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March 24, 2025 32 mins

Why do some of the best products—built by amazing teams—still struggle? Even when they are building exactly what the customer asks for? The answer lies in understanding three key models that shape product success:

  • The engineering model (how it actually works)
  • The user model (how people think it works), and
  • The design model (how we want them to think it works).


In this episode of Humans First, hosts Andrew Sladky, Kurt Vander Wiel, and Nick Bray unpack why misaligned models lead to bad user experience (UX), why customer feedback isn’t always enough, and how great design bridges the gap. We explore real-world examples, from toasters to banking software to missile defense systems, showing how companies can build more intuitive and effective products.

To learn more about Visual Logic’s Humans First approach, ⁠visit vlgux.com⁠.

Since 1988, Visual Logic has been a trusted User Experience partner for leading companies–helping guide product strategy, and designing stand out user interfaces & customer experiences. Our process helps simplify complex products and leads to elegant, easy-to-use solutions that your customers & end-users will love.

Getting to simple is hard. We’ll help you build & launch with confidence.

For more Humans First, visit: ⁠www.visuallogicux.com/podcast⁠

Keywords: product design, UX, user experience, customer insights, product strategy, design thinking, user research, digital transformation, innovation, engineering, design maturity

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