Description

I'm Aaron, a designer with depth.

My career spans from Fortune 500s to scrappy startups, ouching industries from tech to hospitality to boutique brands. My background is deliberately varied, from building a soap brand to leading UI teams in games – experiences that taught me that great visual communication is a balance of beautiful design and business practicality.

I believe design is the most impactful when there’s a bit of fun to it.

Industry field of expertise

Languages

English
Native or bilingual

Workplace preferences

Can work on-site

Amsterdam (up to 10km)

Daydrift
Design Director, Co-Founder
DIGITAL AND IT
June 2023 - Today (3 years and 2 months)
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Co-founded Daydrift, a strategic design and research studio based in Amsterdam, working with startups and small businesses in tech, lifestyle and horeca to craft beautiful brands, websites, apps and visual stories.
Branding Webdesign Graphic Design Product design User Experience Design
Thought Pennies
UX/UI Lead
February 2022 - June 2023 (1 year and 4 months)
Austin, United States
Led the user experience design of a cross-platform AAA multiplayer RPG from initial concept through pre-production.

Design Systems: Built the cross-platform design system for a complex RPG (Gamepad vs. Mouse/Keyboard, seasonal content) — became the engineering team's source of truth and primary handoff reference.

Art Direction: Developed the initial 2D and UI art direction in tandem with the game’s overall art direction. Developed a seasonal, themed color system representing different factions. Led pod for developing the 3D map.
User Interface Design User Experience Design Game design Team management Product design
Zynga
Lead UX Designer
March 2021 - February 2022 (11 months)
Austin, TX, USA
Product Owner for cross-platform features. Manager of 3 UX designers & 3 UI artists on Star Wars: Hunters.

Behavioral Player Mapping Strategy: Mapped end-to-end game flow, segmenting by player intent & motivation type. Delivered a strategic roadmap that shaped monetization placement and feature development priorities.

Design Systems Governance: Led DesignOps and built a centralized asset pipeline that cut implementation time.

Product Management & Inclusion Strategy: Managed 6 UI designers and artists across pods, matching expertise to challenge while building a culture of craft growth. Championed accessibility.
Game design User Experience Design User Interface Design