Welcome to Issue #16 of Cristian Talks Product Design!
This week marks an exciting milestone—we’ve just crossed 100 subscribers! 🎉 I want to take a moment to extend a huge thank you to each of you for your support, encouragement, and engagement. Your enthusiasm fuels this community, and I’m so grateful to have you here.
To celebrate this milestone, I’m launching Substack Chats! My goal is to create a space for more granular and interactive conversations with you all. This is uncharted territory for me, so bear with me as I figure things out in real time! Each week, I’ll pose a question to spark meaningful discussions. But I encourage all of you to share thoughts, questions and ideas let’s make this a place where we can share, learn, and grow together.
With that said, let’s dive into this week’s highlight:
🎙 Podcast Spotlight: Jelena Colak
This week’s episode features Jelena Colak, Associate Director of Information Architecture & UX Design at Fusion 92, the creator of the newsletter, and host of the Na Kavi podcast. Jelena’s journey is a testament to the power of curiosity and adaptability. From her beginnings in journalism to pivoting to UX and designing for top-tier tech in NYC, Jelena offers a wealth of inspiration and practical insights for navigating the ever-evolving world of UX and technology.
Here’s what we explored in our conversation:
Jelena’s Career Evolution: How her path from journalism led her to UX design, driven by a passion for storytelling and problem-solving.
The Intersection of AI and UX: Insights into how AI is reshaping design and what this means for today’s designers.
Storytelling in Design: The critical role of narrative in creating user-centered experiences and the surprising overlap between journalism and UX.
Emerging Tech Insights: Jelena’s reflections on trends in information architecture, digital transformation, and seamless end-to-end experiences.
Advice for Aspiring Designers: Actionable tips for thinking beyond screens and cultivating systems-level thinking.
Jelena’s thoughtful perspective on balancing technical constraints with creative problem-solving is a reminder of why adaptability is every designer’s superpower. Whether you’re a seasoned professional or just starting out, this conversation is packed with insights to inspire curiosity and broaden your perspective.
✨ Relevant Resources and Links
Here are some resources mentioned in this week’s conversation to help you dive deeper:
Tech Brat Newsletter: Jelena’s take on emerging technologies and UX trends.
Na Kavi Podcast: Jelena’s podcast featuring rich conversations on design and tech.
Octopus.do: A tool for creating visual site maps and optimizing IA workflows.
Phantom.video: A tool that keeps track and takes notes of your your meetings so you can focus on the conversation.
🛠️ Tools for UX Beginners:
Discover foundational tools to help you improve your UX design and information architecture skills.
Affinity Diagramming: A collaborative method to organize ideas and insights from user research. Visit NNG to learn more↗️.
Card Sorting: A user-focused technique to structure information intuitively for your audience. Visit NNG to learn more↗️.
📚 Bonus Update
In an offline chat, I asked Jelena for her go-to resource for diving deeper into information architecture. She recommended Information Architecture: For the Web and Beyond by Louis Rosenfeld, Peter Morville, and Jorge Arango. I’ve added it to our community library—check it out here or visit the library using the link below.
Share Your Thoughts
I’d love to hear from you! Reply to this email or tag me on social media with your key takeaways from this week’s episode. What resonated with you the most?
As always, thank you for being part of this journey. Your support makes these meaningful conversations possible, and I’m excited to bring you even more stories that shape the future of design.
Talk soon,
Cristian
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