Design Downtime

In the first episode of season 3, Karen VanHouten joins us to share her love of ’80s new wave music, a love that began in high school in the mid-1980s. She talks about discovering the music through friends, noting how it was "accessible enough, but different enough to make you feel a little special”. That juxtaposition of the dark and the beautiful in new wave music resonated with her, and made her a fan for life. Karen talks about music sharing in a pre-internet era, her time as a college radio DJ, and how the music scene fostered a sense of community. She ends with a list of essential new wave albums, recommended for new and curious listeners.

Guest Bio

Karen VanHouten (she/her) is an expert generalist and a curious skeptic who is committed to designing better ways for teams to work together. She loves messes of both the digital and human kind. She’s been working as a UX leader, a researcher, and a strategist in both the private and public sector, both in-house and as a consultant, for over 25 years. She uses the foundations of human-centered design (with a dash of scrappiness) to create healthy digital strategies and help teams safely operate in the space between opportunity and risk.

Links

Karen’s website: https://www.designinginward.com/

Karen on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/designinginward.bsky.social

Credits

Cover design by Raquel Rubio Breternitz.

It’s the season two finale and this week’s episode goes to eleven, as Joe Natoli joins us to talk about his lifelong passion for heavy metal music. From his earliest exposure to Black Sabbath’s Master of Reality at age ten, Joe reflects on the profound emotional connection and sense of identity metal gave him. He shares stories of scouring record stores, trading mixtapes with friends, and devouring music magazines to explore the growing metal scene in the pre-internet era. Joe also discusses the genre's theatrical aesthetics, the thrill of live performances, and the deeper messages in metal lyrics that often get misunderstood. The conversation goes into the diversity of metal’s sub-genres, Joe's favorite bands, and his own personal standards for what makes great metal.

Guest Bio

Joe Natoli (he/him) is a UX consultant, author and speaker. For three decades, he’s advised, trained and empowered the UX, design and product development teams of some of the world’s largest organizations, from Fortune 100 companies to U.S. Government agencies and startups. He has published ten books and is a regular keynote speaker and lecturer at industry conferences and corporate events across the globe. Joe has also taught more than 350,000 students through his online courses and his own UX 365 Academy, in addition to a private coaching practice. Joe’s approach to improving product UX and design focuses on addressing systemic and personal dynamics issues across individuals, teams and organizations: fighting impostor syndrome and increasing self-confidence, improving communication and collaboration, addressing fear and dysfunction driving poor management practices and redesigning inappropriate, counterproductive processes. Joe lives in Washington DC with his wife Eli and three kids, and he strives to be the person his dog Rosie thinks he is.

Links

The Hard Volume Experience Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNuc2kcwGbd_iJvc9-4YUKA

The UX 365 Academy: https://www.ux365academy.com

Joe Natoli's Give Good UX: https://givegoodux.com

Joe on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/joenatoli.bsky.social

Joe on Twitter: https://x.com/joenatoli

Joe on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joenatoli/

Credits

Cover design by Raquel Rubio Breternitz.

Grab your fabric and pick your favourite stitch, as Elyse Holladay joins us to talk about her adventures with sewing. She recounts being inspired by her mother sewing and her own experiences running a personal style program, and how frustrations with ill-fitting off-the-rack clothing got her to take up the hobby. Elyse reflects on the highs and lows of learning the craft, from her initial overconfidence after sewing a tote bag to grappling with failed projects, and her breakthrough with a simple yet satisfying project, which became a stylish staple and a symbol of her progress. Along the way, she gained a new appreciation for the craftsmanship behind fashion and the ethics of sustainable clothing.

Guest Bio

Elyse Holladay (she/her) is a long-time Design Systems practitioner and speaker, currently the solo Design Systems engineer at Color Health. She was tapped to start the first Design System team for Indeed, has taught hundreds of hours of technical training content, and has been invited to speak at well-known industry events such as Clarity Conference, CSSConf Berlin, and Frontend Design Conference. She's a technical generalist who can flex between design, code, glue work, and OKRs, once quit tech to build a personal style program, is an off-the-charts extrovert, avid reader, and expat Texan with an armadillo tattoo.

Links

Elyse’s website: https://www.elyseholladay.com/

Elyse on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elyseholladay/

Credits

Cover design by Raquel Rubio Breternitz.

Things get muddy, as Cristina Lutcan joins us to talk about her love for obstacle course racing. She recounts how a military camp gifted by her parents introduced her to crawling in the mud and climbing ropes. Over the years, Cristina embraced both the Tough Mudder’s community-focused, non-competitive nature, where fun and teamwork are central, and Spartan races that push her limits and emphasize upper body strength, intense terrain, and individual endurance. She describes obstacles such as cold water plunges and mild electric shocks, and reflects on the inner resilience needed to push through moments of doubt. Plus, she adds tips and words of motivation for those considering their first race.

Guest Bio

Cristina Lutcan (she/her) is a seasoned UX Designer and community builder with a passion for design, community, and entrepreneurship. Her diverse experience includes projects with startups and large corporations, including recent roles at Slack and TELUS Digital. As the founder of UX Design Talk, one of the largest design communities in Toronto, she has empowered hundreds of designers to gain practical skills in a collaborative environment. Cristina also hosts the UX Curious Podcast, where she dives into the applications of UX across various industries.

Links

Cristina’s website: https://cristinaux.framer.website/

Cristina on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cristinalutcan/

Credits

Cover design by Raquel Rubio Breternitz.

You won’t need a starter for this conversation, as Pavel Samsonov joins us to share his passion for baking sourdough bread. Like many others, he started experimenting with sourdough during the pandemic, but has continued baking since then, diving deep into the science. Pavel recounts some humorous missteps, including an overheated sourdough starter that caused a minor fire in his workspace. He also discusses the satisfaction of giving homemade bread as gifts, and how the tactile, hands-on nature of baking offers a refreshing change from his work at a computer. Finally, he reflects on how baking connects him to a community of artisans, even if he's "just messing around in his kitchen”.

Guest Bio

Pavel Samsonov (he/him) is a New York-based designer exploring the applications of design as a decision-making framework. Pavel has been a product manager, UXer, design strategist, and user researcher across various industries, and currently builds a design practice at AWS. Off the clock, Pavel uses articles and speaking engagements as an opportunity to explore new ideas and help designers envision better ways of working. Pavel likes to frame design as a job that works on calendar time, not clock time - so the necessity of downtime is a topic near and dear to his heart.

Links

Three-Stage 80% Sourdough Rye Bread recipe: https://www.thefreshloaf.com/keyword/3stage-detmolder-rye

Beginner Sourdough Starter recipe: https://www.theclevercarrot.com/2019/03/beginner-sourdough-starter-recipe/

Pavel’s Medium page: spavel.medium.com

Pavel’s website: pavelsamsonov.com

Pavel on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pavel-samsonov-44ba2833/

Pavel on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/spavel.bsky.social

Credits

Cover design by Raquel Rubio Breternitz.

We’re going to a land down under, as Shannon Leahy joins us to talk about her love for Australia. She reflects on growing up as a dual citizen of the U.S. and Australia and how it has shaped her life, with childhood summers in Melbourne, the unique family traditions that anchored her to the country, and the value she finds in regular, “mundane” family gatherings. Through family stories, memories of local foods, and Australian treats that hold sentimental value, Shannon expresses her gratitude for being part of a multicultural family and the joy she finds in revisiting and sharing these experiences. Plus, she also offers tips for visitors to Melbourne!

Guest Bio

Shannon Leahy (she/her) has worked at the intersection of words, strategy, design, and people for 15 years. In that time, she's been a web copywriter, an SEO specialist, an instructional designer, and a senior UX manager. These days, Shannon’s a senior content design manager at Capital One, and she organizes a meetup called RVA Content Strategy, which is running 12 years strong now. Shannon lives in Richmond, Virginia with her family and their dog, Ginger Snap. Melbourne, Australia is her home away from home (she's a dual citizen!). Her favorite neutral is leopard print, and her superpower is asking questions…lots of questions.

Links

Shannon on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shannonleahy

Shannon on ADPList: https://adplist.org/mentors/shannon-leahy

RVA Content Strategy: https://www.rvacontentstrategy.com/

Credits

Cover design by Raquel Rubio Breternitz.

Laura Worrick had a farm and on that farm she had a… well, you’ll have to listen to this episode to find out! Laura shares her journey from childhood farm work in rural Massachusetts to creating a backyard homestead in Austin, Texas. She talks about her evolving relationship with food, her and her partner's efforts to adapt to Texas's unique climate, and how her partner has come to embrace their homestead lifestyle—now complete with two dogs and seven chickens. Laura also shares about the deep satisfaction she finds in nurturing plants from seeds to harvest, and how these small acts of cultivation help her feel grounded in nature.

Guest Bio

Laura Worrick (she/her) is a neurodivergent design leader living in Austin, TX. With over 15 years of experience, Laura has collaborated with various brands including Amazon, Bayer, BBC, IBM, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, United Nations and others. She is an advocate for neurodiverse talent in the design field and has written and spoken about the topic in various forums. Currently she is a design manager at Cisco, leading the design system team and visual design program for Cisco IT. Outside work you can find her hanging with chickens, dogs and horses, or giving people hand poked tattoos.

Links

Laura’s Instaram: https://www.instagram.com/wawawawick/

Laura’s hand poke tattoos: https://www.instagram.com/wawapokes/

Laura’s farm on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mothershipfarmatx/

Credits

Cover design by Raquel Rubio Breternitz.

Grab your skates but don’t forget your helmet and knee pads, as Anna Cook joins us to talk about her newfound passion for roller derby. She explains how a friend’s invitation to watch a match sparked her interest, how having no prior skating experience made her first day challenging, and how the encouragement from fellow teammates and coaches gave her the support she needed. Anna provides insights into the structure and rules of roller derby, the various roles within a team, and the rigorous training required to participate in bouts. She talks about the inclusive and nurturing community she discovered in the sport, particularly highlighting its embrace of diversity, including those who are queer, neurodivergent, or disabled.

Guest Bio

As a Senior Designer at Microsoft, Anna Cook (she/they) specializes in building inclusive products, focusing on accessibility and inclusion for Azure and beyond. She has over ten years of experience in digital product design and a Masters in Creative Technology + Design from the University of Colorado Boulder’s College of Engineering and Applied Science.

Links

Boulder County Roller Derby League: https://bouldercountyrollerderby.com/

Anna’s website: https://annaecook.com/

Anna’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/annaecook/

Anna on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/annaecook.com

Anna on Mastodon: https://mstdn.social/@annaecook

Credits

Cover design by Raquel Rubio Breternitz.

Let’s take to the sky, as Ian Murchison flies us into the thrilling world of drone racing. He shares his background in racing remote control cars and how that competitive spirit led him to racing drones. Ian recounts his first race, the nerves he felt racing indoors, and how the drone racing community helps newcomers ease into the sport. He describes the complexities of controlling drones in 3D space, explains how tracks are designed, and emphasizes the balance between technical skill and competitive racing. The conversation also touches on his experience designing and building his own drones, and how it allows him to stay connected to building objects in physical space.

Guest Bio

With a background as an industrial designer and as someone who has made the switch from the physical to the digital world, Ian Murchison (he/him) has had the joy of working for some major brands like Blackberry and Nokia while also building up his own consultancy, designing, building and shipping award winning products globally. Ian’s work has crossed all scales, from products that are consumed by hundreds of millions, to newborn ideas without a customer in sight. Ian is currently a Principal Designer working on the design system team at Autodesk. Beyond the 9-5 Ian focuses on the outdoors, not hiking or camping, but he’s started his own hop farm, providing locally sourced ingredients to craft breweries. He spends countless hours cycling the countryside and, what we’re going to talk about today, competing in FPV drone racing.

Links

Ian on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ianmurchison

Ian on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ianmurchison/

Ian on Threads: https://www.threads.net/@ianmurchison

MultiGP drone racing league: https://www.multigp.com

Credits

Cover design by Raquel Rubio Breternitz.

Let’s dive into the intersection of design, art, and craft, as Anne Hjortshøj joins us to talk about contemporary fine art, which she finds more abstract and intriguing than traditional figurative art. She explores the common misconceptions surrounding design as an art form, and explores the contextual nature of art. Anne touches on the role of museums, the evolution of art trends, and her personal encounters with significant artworks, as well as the economic structures of the fine art world, its small and elitist nature, auction house controversies, and the tension between artistic intent and market value.

Guest Bio

Anne Hjortshøj (she/her) has successfully led design as an executive across B2C industries, including automotive, CPG, retail, financial services and EdTech. She has built design capabilities at three organizations, assembling UX teams from the ground up, while scaling the function and advancing a strong, consistent design culture.

Links

Anne’s website: https://annehj.com/

Anne on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/annehj

Anne on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/annesaurus.bsky.social

Anne on mastodon: https://better.boston/@annesaurus

Credits

Cover design by Raquel Rubio Breternitz.