Episode #29: Designing Simpler Products Through Deeper Listening with Uri Ashi

Simplifying a product is not a final polish step. It begins with listening closely, asking better questions, and being willing to remove what the interface does not need. In Episode 29, Uri Ashi connects those practices to a career that moved from illustration and animation into product design.

What you'll learn

• What animation and product design share as forms of visual communication

• Why form and function relate differently in art and product work

• How customer calls can become a daily design research habit

• Why designers should challenge a brief before moving into pixels

• How subtraction can make a complex system easier to use

Carry visual communication into product design

Before working in product, Uri created illustrations and animation. He made a cutout animated musical about a world of people made of tin, including a rusty protagonist who did not oil himself. The film received a best short film award at the Haifa International Film Festival. Friends later encouraged him to consider Israel's growing technology sector, and the transition unfolded gradually. He worked at several startups, co-founded two companies, and eventually joined Gong.

Uri sees visual communication as the strongest connection between animation and product design. An animated film must communicate a feeling or story visually. An interaction must also communicate clearly, although its purpose is more constrained. In product design, he says form follows function, while art leaves more room for interpretation and may reverse that order.

That distinction is useful for teams reviewing creative work. A polished composition is not enough if a person cannot understand what to do. Product visuals serve an interaction. The designer's craft lies in making that interaction understandable without stripping away every trace of character.

Make listening part of the design process

Uri describes product design as far more systematic than his earlier artistic process. His team begins with brainstorming, moves through rough wireframes, talks with users, experiments, and then develops prototypes. The tools and job titles have changed during his career, from GUI and UI design to UX and product design, and from Photoshop to Sketch and Figma. The need to understand how work will be perceived has remained.

At Gong, customer conversations are also a product research resource. Gong analyzes interactions such as sales and post-sales calls, emails, text messages, and social media to create insights for revenue teams. Uri explains that product teams inside the company use call recordings to learn about customer needs, pain points, and challenges.

His recommendation to aspiring product designers is direct: practice listening. He sets aside an hour each day to listen to calls. His schedule makes listening a daily practice rather than an occasional validation activity. That protected hour gives him regular exposure to customers' needs, pain points, and challenges.

Simplify by removing, not just adding

Uri was responsible for design on Gong's administration side, including user management, provisioning, integrations, permissions, and APIs. These areas involve connected rules and complex systems. He enjoys the work because simplifying that complexity feels like solving a difficult puzzle.

His pencil analogy captures a frequently overlooked design responsibility. Teams focus on the end that draws and forget the end that erases. Designers are often asked to add screens, controls, or explanations, but removing redundant elements can be the more valuable contribution. A simpler page is not necessarily one with fewer capabilities. It is one where the necessary capabilities are organized without avoidable friction.

This gives teams a practical review question: what can be deleted without weakening the user's ability to complete the task? That question can expose duplicated controls, unnecessary decisions, or details presented before they are relevant. Subtraction should follow understanding, not aesthetic preference, so the listening practice and simplification practice reinforce each other.

Challenge the brief before designing the interface

One of Uri's most difficult tasks is resisting the pull of pixel work too early. Designers commonly receive product briefs from product managers, but he believes they should not take those briefs for granted. The central challenge is identifying the right questions to ask at that moment.

Challenging a brief does not mean rejecting collaboration or delaying work for its own sake. It means examining the problem, intended outcome, assumptions, and evidence before turning a proposed direction into an interface. If a team begins with pixels, a visually convincing solution can make a weak premise harder to question.

Uri's comments on hearing add a personal dimension to attentive work. As his hearing deteriorated, participating in conversations required greater concentration. He found that this effort could make him more attentive to subtle gestures, facial expressions, and implicit clues. He does not present listening as passive reception. It is concentrated observation of what people say and how they communicate it.

Episode 29 is a concise reminder that better design often comes from attention and restraint. Listen to the full conversation for Uri's reflections on visual communication, customer calls, complex administration tools, and the questions that should come before pixels.