About
Senior Product Designer focused on AI‑driven health and behavioral products.
I've designed the UX of global platforms at Abbott Nutrition. I led the plan for reporting at a Fortune 100 financial services company. I designed and shipped a live AI wellness app for iOS and Android. I also led its research team. For a while, I worked part-time as a licensed mental health counselor while I kept designing.
What I Do
I'm often brought into projects that feel fragmented, overly complex, or difficult to move forward. My role is to create clarity, both in the product and across the team.
I took on counseling part-time because I wanted to help people directly. I kept designing the whole time, for my own business and for clients, and found that design was the work I wanted to do most. Counseling still shapes how I work: I listen carefully, look for the pattern underneath, and understand a problem before I try to solve it. Now I want my design work to go toward products that help people.
I stay in my lane unless I'm asked to step out, but I've never said “it's not my job.”
- I use data, research, and real constraints to guide decisions
- I design for how it will actually get built, including the error and empty states
Aaron is an exceptional collaborator… Aaron's positive attitude and team-first mentality create an environment where everyone can do their best work.
Design Systems
I've worked on both sides of design systems. On established teams, I've designed within existing systems, using their components and patterns as intended and raising gaps through the team's process rather than working around them. On newer products, I've built them: reusable components, tokenized styles, and shared patterns developed alongside the product so they stay practical and grounded in real use. Either way, the goal is the same: a consistent experience for users and less friction between design and development.
Working with AI
I use AI tools every day. Deciding what matters stays with me. When Fittra’s AI guidance took about 14 seconds to appear, I made it the top priority and directed the investigation with an AI coding tool. It found three causes: far more workout GPS data than the screen needed, a loading spinner that only a successful load could clear, and a lookup that could wait forever. Guidance now loads in about a second, and I designed what people see while they wait, including a notice when it runs long.
What I'm Looking For
I do my best work where the designer owns the outcome through launch: early, ambiguous problems on a small team. And I like being hands-on. The flows, the interaction details, the edge cases, and testing with real users are the part of the job I enjoy most.
- Zero-to-one products, where the designer defines the thing and then ships it
- Health, behavior change, and AI products, where understanding the domain changes the design
- Complex, ambiguous problems that need structure before they need screens
- UX strategy engagements where the hard part is alignment, not the interface
I've designed and shipped a live product to both app stores while leading its research team, and I've aligned six teams inside a Fortune 100 financial services company with no authority over any of them. I want to keep doing both: hands-on design work that ships, and working closely with engineering and product to get it right. Full-time, contract, or advisory.
Let's talk: ux@aaronengelportfolio.comOutside of Work
I live in Columbus with my wife, our two kids, and a yellow lab, and I'm a big Ohio State football fan. People are usually surprised to learn I've taken hip-hop dance classes.