Per Axbom Podcasts

We’ve got a little update for you about UX podcast. We’ve been publishing an episode every other Friday without fail for just over a decade since episode 33, which is absolutely insane. It’s a streak of 277 episodes. 554 weeks. We’ve quite recently actually surpassed 2.5 million downloads. What we’re going to do now is...…

Power dynamics, egos, “I know best”. The ways in which we go about solving problems need to be challenged and changed. Anna Kirah joins us to help us facilitate that change and make a move from design thinking towards transdisciplinary thinking. We talk about what transdisciplinary thinking is and how this differs from teamwork and collaboration. W…

Episode 309 is a linkshow. James and Per discuss two articles that have grabbed their attention – we feature articles about container queries being available to use in all major browsers and how design thinking was supposed to fix the world. Where did it go wrong? Article one is… Container queries land in stable browsers by Una Kravets. “Container …

I can't get the noise out of my head. People who watch the video express awe and disgust. And that is why Dutch software developer Bert Hubert's experiment is so powerful. It doesn't really uncover something that we shouldn't already know. Something we often choose to ignore. The brilliance is that it makes us incapable of ignoring. Bert's experime…

A rarely talked about field of research, known as keystroke dynamics, involves identifying individuals based on how they type on a keyboard. It's getting better, and also easier for anyone to implement. As early as 1860, experienced telegraph operators realized they could actually recognize each individual by everyone's unique tapping rhythm. To th…

What is systems thinking and how can designers make use of it in their work? In her book Closing the loop, Sheryl Cababa lays out her answer and approach to this question. We talk to her and discuss some of the core definitions and concepts. We talk about the difference between soft and hard systems, and even how design systems can be get muddled w…

"But what is it you really work with, Per?" I get this question from time to time in the workplace. Over the years it has, contrary to my expectations, become harder to answer. Not because I do not know, but because it is not readily summarised in an easily digestible product name. Clients wish to purchase UX, or accessibility, or something else to…

Digital tools, smart devices, AI and virtual worlds are celebrated for the problems they solve, while the problems they create are concealed or glossed over. My name is Per Axbom and I’m a Swedish communication theorist born in Liberia. My international upbringing, my early 80s computer enthusiasm, aligned with a passion for responsible innovation,…

In this conversation with Alex Schmidt, author of Deliberate Intervention, we discuss “policy” in relation to digital design and tech. We discuss how even though designers intend to do good and have a positive impact, harm can still happen as a result of our designs. We talk about how it is natural for systems to produce unintended consequences and…

We are constantly simplifying the world around us and the people within it. This is a perfectly understandable reaction to the messy things we have to work with. But with every step back we are building a wall between the user and what it is to be human. We talk to Alastair about human centred design. How...…

Episode 305 is a linkshow. James and Per discuss two articles that have grabbed their attention – we feature articles about designing for people with dyscalculia and low numeracy, and How ChatGPT is blowing Google out of the water: a UX breakdown.By UX Podcast

Getting anything up and running takes both time and planing. Content strategist Natalie Marie Dunbar joins us to talk about her content strategy practice blueprint and how it can help you when building a practice. What to do in order to avoid being an unheard and unappreciated silo as you grow from being a solo practitioner to being an embedded par…

We take a dive into neuroscience and metacognition. Thinking about thinking and thinking about other minds. We are joined by Professor Stephen Fleming, neuroscientist and author of the book Know Thyself to learn more about how our cognition works and the implications for our work as mind-creating creatives and in the development of AI. We discuss m…

We talk to Tom Greever about Articulating Design Decisions. How do we talk about our designs effectively with stakeholders? Every designer has to explain (and justify) their design decisions to non-designers but what are the skills tactics and methods that are needed to pull this off in a way that opens the door for your project to create or improv…

Informed consent is a critical part of the research process. We talk to Kim Foulds and Joyce Rafla about how they made use of videos featuring Sesame Workshop muppets to make taking a consent decision more inclusive, accessible and informed. We discuss the complexity of obtaining informed consent, especially when faced with literacy, cultural and..…

We’ve been tacking jokes onto the end of our shows since Episode 138. So to celebrate Episode 300, we take a look at jokes and humour. We’re joined by Professor Delia Chiaro, who has spent decades researching humour to learn more about what makes things funny and if it’s safe for us to be humorous...…