Episode 4: Designed to Feel vs Designed to Convert- What Usability Testing Reveals

Episode 4: Designed to Feel vs Designed to Convert- What Usability Testing Reveals

In this episode, we explore usability testing through a comparative analysis of two digital systems: the Orient Express website and Virgin Voyages. While both platforms were rated as easy to use and highly satisfying, they reveal fundamentally different design strategies—one prioritizing efficiency and conversion, the other emphasizing storytelling and exclusivity. Through these usability tests, we examine how design decisions influence user behavior, perception, and decision-making, and why usability is not just about ease of use, but about aligning systems with intentional outcomes.

Episode 3: Truth in the Feed — Misinformation, Disinformation, and Digital Influence

How do you know something is true? In a digital environment where information moves quickly and constantly, that question becomes harder to answer than it seems. In this episode of The Cybernetic Desk, Karina and Viviana explore how misinformation spreads, why it is often more engaging than accurate information, and how social media systems shape what we see and what we believe. This conversation looks at the difference between misinformation and disinformation, the role of algorithms in amplifying certain types of content, and how emotional reactions and limited information sources can reinforce existing perspectives. Even when people feel confident in their ability to identify misleading information, confusion remains widespread. This episode reflects on what it means to navigate a world where information is abundant but not always reliable, and how awareness, intention, and small changes in behavior can shift the way we engage with what we see online. A conversation about slowing down, questioning what feels true, and learning to look beyond the surface.

Episode 2: When Technology Works… Until It Doesn’t

Most of the technology we rely on every day doesn’t live in some distant server room. It lives on our desks, in our hands, quietly shaping how we move through the world. In this episode, Karina and Viviana explore how the Internet of Things fades into the background of daily life and what happens when it suddenly doesn’t. Through lived experience in tech support, education, and everyday routines, this conversation looks at how connected devices don’t just make things easier, but gradually begin to structure behavior, memory, and even emotional responses. This episode reflects on the invisible systems we depend on, the trust we place in them, and the subtle ways technology reshapes what we notice, what we remember, and what we rely on. A quiet conversation about what it means to live alongside systems we rarely question, until they stop working.

Episode 1: Logging Off-A 24 Hour Social Media Experiment

What happens when you step away from the systems you interact with every day? In this first episode of The Cybernetic Desk, Karina and Viviana reflect on a 24 hour break from social media and what it revealed about attention, habit, and digital dependence. What begins as a simple experiment becomes something more layered. Without constant notifications, scrolling, and background noise, patterns start to surface. This episode explores what it feels like to disconnect from platforms that are designed to hold attention, and how quickly absence can reveal how deeply those systems are embedded in daily life. A starting point for noticing what we reach for without thinking.