This week, Lisa sits down with Serena Nüsing and Stéphanie Krus and their research project “Practitioner’s Stories” where they and their team volunteered their time to examine the needs of the service design community. Listen as we discuss some of their discoveries from the interviews they conducted with other professionals in the field and how the process itself impacted participants and indeed their own roles as service designers. Practitioner Stories You can follow the team on twitter at...

Today we really go beyond the buzzwords and discuss in full the buzzword of the year: the metaverse. Chris welcomes David MacQueen from Strategy Analytics to discuss what the metaverse is, why it is, what use cases it enables, how we will interact with it, and why augmented reality is the key to future metaverse adoption. SA's Metaverse research David MacQueen on LinkedIn Send us your thoughts and comments on the metaverse or ask us anything by emailing us at...

In-air gestures have been around for several years, from the Xbox Kinect to some smartphones and automotive. Join Chris and Diana as they discuss the UX of in-air gestures -- the foundational barriers gesture recognition faces, the use cases that consumers want, and issues to consider when designing them. In Condensed Soup, they discuss their favorite experience with in-air gestures. SA Research on gestures Send us your thoughts and comments on in-air gestures or ask us anything by emailing...

It is long past due that gaming UX is discussed on UX Soup, so Chris rectifies that by welcoming Chirag Upadhyay, who is an industry analyst at Strategy Analytics focusing on PC and game consoles. They discuss gaming UX trends over the past few years, mobile gaming, and factors that will impact the gaming user experience in the future. Chirag Upadhyay on LinkedIn Chirag's research Send us your thoughts and comments on gaming UX or ask us anything by emailing us at...

Diana and Lisa welcome back to the podcast Dr. Gary Burnett from the University of Nottingham. Gary started teaching graduate classes on the metaverse, and held their lectures in the virtual world of "Nottopia." Gary discusses the impetus behind Nottopia, how students responded, how social norms developed, and lessons learned along the way. Dr. Gary Burnett on LinkedIn Article by Gary on Nottopia Send us your thoughts and comments on the metaverse or ask us anything by emailing us at...

Join Lisa, Diana, and Chris as they discuss research from CHI 2021, where elderly participants co-created a virtual reality platform over a three year period. The team discuss the interesting learnings from this study such as is presence a priority in VR? What value did avatars add to elderly users' experiences of social interactions online and what can we learn from this research effort in the future? In condensed soup, find out the teams' aspirations for their own avatars. Avatar-Mediated...

Certain streaming services are in the news lately for being burning through huge amounts of cash in a model that may not be sustainable in the long-term. Some of the issues they are facing have UX at their core. In this episode Lisa, Chris and Diana discuss these issues and what can be done to improve the video streaming experience. In Condensed Soup, they talk about their favorite streaming experiences. Send us your thoughts on improving the user experience for streaming services, or ask us...

Lisa welcomes Dr. Payal Ghatnekar from NHS England to the podcast. Dr. Ghatnekar studies the efficacy and effectiveness of immersive healthcare interventions in reducing patient pain and anxiety, improving patient experience and educational learning outcomes for self management and behaviour change. Lisa and Payal also discuss the challenges and successes when researching VR or AR in the healthcare setting. Dr. Ghatnekar on LinkedIn Link to Dr. Ghatnekar's research SA research on remote...

The UX Service at the University of Edinburgh is an example of creating a more matrix-like structure and breaking down silos within an academic institution to create a more holistic experience for students and staff. In this episode, Chris welcomes Duncan Stephen who manages that group to discuss its origins, how a consultancy model works within academia, their projects and methods, and what universities need to think about if adopting this type of model. Duncan Stephen on LinkedIn User...

Once the stuff of science fiction, brain-computer interfaces have been gaining attention lately in part due to Neuralink, run by Elon Musk. Chris welcomes back Di O'Neill to discuss brain-computer interfaces, their applications in both the medical and consumer space, UX issues and concerns, and of course monkeys playing Pong. In Condensed Soup Di and Chris discuss whether they would ever use a brain-computer interface. Brain-Computer Interfaces: Vendor Profiles Brain-Computer Interfaces:...

Chris welcomes special guest, UX Soup co-creator, and former co-host Derek Viita. Derek left to pursue other opportunities in 2021, so it seemed fitting to bring him back to discuss the job hunting process. Derek and Chris share their opinions on LinkedIn as a job hunting tool and provide tips on resumes, portfolios, and more. Derek on LinkedIn Send us your thoughts on job hunting, or ask us anything by emailing us at [email protected]. Chris on LinkedIn Lisa on LinkedIn Diana...

Chris, Lisa, and Diana have been UX professionals for more years than they wish to admit. They have all seen how UX has evolved within organizations, how it is taught, and the lengths to which it has been emphasized. In this episode they discuss the evolution of the UX profession -- both the good and bad. In Condensed Soup, they share their favorite UX project or moment. Send us your thoughts on UX profession, share your favorite moments, or ask us anything by emailing us at...

The Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas was once again hampered by the pandemic. With Omicron surging, many companies pulled out while others scaled back their presence. Still, there were a lot of interesting developments from CES. Chris, Diana, and Lisa discuss some of the intriguing announcements in AR glasses, haptics, the automotive space, and healthcare, along with the future of CES and other in-person trade shows. In Condensed Soup they discuss each of their favorite CES products. SA...

Lisa sits down with Martin Ralfe from the Royal National Institute of Blind People, the Blind Since Birth Charity, and the Blind Dad Diaries podcast to discuss assistive technology and digital inclusion for the blind and visually impaired. Martin talks about his experiences in working inclusion into the design process as well as his favorite and least favorite assistive tech. Send us your thoughts on designing for inclusion or ask us anything by emailing us at [email protected].

In 2021, UX Soup covered a whole host of topics, from areas we cover at work on a daily basis to ones we chose to cover to show how UX and user-centered principles are all around us. Chris recaps some of the memorable clips from 2021, including interviews with leading UX researchers along with banter from Lisa, Diana, and former co-host Derek covering the user experience in automotive, virtual reality, healthcare, and more. Thank you for listening! As always, you can ask us anything by...

Smart home cameras, thermostats, locks, and other devices are supposed to make home life easier, but they can be misused in some very dark and disturbing ways. Chris, Lisa, and Diana talk about some of these cases of misuse and how UX researchers and designers can mitigate these situations. Send us your thoughts on the user experience of videoconferencing platforms or ask us anything by emailing us at [email protected].

We've all been there. Frustrated on the phone calling a customer service center after pressing "1" for this or "3" for that, only to see we have gone down the wrong path. These types of interactive voice response systems (IVRs) are notoriously annoying. Chatbots are supposed to make reaching customer service better, but have they? Who are they designing these systems for? How can they be made better? Are live text chats with agents better? In Condensed Soup, Lisa, Diana, and Chris discuss the...

Join Lisa as she sits down for a bumper episode of UX Soup with Irina Bolychevsky, (Director of Standards and Interoperability at NHSx) as they talk about the essential and challenging role of standardization in digital healthcare to combat interoperability issues and how the NHS is taking on the challenge so that digital information can seamlessly integrate across multiple departments, multiple processes, and multiple users. Send us your thoughts on interoperability in digital healthcare or...

A couple of months ago we chatted with Joe Smyth about motion sickness - what causes it, how can we mitigate or recover from it, and also how we could measure it. In this episode we continue the discussion about aspects of passenger comfort, and the fact it will become a key User Experience issue and differentiator in future vehicles. In order to have this conversation, Chris and Diana have invited Dr. Cyriel Diels, deputy director of the Intelligent Mobility Design Centre at the Royal...

Are people tired of Zoom and other video conferencing platforms after overdosing during the lockdowns? Lisa, Chris and Diana got together to discuss the user experience of Zoom and other videoconferencing services, and how they foresee their future. Make sure you stay for Condensed Soup at the end, when they share some embarrassing experiences they have had using over Zoom, some of the funniest moments on UX Soup. Send us your thoughts on the user experience of videoconferencing platforms or...

Thanksgiving is coming up in the US, and that means a lot of cooking for a lot of people. Join Chris, Lisa, and Diana as they look at the user experience of cooking for large groups. What are the special user needs for cooking a great Thanksgiving meal? Is the latest cooking tech meeting these needs? In Condensed Soup, the gang talks about their favorite or least favorite pieces of cooking tech. Send us your thoughts on the user experience of smart appliances or ask us anything by emailing...

Friend of the podcast Dr. Santosh Basapur returns to discuss a new equitable health care design project he is heading up, which tackles the biggest problems in how health care is provided for underserved communities from a UX perspective. Santosh talks to Chris about the progress of the project, methodologies being used, and shares some early anecdotes and findings. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bx3ZN-bG25oandt=4s (Seminar on Equitable Health Care...

These are exciting times in digital health, with consumers having greater access to devices that can assess their physical and mental health and medical practitioners having more connected devices at their disposal to prescribe to patients. Lisa takes Chris through the current landscape of remote health monitoring, addressing stakeholder needs, and the main user experience issues faced. In Condensed Soup they discuss the future health monitoring feature which peaks their interest. Send us...

The genealogy site MyHeritage has a feature where they can animate the pictures of your ancestors, while apps like Tokking Heads and Reface allow you to do the same with any photo. This leads down the dangerous road to deep fakes where you might not be able to tell a true video from a manufactured one. Chris, Lisa, and Diana tackle this topic, discussing the UX of face swapping and photo animating services, the role of UX designers in mitigating misuse, and whether there are additional use...