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This podcast is available on 4 platforms including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and more. You can also use the RSS feed directly.

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HCI Explained

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by HCI Explained

27 episodes

Updated Daily

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Podcast Overview

Curious about how humans interact with technology? HCI Explained breaks down complex Human-Computer Interaction topics into clear, engaging stories. From agency and automation to design ethics and UX psychology, we explore how tech shapes what it means to be human. Whether you're a student, designer, or tech enthusiast, join us weekly to learn how interaction design influences our everyday lives. Support the show on Buy Me a Coffee to help keep new episodes coming: https://buymeacoffee.com/hciexplained. 💙🚀

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Publishing Since

5/7/2025

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Recent Episodes

July 9, 2026

The Anatomy of a Button #HCIExplained S2E11

What makes a button feel clickable — and what happens when it doesn't? A button seems like the simplest thing in design. Press it, something happens. But beneath that transaction sits a surprisingly rich set of decisions: about visual signals, about feedback, about what it even means for an interface element to feel interactive. Get those decisions right and users never notice. Get them wrong and frustration accumulates in ways that are hard to diagnose and easy to blame on the user. This episode takes apart the humble button — its states, its affordances, the small cues that make it feel alive or dead — and traces why something so ordinary turns out to be genuinely difficult to do well. The hosts move from the research that first named these ideas to the real products where the trade-offs play out, and they don't shy away from the counterarguments along the way. A few of the threads the episode pulls on: • Why the word "affordance" means something more specific than most design conversations let on• What button states actually are, and which ones tend to get quietly dropped in production• The case for flat design — and what was lost when skeuomorphism left• How touch, cursor, and voice interfaces each change what a button needs to communicate Whether you work in UX, care about the software you use every day, or just find yourself curious about why some interfaces feel effortless, and others feel like guesswork, this one is worth sitting with.

July 7, 2026

Type as Voice #HCIExplained S2E10

Your font is already talking. The question is whether you're listening. Before you read a single word, the typeface carrying it has already made an impression — formal or casual, trustworthy or playful, easy or exhausting. That's not a metaphor. It's a measurable effect that shapes how people feel about the content, the interface, and the organisation behind it. In this episode, we slow down and look carefully at one of the most overlooked layers of digital design: typography. Not as decoration, but as a communicative act. We draw on research into readability and personality, trace how type choices encode meaning, and ask what it actually costs — in comprehension, trust, and usability — when those choices go wrong. A few of the threads we pull on: • Why two typefaces that are equally legible can produce completely different emotional responses in readers• How the distinction between a typeface's personality and its readability creates real tensions for designers• What happens when display fonts built for headlines end up doing the work of body text• The surprising places where what feels more readable isn't always what performs better in studies This is an episode for anyone who has ever squinted at a screen, wondered why one app feels friendlier than another, or made a design decision based on instinct and hoped for the best. We don't assume prior knowledge of typography, UX, or human–computer interaction — just curiosity. Take a closer look at something you read every day.

July 1, 2026

The 1-in-12 Problem #HCIExplained S2E9

One in twelve men can't read your colour-coded design the way you intended. That's not a niche accessibility footnote — it's a quiet, persistent failure woven into the fabric of everyday UX. Colour is one of the most powerful tools in a designer's kit, and one of the most routinely misused. This episode of HCI Explained asks a deceptively simple question: if you design with colour alone, who gets left behind, and why does it keep happening? Hosts Mara and Jon walk through the human–computer interaction research on colour perception and contrast, unpacking what "colour blindness" actually means (it's rarely true blindness), how contrast ratios became a cornerstone of accessibility standards, and why well-intentioned design teams still ship products that exclude millions of users. The episode moves from theory to practice without getting lost in technical detail — this is a conversation for curious people, not specialists. A few of the threads we pull on: • Why the 1-in-12 statistic is both accurate and misleading, and what the real number looks like when you count everyone affected• The everyday analogy that reframes how you think about colour dependency in interfaces• A real product launch where colour-only feedback caused genuine, documented user confusion• The tension between visual delight and functional equity — and whether designers are ever forced to choose No jargon goes undefined, no conclusion is handed to you cheaply. Just a careful, unhurried look at something that shapes every screen you use. Pull up a chair — this one's worth thinking about.

27 total episodes available

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What is HCI Explained?: Curious about how humans interact with technology? HCI Explained breaks down complex Human-Computer Interaction topics into clear, engaging stories. From agency and automation to design ethics and UX psychology, we explore how tech shapes what it means to be human. Whether you're a student, designer, or tech enthusiast, join us weekly to learn how interaction design influences our everyday lives.

Support the show on Buy Me a Coffee to help keep new episodes coming: https://buymeacoffee.com/hciexplained. 💙🚀
How often does this podcast release new episodes?: This podcast updates daily.
Where can I listen to this podcast?: This podcast is available on 4 platforms including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and more. You can also use the RSS feed directly.
Does this podcast accept guests?: No, this podcast does not typically feature guests.

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