UX Murder Mystery

• UX Job Market Crisis: Layoffs, AWS Failures, and Why Tech Workers Need Unions

  The UX job market isn't just "tough"—it's forcing designers to leave the country, abandon expensive cities, and consider completely different careers. Brian and Eve get real about what's happening in tech right now: the inhumane way companies handle layoffs, why AWS outages reveal deeper problems with cost-cutting, and whether forming tech unions could actually protect workers. This episode covers: - Real stories: Designers leaving the US because they can't afford to stay, people abandoning LA and Chicago, colleagues surviving war zones while staying employed - How Q4 budget planning locks you out of 2026 roles if you're not already approved - Why the AWS outage (affecting 85% of the internet) might be the result of firing critical staff - The inhumane reality of tech layoffs: Google's weekend lockouts, no severance, predatory COBRA healthcare costs - Could tech unions work? Discussion of Ethan Marcott's "You Deserve a Tech Union" - Why you CAN legally discuss wages at work (and why companies try to stop you) - Dark UX patterns destroying our bodies and minds through social media addiction - What we lost when the internet became pure consumerism Plus: Why Brian misses when the internet was fun, Eve's Gen Z kids refusing social media, and what fascia damage tells us about smartphone addiction. Content note: This episode discusses economic anxiety, deportation fears (ICE raids in Chicago), job loss trauma, and the mental health toll of job insecurity. We don't sugarcoat how bad it is, but we also discuss collective action and ways forward. Sources: AWS outage reports, tech layoff data, labor organizing research, personal testimonies Perfect for: UX designers job searching, laid-off tech workers, anyone considering unionizing, design managers, tech workers feeling burned out, people questioning whether tech is worth it anymore

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• Microsoft Clippy: Why AI Assistant UX Failed

  Clippy never died. It just evolved into the intrusive AI assistants plaguing us today. In this episode, Brian and Eve investigate why tech companies keep building "helpful" features nobody wants, from Microsoft's tone-deaf Copilot to the Rabbit AI device that projects interfaces onto your hand (seriously). We dissect the pattern of solutions searching for problems, explore how AI-generated slop is drowning social media, and reveal why startups need UX research before developers touch code. Plus: the dark side of technology changing human behavior, and why your next "helpful" AI suggestion might be tomorrow's punchline. Got a product failure we should investigate? Drop your tips in the comments. Whistleblowers welcome. UX MURDER MYSTERY HOSTED BY Brian J. Crowley Eve Eden EDITED BY Kelsey Smith INTRO ANIMATION & LOGO DESIGN Brian J. Crowley MUSIC BY Nicolas Lee A JOINT PRODUCTION OF EVE | User Experience Design Agency and CrowleyUX | Where Systems Meet Stories ©2025 Brian J. Crowley and Eve Eden Email us at: [email protected] Thank you for watching and or listening! Disclaimer: This podcast is for informational and entertainment purposes only. The views and opinions expressed by the hosts are commentary and speculation, not statements of fact. All discussions about real companies, individuals, or organizations are based on publicly available information, media reports, and personal opinions offered for the purpose of critique, education, and storytelling. We make no representations or warranties about the accuracy or completeness of any information discussed. Nothing in this podcast should be interpreted as a factual assertion about the actions, motives, or intentions of any individual or corporate entity. Listeners should conduct their own research before drawing conclusions. The creators and guests of this podcast disclaim all liability for any loss, harm, or damages arising from reliance on any information or opinions presented. Names, characters, and events may occasionally be dramatized or fictionalized for illustrative purposes. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, or to actual events, is purely coincidental.

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• UX Leadership Crisis: Why Design Directors Are Failing Their Teams

  On today's episode: Eve and Brian as the questions: Should UX practitioners need licenses? Is UX Leadership failing designers, writers and researchers? Are they prepared to think critically about AI? UX MURDER MYSTERY HOSTED BY Brian J. Crowley Eve Eden EDITED BY Kelsey Smith INTRO ANIMATION & LOGO DESIGN Brian J. Crowley MUSIC BY Nicolas Lee A JOINT PRODUCTION OF EVE | User Experience Design Agency and CrowleyUX | Where Systems Meet Stories ©2025 Brian J. Crowley and Eve Eden Email us at: questions @UXmurdermystery  .com Thank you for watching and or listening! Disclaimer: This podcast is for informational and entertainment purposes only. The views and opinions expressed by the hosts are commentary and speculation, not statements of fact. All discussions about real companies, individuals, or organizations are based on publicly available information, media reports, and personal opinions offered for the purpose of critique, education, and storytelling. We make no representations or warranties about the accuracy or completeness of any information discussed. Nothing in this podcast should be interpreted as a factual assertion about the actions, motives, or intentions of any individual or corporate entity. Listeners should conduct their own research before drawing conclusions. The creators and guests of this podcast disclaim all liability for any loss, harm, or damages arising from reliance on any information or opinions presented. Names, characters, and events may occasionally be dramatized or fictionalized for illustrative purposes. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, or to actual events, is purely coincidental.

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• Google Glass & Apple Vision Pro: Why AR Headset UX Keeps Failing Users

  This week, Eve and Brian talk about the biggest UX scam in tech right now, wearable 'innovation' that no one asked for. From Apple Vision Pro's $3,500 ski-mask aesthetic to Meta's mind-reading wristband, they uncover how the race for futuristic hardware keeps ignoring one thing: real humans. Google Glass failed in 2014. Apple Vision Pro launched in 2024 to lukewarm reception. We investigate why AR headset UX keeps repeating the same mistakes, what both companies got wrong about spatial computing, and why the promise of augmented reality never matches reality. Discussed in this episode: - Why Google Glass's "Glassholes" problem was fundamentally a design failure - How Apple Vision Pro's isolation design contradicts its own marketing - What both products misunderstood about social acceptance and public use - Why AR/VR UX hasn't learned from past failures despite a decade between products - The persistent gap between spatial computing demos and daily use reality - What successful wearable computing would actually require Sources: Google Glass postmortem analysis, Apple Vision Pro user reviews, AR/VR industry research, spatial computing UX studies Perfect for: UX designers, product managers, AR/VR developers, tech enthusiasts, Apple fans, spatial computing designers, hardware designers, wearable tech developers  UX MURDER MYSTERY HOSTED BY Brian J. Crowley Eve Eden EDITED BY Kelsey Smith INTRO ANIMATION & LOGO DESIGN Brian J. Crowley MUSIC BY Nicolas Lee A JOINT PRODUCTION OF EVE | User Experience Design Agency and CrowleyUX | Where Systems Meet Stories ©2025 Brian J. Crowley and Eve Eden Email us at: questions @UXmurdermystery  .com Thank you for watching and or listening! Disclaimer: This podcast is for informational and entertainment purposes only. The views and opinions expressed by the hosts are commentary and speculation, not statements of fact. All discussions about real companies, individuals, or organizations are based on publicly available information, media reports, and personal opinions offered for the purpose of critique, education, and storytelling. We make no representations or warranties about the accuracy or completeness of any information discussed. Nothing in this podcast should be interpreted as a factual assertion about the actions, motives, or intentions of any individual or corporate entity. Listeners should conduct their own research before drawing conclusions. The creators and guests of this podcast disclaim all liability for any loss, harm, or damages arising from reliance on any information or opinions presented. Names, characters, and events may occasionally be dramatized or fictionalized for illustrative purposes. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, or to actual events, is purely coincidental.

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• Dating App UX Failures: Why Tinder, Bumble, Hinge, and Match Design for Addiction Not Love

  This week Eve and Brian talk about some 🌶️🌶️🌶️. What happens when dating apps evolve backwards how did covid change the game? In this episode of UX Murder Mystery, we investigate how Match, Tinder, and Bumble transformed from hopeful matchmakers into user-hostile addictive profit machines—and why OnlyFans and PornHub users report higher satisfaction than people actually trying to date. Dating apps design for engagement, not relationships. We investigate why Bumble, Hinge, and Match use dark patterns to keep you swiping, how gamification ruins dating, and why the business model depends on you staying single. Discussed in this episode: - Why dating app algorithms prioritize retention over matches - Dark patterns that manipulate users into purchasing subscriptions - How swipe mechanics gamify human connection - Why successful matches hurt the business model - Design decisions that prioritize metrics over meaningful relationships - What ethical dating app design would actually look like Sources: App teardown analysis, user behavior studies, dating app revenue models, platform design patterns Perfect for: UX designers, product managers, dating app users, relationship seekers, mobile app designers, behavioral designers, singles navigating online dating UX MURDER MYSTERY HOSTED BY Brian J. Crowley Eve Eden  EDITED BY Kelsey Smith INTRO ANIMATION & LOGO DESIGN Brian J. Crowley MUSIC BY Nicolas Lee A JOINT PRODUCTION OF EVE | User Experience Design Agency and CrowleyUX | Where Systems Meet Stories ©2025 Brian J. Crowley and Eve Eden Email us at: questions@UXmurdermystery  .com Thank you for watching and or listening! Disclaimer: This podcast is for informational and entertainment purposes only. The views and opinions expressed by the hosts are commentary and speculation, not statements of fact. All discussions about real companies, individuals, or organizations are based on publicly available information, media reports, and personal opinions offered for the purpose of critique, education, and storytelling. We make no representations or warranties about the accuracy or completeness of any information discussed. Nothing in this podcast should be interpreted as a factual assertion about the actions, motives, or intentions of any individual or corporate entity. Listeners should conduct their own research before drawing conclusions. The creators and guests of this podcast disclaim all liability for any loss, harm, or damages arising from reliance on any information or opinions presented. Names, characters, and events may occasionally be dramatized or fictionalized for illustrative purposes. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, or to actual events, is purely coincidental.

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