I’m a big fan of podcasts. I find them to be a great way to learn from experts in my chosen field. If you are time poor (who isn’t?) you can listen to podcasts whilst you’re cooking, cleaning or commuting. I’ve learnt so much from podcasts, for free.
Podcasts don’t necessarily teach you the hard skills involved in product design, but can certainly be helpful in filling out a lot of the context around product design, and open up some new avenues for learning.
It’s not always easy to find the right podcast. There are plenty of podcasts out there that mean well, but are often lengthy, discourse heavy and without much substance. Steer clear of podcasts that are poorly recorded and follow a formulaic interview format.
These are the top podcasts I have listened to over the years that have helped raise my product design game.
This Podcast actually started my interest in User Experience design. It has introduced me to the broad and multifacted domain of UX. Each episode is either an interview with someone working in the product domain or a discussion of some trending topics on UX design.
Hosts James Royal-Lawson and Per Axbom are thoughtful, compasionate and dedicated to their practice.
Website: UX Podcast
Recommended Episode: Design Doing with Don Norman
I’ve rolled two podcasts into one here, as they are very similar in content if not style.
I find these podcasts useful for understanding the issues and talking points that frontend developers encounter on a daily basis. This comes in handy if you want to get in the mindset of the engineers that you work with.
You may find if you have no development knowledge or interest, that these podcasts are a bit ‘inside baseball’. Dig a bit deeper though and you will find some useful talk about common ground between designers and developers - things like image compression, SVGs and the challenge of optimising websites.
Website: Syntax/Shoptalk Show
Recommended Episode: Get Moving with Framer Motion/ Talking with Jen & Adam about Firefox & Chrome
This is a great podcast series which is an audio version of their ebook of the same name. It’s densely packed with product management nuggets, and the sort of pragmatic (and sometimes counterintuitive) approach that is common in good product companies today. The podcast series is short - you could blast through it in an hour - but you'll be quoting parts of it to your colleagues for years.
Website: Intercom on Product Management
Recommended Episodes: How are people actually using your product
This is a podcast series put out by InVision. Each ‘series’ has a theme - be it Design Leadership, DesignOps or the value of design. The great thing about this podcast is it is an interesting insight into how some of the most successful companies in the world operate. If you have worked exclusively in small startups - it is fascinating to learn how the big corporates tackle design with large budgets. These are very useful podcasts for understanding what the contemporary issues are in the product design space.
Website: Design Better Podcast
Recommended Episodes: Michael Leon: from skate punk to creative force