Latest Episode

In this episode of The Design Table Podcast, Tyler and Nick tackle rapid-fire questions on design and careers. Why do designers keep quitting to open restaurants? Does your job title actually matter? And should you stop justifying your design decisions to stakeholders? The answers might surprise you.

In this episode of The Design Table Podcast, Tyler and Nick get into the numbers most designers are too afraid to talk about. How do you know what you're worth? Tyler shares a salary tool that mapped his whole career and Nick reveals the freelance pricing trick that pushed his hourly rate from $50 to $95+.

In this episode of The Design Table Podcast, Tyler and Nick share their biggest career disasters. From a hiring manager who said Nick would never make it, to being let go over Christmas with zero warning, to a "small favor" that cost two clients. Has your worst day at work topped any of these?

In this episode of The Design Table Podcast, Tyler and Nick reveal the four skills that actually separate strong product designers from everyone else. Why does going wide before going narrow matter so much? And why does "does this solve the problem" beat "what do you think" every single time you present?

In this episode of The Design Table Podcast, Tyler and Nick tackle whether AI is actually taking design jobs or if that fear is just noise. They reveal why your risk level depends on company size and UX maturity, and why some designers are already being replaced on "Tuesday."

In this episode of The Design Table Podcast, Tyler and Nick react to what companies are actually hiring product designers for right now. Spoiler: it's not Figma skills. Zero-to-one thinking, ownership, and a builder mindset are leading the list. Is your portfolio even showing the right things?

In this episode of The Design Table Podcast, Tyler and Nick roast real portfolio hero sections live. They break down why vague buzzwords kill your chances, what actually makes recruiters stop scrolling, and how two lines can outperform a full resume dump. Is your hero section helping or hurting you?

In this episode of The Design Table Podcast, Tyler and Nick tear apart the broken design hiring process. Take-home tests, seven interview rounds, and ghosting after unpaid work. They share the exact red flags to spot early and how to win a take-home if you're stuck doing one.

In this episode of The Design Table Podcast, Tyler and Nick answer a real listener question: should a recent grad fake AI experience to get hired or protect the hands-on craft he loves? They break down which AI tools help without touching your creative process and which ones just get in the way.

In this episode of The Design Table Podcast, Tyler and Nick tackle whether it's actually a problem if your designs look like things that already exist. They break down pricing page psychology, where smart upsells become dark patterns, and how real uniqueness in design lives beneath the surface. Is copying ever the right move?

In this episode of The Design Table Podcast, Tyler and Nick tackle the mental health crisis quietly spreading through the design community. Burnout, comparison culture, and managers demanding "10x designers" are piling up. Are designers actually behind, or is social media just making it feel that way?

In this episode of The Design Table Podcast, Tyler and Nick explore why letting go of your design work might be the most important skill you can build. They cover emotional attachment, visual QA, and why over-communicating could be the most underrated design skill right now.

In this episode of The Design Table Podcast, Tyler and Nick go live for the first time and get brutally honest about modern design workflows. Neither has touched a wireframe in months. They debate AI tool stacks, where design thinking breaks down, and whether it is still fun to be a designer right now.

In this episode of The Design Table Podcast, Tyler and Nick cut through the AI noise to ask what actually matters for product designers right now. Is vibe coding useful or just hype? Does craft still win? And why might your most powerful AI workflow be something as boring as a transcript?

In this episode of The Design Table Podcast, Tyler and Nick dig into what their career stories actually taught them: why 8 months of rejections might mean sharpening skills instead of sending more apps, how the "I'll show them" mindset fuels and burns you, and why chasing 100 when 97 is done quietly kills momentum.

In this episode of The Design Table Podcast, Tyler and Nick dig into what a real 16-year design career actually looks like, including animation school, layoffs, a $15K raise, and getting let go twice in one year. Is coding becoming a must-have skill for designers again?

In this episode of The Design Table Podcast, Tyler and Nick dig into Nick's full 11-year journey from accidentally discovering UX to becoming a fully booked freelance product designer. How do you actually build a freelance career without burning everything down first?

In this episode of The Design Table Podcast, Tyler and Nick break down why most designers tank their portfolio presentation the moment they open their mouth. Nick shares what he teaches his mentees, including why saying less early on wins more interviews. Can talking about your failures actually get you hired?

In this episode of The Design Table Podcast, Tyler and Nick tackle the question every designer is quietly panicking about. When PMs build prototypes and engineers suggest user flows, are designers still essential? Spoiler: your real moat is not Figma. It's how you think.

In this episode of The Design Table Podcast, Tyler and Nick explore why copy-pasting AI outputs means you're still doing all the work. Nick shares how he's using Claude Skills to actually delegate tasks and automate real workflows. What happens when the bottleneck shifts from AI to you?

In this episode of The Design Table Podcast, Tyler and Nick tackle the portfolio tool debate and why obsessing over Webflow vs Framer vs WordPress is mostly a waste of time. What do hiring managers actually care about? And why does a custom domain matter more than the platform you build on?

In this episode of The Design Table Podcast, Tyler and Nick explore what actually happens when a designer stops talking about building and ships something real in a single weekend. What tools made it possible? What changed after launch? And why does it make you rethink portfolios and job hunting completely?

In this episode of The Design Table Podcast, Tyler and Nick get real about what happens after a layoff. From the emotional gut punch to the job search grind, they share hard-won strategies on why job boards are failing designers and how quality beats volume every time.

In this episode of The Design Table Podcast, Tyler and Nick break down what it really takes to survive and thrive as the only designer at a company. From your first 90 days to building real influence, how do you avoid burnout and actually get people to care about design?

In this episode of The Design Table Podcast, Tyler and Nick tackle the "just ship it" culture head-on. Designers can now push production code, but should they? They explore why moving fast can kill your bad idea filter and what guardrails actually protect product quality.

In this episode of The Design Table Podcast, Tyler and Nick share how they actually use AI in real design work. No hype, no shortcuts. Just honest talk on prompting, context building, and why wireframes are being replaced by working prototypes. Is prompting now a core design skill? They think so.

In this episode of The Design Table Podcast, Tyler and Nick settle the generalist vs. specialist debate using real hiring trends and hands-on team experience. Pure specialists are losing ground outside big tech, and end-to-end designers are quietly taking over. Which path actually gets you hired and keeps you hireable?

In this episode of The Design Table Podcast, Tyler and Nick sit down with Sara Fortier to challenge the "just ship it" culture killing products. They cover why research is really about influence, how to get traction in teams that resist it, and whether AI raises or lowers the bar for designers.

In this episode of The Design Table Podcast, Tyler and Nick dig into why users lie during research, how badly framed questions create false confidence, and when to trust data over instinct. Can a single data point really derail your entire product? Yes. And it happens more than you think.

In this episode of The Design Table Podcast, Tyler and Nick tackle the frustrating cycle of stakeholders who say "skip research, just ship it" only to demand fixes later. They reveal why designers are really hired as insurance policies and how to reframe research as risk reduction, not roadblocks.

In this episode of The Design Table Podcast, Tyler and Nick reveal why design isn't about making things look good. It's about saving time, reducing risk, and creating business leverage. They share real examples from construction to pharma showing how designers create measurable impact beyond visuals.

In this episode of The Design Table Podcast, Tyler and Nick reveal why companies actually hire designers (hint: it's not for "delightful experiences"). They share a business framework to help you position your case studies around making money and saving money instead of just pretty pixels.

In this episode of The Design Table Podcast, Tyler and Nick reveal why SaaS companies face a new threat in 2026: customers building their own internal tools instead of buying off-the-shelf solutions. How can B2B products survive when buyers ask "why not build this ourselves?"

In this episode of The Design Table Podcast, Tyler and Nick predict 2026 will be "the year of the builder" where design titles collapse and the market rewards designers who can actually ship. They reveal why design is getting absorbed by product and engineering teams and share a practical blueprint for staying relevant when the goalposts move.

In this episode of The Design Table Podcast, Tyler and Nick pull back the curtain on how the recruiter system actually works. They explain preferred supplier lists, why some outreach goes nowhere, and how designers accidentally sabotage future opportunities by ignoring messages.

In this episode of The Design Table Podcast, Tyler and Nick cut through AI hype to reveal how experienced product designers actually use AI in real workflows. They explore where AI genuinely helps versus where it creates problems, and why its real value comes after discovery, not before.

In this episode of The Design Table Podcast, Tyler and Nick tackle the question they hear constantly: where do brand new designers even start anymore? They break down what actually matters when entering product design today, what beginners should ignore, and how to build real skills without getting lost in tools and AI panic.

In this episode of The Design Table Podcast, Tyler and Nick cut through the AI hype to reveal what actually changed in product design during 2025. From prototype-first thinking to tools like Cursor closing the design-engineering gap, they separate reality from noise and share what matters for 2026.

In this episode of The Design Table Podcast, Tyler and Nick reveal why most designers fail when applying for jobs abroad and the practical steps to break into international markets. They cover adapting portfolios for new regions, using remote work as a stepping stone, and when free work is smart versus a trap.

In this episode of The Design Table Podcast, Tyler and Nick review and fix a real junior designer's portfolio that's failing to land interviews. They expose the specific mistakes that silently disqualify candidates and reveal the changes that instantly make any portfolio feel senior.

In this episode of The Design Table Podcast, Tyler and Nick tackle the biggest portfolio mistakes that kill job opportunities. They reveal how to show business impact without experience, why free work can backfire, and the psychology behind case study titles that get you hired.

In this episode of The Design Table Podcast, Tyler and Nick tackle why most product designer portfolios get ignored and ghosted. They reveal the hero section formula that actually gets interviews, how hiring managers scan portfolios in under 2 minutes, and why your case studies sound like everyone else's.

In this episode of The Design Table Podcast, Tyler and Nick tackle a live brainstorm on why features fail and upgrades flop. They break down the gap between building great products and getting users to actually discover and pay for them. Can designers learn to sell without being sleazy?

In this episode of The Design Table Podcast, Tyler and Nick expose the brutal gap between UX education and real product design work. Most students dream of "helping users" but crash into business goals and stakeholder demands. How can new designers bridge this gap faster?

In this episode of The Design Table Podcast, Tyler and Nick reveal why so many UX and product designers struggle to get hired. Hint: it's not your Figma skills. They break down the real blockers, from confidence gaps to portfolios that all look the same, and why design careers are built through stakeholders instead of pixels.

In this episode of The Design Table Podcast, Tyler and Nick reveal conversion optimization secrets from their combined 20 years of experience. They share why ugly ads often convert best, which landing page tweaks actually boost performance, and the checkout experiment that surprised them both.

In this episode of The Design Table Podcast, Tyler and Nick become "Design Mythbusters" and tackle the biggest misconceptions holding back UX careers. From the myth that UX is just making things pretty to why you don't need perfection on the first try, they bust beliefs that limit designers.

In this episode of The Design Table Podcast, Tyler and Nick untangle the confusing world of design job titles. From UX designer to product designer to the emerging UX engineer role, they break down what each title actually means and how to navigate this ever-changing career landscape.

In this episode of The Design Table Podcast, Tyler and Nick reveal what product design work actually looks like behind the scenes versus the polished version you see on social media. They discuss AI's impact on role boundaries, why great design often appears invisible, and how to handle when your best work gets killed by stakeholders.

In this episode of The Design Table Podcast, Tyler and Nick tackle the burning question haunting LinkedIn and Reddit: Is becoming a UX designer in 2025 still worth it? They reveal what separates the top 10% of designers, why most bootcamp portfolios fail, and how AI affects design careers.

In this episode of The Design Table Podcast, Tyler and Nick dive into branding's messy reality. From Jaguar's controversial rebrand to Apple's "liquid glass" moment, they explore when branding works and when it backfires. Plus: personal branding secrets for product designers.

In this episode of The Design Table Podcast, Tyler and Nick explore when animation enhances UX and when it becomes a costly distraction. They discuss subtle micro-interactions, informative loading states, and why most designers need to rethink their approach to motion design.

In this episode of The Design Table Podcast, Tyler and Nick talk about how the lines between designers and product managers are getting more and more blurry. Will they become one in a hybrid role in the near future? Or is that just social media FOMO?

In this episode of The Design Table Podcast, Tyler White and Nick Groeneveld discuss the fast-evolving world of design tools, AI integration for your tools, and why your current workflow might (or might not) already be outdated. Will Figma be the main tool for designers in a few years? Listen and find out!

Tyler White and Nick Groeneveld discuss the (design) updates Apple showcased at WWDC, including the much-hyped Liquid Glass, and what it means for product designers, users, and the future of UI. At the same time, they also discuss the important UX-related announcements that (sadly) get overshadowed by Liquid Glass, which is a shame, because there are some important takeaways there.

In this episode of The Design Table Podcast, Tyler White and Nick Groeneveld break down the real-world strategies behind presenting your work (and yourself) with impact. Whether it’s a design review, a job interview, or a big client meeting, they cover how understanding your audience, managing expectations, and showcasing the ROI of your work can change everything.

Tyler White and Nick Groeneveld discuss product design beyond 'just pretty pixels'. They explore user research, wireframing, freelancing vs. in-house work, learning on the job, and more. The episode aims to help designers create real impact and stay relevant in a fast-paced industry.

Figma's 2025 Config announcements have split the design world. Tyler White and Nick Groeneveld cut through the hype to explore how Figma Make, Figma Sites and the rest impact a product designer's day-to-day. Is it a way forward? Or not? Or something in between?

AI is changing the game. Startups expect more from less. Polished prototypes now speak louder than slideshows. Tyler and Nick explore what it means to stay relevant in a changing industry and why coding, collaboration, and emotional intelligence matter more than ever.

"Remote work is the future!"… Wrong! While promising freedom, remote work brings burnout and isolation. Or does it?! In this episode, Tyler and Nick break down the reality of remote work for product designers and how to thrive despite management challenges, time zone issues, and productivity killers.

"Designers need a seat at the table!"... Wrong! While designers chase influence, the real problem is speaking the wrong language. In this episode, Tyler and Nick break down how designers can gain real influence through business fluency, strategic visibility, and stakeholder empathy, plus navigate the leadership vs. craft mastery dilemma and whether learning to code is worth it.

"Design ROI is just about making things look good, right?”… Wrong! Great design isn't just about looking pretty. It's about stakeholder management, (perceived) added value, and so much more. In this episode, Tyler and Nick break down design’s ROI and how you measure it.