Aarron Walter is the VP of Design Education at InVision and is the author of Designing for Emotion. Previously he founded the UX practice at Mailchimp.
In this interview Aarron discusses his early life embracing fine arts, his transition to software, and the interplay between the two. He also shares his philosophy for user research, why he joined InVision, and his thoughts on the future of product design.
Episode Highlights
14:00: Aaron’s background in fine arts, teaching, and the creative process
20:50: The transition from fine arts to software design
24:20: Being curious and working at Mailchimp
30:00: Early design challenges at Mailchimp
32:05: How to work around a manager who doesn’t believe in research
35:30: Why every company should value research
38:00: “Our work isn’t done until we turn research into a story” – presenting research to the rest of the team with storytelling, user personas, and jobs-to-be-done
44:00: Why Aarron was attracted to Invision
48:00: Using the history of animation as a guide for creating prototypes and getting feedback
53:00: The future of product design