How or where do you find inspiration?
I find inspiration a lot of places, and the best inspiration that I find is often away from the compter, wether it be in things I see outside while on a walk with my kids, or in architecture, juts looking at how everyday things are designed can really provide great insights into design thinking.

Who is the biggest influence on your work right now?
That is hard to say, but if I had to pick one or two people I would say Stephen Anderson and Aarron Walter. I have really been diving into to how people experience design emoitionally, and some of the ways we can engage them on this level and both of these guys have been some great work in this area. Stephen Anderson’s Mental Notes are a great resource for applying insights into human behavior to our designs. Aarron Walter gave an awesome presentation at An Event Apart San Diego this last year about emotional design and has a ton of great resources on his site, not to mention the awesome work he does at Mail Chimp.

Where are your “design roots”? Print or Web?
My design roots are a combo of the two. I got into design by starting to design for a hardcore/metal band that I was in, in the late 90’s early 2000’s. We need merch and site so I dove in and starting teaching myself.

How important is it to know the history of design?
I think in most anything history is important as it helps provide context. I love learning about the history of design and deisgners and how they solved esign problems they faced in their era.

Serif or Sans?
This one is hard… I think there are some seriously sexy typefaces in each category, but a light/thin sans-serif probably takes the cake.

Do you code and design? Are you a “Hybrid”?
On many occasions I have both designed and coded(front end) on projects, and will often dive into some html/css/jquery when working on functional prototypes. There is often a lot of debate about being a specialist or being more of a hybrid, I personally think that even if you aren’t an expert in both areas, that you should at least have a solid understanding of the other discipline so that you are able to contribute to the project more effectively.

What’s your favorite part of the creative process?
For me it is a tie between the research and dientifying and solving the problem. I really enjoy learning about the people I am designing for. The research and conversations provide a very unique opportunity to learn about other people. Once we have identified the problems we are designing for I love the colaboration and working through the various solutions and interactions.

What makes your creative process different from everybody else?
I am not sure how much my creative process is that different from anyone else. I do have some set things I do each time(research, sketching, etc.), but I really try to focus all efforts on the people who will be interacting with what I am building, so depeding on what I learn/know about them the process can change a bit from project to project.

What do you see as the single biggest shift in the evolution of design over the past 5 years?
I would say platforms. With the rise in use of mobile devices and tablets, new opportunities and challenges are presenting themselves to designers. Design is pretty consistent, but who we are designing for and the mediums with which people will expereince design are always changing. I think that this is what makes working in design so exciting.

What’s the difference between User Experience and User Interface design?
Lets see if I can answer this without opening a can of worms.

For me User Experience Design is focused on what the interactions and expereince for the customer/user should be, and User Interface Design is a part of building that expereince.

What makes one a web design professional?
I think attitude and approach are key. How a person carries themself says a lot more about their professionalism than their creative talents and abilities. To quote Conan O’Brien “Work hard and be nice to people.”

What are designers/developers doing right (or wrong)? Or Are there any trends you really like or hate going on now?
Trends come and go some of them are cool, some aren’t, this is a really a matter of opinion so I can’t wiegh in to much. Most of my frustrations come with how we interact (public slamming of apps sites) through social channels under the guise of feedback, or critique, when often times there is no real intent to help, but instead just to be heard or be seen. This often leads to more harm than good.

What’s your favorite flavor of design or development programs/languages?
I am pretty boring in this aspect for design I use Photoshop and when I get brave and code my own work I use Coda.

I will say the most helpful app I use is Axure. It allows me to create wireframes and then convert them in to functional html/css prototoypes as well as generate functional specifications. It is a super useful app.

What is your favorite book?
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader – C.S. Lewis. Addicted to Mediocrity – Frankie Schaeffer

What is your favorite movie?
The Empire Strikes Back

Who is your favorite musical artist (or What musical artist are you listening to the most right now?)
I am pretty eccumenical when it comes to music, but lately I have been listening to a lot of Explosions in the Sky and you can always find me listening to a fair amount of metal \m/

About Aaron

Aaron is a User Experience Designer and Senior Product Manager for PixelFish where he brings the awesome on a daily basis. Coffee drinker and ranter he resides in Murrieta, Ca with his family.

His personal website: thisisaaronslife.com
Follow him on twitter: @aaroni268