This is HCD – Human-Centered Design, UX & Service Design Thinking Podcast

Gerry Scullion
  • 5.0 (11)
  • DESIGN
  • COMPLETE SERIES

Welcome to This is HCD – Human-Centered Design, UX & Service Design Thinking Podcast, the global show for designers, innovators, and changemakers who want to create better products, services, and experiences. Hosted by Gerry Scullion, with over 1-million downloads worldwide. Each episode dives into conversations with leading voices in service design, UX design, interaction design, customer experience, and design strategy. Together, we explore the methods, mindsets, and real-world stories that bring human-centered design and design thinking to life. Whether you’re a UX researcher, service design practitioner, product manager, or design leader, you’ll find actionable insights, practical tools, and inspiration to elevate your practice and drive meaningful change. Tune in and join the global human-centered design community — learn how to design with purpose, create inclusive solutions, and shape a more thoughtful future.

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  1. The Psychology of Not Belonging: A Conversation with Dr. Rami Kaminski

    30 JAN

    The Psychology of Not Belonging: A Conversation with Dr. Rami Kaminski

    We are building an independent global network of people doing human-centred work. Create an account, learn, listen, connect and network - for free → https://www.thisishcd.com/signup________________________ It's 2026! We are BACK and so bloody excited to kick off this year with one of my favourite conversations from the end of last year. Quite simply, this conversation and connection has changed my life.About this episodeDr. Rami Kaminski, psychiatrist and author of "The Gift of Not Belonging," explores why some people are wired as "otherverts" - individuals who cannot be shaped by group identity. This conversation reveals how otherness isn't a flaw but a genuine gift, offering insights into emotional freedom, empathy, and what happens when we stop trying to fit into systems never built for us. Links https://www.othernessinstitute.com/the-gift-of-not-belonging/Take the Test3 Key TakeawaysWe're all born as non-belongers - Babies have no sense of nationality, religion, or group identity; cultural conditioning teaches us what to belong to, not just that we should belong. True empathy requires eliminating yourself. Real empathy isn't putting yourself in someone's shoes, but temporarily ceasing to exist with your preconceived notions to truly see through another's eyes. The dark side of belonging is tribalism - While community has benefits, the need for group identity enables tribalism, silent majorities, and historical atrocities when people outsource their morals to the group. ________________________→ Train my organisation https://www.thisishcd.com/training→ Video Courses https://www.thisishcd.com/courses→ Private Community (Coaching, Courses, WhatsApp) https://www.thisishcd.com/circle-community ________________________BECOME A MEMBER (IT'S FREE!) and get all of this → FREE Introduction to Journey Management course with Marc Stickdorn & Gerry Scullionhttps://www.thisishcd.com/learning/introduction-to-journey-management→ Discover & Connect with others https://www.thisishcd.com/directory → Claim partner discounts https://www.thisishcd.com/partners → Submit an Article https://www.thisishcd.com/blog+ Coming soon - JOB BOARD, FIND A MENTOR...and more________________________ Creators & Guests Gerry Scullion - Host Dr Rami Kaminski - Guest Serdar Mele - Editor Stef Murphy - Producer

    1hr 9min
  2. Why People Leave People, Not Organisations — with Louise Dennison O'Shaughnessy

    13 FEB

    Why People Leave People, Not Organisations — with Louise Dennison O'Shaughnessy

    We are building an independent global network of people doing human-centred work. Create an account, learn, listen, connect and network - for free → https://www.thisishcd.com/signup________________________ What does psychological safety actually feel like when it's present? And what quietly erodes it? In this episode, Louise Dennison O'Shaughnessy — Director of Mental Health and Wellbeing at EHS International — joins Gerry to unpack the behaviours that damage teams: unclear roles, poor communication, and toxic high performers who get a pass because of their output. They dig into negativity bias (80% of our thoughts are naturally negative), why busyness can become addictive, and practical ways to build healthier boundaries with work and technology. If you've ever felt overworked, unheard, or stuck in the wrong environment — this one's for you. ________________________→ Train my organisation https://www.thisishcd.com/training→ Video Courses https://www.thisishcd.com/courses→ Private Community (Coaching, Courses, WhatsApp) https://www.thisishcd.com/circle-community ________________________BECOME A MEMBER (IT'S FREE!) and get all of this → FREE Introduction to Journey Management course with Marc Stickdorn & Gerry Scullionhttps://www.thisishcd.com/learning/introduction-to-journey-management→ Discover & Connect with others https://www.thisishcd.com/directory → Claim partner discounts https://www.thisishcd.com/partners → Submit an Article https://www.thisishcd.com/blog+ Coming soon - JOB BOARD, FIND A MENTOR...and more________________________ Click here to watch a video of this episode.

    42 min
  3. 'AI Won't Replace Designers — But It Will Replace the Ones Who Ignore It' Behrad Mirafshar

    25 FEB

    'AI Won't Replace Designers — But It Will Replace the Ones Who Ignore It' Behrad Mirafshar

    We are building an independent global network of people doing human-centred work. Create an account, learn, listen, connect and network - for free → https://www.thisishcd.com/signup________________________ AI and design — not the hype, not the doom, but the practical reality. Behrad Mirafshar is the founder of Bonanza Design and host of the UX for AI podcast. He's been deep in the weeds using AI in real client projects — from research and data sense-making through to agents, automation and building modern applications. In this conversation, Gerry and Behrad explore why the real value of AI-driven design sits in the research phase, not auto-generated wireframes. They discuss how designers can use AI as a sparring partner and agent ecosystem to move faster through the double diamond, what skills and attitudes will matter most as we head toward 2030, and the tough questions around bias, inclusion, data ownership, and the younger generation using these tools.https://www.bonanza-studios.com/de.linkedin.com/in/behradmirafshar3. Three Key Takeaways The real value of AI in design is in research, not wireframes. If you're only using AI to generate screens, you're touching the tip of the iceberg. The power sits in navigating massive datasets, creating blueprints for exploration, and making sense of complexity — but the researcher's instinct and judgement still can't be replaced.AI should make you charge more, not less. Behrad is delivering more value to clients by using AI agents and orchestration tools — and pricing accordingly. The competitive advantage isn't the tool, it's the designer who knows how to wield it with specificity and judgement.In 2030, hiring will be about attitude, not tools. The tools will keep changing every week. The designers who thrive will be the ones with relentless curiosity, a willingness to go deeper than surface-level prompting, and the ability to keep the human in the loop when AI wants to run the show. ________________________BRING THIS IS HCD INTO YOUR ORGANISATION → Train my organisation https://www.thisishcd.com/training→ Video Courses https://www.thisishcd.com/courses→ Private Community (Coaching, Courses, WhatsApp) https://www.thisishcd.com/circle-community→ Gerry's consultancy (Service Design and Design Research) https://humana.design/ ________________________BECOME A DIRECTORY MEMBER (IT'S FREE!) and get all of this → FREE Introduction to Journey Management course with Marc Stickdorn & Gerry Scullionhttps://www.thisishcd.com/learning/introduction-to-journey-management→ Discover & Connect with others https://www.thisishcd.com/directory → Claim partner discounts https://www.thisishcd.com/partners → Submit an Article https://www.thisishcd.com/blog+ Coming soon - JOB BOARD, FIND A MENTOR...and more________________________ Creators & Guests Gerry Scullion - Host

    50 min
  4. Avoid These 3 Mistakes When Pitching Design to Leadership

    30 MAR

    Avoid These 3 Mistakes When Pitching Design to Leadership

    We are building an independent global network of people doing human-centred work. Create an account, learn, listen, connect and network - for free → https://www.thisishcd.com/signup________________________ You've done the research. You have the insights. You walk in confident — and it falls flat. In this episode, Gerry unpacks three mistakes designers make when pitching to leadership, including why leading with your methods kills buy-in before you've even started, and what to do instead. ________________________→ Train my organisation https://www.thisishcd.com/training→ Video Courses https://www.thisishcd.com/courses→ Private Community (Coaching, Courses, WhatsApp) https://www.thisishcd.com/circle-community ________________________BECOME A MEMBER (IT'S FREE!) and get all of this → FREE Introduction to Journey Management course with Marc Stickdorn & Gerry Scullionhttps://www.thisishcd.com/learning/introduction-to-journey-management→ Discover & Connect with others https://www.thisishcd.com/directory → Claim partner discounts https://www.thisishcd.com/partners → Submit an Article https://www.thisishcd.com/blog+ Coming soon - JOB BOARD, FIND A MENTOR...and more________________________

    6 min
  5. How to Make Design Visible in a Numbers-First Organisation

    31 MAR

    How to Make Design Visible in a Numbers-First Organisation

    We are building an independent global network of people doing human-centred work. Create an account, learn, listen, connect and network - for free → https://www.thisishcd.com/signup________________________ The metrics-driven leader isn't your enemy — but they might be your biggest unlock. Gerry shares a practical approach to translating qualitative insights into the language of KPIs, OKRs, and cost savings, and why winning over this type of leader can amplify your impact across the whole organisation. ________________________BRING THIS IS HCD INTO YOUR ORGANISATION → Train my organisation https://www.thisishcd.com/training→ Video Courses https://www.thisishcd.com/courses→ Private Community (Coaching, Courses, WhatsApp) https://www.thisishcd.com/circle-community→ Gerry's consultancy (Service Design and Design Research) https://humana.design/ ________________________BECOME A DIRECTORY MEMBER (IT'S FREE!) and get all of this → FREE Introduction to Journey Management course with Marc Stickdorn & Gerry Scullionhttps://www.thisishcd.com/learning/introduction-to-journey-management→ Discover & Connect with others https://www.thisishcd.com/directory → Claim partner discounts https://www.thisishcd.com/partners → Submit an Article https://www.thisishcd.com/blog+ Coming soon - JOB BOARD, FIND A MENTOR...and more________________________ Creators & Guests Gerry Scullion - Host

    4 min
  6. The Top 3 Ways to Build Credibility as a Designer in Your Organisation

    1 APR

    The Top 3 Ways to Build Credibility as a Designer in Your Organisation

    We are building an independent global network of people doing human-centred work. Create an account, learn, listen, connect and network - for free → https://www.thisishcd.com/signup________________________ When you walk into an organisation that does not understand what design really does, your first instinct might be to set up a research phase or propose a design system. But that can wait. In this episode, Gerry Scullion shares three things that actually build credibility in those critical early weeks: being useful to the people around you before advancing your own agenda, adapting your language to fit their world instead of leading with jargon, and documenting every small improvement so you have real evidence when it counts. Credibility is not built on a single presentation. It is built through consistent, visible contributions that make people want to involve designers more often. ________________________BRING THIS IS HCD INTO YOUR ORGANISATION → Train my organisation https://www.thisishcd.com/training→ Video Courses https://www.thisishcd.com/courses→ Private Community (Coaching, Courses, WhatsApp) https://www.thisishcd.com/circle-community→ Gerry's consultancy (Service Design and Design Research) https://humana.design/ ________________________BECOME A DIRECTORY MEMBER (IT'S FREE!) and get all of this → FREE Introduction to Journey Management course with Marc Stickdorn & Gerry Scullionhttps://www.thisishcd.com/learning/introduction-to-journey-management→ Discover & Connect with others https://www.thisishcd.com/directory → Claim partner discounts https://www.thisishcd.com/partners → Submit an Article https://www.thisishcd.com/blog+ Coming soon - JOB BOARD, FIND A MENTOR...and more________________________

    4 min
  7. Garbage In, Garbage Out: The Data Problem Hiding Inside Your AI Strategy - with Caroline Jarrett

    21 MIN AGO

    Garbage In, Garbage Out: The Data Problem Hiding Inside Your AI Strategy - with Caroline Jarrett

    We are building an independent global network of people doing human-centred work. Create an account, learn, listen, connect and network - for free → https://www.thisishcd.com/signup________________________ Forms expert Caroline Jarrett joins Gerry to talk about why the rush to AI is colliding with something most organisations haven't fixed - their own data. A conversation about errors, forms, and the unglamorous work that actually moves the dial.Three Key TakeawaysWell, 6 in this episode, as Caroline is bloody amazing. Pick the three that land hardest for you :-) Forms are the only compulsory part of a service. Everything else in user experience is the mountain - forms are the tiny red peaks poking up above it. Get them wrong and the rest of your design doesn't matter.AI doesn't fix bad data - it propagates it faster. Before any organisation hands work over to a model, the honest question isn't "how do we use AI" but "do we even know how bad our data already is?"Most teams can't tell you their error rate. E-commerce calls it conversion. Government barely tracks it at all. If you can't see where people are dropping out - or being quietly forced into wrong answers - you can't design your way out of it.Forms don't just collect data, they shape behaviour. Every time a website rejects an apostrophe in O'Connor, or hides "other" as an option, it's forcing people to lie - and then treating that lie as truth.You don't have to be a statistician to find errors. Graph the data. Spikes, gaps and outliers will tell you where the wrong question is hiding faster than any spreadsheet ever will.The designer's job is to notice what everyone else has normalised — the broken form field, the impossible question, the dataset everyone distrusts but nobody fixes.https://www.effortmark.co.uk/uk.linkedin.com/in/carolinejarrett ________________________→ Train my organisation https://www.thisishcd.com/training→ Video Courses https://www.thisishcd.com/courses→ Private Community (Coaching, Courses, WhatsApp) https://www.thisishcd.com/circle-community ________________________BECOME A MEMBER (IT'S FREE!) and get all of this → FREE Introduction to Journey Management course with Marc Stickdorn & Gerry Scullionhttps://www.thisishcd.com/learning/introduction-to-journey-management→ Discover & Connect with others https://www.thisishcd.com/directory → Claim partner discounts https://www.thisishcd.com/partners → Submit an Article https://www.thisishcd.com/blog+ Coming soon - JOB BOARD, FIND A MENTOR...and more________________________

    48 min
See All Season 10 (7)

5
out of 5
11 Ratings

About

Welcome to This is HCD – Human-Centered Design, UX & Service Design Thinking Podcast, the global show for designers, innovators, and changemakers who want to create better products, services, and experiences. Hosted by Gerry Scullion, with over 1-million downloads worldwide. Each episode dives into conversations with leading voices in service design, UX design, interaction design, customer experience, and design strategy. Together, we explore the methods, mindsets, and real-world stories that bring human-centered design and design thinking to life. Whether you’re a UX researcher, service design practitioner, product manager, or design leader, you’ll find actionable insights, practical tools, and inspiration to elevate your practice and drive meaningful change. Tune in and join the global human-centered design community — learn how to design with purpose, create inclusive solutions, and shape a more thoughtful future.

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