internship or job. This is the podcast I wished I had as a design student, and I hope you’ll get something valuable from this show. - Have a great day! :) | |||
| 01 Nov 2022 | 016 - Design Operations, Navigating Careers Paths, and How to Plan Your Career with Jackie Ajoux of Roblox | 00:48:03 | |
Today, I’m talking to Jackie Ajoux. - Jackie is currently the Senior Design Operations Lead at Roblox. Before Roblox, she worked at Electronic Arts as a Design Operations Manager. - Now, it may sound to you that Jackie knew she wanted to do Design Operations from the start. But as you would later hear in the episode, that was not at all the case. In fact, Jackie actually has pivoted from multiple careers, including psychology, project management, and product management. And what underlies all these career pivots? Jackie’s incredible openness and curiosity to try new things. To give an example, in the future, her dream is to create her own anime show and publish it on Crunchyroll. Like holy how cool is that?! - Seriously, I really enjoyed my conversation with Jackie. There was a lot of laughter in this one, and so without further ado, here’s my conversation with Jackie Ajoux. - === Highlights ⭐ What is design operations ⭐ How to plan your career early on ⭐ How she navigated through multiple career paths ⭐ What it means to be a great design operations lead ⭐ Jackie’s aspirations for UX Research and anime show === Links === Not Just Pixels is a student-led UX Design podcast that strives to help you grow as a designer and get that next design internship or job. This is the podcast I wished I had as a design student, and I hope you’ll get something valuable from this show. === Have a great day! :) | |||
| 08 Nov 2022 | 017 - How to Land a UX Design Internship at Roblox | 00:20:50 | |
Have you ever wondered how to land a UX Design internship at Roblox? Well, today we’re gonna try to answer exactly that. - In this episode, you’ll hear from three design interns who completed their last summer internship at Roblox: 🎨 Pavan Garidipuri - Senior studying Arts, Technology, and Business of Innovation at USC 🎨 Shreya Senthil - Senior studying Human Centered Design and Engineering at the University of Washington. 🎨 Grace Chen - Junior studying Computer Science and Visual Arts at Brown. === Highlights: ⭐ What’s the application process at Roblox? ⭐ How did you prepare for the interview stages? ⭐ What do you think Roblox looks for in design interns? ⭐ Any advice for future applicants? === Links 🔗 Apply to Roblox’s Design Intern Position (Summer 2023)!!! === Not Just Pixels is a student-led UX Design podcast that strives to help you grow as a designer and get that next design internship or job. This is the podcast I wished I had as a design student, and I hope you’ll get something valuable from this show. === Have a great day! :) | |||
| 28 Dec 2022 | 023 - Taking a Quick Break & Feedback | 00:01:12 | |
Hi everyone! Just three quick announcements! 1️⃣ I’ll be taking a quick break 😴 Next episode will be on 1/17/23! 2️⃣ From the bottom of my heart, thank you all so much for listening to the podcast 🙏 What started as a passion project has turned into something I want to do as long as possible! 🔥 I really hope these episodes are helpful to your product design journey! ✨ 3️⃣ I’ll really appreciate it if you can give any feedback on the show! I’m super open to any feedback that can make the show better! So don’t hesitate! https://forms.gle/NggymWNEo9yCzQPf7 === Not Just Pixels is a student-led UX Design podcast that strives to help you grow as a designer and get that next design internship or job. This is the podcast I wished I had as a design student, and I hope you’ll get something valuable from this show. === Have a great day! :) | |||
| 13 Dec 2022 | 020 - Product Design at Wayfair, Accessibility, and Mobile-First Design Approach with Catherine Armistead of Wayfair | 00:31:33 | |
Today, I’m talking to Catherine Armistead. - Catherine currently works at Wayfair as a Senior Product Design Lead. Before Wayfair, she worked at Publicis Sapient, a digital consulting company, as an Experience Designer. And, she graduated from Tufts. - In our conversation, we talked about a variety of topics including her people-first approach to job search, designing at a consulting company, accessibility, and so much more. I had a great time chatting with Catherine, and I hope you will too listening to this episode! Without further ado, here’s my conversation with Catherine Armistead. === Highlights ⭐ What it’s like to design at a consulting company ⭐ What to focus on in a job search ⭐ Product lifecycle at Wayfair ⭐ Importance of accessibility ⭐ Mobile-first approach to designing interfaces === Not Just Pixels is a student-led UX Design podcast that strives to help you grow as a designer and get that next design internship or job. This is the podcast I wished I had as a design student, and I hope you’ll get something valuable from this show. === Have a great day! :) | |||
| 27 Dec 2022 | 022 - How to Work With Developers, GitLab’s Product Development Flow, and Setting Clear Work Boundaries With Gina Doyle of GitLab | 00:31:02 | |
Today, I’m talking to Gina Doyle. - Gina currently works as a Product Designer designing the testing and runner aspects of the CI/CD features at GitLab. Before GitLab, she once worked as a contract designer at Instacart and Hera Realty Group and worked in-house at Red Hat for multiple years. Also in October of 2021, Gina started a design consulting company, SVG consulting group, with her brother and mom, which I found super fascinating. - During our conversation, one pattern that I realized in Gina’s career was that she was always designing in highly technical areas, primarily in developer and internal tooling. Thus, we delved into pretty technical stuff, and Gina shared valuable advice about working with developers, GitLab’s product development flow, and tips for any designers about to enter a technical field. If you want to improve your collaboration skills with developer, this episode is filled with goodness for you. So, without further ado, here was my conversation with Gina Doyle. === Highlights ⭐ GitLab’s product development flow ⭐ How Gina managed 3 jobs at the same time ⭐ Tips for designers entering a highly technical field ⭐ Best practices for designer x developer collaboration ⭐ How Gina found contract design opportunities === Links 🔗 GitLab’s Product Development Flow 🔗 Patternfly - Red Hat’s Design System === Not Just Pixels is a student-led UX Design podcast that strives to help you grow as a designer and get that next design internship or job. This is the podcast I wished I had as a design student, and I hope you’ll get something valuable from this show. === Have a great day! :) | |||
| 15 Nov 2022 | 018 - Adobe Flash, Challenges Designing in the Streaming Industry, and Design at Netflix with Jordan Kolasinski of Netflix | 00:37:11 | |
Today, I’m talking to Jordan Kolasinski. - Jordan currently works at Netflix as a Product Design Lead on the Studio Product Innovation Team. Before Netflix, he was the Principal Product Designer at Hulu. - I first met Jordan when he was one of the five panelists in one of my school club’s Product Panel last year. And since I started this podcast, I’ve always wanted to invite Jordan to share his expertise in designing in the streaming industry and his product design journey. And this episode surely did not disappoint. We talked about a variety of topics such as the influence of Adobe Flash on his career, his favorite project as a freelancer, challenges designing in the streaming industry, and much more. So, without further ado, here’s my conversation with Jordan Kolasinski. === Highlights ⭐ How Adobe Flash impacted his design journey ⭐ Should a junior designer do freelancing full time ⭐ Challenges designing in the streaming industry ⭐ What blew Jordan away about Netflix’s personalization system ⭐ Design culture & maturity at Netflix === Links 🔗 Artwork Personalization at Netflix 🔗 Apply to Netflix’s Product Design Intern Position (Summer 2023)! === Not Just Pixels is a student-led UX Design podcast that strives to help you grow as a designer and get that next design internship or job. This is the podcast I wished I had as a design student, and I hope you’ll get something valuable from this show. === Have a great day! :) | |||
| 08 May 2022 | 002 - Industrial Design, UX Bootcamps, and Third Culture Identity with Yaya Wang of Adobe | 00:37:41 | |
Today I’m talking to Yaya Ya-Ting Wang. - Yaya started out her design career studying Industrial & Interaction Design at Syracuse University. Then, after completing a 3-month design bootcamp, she began her product design journey at Conde Nast, a global media company and home to iconic brands such as Vogue, The New Yorker, and more. And now, she’s working at Adobe as a Senior Product Designer on the Adobe Acrobat Web Team. - During our conversation, what truly resonated with me was our conversation about having a third-culture identity. Yaya shared her own way to resolve this and shared valuable tips for anybody who’s struggling to cope with a third-culture identity. This is a conversation I truly enjoyed, and there were lots of laughs along the way. Without further ado, here’s my conversation with Yaya Ya-Ting Wang. === Highlights: ⭐ Industrial design to UX Design ⭐ Will you recommend people to go to design bootcamp? ⭐ Day-to-day as a Senior Product Designer at Adobe ⭐ Managing a full time + freelance ⭐ Having a third-culture identity === Not Just Pixels is a student-led UX Design podcast that strives to help you grow as a designer and get that next design internship or job. This is the podcast I wished I had as a design student, and I hope you’ll get something valuable from this show. - Have a great day! :) | |||
| 04 Apr 2023 | 030 - Working at Different Startups, Product Design in India & Southeast Asia, and the Benefits of Writing as a Designer with Dhananjay Garg (DJ) of foodpanda | 00:44:09 | |
Today, I’m talking to Dhananjay Garg - DJ for short. - DJ currently works at foodpanda as Senior Product Designer. - I first discovered DJ on Medium, as he has over 26K followers and is a prolific writer. And the more I looked into his career journey, I realized that he has a ton of experience designing in different types of startups both in India and Southeast Asia. Thus, we hopped on a call and here we are! We talked about coming from a non-traditional background, design in India & Southeast Asia, writing, and a lot more topics. If you’re interested in whether a startup is the right fit for you or want to learn about non-Western design, then you’ll enjoy this episode. So, without further ado, here was my conversation with DJ. === Highlights ⭐ Electronic engineering to product design ⭐ Working at startups of different sizes ⭐ Should an early designer join a startup? ⭐ Design in India & Southeast Asia ⭐ Impact of writing on product design === Links === Not Just Pixels is a student-led UX Design podcast that strives to help you grow as a designer and get that next design internship or job. This is the podcast I wished I had as a design student, and I hope you’ll get something valuable from this show. === Have a great day! :) | |||
| 20 Dec 2022 | 021 - What It Means to Be a Maker With Andy Braren of Red Hat | 00:40:43 | |
Today, I’m talking to Andy Braren. - Andy currently works at Red Hat as a Senior Interaction Designer. Similar to Catherine from our last episode, Andy also graduated from Tufts! And don’t be surprised if our next episode guest is also a Tufts grad! - I was extremely excited about this conversation because Andy is a prolific maker, a term describing one who likes to build to solve problems. And it surely did not disappoint. Just to note a few of his creations, Andy created an assistive tech device company in high school, started a web development consultancy, started the Tufts MAKE club, and created multiple applications at Tufts. In short, the conversation was a total blast. And if you want to start building but don’t know where to start, this episode is perfect for you. So, without further ado, here was my conversation with Andy Braren. === Highlights ⭐ How did you develop your maker spirit? ⭐ Andy’s philosophy of making ⭐ Importance of communication in design ⭐ Andy’s favorite Steve Jobs quote ⭐ Difference between design in college vs “real-world” === Links 🔗 Rugrats 🔗 Tested === Not Just Pixels is a student-led UX Design podcast that strives to help you grow as a designer and get that next design internship or job. This is the podcast I wished I had as a design student, and I hope you’ll get something valuable from this show. === Have a great day! :) | |||
| 09 Aug 2022 | 010 - UX Engineering, Prototyping, and Tooling with Adekunle Oduye of Plaid | 00:32:06 | |
Today, I’m talking to Adekunle Oduye. - Adekunle is a UX Engineer at Plaid, where he's helping to build Threads, Plaid's official design system. He also co-authored the Design Engineering Handbook by InVision and is passionate about design systems, prototyping, and front-end development. When Adekunle isn't building software, you can probably find him reading up on Stoicism or planning his next adventure. - As a designer, I find it fascinating to learn about other roles. So, in our conversation, we delved deep into UX Engineering, a discipline that combines design and development. Adekunle shared a lot of insights into his day-to-day as a UX Engineer, best practices for prototyping, advice for people who want to become UX Engineers, and so much more. A lot of value packed in this one, so without further ado, here’s my conversation with Adekunle Oduye. === Highlights ⭐ What is UX Engineering ⭐ Day to day as a UX Engineer ⭐ How to work with designers, engineers, and PMs ⭐ Best practices for prototyping ⭐ How to become a UX Engineer === Links 🔗 Adekunle’s new podcast “Code & Pixels” === Not Just Pixels is a student-led UX Design podcast that strives to help you grow as a designer and get that next design internship or job. This is the podcast I wished I had as a design student, and I hope you’ll get something valuable from this show. === Have a great day! :) | |||
| 12 Jul 2022 | 009 - How to Land a UX Design Internship at Amazon | 00:13:53 | |
Have you ever wondered how to land a UX Design internship at Amazon? Well, today we’re gonna try to answer exactly that. - In this episode, you’ll hear from three design interns currently working at Amazon: 1. Lara Federspiel - Rising senior studying UX Design at SCAD 2. Andy Hsu - Rising senior studying Arts, Technology, and Business of Innovation at USC 3. Emily Hsu - Rising junior studying Computer Science at Stanford === Highlights: ⭐ What’s the application process at Amazon? ⭐ How did you prepare for the interview stages? ⭐ What do you think Amazon looks for in design interns? ⭐ Any advice for future applicants? === Links 🔗 Amazon's 16 Leadership Principles === Not Just Pixels is a student-led UX Design podcast that strives to help you grow as a designer and get that next design internship or job. This is the podcast I wished I had as a design student, and I hope you’ll get something valuable from this show. === Have a great day! :) | |||
| 29 Aug 2023 | 037 - Designing at Scale AI, Application Process, and Differences Between Startup Stages with Rachel Poonsiriwong of Terrascope | 00:28:53 | |
Hi everyone! It’s been awhile since I’ve posted 🙈 Just been super busy with internship + summer classes, but I’m planning to release more consistently now!-Before we start, I just want to let you know that the next four episodes will be a bit different. Well, I won’t be hosting! Instead, the wonderful Mita will be hosting them! Mita is a recent graduate from California College of the Arts and has worked at LinkedIn and Apple as a product design intern before! Last year, she reached out to me and asked if she could join me on podcast creation. Though she’s now not working on it anymore, she helped me record four awesome episodes! Now, to caveat - the next four episodes are more focused on how each of these designers landed a role at their respective companies, so it’s much more career and application focused. But I’m sure you’ll still learn a ton!-Now, onto the guest introduction. Our guest today is Rachel Poonsiriwong, who recently joined the product design team at Terrascope - a smart carbon measurement and management platform. This episode was recorded a while ago, so this episode will focus on Rachel’s previous role at Scale AI. Now, Scale AI, a late-stage series E startup, is a data platform for AI that provides high quality training data for leading machine learning teams. In this episode, you’ll learn how Rachel landed a role at Scale AI, her tips for junior designers who want to join a late-stage startup, and even her specific presentation projects for her Scale AI interviews! So, without further ado, here was Mita’s conversation with Rachel Poonsiriwong.===Highlights⭐ Rachel’s journey to Scale AI⭐ The two case studies Rachel presented during her interview⭐ What it’s like designing at a late-stage startup⭐ What does Scale AI looks for in designers⭐ How to land a role at a company with no job openings===Not Just Pixels is a student-led UX Design podcast that strives to help you grow as a designer and get that next design internship or job. This is the podcast I wished I had as a design student, and I hope you’ll get something valuable from this show.===Have a great day! :) | |||
| 07 Mar 2023 | 028 - Game vs Product UX, Storytelling Tips, and Importance of Visual Design with JC Solis of Epic Games | 00:32:49 | |
Today, I’m talking to JC Solis. - JC currently works at Epic Games as a Senior UX Designer. Before Epic Games, he worked at Roblox as a Senior UX Designer and at Unity before that. - I first chatted with JC when I interned at Roblox last summer. At the time, I remember how awesome his end-to-end material manager project was, so I wanted to chat with him. And we did it on one of my last days of the internship. And fast forward a few months, we ended up recording this episode after the internship! In this chat, we talked about various topics such as game vs product UX, the importance of visual design, and more. But, what I really, really appreciated was JC’s vulnerability towards the end when I asked him what advice he would give to his younger self. I would highly recommend listening to the very end of this conversation. So, without further ado, here was my conversation with JC Solis. === Highlights ⭐ Why JC studied game design in college ⭐ Game UX vs product UX ⭐ Work at Unity, Roblox, and now Epic Games ⭐ Tips for great storytelling ⭐ Importance of visual design === Links 🔗 Storytelling Tactics (Pip Decks) === Not Just Pixels is a student-led UX Design podcast that strives to help you grow as a designer and get that next design internship or job. This is the podcast I wished I had as a design student, and I hope you’ll get something valuable from this show. === Have a great day! :) | |||
| 17 Jan 2023 | 024 - How to Land a UX Design Internship at Adobe | 00:17:29 | |
Have you ever wondered how to land a UX Design internship at Adobe? Well, today we’re gonna try to answer exactly that. - In this episode, you’ll hear from three design interns who worked at Adobe last summer: 🎨 Stephanie He - Senior studying Computer Science at Georgia Tech 🎨 Ivy Kang - Senior studying Cognitive Science at UCLA 🎨 Sparsh Paliwal - Master’s student studying Human-Computer Interaction at the University of Maryland === Highlights: ⭐ What’s the application process at Adobe? ⭐ How did you prepare for the interview stages? ⭐ What do you think Adobe looks for in design interns? ⭐ Any advice for future applicants? === Links: === Not Just Pixels is a student-led UX Design podcast that strives to help you grow as a designer and get that next design internship or job. This is the podcast I wished I had as a design student, and I hope you’ll get something valuable from this show. === Have a great day! :) | |||
| 18 Apr 2023 | 031 - Human-Centered AI, How to Get Into AI, and the Future of AI with Marcy Regalado of Magna | 00:44:37 | |
Today, I’m talking to Marcy Regalado. - Marcy is currently the Head of Design at Magna, a token management platform. Before Magna, she worked as the Design Lead at Meta AI. - AI has been really hot, like really hot. GPT4, Midjourney 5, stable diffusion - you name it. It seems like every day there’s something new in the AI space. And, as a designer, it’s not only hard to keep up but also hard to stay optimistic about the future of this field. Thus, I sat down with Marcy in this episode to chat all about AI - its current state, best practices, and the future of AI. I thoroughly enjoyed this conversation, and I’m sure you’ll learn a ton from this episode as well. Thus, without further ado, here is my conversation with Marcy Regalado. === Highlights ⭐ Her decision to enroll in Stanford’s master's program after Fidelity ⭐ Advice for people interested in AI ⭐ Best practices/guidelines for designing AI ⭐ Current state & future of AI ⭐ What is the purpose of AI? === Links === Not Just Pixels is a student-led UX Design podcast that strives to help you grow as a designer and get that next design internship or job. This is the podcast I wished I had as a design student, and I hope you’ll get something valuable from this show. === Have a great day! :) | |||
| 08 May 2022 | 001 - Graphic to UX Design, IC to Manager, and Interview Tips with Poyi Chen of Meta | 00:30:36 | |
Today I’m talking to Poyi Chen. - Poyi recently joined Meta as a product designer. Before Meta, he was a UX Manager at Chegg. And if you’re a student, you’ve probably heard of this education tech company, whether you were trying to rent textbooks or look for homework answers. Outside of work, he loves to give back to the design community through mentorship. - In our conversation, one of the things that stood out to me was the reason why he started to mentor - his introverted self / the feeling that he wasn’t great at communicating. And as an introvert myself, I can really relate to that. We talked about his journey from graphic design to UX design, tips for interviews, how to network as an introvert, and so much more. === Highlights: ⭐ Transitioning from graphic design to UX Design ⭐ What companies should fresh grad designers join? ⭐ Meta's company culture ⭐ Tips for interviews ⭐ How to network as an introvert === Not Just Pixels is a student-led UX Design podcast that strives to help you grow as a designer and get that next design internship or job. This is the podcast I wished I had as a design student, and I hope you’ll get something valuable from this show. - Have a great day! :) | |||
| 06 Sep 2022 | 012 - Strategy, Designing for B2B, and Scrum Methodology with Charlie Weston of Atlassian | 00:32:54 | |
Today, I’m talking to Charlie Weston. - Charlie is currently the Senior Product Designer on the Migrations team at Atlassian. He leads a team focused on improving small-medium businesses and enterprise customers’ experiences while migrating between server, data center, and cloud environments at Atlassian. If you did not understand a single word I just said, don’t worry at all. Before Atlassian, he worked at a variety of enterprise companies specifically on the business-to-business, or B2B, vertical. - Going back in time, one of the reasons I wanted to chat with Charlie was because of his strategist background. And in our conversation, you’ll hear how his unique background shaped him into the designer he is today along with many other topics such as design culture at Atlassian, scrum methodology, and agile principles. So, without further ado, here’s my conversation with Charlie Weston. === Highlights ⭐ What is strategy? ⭐ How to get started in strategy as a designer ⭐ What’s it like working on B2B products ⭐ Design culture at Atlassian ⭐ Scrum & agile development === Links 🔗 “What is Agile?” (Atlassian) === Not Just Pixels is a student-led UX Design podcast that strives to help you grow as a designer and get that next design internship or job. This is the podcast I wished I had as a design student, and I hope you’ll get something valuable from this show. === Have a great day! :) | |||
| 07 Feb 2023 | 026 - Designing Global Products, Break Into Crypto as a Designer, and Portfolio Tips with Meagan Ryan of Chan Zuckerberg Initiative | 00:40:42 | |
Today, I’m talking to Meagan Ryan. - Meagan currently works at Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI for short) as a Senior Design Manager. Before CZI, she worked at Coinbase as a Senior Product Design Manager and at Facebook as a Product Design Manager. - In this conversation, we chatted about a variety of topics including design culture at Facebook, what’s it like to design in the crypto space, portfolio, and so much more. If you’re interested in designing in the web3 crypto space or want to get some practical portfolio tips, this episode is for you. So, without further ado, here was my conversation with Meagan Ryan. === Highlights ⭐ Design culture at Facebook ⭐ What to consider when designing global products ⭐ What’s it like to design at a crypto company ⭐ How to break into crypto as a designer ⭐ Tips to improve your portfolio === Links 🔗 Coinbase intern 1 - Rose Kuan 🔗 Coinbase intern 2 - Anna Asgaraly === Not Just Pixels is a student-led UX Design podcast that strives to help you grow as a designer and get that next design internship or job. This is the podcast I wished I had as a design student, and I hope you’ll get something valuable from this show. === Have a great day! :) | |||
| 16 Jun 2022 | 007 - Design Fundamentals, Should Designers Code, and Accessibility with Mike Mai of Pega | 00:31:16 | |
Today, I’m talking to Mike Mai. - Mike is currently the principal UI designer at Pegasystems primarily working on design systems. He started out with a strong design background, graduating with a BFA in Graphic Design at Massachusetts College of Art. There, he learned all the design fundamentals that helped him become the accomplished designer he is today. - Last spring, he was my mentor when I was a Design Intern on his team at Pega. And if you’ve checked out the thumbnail of this episode, you know this is gonna be a fun one. And can I just say: Mike is a designer with personality and swag, no kidding. We talked about his epic senior design project at MassArt, the importance of code to designers, accessibility, and so much more. I was really excited about this one, and it sure did not disappoint. So without further ado, here’s my conversation with Mike Mai. === Highlights ⭐ The three fundamentals of design ⭐ Mike’s senior design project (epic) ⭐ Should designers code at all ⭐ How to get started with coding as a designer ⭐ Importance of accessibility in design === Links 🔗 Mike’s article “Case for Respect” === Not Just Pixels is a student-led UX Design podcast that strives to help you grow as a designer and get that next design internship or job. This is the podcast I wished I had as a design student, and I hope you’ll get something valuable from this show. === Have a great day! :) | |||
| 08 May 2022 | 004 - UX at Google, Leadership, and Advocating for the Users with Heather Cassano of Google | 00:41:37 | |
Today, I’m talking to Heather Cassano. - Heather is now the Senior Director of UX at Google, leading the Google Play Team with over 100 people. Before this, she was a product design leader at tech companies such as Facebook, Google, Pearson, and Yahoo. - Oof, honestly, in the beginning, I was quite nervous talking to Heather considering she’s in such a high-level position. But now, I’m so glad that I did. - I learned so much about leadership, ways to communicate the value of design, her day-to-day as a Senior Director of UX at Google, and so much more. I’m sure you’ll love this one. So, without further ado, here’s my conversation with Heather Cassano. === Highlights ⭐ Software engineer to manager ⭐ What is good UX (with example)? ⭐ Day-to-day as a Senior Director of UX at Google ⭐ How to communicate the value of design ⭐ Tips for leading a team === Not Just Pixels is a student-led UX Design podcast that strives to help you grow as a designer and get that next design internship or job. This is the podcast I wished I had as a design student, and I hope you’ll get something valuable from this show. - Have a great day! :) | |||
| 08 May 2022 | 000 - Welcome to the Not Just Pixels Show | 00:00:34 | |
👋 HI THERE! - Welcome to the Not Just Pixels Show! - My name is Guo, and I'm a rising junior studying Engineering Psychology at Tufts! And I'm the host of the Not Just Pixels Show! - This show has two simple goals. We want to help you:
- This is the design podcast I wish I had, so I hope you'll get something valuable out of this show. - And I'll see you in the next episode! | |||