In this episode, Therese interviews Jay Dutta—Global Head of UX at Deutsche Bank about how designing at scale isn’t just about reaching millions, but about preserving depth: of empathy, culture, and context. With a career spanning Adobe, Flipkart, and MakeMyTrip, Jay reflects on why he’s drawn to complex, broken systems and how those environments offer the richest opportunities for impact. He discusses the importance of designing for the individual within vast systems, and how storytelling, risk-taking, and honoring human experiences can lead to more meaningful and scalable design solutions.

About the speaker: JayDutta.com | LinkedIn

DesignUp Conference (Bangalore, India - Nov 3-5, 2025 ): https://designup.io/

Related NN/G Course: Global UX: Designing and Leading Across Cultures (full-day & half-day courses)

Related Free NN/G Articles:

• ‘Our Users Are Everyone’: Designing Mass-Market Products for Large User Audiences (free article)
• Modify Your Design for Global Audiences: Crosscultural UX Design (free article)
• Imagery Helps International Shoppers Navigate Ecommerce Sites (free article)

What does it really take to get hired in design today? In this episode, design recruiter and former product designer Hang Xu shares hard truths about what’s changed in hiring, why portfolios miss the mark, and how candidates can better align with what employers actually want. He also talks about his bold new project, OnlyFAANGs.design, where he documents his journey back into design from the recruiter’s seat.

About Hang Xu: LinkedIn | OnlyFAANGs.design

Level Up Your UX Career with UX Certification: nngroup.com/learning

Related Free NN/G Resources:

• Templates and Tools for UX Job Seekers (article)
• How to Apply & Secure a UX Job (article)
• The Return of the UX Generalist (article)
• How to Get UX Experience Without a Job (video)
• User Experience Careers Report (free report)
• More articles & videos about UX careers

Who do we really mean when we say “the user”? And who gets left out?

In this episode, Therese Fessenden chats with cultural anthropologists Mike Youngblood and Ben Chesluk, who are challenging overly narrow definitions of users in UX. They explore how systems thinking and anthropology can deepen our understanding of complex user ecosystems — and why rethinking “the user” is more important than ever.

About the speakers:

• Mike Youngblood (LinkedIn)
• Ben Chesluk (LinkedIn)

About Rethinking Users, including some helpful resources and a link to purchase the book:

https://www.rethinkingusers.com

Article about User Ecosystem Thinking:

https://www.epicpeople.org/toward-ethnography-of-friction-and-ease-in-complex-systems

Mike & Ben’s other books:

• The Routledge Companion to Practicing Anthropology and Design, which includes Mike & Ben’s chapter on systems thinking in design anthropology, as well as many other chapters/contributors exploring the role of anthropology in design:
• Ben’s book Money Jungle is an anthropological study of the redevelopment of New York City’s Times Square.
• Mike’s book Cultivating Community is an ethnographic study of a massive, grassroots social movement in rural India.

Related NN/g Articles & Videos:

• Personas vs. Archetypes (article)
• Why Personas Fail (article)
• Ethnography in UX (3-min video)
• Contextual Inquiry: Inspire Design by Observing and Interviewing Users in Their Context (article)