How Design Thinking Drives Community and Innovation - Luis Berumen, S7, Ep. 9

In this episode we are joined by Luis Berumen, Executive Director of Calgary UX. He brings deep experience working across enterprise platforms, government initiatives, and grassroots communities. He is passionate about shaping meaningful product direction, championing inclusive and accessible design, and mentoring the next generation of designers while actively contributing to the global design community.

Discussion Points -

• Share your story, what experiences shaped you into who you are today? 2:00

• How did your professional journey evolve from your early roles to where you are today? 6:26

• How has growing up across different cultures and languages shaped the way you approach design? 15:02

• You’ve built a strong UX community in Calgary through meetups, conferences, and mentorship. What drives you to invest in this, and what does mentorship mean to you when it comes to giving back? 25:13

• What advice would you give to someone from a country under construction who wants to build an international design career? 35:51

Show notes -

• If you always feel like you're fighting your environment, the means of the environment is wrong, not you.

• If what you love dies with you, then you never really loved it enough. You have to share it.

• You need to know that you can do it. As soon as you are in the room with creative people and you participate, you will be at the level. It doesn't matter where you're coming from.

• If you're going to migrate, you're going to experience rejection and loneliness. But that shouldn't define you. It's just one way to build resilience and keep going.

• Humour in UX is not just about being funny. If it's functional for the goal, like recovering from an error, then it's welcome. Otherwise it just humiliates the user when they're already down.

• People have three different feelings at the same time, influenced by so many things that are not just your application. You need to dig deeper into how people feel and keep understanding the human heart.

Luis’s LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/luisberumen/