By Patrick Stafford
4.9
3434 ratings
The podcast currently has 40 episodes available.
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Canva is a true (Aussie) tech success story, and the content design practice there is no small reason why.
One of the people leading that practice is Sally, Head of Content Design at Canva.
Sally and I dive into how Canva has built one of the strongest content design practices in the world, why leadership is about more than managing people, and what content designers need to do to grow their careers. We also discuss why content design in Australia often feels a few steps behind the global stage and what Canva is doing to set an example.
This was such an honest and motivating conversation, and I think it’ll resonate with anyone working in content or design, especially those navigating fast-paced environments.
Timestamps:
(0.52) Content design at Canva (4.28) Sally's work experience and history (8.30) Growing Canva's content design team (10.44) How Canva content designers approach AI (13.20) How Sally helps lead and develop her team (23.00) How leaders should prioritize (26.20) What Sally looks for when hiring (29.20) How to navigate change as a leader (32.50) Sally's biggest leadership challenges (38.15) The importance of culture and values (43.30) Psychological safety in teams (48.20) What the industry needs to change
What we talked about:
Notable Quotes:
Where to Find Sally:
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A few weeks ago I made a post on LinkedIn that caused a little bit of a stir. I said that content designers need to do more in considering how content supports the greater product ecosystem...and why that lack of curiosity might be holding them back.
In essence, I was asking: which is more important - product or content?
I got a lot of great responses, but Scott Kubie's was one that stood out to me. His view was that my assessment of the situation was a little upside down, and that we should talk about it.
So I did.
Scott and I agree that content designers need to think bigger, but we're coming at this from slightly different directions. This episode, we hash it out. I hope you enjoy it - it was a productive, pleasant, and deep conversation that really left me with a better understanding of Scott's position.
What we talked about:
Notable quotes:
Resources Mentioned:
Where to find Scott:
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Having trouble letting go? Deiadora Blanche (Airbnb, Coursera) can help.
In this episode, we dive deep into the idea of ego detachment — letting go of personal attachment to the work we do. Deiadora shares her journey from business consulting to content strategy, and how she’s learned to balance personal growth with professional success.
We also chat about thinking like a CEO, even when you’re not in leadership, and how content professionals can create their own success by setting metrics and driving results. Plus, Deiadora shares some incredible insights about AI content strategy — why we need to engage with it, not fear it.
If you’re curious about how to stay grounded in your work, navigate high-pressure environments, or just want to hear some practical advice on building a successful content strategy career, this episode is a must-listen.
What we talked about:
Notable quotes:
Where to find Deiadora:
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Vidhika Bansal might win the award for the most positive Twitter timeline. Just reading her tweets makes your entire day better.
But Vidhika's talents go far beyond nice social media posts. Her intense interest and focus on human behaviour and user research make her one of the most thoughtful and fascinating people in UX. She's spoken at conferences like Button and Confab, led teams at organizations like Intuit, and has one of the most human-centered approaches to UX that I know of.
Vidhika shares her journey from studying pre-med to finding her passion for human-centered design, explaining how her love for poetry and small details fuels her content strategy work today. She talks about the intersection of behavioral psychology, content design, and the profound impact of well-crafted UX writing on user confidence and trust.
Whether you're a content designer, UX writer, or simply curious about how the little things in digital products can make all the difference, this episode dives deep into the art of designing for the human experience.
We talk about:
Connect with Vidhika:
Vidhika on LinkedIn
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Larry Swanson might be one of the most knowledgeable and friendly people in content design and content strategy. Every time you speak to him, he’s full of joy and passion about the craft.
Not just that - he’s probably one of the most intelligent people in the industry when it comes to the technical aspects of content. He calls himself a “content architect”, but that’s really too short a description of his capabilities. Whether he’s talking about information architecture, content modeling, or content and AI, Larry has just an unthinkable amount of knowledge and depth when it comes to how content is created and structured within a product experience.
So that’s why I had him on the podcast today. We discuss:
Larry’s history in content
His thoughts on the skills content designers need to succeed
Knowledge graphs - what the hell are they, and why are they important?
Information architecture
Much, much more…
Connect with Kyra:
Larry Swanson on LinkedIn
Knowledge Graph Insights
Content Strategy Insights
Content + AI
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I know, I know. A lot of AI. But I swear, the conversation in this one is really worth listening to.
For so many organizations, the use of AI is dictated by the CEO, or head of product, etc. Rarely do content designers take the effort or initiative to actually develop an idea of how AI should be integrated.
That's why this interview with Kyra Lee from UserTesting was so fascinating to me. Kyra and her colleagues have taken the initiative to create a "playbook" about how AI should be approached in their design philosophy.
We talk about that, plus...
As always, let me know your thoughts: [email protected].
(Also, yes...audio is a bit off today. Again. Please be patient as I fix some ongoing issues!)
Connect with Kyra:
Kyra Lee on LinkedIn
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Getting into content design is hard enough, but contracting roles are a different struggle altogether. While they can be lucrative (potentially depending where you live) they're also difficult to crack.
But they're also a necessary struggle to understand - often the way to start a content design career is to begin with some contracting roles.
Today's guest is a content design contracting queen. Alliteration!
Slater Katz has worked as content designer for Netflix, Chime, Verizon, Fitbit, and more. Not only can I vouch for her content design skills (she's worked with us at UXCC for a bit) but she's unique in that she understands how business goals and design goals intersect - a rare skill.
And she understands personal branding better than anyone in the biz, in my opinion.
In this interview we discuss content design contracting, how to improve your personal brand, what makes a great contractor stand out, and why asking questions when you start isn't a sign of weakness - it's a strength.
Connect with Slater:
Slater Katz on LinkedIn
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Ah, English degrees. So often the target of snide comments and "there but for..." looks. I don't think there's another academic pursuit that's used as a metaphor for uselessness quite as much. Maybe basket weaving.
And yet, as content designers know, English majors can become one of technology's secret weapons.
Speaking of secret weapons...
Today's guest might be one of the most impressive people in content design.
Sammie Spector is the content design lead at Condé Nast, where she looks after brands including Vogue, The New Yorker, Condé Nast Traveler, GQ, Glamour, Architectural Digest, Vanity Fair, Pitchfork, Wired, and Bon Appétit. And she's one of the most impressive people I know. She has an incredible work ethic. Not only does she hold down a demanding job, she grades students and teaches workshops for UX Content Collective, and oh...she was an English major too.
Which is exactly what we talk about today. How English majors can stop feeling helpless, and start thinking about their careers. But we don't stop there. We cover:
Sammie's wisdom should be heard by everyone in the industry. Send this to your friendly neighbourhood English grad, and give them a smile: it's gonna be okay.
Connect with Sammie:
Sammie Spector on LinkedIn
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There's an interesting path opening up in content design: working on the actual language models underpinning this explosion of new features we're seeing.
This is a new and fairly anxiety-inducing area. But as content designers, it's important that we engage and help build any type of new technology that involves content - or it's going to outpace us.
This is why I spoke with Ben Barone-Nugent from Google for today's podcast. He's on the Gemini team, and we spoke about his work in moving from traditional "content design" into the content (and conversation) design for an chat-based LLM experience.
This is an important chat for many reasons, but here's a big one: it's important that we see a future for how content designers can be involved in this type of work. We talk about that, and:
A quick note: apologies for my audio quality this month. I accidentally used my laptop microphone instead of my big fancy one. Don't hate me!
Ben on LinkedIn:
Ben Barone-Nugent on LinkedIn
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Ron Yakar made a bit of noise last month when he wrote a post on LinkedIn discussing how he created an AI tool to help scale UX writing at Monday.com.
There was lots of debate.
"This is cool."
"This is scary."
"Why don't you hire more content designers?"
And everything in between. So, I wanted to get Ron on the podcast to discuss it. Not only because it's an interesting piece of craft, but also because it's a vision of where things are heading. So far we've been so focused on using LLMs through prompts, but Ron's tool is an example of what happens when content designers and UX writers think about meshing AI and content operations together.
We talk about Ron's background, his approach to AI, the tool itself, his process in using AI and determining when and where to use human intervention, and more.
I know I always say it. But you can't miss this one.
Connect with Ron:
Ron Yakar on LinkedIn
Listeners get 20% off podcasts and workshops at UX Content Collective! Just use PODCAST20 at checkout
The podcast currently has 40 episodes available.
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