Unthinking Space (formerly Design Feeling)

#016 Councillors, therapy, meditation - Courtney Carlsson tried them all but what she needed was a structure to ask herself deliberate questions consistently to learn more about herself. Courtney is a CEO and Founder of the mental health app Paradym which she started after battling with her own mental health challenges. Courtney shares her personal journey of self-awareness and how she build Paradym, working with experts from around the world.

In this episode:

• The importance of asking yourself deliberate questions consistently
• What causes burnout and how to avoid and address it
• How to use feelings to build habits
• Reframing how you see any situation

Shownotes

Access your 1-month free discount to the Paradym app

https://www.designfeeling.co/feeling22

or go the Paradym website and use the code ‘feeling22’

https://theparadym.com/

Courtney on LinkedIn

https://www.linkedin.com/in/courtneycarlsson/

Courtney on instagram

https://www.instagram.com/courtcarlsson

Courtney on Twitter

https://www.twitter.com/courtcarlsson

Paradym on Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/theparadym

Paradym on Twitter

https://www.twitter.com/_theparadym_

Episode 4 with Dr. Zorana Ivcevic Pringle

https://www.designfeeling.co/6

Show credits

Illustrations by Isa Vicente

https://www.instagram.com/isadezgz/

Music by Brad Porter

https://prtr.co/

Follow Design Feeling on social!

LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/company/designfeelingco

Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/designfeelingco/

Twitter
https://twitter.com/designfeelingco

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https://www.tiktok.com/@designfeelingco

Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/designfeelingco

015 - We’re kicking off Season 2 with Design Director of IBM Consulting, Founder of the Quiet Achiever and proud introvert, Tim Yeo. In this episode, Tim shares his personal journey in his career as an introverted designer and design leader and the learnings he picked up along the way to be comfortable with his introversion and do the things that don’t come naturally to him as an introvert. Tim now helps other introverts like himself have impact and influence without pretending to be extroverts in a world that desires the extroverted ideal.

In this episode:

• We’re all ducks, calm on the surface, paddling furiously underneath and that’s ok
• Embracing your introversion rather than pretending to be an extrovert
• How experience helps you recognise repeatable patterns and increases your confidence
• Why our definition of what a successful leader looks like is flawed
• Why you don’t have to wait to speak up till you think you’re 100% right
• Building a strong design team remotely
• And much more!

Links and resources

The Quiet Achiever

www.thequietachievr.com

Tim Yeo on Twitter

https://twitter.com/timyeo

Tim Yeo on LinkedIn

https://www.linkedin.com/in/timyeo/

Susan Cain’s Book ‘Quiet’

https://susancain.net/book/quiet/

Scott Berkun’s Book ‘Confessions of a Public Speaker’

https://scottberkun.com/the-books/confessions-of-a-public-speaker/

Christina Wodtke’s books ‘Radical Focus’ and ‘The Team that Managed Itself’

https://cwodtke.com/writing-2/

Patrick Lencioni’s Book ‘The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable’

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/21343.The_Five_Dysfunctions_of_a_Team

Situational Leadership® Model

https://situational.com/situational-leadership/

Oliver Burkeman’s Book ‘Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortal’

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/54785515-four-thousand-weeks


Show credits

Illustrations by Isa Vicente

https://www.instagram.com/isadezgz/

Music by Brad Porter

https://prtr.co/

Follow Design Feeling on social!

LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/company/designfeelingco

Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/designfeelingco/

Twitter
https://twitter.com/designfeelingco

TikTok
https://www.tiktok.com/@designfeelingco

Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/designfeelingco

It’s the end of the first season of the Design Feeling Podcast! In this episode, host, Nirish Shakya, recaps the 12 guest interviews and shares his top learnings and reflections from them.

If this is your first time listening to the Design Feeling Podcast, this might be a good start to start. It’ll give you a taster of all the conversations we’ve had in the show so far so you can pick and choose the episodes you want to listen to in full.

Nirish also gives a sneak peak of what’s coming in Season 2.


Links and resources

Kate Pincott

https://www.remotedesigncoaching.com/

Jason Mesut

https://medium.com/@jasonmesut

Dr. Carlos Saba

https://www.thehappystartupschool.com/

Dr. Zorana Ivcevic Pringle

https://www.zoranaivcevicpringle.com/

Corey Lebson

https://lebsontech.com/

Ryan Rumsey

https://www.secondwavedive.com/

Jane Reid and Janice Hannaway

https://researchutraining.com/

Dr. Adeola Enigbokan

https://www.whyadeolabecause.com/

Frances Khalastchi

https://betterbolderbraver.com/

Hattie Willis

https://www.guessworks.co/

Career Timeline

https://medium.com/shapingdesign/map-your-career-timeline-85df3ea8a890

Oura ring

https://ouraring.com/

‘Steal Like an Artist’ book by Austin Kleon

https://austinkleon.com/steal/

Follow Design Feeling on social!

LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/company/designfeelingco

Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/designfeelingco/

Twitter
https://twitter.com/designfeelingco

TikTok
https://www.tiktok.com/@designfeelingco

Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/designfeelingco

#013 - Designing involves innovating. However, innovation requires a lot of guesswork. Making intentional guesses requires the right mindset, techniques and courage. In this episode, Hattie Willis, founder of the entrepreneurship education company, Guessworks, shares her biggest learnings from the world of venture building and corporate innovation. Hattie unlayers the real drivers that help changemakers innovate - exposing yourself to the right amount of risk and understanding not just designs, products and technologies, but also business models.

In this episode:

• Pick your own race that gives you energy
• Have your own authentic story to tell
• Be aware of where you get your energy from
• Hattie's top learnings from founders
• Look after your mental health as a founder
• Get an accountability partner
• And much more

Shownotes

Business Model You Book

https://businessmodelyou.com/the-book/

The School of Life

https://www.theschooloflife.com/

Secret Leaders Podcast by Dan Murray-Serter

https://www.secretleaders.com/

Not My First Guess Podcast

https://notmyfirstguess.buzzsprout.com/

https://www.instagram.com/notmyfirstguess/

https://twitter.com/NotMyFirstGuess

GuessWorks

https://guessworks.co/

Hattie Willis on LinkedIn

https://www.linkedin.com/in/hattie-willis-she-her-2b47b376/

Show credits

Illustrations by Isa Vicente

https://www.instagram.com/isadezgz/

Music by Brad Porter

https://prtr.co/

Episode edited by Niall Mackay

https://sevenmillionbikes.com/

Follow Design Feeling on social!

LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/company/designfeelingco

Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/designfeelingco/

Twitter
https://twitter.com/designfeelingco

TikTok
https://www.tiktok.com/@designfeelingco

Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/designfeelingco

#012 - Throughout my design and technology career, I believed that marketing was just fluff. Hence, I never invested much time and energy into it, even to market myself. In this episode, Frances Khalastchi reframes that common notion of marketing into a tool for self-growth. With a background in graphic design, cultural theory, sociology and art history and 20 years in corporate, third sector startup and government communications, Frances co-founded Better Bolder Braver, a marketing community for coaches.

In this episode, Frances talks about using marketing to increase one’s self-awareness, empathise with customers and prevent burnout. She also mentions how working out loud can help us get over our need for perfection and why it’s ok to chase perfection in your work your work without having to be a perfect human being. We also discuss the role of communities in helping us find safe spaces where we can try new things, get feedback and iterate.

In this episode:

- Starting with your mindset - your values and practical and emotional limits
- Niching to prevent burnout
- Marketing yourself as an employee
- Meet your customer where they’re at in their journey of consciousness
- Working out loud
- Product perfectionism vs people perfectionism (one of them is bad for you!)
- The role of community in our lives
- And much more

Shownotes

Better Bolder Braver Community
https://betterbolderbraver.com

Happy Startup School
https://www.thehappystartupschool.com

Leapers: A collective of freelancers 
https://www.leapers.co

Frances Khalastchi on LinkedIn
https://uk.linkedin.com/in/franceskhalastchi

Many Meanings and Uses of Art: Frances’ interview on the Stepping Off Now Podcast with Kendra Patterson
https://steppingoffnow.com/e57-interview-frances-khalastchi-on-the-many-meanings-and-uses-of-art

Show credits

Illustrations by Isa Vicente
https://www.instagram.com/isadezgz/

Music by Brad Porter
https://prtr.co/

Episode edited by Niall Mackay
https://sevenmillionbikes.com/

Follow Design Feeling on social!

LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/company/designfeelingco

Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/designfeelingco/

Twitter
https://twitter.com/designfeelingco

TikTok
https://www.tiktok.com/@designfeelingco

Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/designfeelingco

#011 - It’s no secret that change is the only constant but the events of the past two years (or two months!) have certainly got our heads spinning. If you’re anxious about how all of this is going to affect your life and career, you’re not alone. So how do you make sense of your past and clarify your direction towards the future?

Sometimes, you need more than just intellect to make better decisions. You need intuition. This is where tarot can help. Tarot is basically a pack of playing cards that originated in 14-15th century Europe. Although you might have seen them used as a divination system to predict things, tarot utilises principles used in creative thinking and it can be a powerful design tool for designers to ask the right questions and find unexpected answers.

In this episode, I chat with with Dr. Adeola Enigbokan. Adeola is a designer, environmental psychologist and a practitioner of tarot for the past 20 years. We uncover the mysteries of tarot, and how the practice might increase our soft skill sets and add perspective on problem-solving in complex psycho-social dynamics. Adeola also demonstrates how she uses tarot to answer deep questions. You might be a tarot convert too after this episode.

In this episode:

• Using tarot as a tool to build your intuition to make better decisions
• Raising awareness of the emotional impact of your designs and the emotional needs of your users and colleagues
• Defining true empathy using tarot
• Starting with self-compassion
• Creating a space for people’s feelings to exist at work
• Reassessing your individual and corporate identities and realigning them
• Energy exchange as the future of work for designers

Shownotes

Salvador Dalí tarot card deck

https://www.tarot.com/tarot/decks/dali

Ten of Cups

https://www.tarot.com/tarot/cards/ten-of-cups/dali

Six of Swords

https://www.tarot.com/tarot/cards/six-of-swords/dali

Adeola’s website

https://www.whyadeolabecause.com/

Adeola on Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/adeolagoes/

Adeola on LinkedIn

https://www.linkedin.com/in/adeola-enigbokan/

Environmental psychology

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_psychology

Tonglen meditation

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tonglen

Tarot for the Working Women

https://www.whyadeolabecause.com/tww

Random association technique

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Random_stimulus


Show credits

Illustrations by Isa Vicente

https://www.instagram.com/isadezgz/

Music by Brad Porter

https://prtr.co/

Episode edited by Niall Mackay

https://sevenmillionbikes.com/

Follow Design Feeling on social!

LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/company/designfeelingco

Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/designfeelingco/

Twitter
https://twitter.com/designfeelingco

TikTok
https://www.tiktok.com/@designfeelingco

Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/designfeelingco

#010 - You’ve designed and launched a shiny new product. Engagement is high. Your company hits the success metrics. Everyone celebrates. But deep inside, you’re still questioning whether your design is actually making people’s lives better.

In this episode, James Breeze, Chief Experience Officer, at Objective Experience, shares his ongoing work on a framework he’s designed to help makes designers be more conscious of the impact of their work on humans and the planet and make better decisions. The framework includes Consciousness Competencies, a set of values and behaviours designers can use to improve their lives and the lives of those around them and the planet.

James believes that people working in Human-Centred Design must be highly conscious and compassionate, skills that can and must be learned, just like any other design skill. James also shares his story of becoming a Buddhist monk in Thailand and how that shaped his world view and his mission to improve human lives.

In this episode:

• From a monk to an entrepreneur
• Getting hired as a junior designer
• Challenges of aligning your values with your work
• Speaking up for ethics in design using data
• Why compassion is more important than empathy?
• Bringing more consciousness into your work
• Gathering the courage to talk about feelings
• And much more!

Contact James Breeze at
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamesbreeze/

Objective Experience
https://www.objectiveexperience.com/

Steven Kotler
https://www.stevenkotler.com/

Flow: The Psychology of Happiness by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/57878026-flow

Illustrations by Isa Vicente
https://www.instagram.com/isadezgz/

Music by Brad Porter
https://prtr.co/

Episode edited by Niall Mackay
https://sevenmillionbikes.com/

Follow Design Feeling on social!

LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/company/designfeelingco

Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/designfeelingco/

Twitter
https://twitter.com/designfeelingco

TikTok
https://www.tiktok.com/@designfeelingco

Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/designfeelingco

#009 - If you’re a user researcher, you probably put your users first. But maybe it’s time to put yourself first. In this episode, user researcher and  former civil servant Jane Reid and user researcher and psychodynamic therapist Janice Hannaway stress the need for self-care in user research. User researchers working in complex areas such as homelessness, drug abuse and domestic violence, user researchers can experience vicarious trauma. Too often, this is not addressed properly or even spoken about. With almost 50 years of experience between them, Jane and Janice share their stories of working in these areas and their advice on how to look out for symptoms of trauma. We also talk about ways to maintain your wellbeing through self-care routines, respecting organisational boundaries and being aware of transference.

In this episode:

• What is self-care for user researchers?
• Why there’s not much talk of self care for user researchers?
• What to do when your work conflicts with your values
• How do you know when you need self-care?
• Establishing a self-care routine
• Accepting what you’re feeling and identifying the cause for it
• Believing that you’ve done your best
• Impact of remote working on research

Shownotes

Join Jane and Janice for a fireside chat on Thursday 7th April 2022
www.designfeeling.co/fireside

ResearchU
https://researchutraining.com/

Self-care in user research
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/exposure-others-trauma-toxic-jane-reid/

Sex and/or gender — working together to get the question right
https://blogs.gov.scot/digital/2018/07/05/sex-and-or-gender-working-together-to-get-the-question-right/

Contacting Jane Reid
https://twitter.com/janereid73
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jane-reid-1bbb9196/

Contacting Janice Hannaway
https://twitter.com/jahconsultancy
https://www.linkedin.com/in/janice-hannaway-24366a8b/

Credits

Illustrations by Isa Vicente
https://www.instagram.com/isadezgz/

Music by Brad Porter
https://prtr.co/

Episode edited by Niall Mackay
https://sevenmillionbikes.com/

Follow Design Feeling on social!

LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/company/designfeelingco

Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/designfeelingco/

Twitter
https://twitter.com/designfeelingco

TikTok
https://www.tiktok.com/@designfeelingco

Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/designfeelingco

#008 - As designers, we take on the responsibility to make the world better through design and we feel we have to come up with new ideas and solutions. But sometimes, reusing a solution that already works might be a faster and more impactful approach. In this episode, author of Business Thinking for Designers and CEO of Second Wave Dive shares his stories of making business impact through re-engineering successful tools and methods. Ryan also shares his struggles growing as a designer and design executive and how he thought he wasn’t doing a good job. He also shares his advice on building your contextual awareness of your organisation to be a more effective designer. Ryan also reveals the various factors that shaped him throughout his life and importance of self-work in continuously iterating your values and maintaining your wellbeing as a designer. 

In this episode:

• When you’re thinking you’re not doing a good job
• Living your values authentically and iteratively
• Letting go of the idea that I have to invent everything
• The impact of your organisation's narrative
• Building your contextual awareness within your organisation
• Importance of self-work

Shownotes

Join Ryan Rumsey for a fireside chat on Thursday 24th March 2022 2-3pm UK time. Register at
https://www.designfeeling.co/fireside/

Download Business Thinking for Designers for free
https://www.designbetter.co/business-thinking-for-designers

Ryan’s website
https://www.ryanrumsey.com/

Second Wave Dive
https://www.secondwavedive.com/

Socials
https://twitter.com/ryanrumsey
https://twitter.com/secondwavedive
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanrumsey/
https://www.linkedin.com/school/secondwavedive/

Therapy Den
www.therapyden.com

Follow Design Feeling on social!

LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/company/designfeelingco

Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/designfeelingco/

Twitter
https://twitter.com/designfeelingco

TikTok
https://www.tiktok.com/@designfeelingco

Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/designfeelingco

#007 - Many think UX is something new but it’s not. A lot of UXers have been working in the industry for decades now and starting to experience a mid-career crisis. In this episode, user researcher and author of the UX Careers Handbook, Cory Lebson, shares his honest stories of experiencing the mid-career crisis and how he handled it. We also talk about using biometrics to learn about your own emotions and better manage the external triggers that could affect you. Cory also shares his advice for letting go of the pressure of having to make a difference and separating your identity from your work.

In this episode:

• Being in touch with your feelings with biometrics
• Speaking up to clients honestly about what's causing you stress
• Letting go of the pressure of having to make a difference
• Knowing what’s under your control and what’s not
• Finding your UX support community
• Value of having patience in your career
• The future of UX
• Cory’s book ‘The UX Careers Handbook’

Shownotes

20% discount on Cory’s book “The UX Careers Handbook” - email Cory for a discount code at
[email protected]

Cory’s website
https://lebsontech.com/

Cory’s courses on LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/learning/instructors/cory-lebson

Oura Ring
https://ouraring.com/

Follow Design Feeling on social!

LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/company/designfeelingco

Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/designfeelingco/

Twitter
https://twitter.com/designfeelingco

TikTok
https://www.tiktok.com/@designfeelingco

Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/designfeelingco