S2 Episode. 6 - Designing Solutions That Make a Difference - Steve Cleff Introduction Steve Cleff is a gifted artist eager to develop innovative solutions for end users. From financial futures and workplace connections to breast cancer, he manages cross-functional teams to create elegant and innovative digital solutions that raise the bar. The Senior Director of UX at Comfy, Steve is an accomplished designer and artist whose works have appeared as the posters for several films including Neil Gaiman's Dream Dangerously.   Discussion Points How was your journey? What led you to this moment when you become the Senior Director of Design? 01:49 I was intrigued to learn that you have a condition called Synesthesia, how does it impact your life as a designer? 07:57 So talking about colleagues, the communication between colleagues, I think this is one of the core topics that you are quite interested in, you spoke at the conferences about it. So would you like to elaborate on that topic? 14:46 Rapid Fire 23:34 Communication overload is becoming a critical challenge for office productivity. How do you think your new app, Workplace Connect, resolves this issue and improves on the existing technology? 27:44 You have worked with Breastcancer.org and have received acclaim for the experience that was designed. What should a designer keep in mind while designing such purposeful solutions? 31:42 Being a designer, what is the advice that you would want to give to someone who’s just starting out in the field of UX & UI design? 37:32   Show Notes User experience is something I can do forever, people will always need to interact with software. 05:21 I just hired the best in the world, so that I can apprentice with them. 06:18 I'll tell people when I'm training them when they're new to the industry, that you'll spend five minutes figuring out the answer to 55 and convincing everybody that you're right. 18:56 If you're thinking about the goals from a production perspective or a development perspective, you're thinking about the goals from the product’s KPI perspective, it will make the process go faster. 21:14 They said, if I'd had this site, I think I would have gotten different treatment than I got. And that's, in many ways, what it's all about just trying to improve someone's life. And, you know, the people who did have that website, after that, hopefully, had a higher level of comfort and confidence of what they needed to do. 34:33 If you organize some things, it doesn't need to be complex or expensive. To try and help people, you just need to guide them a little bit. And it will make a huge impact. 35:53 There's nothing more humbling than the first time you put something that you've designed. Especially even if you're completely well-versed in user experience heuristics, you put that design in front of someone. Within a couple of minutes, you are humbled and you are enlightened, and you are improved as a designer. 44:13 It's sometimes hard for people to win when they go to a company that's not regularly doing usability testing, it's hard for them to get buy-in until you get that first test. Once you do, you can demonstrate this is actually a faster process.  45:58   Contact LinkedIn:   https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevecleff/ Twitter:    https://twitter.com/cleff Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/fluidbeauty/ Company:   https://comfyapp.com/ Email:     [email protected] Portfolio:  https://stevecleff.com/ Facebook:   https://www.facebook.com/fluidbeauty YouTube:  https://www.youtube.com/user/fluidbeauty #design  #experience #productdesign #collaboration #workplace  #humancentereddesign #uxpodcast