The best 2021 podcasts to level up your design game (and your personal life)
One of the biggest truths is that good design is not only about applying best practices or following a good thinking framework. Good design comes most of the time from a great understanding of your users, which are, in the end, human beings.
Here’s a selection of 10 of the best podcasts of 2021 I found compelling and capable of completing my knowledge of humanity and how our brains work. You will find some focused on UX/UI topics and discussion, plus a selection of psychology-related ones.
UX/UI related podcasts
💠 The Object-Oriented UX Podcast
hosted by Sophia Prater
If you ever stumbled upon OOUX, you know Sophia Prater. You maybe even read her Medium articles on the subject (here’s the one that I like the most). This podcast is hugely oriented on OOUX, the method, and how to apply it to different contexts and domains of UX.
(I warmly suggest following the first episodes on Youtube since they require more visual support).
2021 episodes I enjoyed the most:
- How to sell UX Research with OOUX
- Writing is designing with Michael Metts and Andy Welfle
- OOUXing your career with Amanda Worthington
Listen to The Object-Oriented UX Podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or Google Podcasts
📚 UI Narrative
hosted by Tolu Garcia
UI Narrative “shares the stories of people of color interface designers and researchers and their contributions towards creating user-centered experiences,” but it does not only that. Through genuine conversations, you will follow Tolu Garcia interviewing a pool of hosts. You will feel included as you were old friends discussing illuminating topics around UI and UX Design.
2021 episodes I enjoyed the most:
- Is It Time to Quit Your Job
- Are You a Human-Centered Researcher or Designer?
- How To Be Receptive To Design Feedback
- Maybe You’re Supposed To Be a UX Researcher3
Listen to UI Narrative podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or Stitcher.
🛡️ User Defenders
hosted by Jason Ogle
I suggest listening to the latest episodes of User Defenders but the older ones as well. You’re not going to regret it! In this podcast, “you’ll discover how-to’s, but much more importantly, you’ll discover why-to’s,” which are the most important thing to learn to become a better UX Designer.
2021 episodes I enjoyed the most:
- 076: User Research? Game On with Steve Bromley
- 077: Conflict Resolution for People Who Hate Conflict with Josh Mauldin
- 080: Everything I Know (So Far) on Landing a Job in UX with Jason Ogle
Listen to User Defenders podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or Google Podcasts.
✨ UX Hustle
hosted by Amanda Worthington
UX Hustle focuses on what it means to be a UX Designer and how it looks like to be one from the perspective of very different people who chose to become a designer. While the podcast is a must to listen to if you’re looking for your first UX job opportunity, it is rich in experiences and tips for in-house designers and freelancers. I like the most about UX Hustle because it gives me a window to peek at what other fellow designers are doing or did in their job path. It is illuminating to see how other people faced the same challenge that I did. It is also good to keep myself up-to-date with the latest trends and requirements from job marketing.
2021 episodes I enjoyed the most:
- #28: Fruitful UX Research: Combining Science with the Messiness
- #33: You’re Not Alone; Nobody knows what they’re doing with Chad Rieck
- #36: Feel the Fear + DO IT Anyway with Joe Natoli
Listen to UX Hustle podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or Google Podcasts.
🥞 UI Breakfast
hosted by Jane Portman
UI Breakfast is the first UI/UX podcast I have ever listened to. The host, Jane Portman, does a fantastic job in selecting topics and guests to interview and always brings exciting questions to the table. The issues really vary and go from new tools and methodologies to best practices in the field.
2021 episodes I enjoyed the most:
- BDTP. Helping Users Do Their Work with Kristina Quinones — BDTP. Using Surveys for Customer Success with Moritz Dausinger
- Episode 209: JTBD Interviews with Alli Blum
- Episode 216: Meeting Facilitation with Douglas Ferguson
- Episode 220: Best Practices in Design with Karl Gillis
Listen to UI Breakfast podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or Google Podcasts.
🧑🏼🏫 The NN/g UX Podcast
hosted by Therese Fessenden
If you’re a UX Designer and don’t know about the NN/g Group, well…stop here because you have more urgent things to read! NN/g Group has a well-structured UX/UI-related website and blog, which I find myself consulting almost every day. The podcast is similar to what they cover in their articles, with a twist focused on new topics related to design.
2021 episodes I enjoyed the most:
- 8. Thinking Beyond Interactions: Omnichannel Experiences and CS (feat. Kim Salazar)
- 9. You Are Not the User: How the False Consensus Effect Can Lead Good Design Astray (feat. Alita Joyce)
- 11. Solo UX: How to Be a One-Person UX Team (feat. Garrett Goldfield)
Listen to The NN/g UX Podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or Google Podcasts
Miscellaneous podcasts
🤯 Hidden Brain
hosted by Shankar Vedantam
I enjoy listening to Hidden Brain very much. It helps me better understand how the mind works and struggle to be as empathic with the user as possible; this is an excellent knowledge set. Hidden Brain “reveals the unconscious patterns that drive human behavior, the biases that shape our choices, and the triggers that direct the course of our relationships.”
2021 episodes I enjoyed the most:
- Why Conversations Go Wrong
- Our Noisy Minds
- You 2.0 Series (Cultivating Your Purpose — In the Heat of the Moment — Did That Really Happen? — Regrets, I Have a Few…)
Listen to Hidden Brain podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or Google Podcasts.
🗿 The Daily Stoic
hosted by Ryan Holiday
2021 episodes I enjoyed the most:
- This Choice Is Everything | A Cure for Procrastination
- Compete With Yourself and Root for Everybody Else
- Make Sure You Write Down Everything Interesting that You Find (I talk about a related topic in my article How to build a Wunderkammer to collect resources and get inspired)
- You Are Not Seeing the Whole Picture | Nothing to Fear but Fear Itself
- Labels Make You Worse
- 7 Stoic Productivity Strategies That Will Change Your Life
Listen to The Daily Stoic Podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or Stitcher
🎨 The Accidental Creative
hosted by Todd Henry
As UX Designers, we may wear many different hats and excel in a varied set of skills, but I think we’re creative in the first place. That’s because we’re human beings. We tend to be inventive no matter what (and despise most people I know decided to believe the oldest of the lies, that they’re not creative :D). The Accidental Creative is a good-to-go podcast for all the people who want to communicate something and express themselves. It does not matter if you’re a designer or a chef, a teacher or an accountant: you are creative, and this podcast can help you to find that part in you (that all of us have!) and to train it with purpose.
2021 episodes I enjoyed the most:
- Creativity Under Pressure
- Everyone Deserves a Great Manager
- Developing Fantastic Products
- Making Work More Effortless
- Get Different
Listen to The Accidental Creative podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or Google Podcasts.
💪 The Awesome Human Podcast
hosted by Nataly Kogan
Not strictly related to design, I find this podcast helpful to understand my limits and needs better while learning how to respect them. As an over-achiever, this is not easy for me. Still, the host Nataly Kogan and her guests always share quite actionable, exciting points of view.
2021 episodes I enjoyed the most:
- Overcoming imposter syndrome and fear of rejection, an interview with Matthew Del Negro — Overcoming Insecurity To Create A Life You Love, with Chris Brock
- Tips for anxious over-achievers — with Morra Aarons-Mele
- How to keep your sanity when everything goes wrong?
Listen to The Awesome Human Podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or Google Podcasts
Hope you will enjoy the podcasts on this list and find them helpful and enlightening. Suggestions for more podcasts to listen to are
