Prapti is a strategist and researcher at Harvard D-lab where they’re bringing together design and public health. Besides her current role at Harvard D-lab, she also shares the learnings she has made throughout her career, starting as an architect and transitioning into design strategy by working at Ford and Cisco. In addition, she shares that she sees design strategists as connecters, breaking silos and bringing different knowledge areas together so they can learn from each other. Key...

In this episode, Pablo Groglopo shares insights about his job as a Circular Design Strategist. Among others, we talk about circular design, system thinking, identifying future scenarios and personal branding. Key words: - Circular design - System thinking - Value chain - Stakeholder management - Product service systems - Reframing questions - Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) - Future scenarios - Net zero vs. Net positive - Regenerative trend - Ellen McArthur Foundation -...

This episode's guest is Kartik Poria, a Product and Venture designer at BCG Digital Ventures. With a background in Architecture, UX and branding he has an inspiring career path and shares the lessons he learned along the way. In addition, he also shares what his current role at BCG DV looks like and how he applies design strategy on a daily basis. Key words: - Venture building - Corporate Startups - Portfolio Sprint - Minimal Viable Product (MVP) - Ethnographic Research - Lean UX - Design...

Seun started as a graphic designer and developed his career into being a successful freelance design strategist today. As he's based in Nigeria, he shares with us what the design strategy industry looks like over there and how he supports organizations in "going from standardization to humanization". In addition, he also shares a project example that illustrates how user research can change the course of a project. Key words: - Freelancing - User research - Butterfly Works - Design Strategy...

Kim is a Creative Strategist and works on a freelance basis. In this episode she shares what it's like to be a freelancer and why she decided to leave the corporate world to become a freelancer. Key words: - Freelancing - Project acquisition - Workshop facilitation - Consulting - Company politics - Defining your career path - Decision-making - Learning from mistakes - Lead your career changes - Theory by Jonathan Stark: getting rid of hourly billing

In this first episode of the second season, Liset explains her current role as an Innovation Coach at SHV Energy. In addition, we also discuss her career path, how she defines her path and what decisions she made along the way. Key words: - Digital Innovation Accelerator - Design Sprints - POC (Proof of Concept) - Expectation management - User research - Career learning curve - Switching jobs - Listening to your inner voice - Start doing instead of overthinking DISCLAIMER: all speakers on...

We received multiple requests to create an episode in which our podcast host, Josephine, tells more about her role at Microsoft. And so in this episode, Josephine and Alina tell more about their roles as UX Consultants at Microsoft. Among others, they discuss the importance of storytelling and that working in tech does not always mean that you are focusing on disruptive technologies and innovation. Key words; - Tech Consulting - Tech Architects - Daily standups - DevOps - UX show &...

In this episode, Willem Evers joins us to talk about his job as a Product Manager at Picnic, an online supermarket. He shares his experiences, insights and challenges. Key words: - Product Owner - Product Roadmap - Optimizers vs. Creators - Creativity vs. Intuition - Being comfortable with ambiguity - Online groceries - Business cases - Measuring business impact DISCLAIMER: all speakers on this podcast speak on behalf of themselves and do not represent the company they work for.

Susana Tort is a design strategist within the social innovation sector and is currently working as an innovation strategist and design lead at MIT GOV/LAB. This lab is part of the well-known university Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and focuses on innovation in citizen engagement and government responsiveness. In this episode Susana talks about designing interventions, wicked problems, being comfortable with ambiguity and the importance of creating collaborative spaces so people...

Gustavo Zepeda is an experience strategist at PWC and in this episode we discuss the ins and outs on experience consulting. In addition, Gustavo talks about humanity-centered design, how it’s different from human-centered design and why it is a trending subject. Many thanks to Gustavo for joining the podcast and sharing your insights with us! Key words: - Experience consulting - Evidence-based research - Business Experience Design (BXD) approach - Double Diamond process - Fuzzy front end -...

In this episode, I’m talking to Emma van der Veen who is a Product Manager at Philips. This role is an interesting one as it is one of the few roles that allows you to be involved in the complete product design process. Starting at the very beginning, also known as the fuzzy front end, until the very end of launching the product on the market and improving it. Emma shares a lot of interesting insights about how she experiences this role, why she likes it so much and what challenges she faces...

Blanca is a User Experience Consultant at IBM iX, a design consultancy within IBM. Together we discuss what it is like to be a consultant within a tech company and, as we have similar roles, we compare our experiences within Microsoft and IBM. If you’re interested in becoming a design strategist within the field of tech-driven innovation, this is definitely an episode you want to listen to. Key words: • Business strategy • User experience design • Consulting • Interface design • IBM...

This episode is the first one with two participants joining the podcast. Emma and Joris both studied Strategic Product Design (SPD) in Delft and are currently working at a service design studio called Koos. During this episode, they explain what service design is, why it adds value for end users and how it relates to design strategy. Throughout the episode we discuss a lot of insights and look critically at the standard design process (double diamond), i.e. why it’s important to not only...

In this episode, Peter Spijkers talks about his role as an innovation lead at TUI. After doing his graduation internship at TUI, Peter decided to continue his career there. Together with another colleague they became a two-men team, responsible for driving innovation within TUI. Peter explains, among others, how they’ve contributed to the innovation culture within the company, what it’s like to design for holiday experiences, the risks of pushing technology and the importance of information...

In this episode, Irene speaks about her experience at Butterfly Works. This social design studio combines the use of co-creation and design thinking in international development. This has led to, among others, different projects in Asia and Africa. During the conversation, Irene covers several topics, such as why she wanted to work at a social design studio and how she got from her MSc in Strategic Product Design at the TU Delft to a role at Butterfly Works. In addition, she gives her...

In this episode, Sen and Josephine talk about design strategy at the software consultancy company Thoughtworks. Sen explains their way of working and lists the design methodologies they use on a day-to-day base. Also, they discuss design strategy within the consultancy industry and what it is like to work in a creative role at a more tech-savy company. DISCLAIMER: all speakers on the podcast speak on behalf of themselves and do not represent the company they work at.

In this episode Max and Josephine talk about Max' experiences working as an innovation coach at the biggest museum in the Netherlands, the Rijksmuseum. They discuss designing for visitor experiences and using technology while preserving a museum brand. DISCLAIMER: all speakers on the podcast speak on behalf of themselves and do not represent the company they work at.

In this episode, Tim and Josephine talk about design strategy at Kiwi.com and in the online travel industry. Besides working at Kiwi.com, Tim also is the co-founder of a startup which leads to an interesting discussion about the different experiences when working at a scale-up vs. co-founding a startup. DISCLAIMER: all speakers on the podcast speak on behalf of themselves and do not represent the company they work at.