Chicago Camps Podcast

On Tuesday, April 11th at 5:00pm CDT, Jonathan McFadden joined us for a live Q&A session: “It’s Okay to Be Inflexible in Content Design.” Jonathan McFaddenJonathan McFadden is a senior content designer at Shopify, where he partners with a team of designers to create better experiences for users on the Shop app. Outside of his daytime gig, he runs his own content writing business, Jon Writes, and teaches a weekly Bible study. He enjoys spending time with his lyrically gifted wife, reading comic books, and bingeing reruns of his favorite cult classic, Xena: Warrior Princess. About Tent TalksChicago Camps hosts irregularly scheduled Tent Talks with people from all across the User Experience Design community, and beyond. Who really likes limits, anyway–If it’s a cool idea, we’d love to hear about it and share it! What is a Tent Talk? That’s a great question, we’d love to tell you. Tent Talks are short-form in nature, generally lasting from 10-20 minutes (ish) in a recorded format–we like to think of them as “

On Thursday, April 6 at 5:30pm Central, Joie Chung joined us for a live Q&A session “Hey New Design Manager.” Joie ChungJoie Chung is a senior product design leader based in Austin, TX, who’s passionate about mentoring future leaders and helping designers achieve their best work. With over 17 years in the design industry, Joie has gained a deep understanding of what makes a great user experience. She’s led top-performing teams in both agency and in-house settings, working with a wide range of companies across various industries. Joie approaches design and leadership with empathy, creativity, and a growth mindset. She loves collaborating with others to create impactful change and push the boundaries of what’s possible. 

On Friday, March 10 at 5:00pm Central, Ian Smile joined us for a live Q&A session “Leadership & Community.”Ian SmileIan Smile is a Principal UX Designer at Veritone in Orange County, CA working with AI in the Enterprise Synthetic Voice and Ad Tech spaces. A lifelong learner, teacher, thinker, and community builder, his purpose in life is to bring people together through design, education, culture, and skateboarding.About Tent TalksChicago Camps hosts irregularly scheduled Tent Talks with people from all across the User Experience Design community, and beyond. Who really likes limits, anyway–If it’s a cool idea, we’d love to hear about it and share it!What is a Tent Talk? That’s a great question, we’d love to tell you.Tent Talks are short-form in nature, generally lasting from 10-20 minutes (ish) in a recorded format–we like to think of them as “S’mores-sized content” because that’s pretty on-brand. Tent Talks can be a presentation on a topic, a live Q&A session about the work we do, or the work ar

Tent Talks Featuring: Christina GoldschmidtOn Wednesday, March 8th 3:00pm CST, Christina Goldschmidt joins us for a live Q&A session: “Key Business Concepts Design Leaders Need to Know.”Join this live session for free and take part in the conversation with Christina. We’ll have our questions to ask, and questions from attendees are welcome, as well.Christina answers the questions:Let’s start with you - tell us about yourself and your background, because the next question’s a doozy.Should designers get an MBA to help further their careers? Why or why not?What’s the allure of an MBA?What are some of the biggest things designers tend to not know enough about as they climb the career ladder?As you get to executive leadership levels, how much of what you learned as a designer do you think will be applied to the job?As a design executive, do you have a portfolio, and if so, what's in it?

Tent Talks Featuring: Emily ParcellOn Thursday, February 23 at 5:00pm Central, Emily Parcell will join us for a live Q&A session “Design Management vs. Individual Contributor Leadership” and we’re very excited!Emily ParcellDriven by a passion to make the workplace more human, Emily’s work as a leadership coach and facilitator focuses on how strong leadership, process, and culture support teams to do their best work. She specializes in helping leaders navigate work with confidence by applying design skills such as creative thinking and an experiment-oriented mindset. Her approach is informed by a decade in user experience design, having led teams to design digital products for DIRECTV, Macy’s, Verizon, and Automation Anywhere.About Tent TalksChicago Camps hosts irregularly scheduled Tent Talks with people from all across the User Experience Design community, and beyond. Who really likes limits, anyway–If it’s a cool idea, we’d love to hear about it and share it!What is a Tent Talk? That’s a great question,

On Wednesday, February 15th at 6:00pm CST, Fred Beecher joined us for a live Q&A session: “Getting Started in DesignOps.” 

On Wednesday, January 25th, 2023 at 5:00pm Central, Meena Kothandaramn joined us for a live Q&A session called “There is More to Research than Asking a Question.”Meena KothandaramanWith 30 years of experience, Meena has consulted to emphasize the strategic value and positioning of qualitative research in the design of product, space and service. Meena is fascinated by the complexity of human behavior, and applies a credible, structured and transparent approach to integrating human stories and anecdotes into mainstream processes. This ensures that research activities provide the best service to the organization, and that learning objectives are addressed to maximize potential.Meena is a founding member of twig+fish, a research and strategy practice based in Boston, MA, that espouses these research beliefs, while maintaining a utopic work-life balance. She is also a key Lecturer in the Bentley University Human Factors and Information Design (HFID) graduate program. Over her 20-year tenure, her capstone qual

Tent Talks Featuring: Dani Nordin On Tuesday, November 29th at 5:00pm Central, Dani Nordin joined us for a live Q&A session called “Your Brain & Your Next Job.” Dani Nordin Dani Nordin works for athenahealth as the Product Design Architect for athenaClinicals. There, she uses her superpowers in user research, pattern recognition, and snark to help the organization unpack big, gnarly problems related to EHR configuration, clinical content, and specialty support. She also serves as the chair of the Clinician Experience Working Group for the HIMSS EHR Association. She lives in Watertown MA with two fire-cracker daughters, a delightfully supportive husband, and an adorable golden retriever named Larry. About Tent Talks Chicago Camps hosts irregularly scheduled Tent Talks with people from all across the User Experience Design community, and beyond. Who really likes limits, anyway–If it’s a cool idea, we’d love to hear about it and share it! What is a Tent Talk? That’s a great question, we’d love to tell yo

Lindsey Latiolais Lindsey will talk to anyone about anything at any time, which served her well in her decade-plus in UX research. She worked as a researcher with 6 different companies, from a giant multinational consultancy with offices worldwide to a tiny real-estate post-startup based out of Chicago. She recently transitioned to a product management role to have an impact on decision-making earlier in the process. When not hanging out at her home in Bend, OR, Lindsey can be found at the local dog park with her 2 rescue pups, cosplaying at a fan convention, or scuba diving somewhere tropical. Though she doesn’t post much, feel free to reach out to her @coydahlia on Twitter, Instagram, Linkedin, or Discord if you want to chat.Each swag item purchased adds to our pool of “Need 1, Take 1” passes that are available to anyone who has a need–no questions asked. Tent Talks Featuring: Lindsey Latiolais On Monday, November 21st at 6:00pm Central, Lindsey Latiolais joined us for a live Q&A session focus on all

This podcast features Jared Spool, Founder of User Interface Engineering & Co-founder of Centre Center, and his Keynote, “Design is a Team Sport” from the design leadership conference Prototypes, Process & Play on August 11th, 2017. Prototypes, Process & Play presentation podcasts are sponsored by Balsamiq - with Balsamiq Mockups, anyone can design great software. Jared Spool - Keynote Founder of User Interface Engineering & Co-founder of Centre Center Jared Spool is the founder of User Interface Engineering (UIE), the largest usability research organization of its kind in the world. If you’ve ever seen Jared speak about usability, you know that he’s probably the most effective and knowledgeable communicator on the subject today. He’s been working in the field of usability and design since 1978, before the term “usability” was ever associated with computers. For more, keep up with Jared at uie.com or on Twitter as @jmspool. Design is a Team Sport Every seasoned designer has fallen into the tra

This podcast features Eli Silva, Senior Product Designer at Pivotal Labs, and his Presentation, “Designing for Diversity in Organization Design” from the design leadership conference Prototypes, Process & Play on August 11th, 2017. Prototypes, Process & Play presentation podcasts are sponsored by Balsamiq - with Balsamiq Mockups, anyone can design great software. Eli Silva - Presentation Eli Silva is a Sr. Product designer at Pivotal labs. Eli is best known as a diversity advocate with practical insights drawn from the design discipline. Unlike traditional approaches to org design that focus on charts and work distribution, Eli emphasizes studying the way people interact with an organization as a product. Using this as a tool for reflection leads to better interactions between people and their work cultures. In re-examining Design Thinking as a organizational design tool, with a focus on diversity and inclusion, their work has generated some powerful new ways of looking at old questions in a new ligh

This podcast features Sofia Millares, Creative Director of Product Design, and Tami Evnin, Lead Product Designer, both of Nasdaq, and their Presentation, “World's Best Boss: Lessons Learned from a New Design Leader” from the design leadership conference Prototypes, Process & Play on August 11th, 2017. Prototypes, Process & Play presentation podcasts are sponsored by Balsamiq - with Balsamiq Mockups, anyone can design great software. Sofia Millares - Presentation Nasdaq Sofia Millares is the Creative Director of Product Design at Nasdaq. For the past four years she has been overseeing the styling and global functionality for the entire product suite offering. Alongside her team, she is determined to expand the Nasdaq branding throughout all platforms and create new ways to position and rethink these products. Born and raised in Mexico, Sofia always had an interest in design and moved to New York City ten years ago to pursue a BA in Design and Management with a concentration in graphic design from Pars

This podcast features Suzanna Bierwirth, Chief Creative Officer of The Mars Agency, and her Lightning Talk, “Managing Up, Down & Sideways” from the design leadership conference Prototypes, Process & Play on August 11th, 2017. Prototypes, Process & Play presentation podcasts are sponsored by Balsamiq - with Balsamiq Mockups, anyone can design great software. Suzanna Bierwirth - Lightning Talk Chief Creative Officer of The Mars Agency Consumer-first through-the-line thinker. Empowering Leader. Passionate Business Builder. Mother. Maker. Instigator. Raised and educated as a visual artist in Germany, I am relentless in my pursuit to make work that is meaningful, memorable and beautiful. I am left and right brained, and continually deploy both art and science, to create programs that engage consumers, change minds and evoke behavior. I believe there has never been a more exciting time to be in marketing. I love that we have to move faster and be more intuitive and inventive than ever before. And with t

This podcast features Kathi Kaiser, Co-founder and Partner at Centralis, and her Lightning Talk, “How to Design a Company” from the design leadership conference Prototypes, Process & Play on August 11th, 2017. Prototypes, Process & Play presentation podcasts are sponsored by Balsamiq - with Balsamiq Mockups, anyone can design great software. Kathi Kaiser - Lightning Talk Co-founder and Partner at Centralis Kathi Kaiser is co-founder and partner at Centralis, a Chicago-based UX consultancy. She leads a top-notch team in creating great user experiences for global clients, start-ups, and cultural institutions. When Kathi’s not at the whiteboard or in the lab, she may be found observing users on boats, in museums, at train stations, and anywhere else where the digital and physical worlds collide. Kathi is a frequent speaker on topics in UX, and has served as an adjunct faculty member at the Illinois Institute of Technology’s Institute of Design. For more, keep up with Kathi at centralis.com or on Twitter

This podcast features Dan Brown, Co-founder of Eightshapes and author of several key design books, and his Presentation, “Curiosity, Skepticism, Humility: Achieving the Right Mindset for Design Discovery in Teams” from the design leadership conference Prototypes, Process & Play on August 11th, 2017. Prototypes, Process & Play presentation podcasts are sponsored by Balsamiq - with Balsamiq Mockups, anyone can design great software. Dan Brown - Presentation Co-founder of Eightshapes In 2006, Dan Brown co-founded EightShapes, a design firm based in Washington, DC. EightShapes designs digital products and systematizes design standards for Fortune 500 clients. Most recently, Dan has conducted user research for a higher education product, designed an application for architects seeking a license, and lead the design of a web-based consumer application for a major educational publishing company. Dan’s two books, Communicating Design and Designing Together, deal with communications and collaboration on design

This podcast features Dr. Steve Julius, Founder and Chief Executive of HRCG and former Team Psychologist for the Chicago Bulls, and his Presentation, “Getting a Seat at the Table and Keeping It!” from the design leadership conference Prototypes, Process & Play on August 11th, 2017. Prototypes, Process & Play presentation podcasts are sponsored by Balsamiq - with Balsamiq Mockups, anyone can design great software. Dr. Steve Julius - Presenation Founder and Chief Executive of HRCG and former Team Psychologist for the Chicago Bulls Dr. Steve Julius is the founder and chief executive of HRCG, a Chicago based firm specializing in executive leadership, high performance teamwork, organizational effectiveness and strategic human capital solutions. A true proponent of the power that is derived from integrating diverse talents and points-of-view, Steve has built a team of professionals who combine the approach of trusted advisor with the first-hand knowledge and insight that comes from their having been in sign

This podcast features Jay Newton-Small, Co-founder of MemoryWell and author of "Broad Influence: How Women are Changing the Way America Works", and her Keynote, “Broad Influence - How Women are Changing the Way America Works” from the design leadership conference Prototypes, Process & Play on August 11th, 2017. Prototypes, Process & Play presentation podcasts are sponsored by Balsamiq - with Balsamiq Mockups, anyone can design great software. Jay Newton-Small - Keynote Co-founder of MemoryWell Jay Newton-Small is cofounder of MemoryWell, which tells the life stories of those suffering from Alzheimer’s and dementia. Previously, Newton-Small was Washington correspondent for TIME Magazine, where she remains a contributor. At TIME she covered politics as well as stories on five continents from conflicts in the Middle East to the earthquake in Haiti and the November 2015 Paris terror attacks. She has written more than half a dozen TIME cover stories and interviewed numerous heads of state, includ

This podcast features Mike Davidson, Former VP of Design at Twitter, and his fireside chat from the design leadership conference Prototypes, Process & Play on August 10th, 2017. Prototypes, Process & Play presentation podcasts are sponsored by Balsamiq - with Balsamiq Mockups, anyone can design great software. Mike Davidson - Fireside Chat Former VP of Design at Twitter Mike most recently spent three years as Vice President of Design for Twitter. Prior to joining Twitter, Mike was Vice President at NBCNews.com, where he managed social news products and technologies. Earlier, he founded Newsvine, which was acquired by MSNBC, and spent several years as Art Director and Manager of Media Product Development for ESPN.com. Mike earned a B.A. in Business Administration from the University of Washington and studied Creative Advertising and Management at the University of Oxford. Before the advent of web fonts, Mike invented and open-sourced sIFR, a technique which enabled thousands of individuals and organiza

This podcast features Lisa Welchman, Author of Managing Chaos: Digital Governance by Design, and her presentation, “Governing with Intention” from the design leadership conference Prototypes, Process & Play on August 10th, 2017. Prototypes, Process & Play presentation podcasts are sponsored by Balsamiq - with Balsamiq Mockups, anyone can design great software. Lisa Welchman - Presentation Author of Managing Chaos: Digital Governance by Design For the past two decades, the leaders of global 1000 companies, NGOs, and other organizations have turned to Lisa to analyze and solve their digital governance challenges. Lisa also speaks globally on issues related to digital governance, the rise of the Information Age, and diversity in the digital technology sector. Lisa is the author of Managing Chaos: Digital Governance by Design published by Rosenfeld Media in 2015. For more, keep up with Lisa at lisawelchman.com or on Twitter as @lwelchman. Governing with Intention Our digital future is upon us, and we alre

This podcast features Donna Lichaw, author of The User's Journey, and her presentation, “Making Moonshots” from the design leadership conference Prototypes, Process & Play on August 10th, 2017. Prototypes, Process & Play presentation podcasts are sponsored by Balsamiq - with Balsamiq Mockups, anyone can design great software. Donna Lichaw - Presentation Author of The User's Journey Donna Lichaw is the author of The User’s Journey: Storymapping Products That People Love. Through her writing, speaking, and much loved Storymapping Workshop, Donna guides startups, non-profits, and global brands in optimizing their digital products and services by providing them with a simplified way to drive user engagement. Utilizing her ‘story first’ approach, she helps organizations define and refine their value proposition, transform their thinking, and better engage with their core customers. Prior to her career in technology, she refined her talent for storytelling and narrative development as an award-winning docum