Podcast · Arts & Books

Beyond UX Design

by Jeremy Miller · English · Arts & Books

Beyond UX Design’s mission is to give you the tools you need to be a truly effective UX designer by diving into the soft skills they won’t be teaching you in school or a boot camp. These soft skills are critical for your success as a UX professional.

New episodes: Weekly
Typical length: 19 min
Latest: 15 Oct 2026
Language: English

Latest episode

15 Oct 2026 · 16 minNew

Illusion of Transparency: Why Your Design Rationale Isn’t as Obvious as You Think

If your disagreement feels obvious to you, why does everyone keep walking out of the meeting thinking you’re on board? A Stanford researcher once had people tap out familiar songs on a desk and predict how often listeners would name the tune. Tappers guessed about half the time. Listeners got three out of 120. That gap has a name: the illusion of transparency. It’s our tendency to overestimate how much other people can see what’s going on inside us, like our nerves, our disagreement, our intentions, and our tone. Thomas Gilovich, Kenneth Savitsky, and Victoria Husted Medvec put this bias on…

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Earlier episodes 29 most recent

S1 · E3 · 7 Oct 2026 · 22 min
Was It Worth It? // What Survives E03
When my team moved from Figma to Cursor, we gave things up on purpose. In this episode, I walk through the real ledger: lost visual history, the comment threads that held our why, a rejected pull request, and what we gained by designing with the real product instead of a picture of it. When your design team trades the canvas for code, what actually disappears, and is what you get back worth more than what you lost? A few months ago, I designed a full-page drag and drop interaction, cut it for a technical constraint, and then went looking for it a month later when that constraint disappeared.…
2 Oct 2026 · 16 min
Belief Bias: Why Good Ideas Get Grilled and Bad Ones Sail Through
This week we dig into belief bias, the reason your team grills the research it doesn’t like and waves through the stuff it already agrees with. Same evidence, two completely different levels of scrutiny. If you’ve ever won an argument at work, how sure are you that you made the better case and not just the more popular one? Belief bias is what happens when we judge an argument by whether we agree with where it lands instead of whether the logic actually holds up. If the conclusion sounds right, weak reasoning gets a pass. If it sounds wrong, suddenly everyone turns into a fact-checker. It’s…
S1 · E2 · 24 Sep 2026 · 19 min
We Cut Figma. Here's Why. // What Survives E02
It’s a regular Thursday sync until my manager cuts our Figma license and hands the whole product team one month to go fully AI. In this one I walk through who made that call, the surprisingly solid case for it, and the very selfish panic running through my head while I said nothing. When the tool you spent a decade mastering loses its market value in a single meeting, what exactly are you afraid of losing: your job, or your identity? This is the episode about the day the call actually came down. I’m at my kitchen counter with a fresh coffee, hopping on a normal weekly UX sync, when my…
17 Sep 2026 · 17 min
Not Invented Here: When “We’re Different” Is Just an Excuse to Ignore Outside Work
Ever notice an idea gets a cold reception the moment it comes from another team? That’s Not Invented Here. This week I dig into why our brains treat “not ours” as “not good,” what it cost teams I worked on at GE, and how to catch it early. When your team says an outside idea “won’t work for us,” are you evaluating the idea, or just the team it came from? Not Invented Here is the tendency to reject or undervalue ideas, tools, and research that come from outside your own team, while overvaluing the stuff you built yourselves. The catch is that it never announces itself. It feels like you have…
S1 · E1 · 9 Sep 2026 · 19 min
When Figma Was Just How We Worked // What Survives E01
A late-night DM from a listener named Chris asked me something I couldn’t answer: did I lose my identity as a designer? My team just went one hundred percent Cursor, no more Figma. This season, I figure out what AI actually changes about the work, and what it never touched. When the tool that defined your job for a decade disappears overnight, what part of “designer” actually leaves with it? This is the first solo season in the history of Beyond UX Design. No guests, no interviews, just me working through one question that landed in my DMs late one night from Chris, a listener I’ve known for…
4 Sep 2026 · 14 min
Source Confusion: Why Your Ideas Get Remembered Under Someone Else’s Name
We remember what we learned but lose track of where it came from. I dig into source confusion, the memory quirk that quietly decides who gets credit on your team, whose research gets remembered, and why the person who repeats an idea usually beats the person who had it. Have you ever watched your idea come out of someone else’s mouth twenty minutes later and get all the applause you didn’t? Source confusion is the reason your team’s history gets rewritten without anyone meaning to do it. We hold onto what we learn and quietly lose the note about where it came from. Back in 1993, researchers…
4 Sep 2026 · 2 min
What Survives: When AI Comes for Your Design Work (Season 1 Trailer)
At the end of April, my design team dropped Figma. As of May first, we've been one hundred percent in Cursor. Then a friend asked me if I'd lost my identity as a designer, and I couldn't answer him. This season, eight solo episodes, is my answer. Starts September 08. If the tool that defined your career disappeared tomorrow, what part of being a designer would actually be left? This season is different. No guests, no interviews. Just me, telling you exactly what happened when my team lost the tool that, for a decade, basically defined what it meant to be a designer. At the end of April, our…
E24 · 25 Aug 2026 · 17 min
Anchoring Effect: Stop Letting the First Draft Define the Whole Project
Whoever puts the first number, the first draft, or the first design in front of the team quietly decides where everyone else ends up. This week I dig into why anchoring bias steers our estimates, redesigns, and negotiations more than we realize, and what we can do about it. Ever set out to redesign a feature and ended up with the same product wearing a fresh coat of paint? There’s a good chance you got anchored before the work even started.Anchoring bias is the tendency to lean too heavily on the first piece of information we encounter when making a decision. Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman…
E151 · 14 Jul 2026 · 1 hr 2 min
What Reinventing Your Career (Twice) Actually Looks Like with Chris Nguyen
Jeremy catches up with friend of the show, Chris Nguyen, who’s rebuilt his business twice since his last appearance. They talk about why designers can’t count on job security the way they used to, what it actually takes to build something of your own, and why the perfect plan is a myth worth abandoning early. If you can’t count on your job to protect you, what are you doing to protect yourself? Chris Nguyen has already rebuilt his business once since he last joined the show, and by the time this episode airs, he’ll be in the middle of doing it again. He built UX Playbook into a recognized…
E24 · 27 Jun 2026 · 17 min
Ambiguity Effect: The Hidden Reason Your Roadmap Keeps Playing It Safe
Your team isn’t just avoiding risk, they’re avoiding the unknown. In this episode of the Cognition Catalog, I break down the ambiguity effect: the cognitive bias that makes unfamiliar ideas, tools, and people feel like threats before anyone’s even evaluated them on their merits. Have you ever watched a genuinely strong idea get quietly buried in a planning meeting? Not because anyone argued against it, but because nobody could fully picture how it would play out? The ambiguity effect is what happens when our brains treat “I don’t know” as “probably bad.” It’s not the same as avoiding risk.…
E150 · 25 Jun 2026 · 57 min
Build a Career That Outlasts Your Next Layoff with Frank Bach
Your nine-to-five pays the bills, but it doesn’t define your career, and if you think it does, that might be the thing holding you back. This week, I sit down with a lead product designer, community builder, and all-around multi-hyphenate to talk about owning your career before someone else does. What happens to your sense of identity when the job goes away? Have you built anything outside of it that would survive? My guest this week is Frank Bach, a lead product designer who’s worked at places like Instagram, DoorDash, and Headspace. But honestly, the resume might be the least interesting…
9 Jun 2026 · 16 min
Illusory Correlation: The Bias That Turns Coincidence Into Conviction
Your brain is wired to find patterns. That's mostly a good thing... until it's not. This episode breaks down illusory correlation: why your team sees connections that aren't there, and what you can do to stop making decisions based on a handful of vivid moments dressed up as a trend. Have you ever watched your team make a confident product decision based on a pattern that, when you actually look at the data, barely exists? Illusory correlation is the bias that turns coincidence into conviction. When two things happen close together -- even just once or twice -- our brains quietly file them…
E149 · 28 May 2026 · 1 hr 6 min
You're Not the Center of the Corporate Universe with Andy Vitale
There's a gap between how designers see themselves and how everyone else sees them, and that gap has consequences. In this episode, a seasoned design executive shares what it really means to be a good corporate citizen, why design isn't the center of the universe, and how to show up differently. What if the biggest thing holding your career back isn't your design skills? What if it's the way you think about your role inside the organization? My guest today has spent years leading design within large, complex organizations—places like Truist, 3M, and Rocket—where designers are easily…
22 May 2026 · 14 min
Social Desirability: Everyone Knew. Nobody Said It.
We've all been in that meeting: the one where everyone nods along and nobody says the thing they're actually thinking. That's not a personality flaw. It's a bias. This episode of the Cognition Catalog breaks down social desirability and what it's quietly costing your team. Have you ever walked out of a meeting knowing you should have said something, and then watched the project stumble over the exact problem nobody brought up? This week on the Cognition Catalog, we're talking about social desirability bias, and no, this one isn't just about user research. It shows up in every standup, every…
E148 · 15 May 2026 · 55 min
Yes, And... Now What? Improv Lessons for Navigating the Actual Job with Nikki Anderson
Your tools are solid. Your process is tight. But when a stakeholder pushes back, a workshop goes sideways, or a PM challenges your work, none of that matters. What matters is how you respond. Nikki Anderson joins me to talk about improv, structured play, and how to stay sharp when the messy stuff hits. What if the most important skill in your UX career has nothing to do with design? Nikki Anderson is a UX research consultant, founder of Drop-In Research, and one of those rare people who can draw a straight line between improv comedy and stakeholder management, and actually make it land. She…
8 May 2026 · 13 min
The Frequency Illusion: You Just Noticed It, but it Was Always There
Your brain doesn't show you everything around you — it shows you what it's been told to look for. In this episode of the Cognition Catalog, we break down the frequency illusion and how this quirk of attention can quietly warp how product teams spot trends, prioritize problems, and build roadmaps. What if the trend your team keeps talking about isn't actually a trend — and your brain has been quietly manufacturing evidence for it this whole time? The frequency illusion is one of those cognitive biases that feels like insight right up until it isn't. You learn a new term, you spot a new…
E149 · 1 May 2026 · 1 hr 9 min
The Execution Trap Nobody Warns You About with Cat Lo
Cat Lo spent 20 years learning that execution excellence can actually hold you back. After burning out at Amazon doing beautiful work that nobody noticed, she distilled her hard-won lessons into five tenets, a framework that helped her shape billion-dollar opportunities and drive $218 million in impact. What if the very thing that made you a great designer is the reason you’re being left out of the decisions that matter most? Cat Lo’s career has taken a path most designers don’t follow, starting with a bus ticket to New York City and no job waiting, through agency work, entrepreneurship, and…
23 Apr 2026 · 15 min
Survivorship Bias: Success Theater and the Data You Never See
We've built our careers on case studies, portfolios, and success stories, but what if we're only ever seeing a fraction of the full picture? This week, we dig into survivorship bias and how it quietly shapes the decisions your product team makes every day. What if every case study and "here's how we did it" success story you've ever learned from was missing the most important part of the story? Every startup founder story sounds the same. Crazy idea. Doubters everywhere. Bet on themselves. Changed everything. It's a great narrative, but it's a narrative written entirely by the people who…
E146 · 31 Mar 2026 · 42 min
Democratize Without Destroying: The Case for Research Charters with Ned Dwyer
AI is making it easier than ever to run research, but faster doesn't always mean better. In this episode, we dig into what it really means to democratize research responsibly, and why your team probably needs a charter before someone does something they can't take back. Your team is already running research without you. So the real question is: are you going to help them do it well, or just hope for the best? Ned Dwyer is the co-founder and CEO of Great Question, an all-in-one UX research platform built to bring research to everyone in an organization. Not just the people with "researcher"…
E19 · 19 Mar 2026 · 13 min
Expectation Bias: Your Prediction Is Showing
Have you ever walked out of a usability session completely confident in your findings, only to ship something that quietly missed the mark? What if the signal was there the whole time, and your brain just decided it wasn't worth logging? This week on the Cognition Catalog, we tackle The Expectation Bias. This bias shapes what you notice before you've even decided what to think about it. Your brain has already generated a prediction before the first participant clicks a button or a teammate presents their work, and that prediction quietly shapes what registers as a signal and what gets…
E145 · 12 Mar 2026 · 1 hr 7 min
Party of One: Building a Practice When You're Alone in the Room with Julian Della Mattia
What does it actually take to be the first, or only, designer or researcher on a team? Spoiler: it’s not just about doing great work. This week, we get into the unglamorous, under-discussed side of the solo role: building systems, managing up, and earning trust before you’ve even shipped anything. What happens when you’re really good at the craft, but nobody around you understands what you do, why it matters, or how to support you? Julian Della Mattia has spent his career doing one of the hardest things in UX: showing up first. As a researcher who has repeatedly been the founding or solo…
E18 · 5 Mar 2026 · 12 min
Anecdotal Fallacy: A Data Point of One Is Not Evidence
Why does one vivid customer story outweigh months of research? This week on the Cognition Catalog, we break down the anecdotal fallacy — our tendency to let a single experience override real evidence. Learn why stories hijack decisions, how this shows up on product teams, and what you can do about it. Have you ever watched weeks of solid research get sidelined by one person saying, "Yeah, but I talked to a customer who hated it"? We've all been in that meeting. The team has done the work—research is solid, the data points in a clear direction—and then someone shares a single story that…
27 Feb 2026 · 50 min
From Iran to China to the US: A real-life VUCA Story with Mahnaz Hajesmaeili
Mahnaz has lived with volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity in ways most product teams never will. In this episode, we talk about what happens when VUCA isn’t theoretical, how to avoid becoming an order taker, and how courage, empathy, and initiative can reshape your role as a designer. What if the volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity you’re facing at work feel overwhelming only because you’ve never had to live through it in your everyday life? I throw the word VUCA around like it’s a trendy framework. Volatility. Uncertainty. Complexity. Ambiguity. But for Mahnaz…
E17 · 23 Jan 2026 · 12 min
The Testing Effect: Why nodding along doesn’t mean alignment
You can have clear meetings, clean decks, and unanimous nods and still walk away misaligned. In this episode of the Cognition Catalog, we break down the testing effect and why teams confuse exposure with learning. We’ll look at how recall, not agreement, is what actually creates alignment. If everyone was in the same meeting… why does everyone remember it differently? You’ve probably experienced this before: a meeting ends with clear action items, apparent alignment, and a general sense that things are settled, only for confusion to resurface weeks later. Different assumptions. Different…
E143 · 15 Jan 2026 · 57 min
How Healthy Conflict Creates Better Design Decisions With Yaprak Gültay Davison
Most teams treat conflict as something to avoid. In this episode, I sit down with Yaprak Gültay Davison to talk about why that instinct backfires. We explore how healthy disagreement builds trust, improves decision-making, and helps teams move faster... without blowing things up. What if the tension you’re trying to avoid at work is actually the thing your team needs most? Most design teams say they value collaboration, empathy, and alignment, but rarely talk about disagreement. In this conversation, I sat down with Yaprak Davison , Head of Design at Goodnotes and former design leader at…
E142 · 8 Jan 2026 · 1 hr 1 min
The Hidden Cost of Being the Dependable Designer With Vivianne Castillo
Design was supposed to be creative work. For a lot of designers, it’s turned into endurance. In this episode, I’m joined by Vivianne Castillo to unpack how corporate design culture quietly rewards burnout, why endurance gets mistaken for professionalism, and how designers can start reclaiming creativity, agency, and choice. What if the behaviors that made you successful in design are the same ones slowly disconnecting you from yourself? Design culture loves to celebrate resilience, but too often what’s really being rewarded is endurance: tolerating vague feedback, late pivots, constant…
E141 · 19 Dec 2025 · 1 hr 15 min
What hundreds of designer interviews reveal about growth with Jayneil Dalal
We love talking about growth mindset, but curiosity without action doesn’t move your career forward. In this episode, Jayneil Dalal shares what he’s learned from interviewing hundreds of designers—and why the people who actually ship, share, and care about craft are the ones who keep growing. What if the fastest way to grow your career isn’t asking for a promotion—but becoming the designer everyone trusts? In this episode, I sit down with Jayneil Dalal to talk less about career ladders and more about what actually earns trust inside organizations. After interviewing hundreds of designers on…
E140 · 12 Dec 2025 · 1 hr 2 min
When Up Isn’t an Option: Stop Climbing the Career Ladder with Ran Liu
Most designers hit senior level and suddenly there’s no obvious next step. In this episode, Ran Liu breaks down why the smartest career move may not be straight up, but diagonal. We unpack how to recognize stagnation, build visibility, stretch your skills, and create the kind of opportunities your company can’t (or won’t) give you. What if the fastest way to grow your design career isn’t a promotion? What if it's a diagonal move into work that stretches your range and makes you harder to replace? Every designer eventually hits that moment: you’ve earned trust, you’re doing great work, you’ve…
E16 · 4 Dec 2025 · 9 min
Zero Sum Bias: Escaping the “If They Win, I Lose” Trap
We talk about collaboration, but our brains often treat work like a win-lose game. In this episode, I break down Zero-Sum Bias, the belief that someone else’s win automatically means your loss, where it comes from, how it quietly shapes team dynamics, and what you can do to build more win-win outcomes at work. What if your brain has been keeping score at work this whole time? And the game it thinks you’re playing doesn’t actually exist? We repeat lines like, “If a stakeholder wins, designers lose,” or “If the PM wins, users lose,” so often that they start to feel like facts. In this episode…

About Beyond UX Design

Beyond UX Design is a English arts & books podcast from Jeremy Miller. Melo plays each episode straight from the publisher's own feed — no ads added, no account needed — and remembers where you stopped, in this browser only.

Publisher: Jeremy Miller
Language: English
Category: Arts & Books
New episodes: Weekly
Typical length: 19 min
Latest episode: 15 Oct 2026
Feed: RSS — paste into any podcast app
Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1649102310
Rights: Jeremy Miller

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