Aaron Howes

tinkering with v0 and Loveable on an app idea and wondering how I can create multiple options and then compare and iterate across them? as a designer your vision is rarely crystal clear, clarity comes from first creating many options, comparing and then refining a few

Check in person: Have a nice flight.

Me: You too!

Every. Single. Time.

They’d only been back on my phone for a few weeks, but I deleted all social media apps from my phone again yesterday and the relief was instant.

Are you based in London or the UK? Designer? Advocate? Product person? shout me to get added to this list. 🥰💯🙌🏾

bsky.app/profile/did:...

Should I put this down to the “For you” feed or do Threads users just have a better sense of humour?

I've always felt that no one should be embarrassed to think in public. Silence can make you feel awkward and stupid but they're also part of a conversation. Thinking on your feet is an important skill but so is thinking through a response or admitting you don’t have an immediate answer.

I always mix up Apple TV (the device) and Apple TV+ (the streaming service).

They really should’ve called the streaming service something entirely different like Apple Watch to help distinguish between the two.

a young boy performs a trick on a stage with the words got talent on the bottom ALT: a young boy performs a trick on a stage with the words got talent on the bottom

Me removing lint from my iPhone’s charging port

Funnily enough my entry into design was through an MSc in HCI Design and it was very much focused on problem solving. One module in particular (Creativity in Design) helped us understand design as nondeterministic and it took me a minute to understand the value of what was being taught

Will definitely have to give this a listen. An element of nostalgia means I find video game music so relaxing. NTS also has some great video game music shows

Absolutely! I didn’t even consider design as a career path until I was in my mid-twenties because I had no idea it involved so many learnable skills. I thought it was just something you had to have a natural talent for

I’ve noticed that great designers almost always have an opinion. They’re willing to share their perspective or say “I think we should do this,” instead of “What should we do?” And that willingness to risk pushback or being wrong tends to help them learn, stand out, and make an impact.

I think about this all the time.

I used to think design was all “creative spark.” Either you had it, or you didn’t. It wasn't until I actually started designing that I realised a lot of it is about learning and using principles, systems, and best practices. Schools could do a better job of making this clear to kids.

Design is optimism Where did our positivity go? Here's some for the new year.

Love this. Pessimism is so seductive, it makes people sound smart, it gets attention. Optimism is for dreamers. But you can be realistic about the past, present and future while still optimistically hoping for better.

Next time you're presenting designs try the phrase, “This is our current thinking on…” It reassures people you’ve put real thought into it, but that you're also ready to shift gears if needed. It’s a small phrase with a big impact on how others view your work.

I used to read tons of “just in case” stuff, thinking it would help me someday. But if I eventually needed the information, I had to re-read everything anyway. These days, I focus on what I need, when I need it, and I’m way less buried by endless details I might never use.

What should be on my reading list this year?

(3/3)

Mr Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore
Just fun, clever fiction

The View From Breast Pocket Mountain
Awesome memoir of a life I’d consider very well-lived

Emergent Tokyo
Deepened my appreciation of one of my favourite cities

(2/3)

Books I loved in 2024:

79 Short Essays on Design
Surprisingly relatable considering most of these essays were written in the early 2000s

Life in Code by Ellen Ullman
A personal history of the tech industry that shows how little has changed and how we got to where we are today

(1/3)

Been using Things for my to-dos for a few years, but this week I’m trying out TeuxDeux. So far, the day-to-day view is easing my overwhelm while still helping me keep track of the whole week.

Most books won't change your life. But each read will refine your character, values and worldview ever so slightly. You might not notice from one read to the next, but over time, those small shifts add up.

Apple Notes would instantly be 100x better with one tiny change: better spacing around headings and paragraphs.

“Normal people” are basically treated like NPCs

I remember the first time someone played me Yonkers like it was yesterday. I had to go for a run around the block after.

There’s no way that buying a property in the UK needs to take 6 months. Get everyone in a room for a few hours to start with and it could be done in a couple weeks.

Drowning in Slop A thriving underground economy is clogging the internet with AI garbage — and it’s only going to get worse.

"AI seems less like a terrifying apocalyptic machine-god, ready to drag us into a new era of tech, and more like the perfect internet marketer’s tool, precision-built to serve the disposable, lowest-common-denominator demands of the infinite scroll."

Still relatively new to this world but in the last four years, 99% of the time when I’ve heard someone talk about the role of designers changing they seem to just describe something we already do.

On one hand I keep hearing that in a world of LLMs, taste and curation are the future of design. On the other, craft — often used to describe skills for creating a desired output — is the buzziest buzzword in design right now.

These ideas aren’t at odds but it’s interesting.

Hello.

How do I find fellow designers and other quirky creative folk on here?