22 questions with Aaron Aalto
A designer you should know about
Hello 👋
This week I have a different species of Design Lobster for you. A short interview with designer Aaron Aalto.
I came across Aaron through his delightful illustrations on X/Twitter, and had the chance to sit down with him in a café in Brooklyn a few weeks ago and talk life, work and how he designs. Enjoy!
1. What’s your name?
Aaron Aalto, but my friends call me aa.
2. What do you design?
I design products that empower people, currently at Coinlist. But most people know me through my illustration work.
3. How long have you been designing?
I've been doing it for six years. I started out with designing headphones and furniture. In recent years, my focus has been on digital products. So I live between those two worlds.
4. What are you designing right now?
Right now, I'm designing for CoinList. In my free time, I’m illustrating and experimenting. I recently designed an editorial illustration for a review Max Widmer wrote of Chris Dixon's new book Read, Write, Own. I’m also working on a curated library called Codex.
5. What are you most proud of designing?
I designed the cover for Balaji Srinivasan’s book The Network State. I feel really lucky having got to work with Balaji on that.
6. What do you wish you could design?
A self-actualisation product. I've had this dream to design a device that is dedicated to helping you reach your goals. Almost like a Fitbit but for your mental health and spiritual needs. A compass for your life. It’s been something I’ve been thinking about since 2015. I see it actually as a whole suite of products for the body, mind, and spirit.
7. The moment you knew you were going to be a designer?
I remember in middle school walking into my art class and seeing a blue 1998 iMac. I had never seen anything like it before. I was shocked that it was an all-in-one. I vividly remember the slick Mac OS X interface and the genie effect the windows had when you minimised them. From that moment on, I spent my evenings after school trying to figure out how to become a designer. I couldn’t afford to buy a Mac so I would just draw Apple computers instead.
8. Your very first design project?
I assembled a computer at age 12. That got me interested in building hardware and computer design software. That just snowballed into other little projects that eventually led me to attend the Savannah College of Art and Design.
9. Biggest design lesson you’ve learned?
I once read that a designer is someone who's cultured, someone who’s well read and who experiences the world. And that helped me articulate a blueprint for myself and it amplified my hunger and openness to new things. If a book interests me, I’ll pick it up without thinking twice. If there's a potential for a conversation with someone, even if they do something totally different, then I’ll do it, because learning is my favourite part of the puzzle.
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10. Something you wished you’d been told about design before you started?
Learn about systems. Trust your own intuition. I’ve also learned it’s important to move away from the work. To just take a walk and completely disconnect and allow the mind to make important connections by itself. Making space for thinking, but also making space for not thinking.
11. Where do you go to get inspiration?
The Metropolitan Museum of Art here in New York. It offers a panoramic view of human history. I think it's the best museum in the whole city.
12. Your favourite designer?
So hard to choose. Let's just say if I had a choir of designers, I’d pick Isamu Noguchi as the soloist. He existed across two worlds, art and design. Not only was he able to make functional, beautiful products, but he was able to contribute to the history of art too. Not an easy feat.
13. Your favourite piece of design?
I’m drawn to things that do their job and don’t try to call attention to themselves. They recede and serve only to amplify the joy of their existence. I do have a special place in my heart for the iPod with a color display.
14. Design guilty pleasure?
Spending hours refining something most people will never notice.
15. Design hill you’ll die on?
Designers have to know how to draw. The sketchbook is the best interface because once you train your mind you can do anything on paper.
16. Form or function?
I would say function. But great design harmonises both.
17. Design is design, or design is art?
I would say art is design. But not all design is art. If you look at any Renaissance painting done by Michelangelo and you start breaking it down compositionally there is a lot of design going on there. The expressive power emerges from the composition and other design techniques—what’s holding the painting together is pure design. Art is the highest expression of a craft. I think some designers think artists operate in la-la-land. Maybe they do now, but that’s not the way it started. But I don’t waste my time arguing. I’m far more interested in how things connect.
18. Most important quality of a designer?
Curiosity. It's what keeps your plants watered and your mind flourishing, growing, and making new connections. It's also super useful when you're facing a wicked problem.
19. At the end the day, why do you design?
Because I have a deep reverence and respect for humanity. I find meaning working on things that empower or enlighten individuals. I think designers are a bit like chameleons, you can place us into any sort of context and we start bringing order to chaos. But most important I think we supply humanity to the work at hand. I want to leave my corner of the world better than I found it.
20. How do you relax when you’re not designing?
I love going to museums like the Met. I also like reading, travelling and trying new foods. But the thing that I really love to do is fly fishing in the Freestone creeks of Upstate New York. Fly fishing is part analytical, part preparation, part just trying to figure it out! It's a game that you play with nature that I really enjoy.
21. How can we stay in touch with you?
Say hi on Twitter/X, Instagram or subscribe to my newsletter.
22. Which designer should we interview next?
I recently spoke with Cesar Idrobo. He’s an incredible designer and an old friend who's worked with Kanye on the Yeezy footwear.
Hope you enjoyed today’s 22 questions. The next one will land in April. Have a great week!
Ben
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Really appreciate you having me Ben!