Javier Bargas left a 14-year career at Google, where he led UX research across YouTube and Google Play, to launch Astrolabium — a training company for UX professionals.

In this episode, we dive into building impactful research teams, avoiding AI hype traps, and what it really takes to drive user-centric innovation in 2025. Founders, designers, and product leaders — this one’s for you.

What’s in here:

• Rapid Research at Google

• AI’s role in UX and product validation

• Learning from failures in tech

• Why “Junior” doesn’t mean “less valuable”

• What Twitch got wrong about user research

Let’s connect on LinkedIn:

🎙 Yuriy Mykhasyak, Podcast Host, Co-founder & CEO of Cieden

🎙 Javier Bargas⁠, Founder of Astrolabium & Former Google UX Director

This podcast is brought to you by Cieden, a digital product design agency. If you are looking for mindful designers, ⁠⁠⁠let’s chat⁠⁠⁠.