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What does it actually mean to say a product is usable?

In this episode of The Design Psychologist, Thomas Watkins talks with Phil Kortum about the System Usability Scale, or SUS: one of the most widely used tools for measuring usability. They discuss why this 10-item questionnaire has lasted for decades, what makes a usability metric trustworthy, and how researchers can use SUS scores to compare products, track improvement, and communicate usability in a shared language.

The conversation covers why a number is not automatically objective, how SUS differs from measures like Net Promoter Score, when the positive version of SUS may be better to use, and why usability researchers still need effectiveness and efficiency measures alongside subjective ratings.

They also explore Phil’s work on voting systems, where usability is not just about convenience but whether people can successfully cast a vote.

If you want to understand how to measure human experience with more rigor, this episode gives you a clearer way to think about usability, evidence, and the difference between a score that sounds scientific and a metric you can actually trust.

If today’s conversation helped you think more deeply about your work, I’d love it if you left a quick rating or review on Apple, Spotify, or your favorite podcast listening app. It helps more thoughtful designers discover the show—and keeps these meaningful insights coming your way. Just a star rating or a sentence or two makes a big difference. Thanks for listening!

If this show has been useful or thought-provoking for you, please do us a favor and help other people discover the show by leaving a rating and review on your favorite podcast player.

To leave a review on Apple Podcasts: search for The Design Psychologist, tap the show, scroll down to the bottom of the page, and hit “Write a Review.”

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How do you know whether a product idea is worth building before you spend months designing and developing it?

In this episode of The Design Psychologist, Thomas Watkins talks with Jamie Levy, author of UX Strategy, about how designers, researchers, founders, and product leaders can move beyond opinion and make a stronger evidence-based case for what to build.

Jamie explains why strategy is not about magically predicting the future, but about systematically reducing risk. They discuss how storyboards can help teams test the business idea before getting lost in interface details, why most companies compete in “purple oceans,” and how UX can become a source of real differentiation.

The conversation also gets into AI: where it can speed up strategy work, where it can mislead us, and why human judgment, critical thinking, and customer understanding matter even more as tools become more powerful.

If you care about building products people actually want, this conversation will help you think more clearly about value propositions, mental models, product differentiation, and the role of UX strategy in a rapidly changing world.

If today’s conversation helped you think more deeply about your work, I’d love it if you left a quick rating or review on Apple, Spotify, or your favorite podcast listening app. It helps more thoughtful designers discover the show—and keeps these meaningful insights coming your way. Just a star rating or a sentence or two makes a big difference. Thanks for listening!

If this show has been useful or thought-provoking for you, please do us a favor and help other people discover the show by leaving a rating and review on your favorite podcast player.

To leave a review on Apple Podcasts: search for The Design Psychologist, tap the show, scroll down to the bottom of the page, and hit “Write a Review.”

Send us Fan Mail

Season 2 of The Design Psychologist is here.

After exploring the foundations of psychology across human factors, UX, instructional design, service design, game design, and more in Season 1, this season takes the conversation even further.

We’re asking some honest—and sometimes difficult—questions about where design psychology is today, the challenges professionals are facing in their careers, and how we can use design to create a better future.

Throughout Season 2, we’ll explore topics including accessibility, data visualization, helper robots, Jobs to Be Done vs. classical human factors methods, tools for expanding the power of the mind, and the growing role of AI.

You’ll also hear conversations with fascinating guests, including an author behind one of the most controversial and influential articles in UX research and a YouTube creator and memory expert.

And there are a few surprises along the way.

If you’re interested in psychology, design, UX, human factors, emerging technology, or simply understanding how people interact with the world around them, Season 2 has plenty to explore.

Welcome back to The Design Psychologist.