InVision recruited me to build a team that could tell the story of design’s impact on companies and uncover the best practices that guide the most mature design teams. I assembled a talented team of writers, photographers, videographers, editors, and industry experts. Together we created content and events that influenced the design practice of thousands of companies.
My team studied and consulted with design teams at Fortune 500 companies and ran events that brought design leaders together for candid, in-depth conversations. Our research was presented in many forms including a design maturity model, 11 books, 3 documentary films, and an award winning podcast.
Roles: VP of Design Education, Content
Team size: 12
Marketing Impact
Led the creation of 11 books that generated more that $3mm ARR, were downloaded more than 400,000 times, audiobook downloaded 12,000 times
Led creation of DesignBetter.com, a key property that generated brand equity and new customer leads and had an email list of 150,000 subscribers, 600% growth in first year
Produced award winning podcast that reaches more than 40,000 listeners worldwide each episode, 2.5mm downloads and counting
Supported growth by speaking at Fortune 500 companies
Co-created industry influencing design maturity model
Worked within executive team to establish growth strategy and OKRs for teams
Co-created Design Exchange that brought designers from top companies to international settings to connect
Co-created a design leadership community with thousands of design leader members around the world
Team & Operations Impact
Built and managed cross-functional creative team with diverse skills and coordinated efforts across channels
Mentored and cultivated growth of each team member
Worked across teams in Marketing, Sales, and Product to advance projects and reach goals
Mentored product teams in-house
Managed aggressive publication schedule across channels
Communicated vision and strategy to company at major offsite meetings
Eli Woolery, Senior Director of Design Education
“Personally, Aarron has been one of my most trusted mentors, and his guidance and feedback have been critical to the growth of my career over the past six years. He has a practical, honest leadership style that opens doors for the best creativity from his team members.”
Design Better
As the VP of Design Education and later VP of Content at InVision, my goal was to advance design practices in companies of all sizes to create opportunity for the growth of InVision’s offerings. I built a team that produced Design Better, a publication featuring books, podcasts, research, and interviews that help design teams learn foundational practices, work more efficiently, and create more value for their organization.
We produced 11 books that have been downloaded more than 250,000 times and influenced more than $3 million in ARR. We created a Webby nominated podcast with more than 2.5 million downloads, and produced a design maturity model used by Fortune 100 companies including Google, IBM, Verizon, Cisco, and others.
Susan Kaplow, VP of Content
“The most important thing to know about Aarron Walter is that if he's in your corner, you're psyched. The work will be great. The team will be lit-up and cared for. When Aarron's in the room, so is inspiration.”
The Design Better Library
Working with experts from design teams at such companies as Airbnb, Pinterest, Shopify, Dropbox, and the New York Times, my team produced a library of books on topics salient to the the software design industry. Each book provides practical, real-world guidance for teams and design practitioners and is enhanced by video interviews with inspiring designers.
These books, which have been downloaded more than 400,000 times, are available free at DesignBetter.com in ebook, PDF, and audiobook formats.
Select videos from the books
The New Design Frontier
We surveyed thousands of companies to explore the relationship between design practices and business performance. We found that those dominating their industries are the ones treating the screen like the most important place on Earth.
Our study showed that companies with high design maturity see cost savings, revenue gains, and brand and market position improvements as a result of their design efforts. With more than 2,200 designers surveyed around the globe, this is the widest-ranging report of its kind.
