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In this episode we get to speak with User Experience Director, Andy Vitale. We discuss what it means to be a design leader, direct a team, and provide value for your users. We chat a bit about Andy’s start in the industry, and how his past wrestled him into the design leader he is today.
Andy’s Bio
Andy Vitale is the Director of User Experience at Polaris Industries, a global powersports leader, where he is responsible for leading user experience design across Polaris’ innovative product lines. He is focused on translating human insights into actionable experiences that fuel the passion of riders, workers, and outdoor enthusiasts.
Throughout his career, Andy has held multiple roles such as a designer, entrepreneur, education department chair, and design leader. Aside from his primary role at Polaris, Andy serves as Director of Design Impact for AIGA Minnesota and often speaks and writes about design.
Guest Co-Host
Jenell Pizarro
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/nellarro
- Website: https://www.jenellpizarro.com
Show Links
- Guest: Andy Vitale
- Andy’s Website http://www.andyvitale.com
- Andy’s Twitter https://twitter.com/andyvitale
- Andy’s LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/andyvitale
- Polaris Industries https://offroad.polaris.com/en-us/
- Polaris Industries Twitter https://twitter.com/polarisorv
- User Defenders: Design in Life or Death Situations with Andy Vitale https://userdefenders.com/podcast/037-design-in-life-or-death-situations-with-andy-vitale/
- InVision Studio https://www.invisionapp.com/studio
- Andy Law “Be a leader even when you don’t have the title…” https://www.designbetter.co/design-leadership-handbook/becoming-a-design-leader
- Understand the ecosystem of the physical and digital realm. https://youtu.be/x4H5o96gf1Q
- Andy Vitale: 2017 Year in Review https://medium.com/@andyvitale/2017-year-in-review-573d77ffbd42
Spotlight
- Brian: RightFont https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/rightfont/id1271732065
- Frederick: Google Search Console Beta https://webmasters.googleblog.com/2018/01/introducing-new-search-console.html
- Jenell: Bear http://www.bear-writer.com
- Andy: First We Feast – The Burger Show https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KDETPQioYUE and Wyze Camera https://www.wyzecam.com/product/wyze-cam/
- Ugmonk https://ugmonk.com https://ugmonk.com/Gather/
- Adobe XD https://www.adobe.com/products/xd.html
- Reach article from invisionapp: How to design your design team https://www.invisionapp.com/blog/how-to-design-your-design-team/
Video Skip Links
- Welcome our guest co-host Jenell Pizarro https://youtu.be/VEIV05eudFU?t=47s
- Happy Birthday Andy: Standing up a design team in Mexico https://youtu.be/VEIV05eudFU?t=1m33s
- How Andy got his start in the industry https://youtu.be/VEIV05eudFU?t=5m1s
- How did wrestling help with thinking on your feet and telling a story, developing the narrative https://youtu.be/VEIV05eudFU?t=6m19s
- How Andy got his start at Polaris https://youtu.be/VEIV05eudFU?t=10m18s
- How 3M(Healthcare) and Polaris(Power Sports) are the same, yet different https://youtu.be/VEIV05eudFU?t=14m20s
- A Design leader’s seat at the table https://youtu.be/VEIV05eudFU?t=18m18s
- Being a design leader, and empowering your team’s vision and providing the opportunities for them to succeed https://youtu.be/VEIV05eudFU?t=21m2s
- Is it the job of the designer to communicate the value of design thinking? https://youtu.be/VEIV05eudFU?t=30m9s
- Do designers focus too much on design tools rather than business strategy? https://youtu.be/VEIV05eudFU?t=33m23s
- Adjunct professor for Kent State University’s User Experience Design graduate degree program https://youtu.be/VEIV05eudFU?t=35m5s
- Discover your products and understanding your customer’s journey https://youtu.be/VEIV05eudFU?t=38m51s
- The UX logic for a dealer business model https://youtu.be/VEIV05eudFU?t=40m22s
- Andy’s goals https://youtu.be/VEIV05eudFU?t=42m42s