Joining us today is Carmen Branje, the Director of Product Design at Maple. With over 15 years of experience and a wealth of academic achievements, including a Ph.D., Carmen is an exceptional designer, driven by a deep passion for serving others. Through his expertise in design, research, development, and teaching, he has consistently crafted innovative solutions that have a profound positive impact on those in need. Carmen's unwavering commitment to his craft and his dedication to helping others make him a true inspiration in the world of design. Discussion Points  What inspired you to become a designer? How has the journey been so far? 2:13 What are the challenges generally faced when designing for healthcare? 14:59 Rapid fire round 20:43 What is the current theme in academia about artificial intelligence and design? 27:35 How is the field of product design and user experience evolving? How are you addressing the common confusion surrounding the definitions of product design and user experience design?  34:11 You coach up-and-coming designers, what sort of coaching do you provide? 40:06 Show notes  I've always been a tech geek, as a young kid, when I was 10-ish, I ran something called a BBS. It was like a pre-internet server, people could call in through the phone.   A lot of the things I designed for are things that at least in theory should help people.  I'm taking a pretty optimistic approach to AI, for even the newest version.  The first version of Excel was called Lotus 123, when that first came out, a lot of accountants were very scared. But I think what happened is, instead of there being fewer accountants, there was way more accounting.  With chat GPT we're going to do more UX, and we are going to do more research.  I want to solve problems and just tell some AI “Hey, AI, fix all the padding”, shoot! it fixes it. That's what we want to focus on.  What they mistakenly believe is people want the cow, not the milk, right? But people want the milk. So, we just have to remember that and I think we're going to be fine, I'm optimistic (with reference to AI). We have to figure out a way to simulate and practice because I find that what's really missing in UX education is practice. Universities do theory, they're really good at theory like physical theory, and chemistry but design is a practice.  Getting a junior person started up in their career is super rewarding. So, we're gonna be doing more of that in the future. Links - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carmen-branje-phd-5179358/ Website: http://www.carmenbranje.com/ Email: [email protected]