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Ben from UX Questions asks: What’s next for UX Questions after 100 episodes?
I love that question. Thanks for asking, me. This is UX Question number 100 and I am still Ben Judy.
What’s next for UX Questions after 100 episodes?
Well, I’m gonna break format and go longer than 3 minutes. I think I’ve earned it.
I have produced 100 episodes in less than one year, answering UX questions in 3 minutes or less. Including one Special on inclusive design. I’m proud of that accomplishment. No matter what else I do or don’t achieve in my lifetime, no one can take away that I answered 100 UX Questions in three minutes or less and put them out in to the Interwebs for free—for you to, hopefully, learn from and to serve as springboard to further knowledge, and more questions.
I want to pause and observe and celebrate the achievement of publishing 100 episodes. I will also give you an update on what’s coming next with UX Questions.
But before I go further, I want to say thank you. If you’ve listened to these episodes, and you’ve come back for more, thank you. It’s validating to me that you have returned. My goal has never been, and will never be, to amass a huge audience. If I wanted to just crank out clickbait material, I would make YouTube videos and podcasts about pop culture, movies, or maybe a true crime investigation podcast or something.
Even within UX as a career field, I know I could make clickbaity material. Controversial stuff. The kind of junk, frankly, I see on Linkedin—where people are just whining and blaming, because it’s always easier to gather a crowd when you’re lighting torches and thrusting pitchforks. Anger fuels social media.
I made a conscious decision not to participate in that, with this show. I’ll tell you how it started, though.
I have been mentoring new designers for several years. People trying to enter the UX career field, after graduating from a bootcamp. And I love it. And I feel like it’s a great way for me to pay forward the investment that other professionals have made in me throughout my career.
But after mentoring 40, 50, 60 people, I noticed I was getting the same questions. And I started experimenting with ways to documenting a straightforward answer to those common UX questions.
Many of them were career related, which is why in the first 100 episodes, a lot of what I’ve talked about is career stuff. How to prepare for an interview, how to get promoted, et cetera.
So the thought was, I would start by recording three minute answers that I could just share with people, since I’m going to repeat myself, anyway. But I fell in love with the idea of a short-format video and audio show. I listen to podcasts. I have a few favorite YouTube channels. And I have an education and a background in video and audio production. So I knew I could do it.
I just didn’t think I would have the time to do what I really wanted to do: which was to write a book, or create some kind of long-form, comprehensive overview of all things UX. That’s kind of my personality. My bent is to be thorough and answer all the questions.
But I suddenly realized, the only way I could actually do something was to start doing it, and to do it short-format. Three minutes at a time. That, I could fit into my busy schedule. So here we go.
I thought I would share with you the most popular episodes. So, as of the recording of this, episode 100, the one with the most downloads by far is episode 24, will AI replace UX designers? I’m pretty sure if I just put AI in the title, that will get clicks. It doesn’t matter what I actually say. It’s a hot topic right now.
Question 22, Why is it UX and not UE User Experience? is also also a popular one, which I love because that was weird episode. It wasn’t about the craft, or the industry, or defining what some term is. It was kind of a lark. It was maybe the most fun episode I’ve done. So I need to do more of those. Because I enjoyed that one, too.
So what’s next for UX Questions? Well, for one thing, I’m going to pause for a bit. I’ve invested significant effort to crank out 100 episodes in 12 months, and I need a short break in the publishing schedule.
But I’m not going to just take a total vacation from the show. I’ve been experimenting with new production techniques and an entirely new production workflow. I’m going to get it just right—really dial it in for maximum efficiency.
And I want to raise the quality of the show. And I want to consider some tweaks to the format. And I want to begin experimenting with creating other kinds of media beyond video and audio. So, I’ll take a break to do some experimenting, make some decisions, and I’ll come back better than ever.
Keep asking your questions about UX. Here’s to another 100 episodes of UX Questions.
Referenced in this episode:
- UX Questions – Episodes
https://uxquestions.com/episodes/
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