In 2011, Activision cracked the code that would print money for years: convince kids they needed to buy physical toys to unlock digital characters. Skylanders pioneered the "toys-to-life" genre, generating over $3 billion in its first three years and creating a new category that Disney, LEGO, and Nintendo would rush to copy. Then it all vanished. In this episode, hosts Brian Crowley and Eve Eden investigate the spectacular rise and mysterious fall of Skylanders with special guest Aiman Akhtar, founder of Fungisaurs. We'll examine how a revolutionary product experience turned into a cautionary tale about market saturation, platform lock-in, and the dangerous addiction to annual releases. Was it the flood of competitors? Did parents reach their breaking point with $15 action figures? Or did Activision's own success trap them in an unsustainable business model? Join us as we dust for fingerprints on one of gaming's most innovative—and ultimately doomed—experiments in physical-digital product design. Guest: Aiman Akhtar Fungisaurs: https://www.fungisaurs.com/

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.

The crime scene: A take-home design challenge. The victim: Fair hiring practices. The suspects: Well-meaning companies asking for "just a few hours" of strategic work. In this episode of UX Murder Mystery, hosts Brian Crowley and Eve Eden investigate how design challenges and whiteboard exercises went from legitimate evaluation tools to weapons of exploitation—with Christina Hamlin as our expert witness. Christina is a senior design leader who's built orgs at Silicon Valley's top companies and hired hundreds. She's been on both sides of "The Free Work Trap"—asked to give away her best thinking, and been in leadership roles where she's had to request the same from others. Recently, she got burned by what started as a "2-4 hour exercise" that consumed weeks of her life. THE EVIDENCE: - How portfolio reviews turned into free consulting - Why "collaborative whiteboard exercises" are really unpaid strategy sessions - The anatomy of a 20-hour "quick exercise" - Three questions to determine if it's evaluation or extraction - How companies disguise roadmap work as candidate assessment Christina dissects two personal cases where she said yes to free work—one where she got the offer and turned it down, and one where she didn't get the offer at all. Both taught her where the line really is. This isn't just a design problem. It's about power dynamics normalized across senior leadership hiring. And Christina refuses to perpetuate the trap. READ THE FULL ARTICLE: https://www.execsandthecity.com/p/when-interviews-become-exploitation

Connect with Christina Hamlin on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chamlin/

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.

CONTENT WARNING: This episode discusses suicide. We cover the death of Alex Kearns in the final segment (starting at 31:33). Crisis resources are listed below. If you're struggling with thoughts of suicide: Call 988 (Suicide & Crisis Lifeline) Text "HELLO" to 741741 (Crisis Text Line) You're not alone. Help is available 24/7. --- THE CRIME: When "democratizing finance" became gambling in disguise Robinhood promised to bring Wall Street to everyone. Instead, they built a slot machine with confetti animations, scratch-off lottery tickets, and zero customer support. The result? A 20-year-old college student died by suicide after seeing a $730K negative balance he didn't actually owe and couldn't reach anyone for help. In this episode of UX Murder Mystery, we investigate how Robinhood's gamification strategy, misleading interface design, and payment-for-order-flow business model led to tragedy and a $70 million FINRA penalty, the largest in history. 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.

After some heavy episodes, Eve and Brian lighten things up with a fun conversation about their love of movies and movie theaters—and why the industry is in deep trouble.

We discuss what makes the theatrical experience magical, how individual UX improvements accidentally killed the communal vibe, and whether movie theaters can survive the streaming era.

Discussed in this episode:

• What we love about the movie theater experience
• How assigned seating and luxury amenities changed everything
• The rise and fall of MoviePass
• The Atom app and modernizing the theater experience
• Supporting small independent theaters
• Whether premium formats help or hurt the industry
• Can movie theaters survive streaming?

A lighter conversation about a medium we both love that's fighting for survival.

Ten episodes in, it's time we properly introduce ourselves. In this milestone episode, Eve and Brian step away from investigating product murders to share their own origin stories—how they got into UX, how they met teaching at University of Wisconsin-Madison, and the career roller coasters they've survived along the way. We get candid about getting laid off, building resilience, and why your job title should never become your entire identity. We also answer listener emails and tackle questions about navigating the chaos of design careers—and why the current wave of layoffs is devastating for everyone caught in it. Think of this as the episode where the detectives finally reveal their backstories. Spoiler: we've both been through some shit. 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.

LinkedIn's AI screening tools are blocking qualified candidates from jobs they're perfect for. We investigate how automated recruiting broke the job market—and what both sides get catastrophically wrong. Comedian and recruiter Lindsay Adams brings a unique dual perspective: the comedy of watching candidates optimize for bots, and the tragedy of talent disappearing into ATS black holes. She reveals what actually happens when your application hits "Submit." Discussed in this episode: - How LinkedIn's AI actually evaluates profiles (and what recruiters see that you don't) - Why 75% of qualified candidates get auto-rejected before human review - Red flags recruiters spot instantly—and how to avoid them - The truth about ghost jobs, automated rejections, and ATS systems - Whether the job market is actually broken or just badly designed - What candidates get wrong about optimizing for algorithms - How recruiters are just as frustrated as job seekers Real talk about automated recruiting from someone who sees both sides: the candidates desperately trying to game the system, and the recruiters drowning in AI-sorted noise.

Sources: LinkedIn recruiting data, ATS system analysis, recruiter testimonials, job search statistics Perfect for: Job seekers, recruiters, hiring managers, anyone who's sent 500 applications with zero response, design teams building recruiting tools, people who think LinkedIn is where careers go to die

Guest: Lindsay Adams (Comedian & Recruiter) Get the job search survival guide: uxmurdermystery.com --- UX Murder Mystery is a joint production of EVE user experience design agency and Crowley UX, where systems meet stories. Hosted by Brian J. Crowley and Eve Eden. Edited by Kelsey Smith. Intro animation and logo design by Brian J. Crowley. Music by Nicholas Lee. Follow us: @uxmurdermystery Email: questions@uxmurdermystery.com © 2025 Brian J. Crowley and Eve Eden. All rights reserved.

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

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: 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.