Writers of Silicon Valley

👉 Buy Margo's book, "Good Job", at her website

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Interviews are horrible. No one likes them. But does it have to be that way?

Margo Stern's new book, Good Job, takes on design interviews - both for candidates and for the people creating the interview process. She goes into great detail about how to actually ace a design interview, and for hiring managers, how to design an interview process that treats people like human beings.

We delve into all sorts of great discussions about interviews. How to ace them, what they get wrong, and what companies need to do to make the interview process better for designers.

Enjoy!

✅ Why interviewing is a separate skill from doing the job ✅ How candidates can prepare through self‑reflection, rehearsal, and storytelling ✅ Why the STAR method works (and why most people use it badly) ✅ The real reason case studies fall flat and how to make yours a story, not a status report ✅ How to research a company without crossing the line into oversharing ✅ The advantages extroverts have in interviews and how introverts can level the field ✅ How candidates can show genuine interest without being performative ✅ How to read red flags in interview processes (ghosting, unclear expectations, chaotic loops) ✅ The danger of applying to too many jobs and why "less, but better" works for both sides ✅ The key questions both candidates and interviewers should ask

📖 Margo's website Do you enjoy the podcast? Please leave a review!

👉 Our new course, Advanced UX Content for Product, is out! Use PODCAST20 to get 20% off.

👉 Our new course, Advanced UX Content for Product, is out! Use PODCAST20 to get 20% off.

👉 Sign up to our UX writing newsletters

Five years ago, Ditto launched as one of the first tools built specifically for managing product copy at scale. Now? It's powering content systems for some of the biggest design teams in tech and it just relaunched with a major update.

In this episode, I catch up with co-founders Jess and Jo about what they've learned since founding Ditto, what it's like to rebuild a product from the ground up, and why strong content systems are more essential than ever especially in the age of AI.

Learn what these founders are hearing from the heads of design teams about content, why systems thinking is more important than ever, and why they're optimistic about the future of content design.

✅ How Ditto's vision has changed (and stayed the same) ✅ Why rebuilding the product from scratch was the right call ✅ What they've learned from working with dozens of enterprise teams ✅ How to support content systems in companies with messy, legacy infrastructure ✅ What sales has taught them about communicating the value of content ✅ How AI is shaping expectations—and where it actually adds value ✅ Why more content designers should think like founders

📖 Ditto

Do you enjoy the podcast? Please leave a review!

👉 Our new course, Advanced UX Content for Product, is out! Use PODCAST20 to get 20% off.

👉 Our new course, Advanced UX Content for Product, is out! Use PODCAST20 to get 20% off.

AI prototyping has taken the design world by storm. Replit, Cursor, Lovable, Figma Make...all of them are certainly very cool. But do they actually change the way we design? And if they do, should we even care?

David Hamilton joins me to talk about it.

✅ Designing content for cars across screens, systems, and contexts ✅ The stakes of language in safety-critical interfaces ✅ Why consistency across app and vehicle language really matters ✅ How content designers can shape AI systems ✅ What "vibe coding" is and why content still plays a key role ✅ Why the last 5% of polish is the new differentiator ✅ The importance of taste, trust, and systems thinking

📖 LinkedIn

📖 David's Substack

Do you enjoy the podcast? Please leave a review!

👉 Our new course, Advanced UX Content for Product, is out! Use PODCAST20 to get 20% off.

👉 Our new course, Advanced UX Content for Product, is out! Use PODCAST20 to get 20% off.

👉 Check out the Content Design Salary Survey

Most content designers work in apps, websites, and services. But what happens when your product is a massive open-world RPG or a competitive shooter?

In this episode, I talk with Ben Moran, a UX writer who's worked on AAA video games, about the unique challenges of designing language for games. From menu systems and HUD elements to skill trees and settings, we explore how content design in games is a constant balancing act between immersion and usability.

We also talk about the differences between "content design" in the gaming industry (quests, story content) versus UX writing for UI, and why game studios are missing opportunities when they don't bring dedicated UX writers onto their teams.

✅ How Ben transitioned from product design and copywriting into UX writing for games ✅ The difference between content design for quests and UX writing for UI ✅ Immersion vs. usability: why both matter, and how to find the balance ✅ Deciding when to name things in a game (and when not to) ✅ Making complex systems like skill trees, armor upgrades, and settings feel approachable ✅ Why players will tolerate complexity in gameplay, but not in basic navigation ✅ The missed opportunity when studios don't hire UX writers ✅ Lessons from games that can inspire innovation in digital products

📖 LinkedIn

📖 Ben's article on UX writing in video games

Do you enjoy the podcast? Please leave a review!

👉 Our new course, Advanced UX Content for Product, is out! Use PODCAST20 to get 20% off.

👉 Check out the Content Design Salary Survey

👉 Our new course, Advanced UX Content for Product, is available for preorder. Order and get 25% off, plus 30% off another course or workshop.

👉 Get 25% off all courses and workshops at UX Content Collective

There's a lot of noise about AI right now. It's going to replace us. It's going to revolutionize everything. It's the best thing since sliced bread or the beginning of the end.

In this episode, Andrew Stein, a content design leader and thoughtful skeptic, helps us cut through the noise. We talk about what AI actually means for content professionals, how to spot the hype, and what it looks like to respond with nuance instead of fear.

This isn't an AI doomscroll. It's a clear-eyed look at the choices ahead of us—and why content designers are uniquely positioned to ask the right questions.

✅ Why skepticism is a healthy response to AI ✅ What content design still does better than AI (by a long shot) ✅ The pressure to "prove your value" in the age of automation ✅ How to have thoughtful conversations about AI at work ✅ Why embracing complexity is part of the job now ✅ The difference between curiosity and panic ✅ Where content strategy still shines no matter the tools ✅ Why being critical of tech isn't being anti-tech

📖 LinkedIn

👉 Our new course, Advanced UX Content for Product, is available for preorder. Order and get 25% off, plus 30% off another course or workshop.

👉 Get 25% off all courses and workshops at UX Content Collective