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Joshua Weiss is a Product Lead at Specno - who help businesses solve a variety of problems. Josh is also an avid gamer, and we chat about not only bridging the gap between the work you do and the things in life you enjoy doing, but also how valuable any type of job skills are and being able to transfer skills into your new role. Josh’s story into where he currently finds himself in life is an interesting one. Be sure to connect with Josh on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshua-weiss-91a023153?originalSubdomain=za 00:00 Intro 02:33 A quick recap of our live event 06:20 Who is Josh 11:12 Going into gaming to understand the industry 42:32 The thread between what you enjoy doing and what work you do

In this engaging episode, we sit down with Abby Covert, a renowned Author, Information Architect, and community organizer. Abby's expertise in Information Architecture (IA) has been transforming how we organize information, making it accessible to everyone. Join us as we delve into the fascinating world of IA and discover how sensemaking can be applied to our personal lives. Explore the profound impact of sensemaking on self-discovery and learn valuable insights on how to articulate your personal journey to colleagues and friends. Don't miss our discussion on Alfi & Abby's workshop series, where you can further explore these concepts and enhance your self-awareness. Alfi & Abby's Workshop series: Learn More: Explore Abby's work and The Sensemakers Club: The Sensemakers Club https://abbycovert.com/ https://www.etsy.com/shop/AbbytheIA Join us on this transformative journey of understanding and articulating your personal narrative. Tune in now for inspiring insights and actionable tips!

In our final instalment of our Jack Studio trilogy series, we round out our time with the studio by chatting to Dylan da Silva and Claudia Ferreira, the UI and system design specialists. We explore how they work together and compliment each others skillset, similarly to Claire and Paul. One thing we’ve definitely learnt form these episodes is how highly functioning small design studio teams can be when everyone is on the same page, has seamless team efforts on the same projects, and the organisational structure has been ironed out. We also touched briefly on AI in design, and how it could possibly be used as a tool and starting block instead of simply replacing designers, before circling back to explore some of Dylan and Claudia’s past projects within the Studio. Explore more of what Jack Studios has to offer here: https://www.jackstudios.co.za Chapters: 00:00 Intro 02:30 Dylan’s journey to Jack Studio 05:43 Claudia’s journey to Jack Studio 17:09 Thoughts on AI design tools 23:22 Engaging with briefs 33:38 Specialising and career development 44:27 Weeva 55:18 Luulo 1:00:11 A moment of reflection Music by https://pixabay.com/users/chillmore-25283030 from https://pixabay.com

On this second episode of the Jack Studio series, we are joined by Claire Keet (Creative Director) and Paul Loots (Director of Operations). We continue on from our previous conversation with their CEO Sabeeha and delve more into working with clients and how the Studio managers projects in such a small team of people. Claire and Paul also each walk us through one of their favourite past projects and the unique challenges of each one. Explore more of what Jack Studios has to offer here: https://www.jackstudios.co.za Chapters: 00:00 Intro 01:48 Paul and Claire’s journey into a professional career 08:06 Executing projects with a small team 12:29 Adapting organisational structure 19:27 Growing the company by going deeper and giving more value 52:58 Finding the clients that you want to work with 1:00:30 A look at two past projects Music by https://pixabay.com/users/chillmore-25283030 from https://pixabay.com

Sabeeha Banubhai is our first ever returning guest, and we were so elated to talk to her once again. She is our first interview in a series of episodes with the team from Jack Studios, where Sabeeha is the founder and CEO. We spoke to Sabeeha about some of the ins and outs of running a design studio, from choosing clients and delegating a pipeline and tasks, to Alfi’s experience workshopping with the studio. Explore more of what Jack Studios has to offer here: https://www.jackstudios.co.za Chapters: 00:00 Intro 03:02 Mentorship 06:17 What does Sabeeha do 14:12 Alfi’s workshops with Jack Studio 33:00 Expanding the team and growing the business 47:05 The workflow in a design studio 55:36 Choosing clients to work with, and consulting decisions with the team 1:04:32 A moment of reflection Music by https://pixabay.com/users/chillmore-25283030 from https://pixabay.com

Adrian Owen is a fine artist and illustrator whose body of work speaks for itself. We had a very interesting conversation with him about marketing yourself and he provided some insight into his experience as a freelance creative. We explore the creative inclinations that arguably exist in everyone - wether it be inherit or something that’s developed through practise. We also discuss the value of art from the perspective of the creator and the viewer, and how emotional turmoil can impact - and often fuel - the creation and perception of visual art. Be sure to go and see more of Adrian’s spectacular body of work on his website: https://adrianowen.co.za Chapters: 00:00 Intro 03:04 Where did the creative journey begin 09:28 Exploring the creative process as a child 23:01 Art competitions 39:12 The value of art 49:23 The struggling artist and emotional turmoil

Jan Oberholzer is a freelance animator and illustrator. In this episode we once again dive into the world of freelancing and learn some valuable lessons from Jan’s experience from working for studios to eventually starting his freelance venture. We discuss a variety of topics related to freelancing, from choosing work that truly resonates with you, setting boundaries, working with international clients, and what a typical work week looks like as a freelancer. Find more of Jan’s work here: https://janoberholzer.com and follow his instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jan.oberholzer/ 06:21 Strategy for going freelance and finding clients 07:38 The accident that led him to freelance 12:56 Motivation 17:14 Recovery period 22:06 What exactly does Jan do 32:12 The experience of working with people 37:30 Freelance time management Music by https://pixabay.com/users/chillmore-25283030 from https://pixabay.com

Carly Whitaker is the Head of Culture and Branding at Umuzi - a NPO focussed on providing access to education that leads people to higher level careers. Carly also has a wide foray into lecturing and education including being a PHD candidate as well as a practising fine artist. We talk about a lot of the similarities and differences that exists in the digital and physical design world, take a deeper look into her research on making space for discourse within digital arts, and a closer view on what Umuzi does. Find out more about Umuzi here: https://www.umuzi.org Chapters: 00:00 Intro 05:44 Creative practises 09:35 Relationship between artist and curator 17:00 A deeper look into the research 33:13 Curating digital over physical spaces 34:41 Transition out of lecturing 41:09 A look at what Umuzi does Music by https://pixabay.com/users/chillmore-25283030 from https://pixabay.com

In this episode we have an interesting conversation with Alexandre Tilmans, co-founder of the Baz-Art Organisation, who shifted into the art space after working in finance and construction before finding a love for craft beer and the creative challenges involved in it. After working closely with street artists, Alexandre started the International Public Art Festival that has soared over recent years. We also touch on other topics, like Alex’s involvement with First Thursdays, building personal and working relationships with the artists, and how to manage your expectations and the reality of doing business. Find out more about Baz-Art and the IPAF here: https://ipafest.co.za https://baz-art.co.za Chapters: 00:00 Intro 04:19 Craft beer and street artists coming together 12:57 Popularising Cape Town’s First Thursdays event 15:05 Working with artists in public spaces and promoting positive social change 30:46 Interesting artist stories and past projects 37:39 Building relationships with artists 43:09 International Public Arts Festival 56:05 Expectations vs reality

In this episode we have another read through and discussion about a design-related article exploring all the roles within a design organisation and how it fits into the leadership hierarchy. Alfi and Steph give valuable insight into how organisations they’ve worked for in the past structured their teams and leadership roles, compared to where they find themselves today. Find the original article here: https://orgdesignfordesignorgs.com/2018/10/16/the-most-important-role-in-your-design-org-team-lead/ Music by https://pixabay.com/users/chillmore-25283030 from https://pixabay.com

Fishcat Zombie is a freelance filmmaker and founder of Visual Jutsu, a production and animation agency. He shares his experience of how he went from studying to lecturing cinematography before going freelance, and everything he did to prepare himself for that. He also shares some tips on how he builds and maintain client relationships to give them the best possible outcome. Fish also shares a bit of the processes from a past video projection, as well as some of the work already going into his personal movie project. https://www.visualjutsu.studio https://www.instagram.com/in.fishcat.we.trust/ https://www.youtube.com/@FishcatZombie https://www.twitch.tv/fishcatzombie 00:00 Intro 01:19 Origin of the name 03:47 Studying film and building skills 09:04 Deciding to quit job and preparing to go freelance 22:49 Working under covid restrictions 30:52 Starting Visual Jutsu and building client relationships 48:57 Past and future projects

Loux Roets started his own furniture company over fifteen years ago after growing up with a love for working with wood. From doing all the physical, business, and ground work to eventually focussing on the design and prototyping side of things, his team creates pieces of furniture that walk the boundary between practical functionality and functional art. Louw also shares his origin story of how he ignored the risks and fears that would normally hinder you from pursuing your ideas and passions. Find out more about Louw’s furniture on his website: https://www.louwroets.co.za and on his instagram https://www.instagram.com/louwroets/ Music by https://pixabay.com/users/chillmore-25283030 from https://pixabay.com

In this episode we do something a little bit different to fully swing back into the new year - instead of a guest we give commentary and share our thoughts on an article. Anticipating the trends in user design for 2023, Diana Malewicz comments on a range of topics we should be looking out for including motion and typography, and how Alfi and Steph have incorporated some of these design considerations into their own projects. We also give our predictions on aspects of design that might come to evolve in the future, including modular UI. Be sure to give the article a read here: https://medium.com/user-experience-design-1/2023-visual-design-trends-guide-82e84f09cbdf Music by https://pixabay.com/users/chillmore-25283030 from https://pixabay.com

Verusha is the Managing Director at Red & Yellow Creative School of Business, who originally started studying in a different field before finding her way into marketing and advertising on accident. Verusha shares her experiences of not necessarily knowing exactly what you want to do or study, and how simply allowing yourself not to be unhappy can lead to better opportunities. Verusha also gives some advice for people who may not not what the want to spend the rest of their lives doing, and how in South Africa especially many people feel pressured to study something - they don’t have practical knowledge about - just for the sake of it and because it’s become a social norm. Verusha’s natural passion for marketing and aims to share it and her life experiences to better the future for upcoming creatives. We also get Versusa’s insight into how industry can become more involved in education, and what Red & Yellow are doing to achieve that and produce graduates ready to step right into the workplace. Finally, we;; also chat a little bit about the metaverse and how it’s impacting the creative world. Follow Verusha on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/verusha-maharaj-22096346/ and explore what Red & Yellow has to offer: https://www.redandyellow.co.za

In our first episode of the year we get to talk to Eli Woolery who is the co-host of the Design Better podcast, a lecturer at Stanford University, and the Director of Design Education at InVision. Eli shares some parallels between practising and teaching design, and what it was like for him to move away from product design and into the realm education and content creation. We also explore the affordances of working within different mediums like physical products over software design, and how the processes can vastly differ the outcome of a product. Eli also shares how he balances his design and teaching roles, and the importance of real-world exposure through industry professionals and businesses teaching and passing valuable knowledge to better prepare aspiring designers for the future. Be sure to check out the wide array of episodes on Eli's podcast: https://www.designbetter.co/podcast, find out more about how InVision can help your design: https://www.invisionapp.com, and connect with Eli on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elijahwoolery/ Music by https://pixabay.com/users/chillmore-25283030 from https://pixabay.com

Kayembe Ilunga is an Associate Director in Experience Consulting at PwC South Africa. He joined us at the UX SA conference for a chat about the companies journey into design and the positive impacts it can have on the world.

Natalia Carvalho is a product designer, and also a guest speaker at the UX South Africa Conference. As a product designer, Natalia moves between UX and UI roles, and thus inspired her talk on working cohesively and integrating departments to better understand and deliver a superior product/service. Natalia also lectures, and talks about the importance of bringing real life experience and examples into the classroom, and how even as an introvert she knows the importance of pushing yourself out of your comfort zone.

Aalia Coovadia is a Researcher and Designer for Discovery, as well as a guest speaker at the UX South Africa Conference. She gave a talk that continues on from her masters thesis - focussing on service design in the dental care industry and increasing the frequency for patient checkups. Not only focused on the topic itself, Aalia also became interested in the art of research itself, and seeks to bring creative ideas back in the field of generic and analytical research. Aalia is also involved with Ladies That UX, and we get into the positive action that the non-profit has taken over the years.

Steyn Viljoen is the Lead Product Designer / Security at Luno, and one of the guest speakers at the UX South Africa Conference. In his talk he shares ideas about being an optimist when it comes to problem solving, and the three key points of being an optimist; problems are inevitable and necessary for progress, all problems are soluble within the laws of nature, and we can solve these due to the knowledge we’ve gained in the past. We also discuss Steyn’s view on the landscape of the relatively new technology that is cryptocurrency and virtual wallets, and all the challenges that come with creating a platform like that and building trust with your users.

Alex Oloo, the Head of Design at Absa, was a guest speaker at the UX South Africa Conference. Coincidentally, his brother and our co-host Alfi sat down with him for a short chat about the contents of his talk on design leadership. Alex shares how he has adapted his style to suit the new norm of business and working from home in the post-covid era, as well as respecting employees as individuals outside of their job. Alex, a frequent speaker, also shares his unique way of how he plans for his presentations and how he uses his natural flow of speech to riff off of a rough idea. Alex also gives some advice for aspiring designers - to create a reading habit. Alex’s book recommendations: “About Face: The essentials of Interaction Design” by Alan Cooper; and “The Making of a Manager: What to Do When Everyone Looks to You” by Julie Zhou.