I’m Aaron, a product designer
I’m Aaron, a product designer obsessed with
I’m Aaron, a product designer obsessed with
obsessed with
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Selected Work
Selected Work
Selected Work
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About
About
About
Aaron Guiles
/gaɪlz/ GUY-ulls
Design System Architect · Product Designer
I’m a product designer based in Dallas, TX, specializing in enterprise design systems.
With over 20 years of experience, I build scalable, accessible, and intuitive systems that empower teams to design at scale.
As a neurodivergent designer, I understand the need for clarity, structure, and flexibility—creating systems that work for diverse ways of thinking.
When I’m not obsessing over design systems, you’ll find me rock climbing, woodworking, playing chess, or exploring the outdoors with my kids.
Rock climbing
Rock climbing
Rock climbing
Woodworking
Woodworking
Woodworking
Playing chess
Playing chess
Playing chess
Exploring the outdoors
Exploring the outdoors
Exploring the outdoors
Years of Design Experience
Years of Design Experience
Professional Experience
Professional Experience
Professional Experience
Capital One
January 2015 – Present
10+ years · Remote
A human-centered organization that creates innovative products with a goal to change banking for good.
Capital One
January 2015 – Present
10+ years · Remote
A human-centered organization that creates innovative products with a goal to change banking for good.
Capital One
January 2015 – Present
10+ years · Remote
A human-centered organization that creates innovative products with a goal to change banking for good.
Design System Lead · FS Design System
December 2020 – Present · 4+ years · Remote
Built and maintained 1,400+ design tokens, 1,000+ icons, and 40+ components with 2.5M+ instances in use in Figma, supporting 50+ teams across the Financial Services division.
Led the FS Design System Brand Refresh, significantly advancing migration from V1 to V2, ensuring strong adoption and alignment with updated enterprise brand standards.
Created a flexible theming solution supporting light/dark mode, wireframing, an ultra-premium theme, and multiple private-label brands.
Developed governance and contribution models, enabling cross-functional teams to scale and sustain system adoption enterprise-wide.
Shaped governance and direction of Capital One’s enterprise design systems, driving collaboration through workshops, documentation, and leadership engagement.
Produced educational resources like the UI Icon Contribution Guide, Data Tables Playground, and Vision Simulator Demo to improve onboarding and best practice adherence.
Managed a dedicated Slack channel for 280+ designers and developers, centralizing announcements, discussions, and issue resolution.
Led the Sketch-to-Figma migration in 3 months, architecting libraries, design tokens, and Auto Layout components to ensure a seamless transition.
Optimized components by reducing variants by 80%, improving memory usage and performance.
Built a custom Vision Simulator tool in Figma, enabling real-time accessibility testing without plug-ins, helping teams simulate vision impairments and ensure WCAG compliance.
Design System Lead · FS Design System
December 2020 – Present · 4+ years · Remote
Built and maintained 1,400+ design tokens, 1,000+ icons, and 40+ components with 2.5M+ instances in use in Figma, supporting 50+ teams across the Financial Services division.
Led the FS Design System Brand Refresh, significantly advancing migration from V1 to V2, ensuring strong adoption and alignment with updated enterprise brand standards.
Created a flexible theming solution supporting light/dark mode, wireframing, an ultra-premium theme, and multiple private-label brands.
Developed governance and contribution models, enabling cross-functional teams to scale and sustain system adoption enterprise-wide.
Shaped governance and direction of Capital One’s enterprise design systems, driving collaboration through workshops, documentation, and leadership engagement.
Produced educational resources like the UI Icon Contribution Guide, Data Tables Playground, and Vision Simulator Demo to improve onboarding and best practice adherence.
Managed a dedicated Slack channel for 280+ designers and developers, centralizing announcements, discussions, and issue resolution.
Led the Sketch-to-Figma migration in 3 months, architecting libraries, design tokens, and Auto Layout components to ensure a seamless transition.
Optimized components by reducing variants by 80%, improving memory usage and performance.
Built a custom Vision Simulator tool in Figma, enabling real-time accessibility testing without plug-ins, helping teams simulate vision impairments and ensure WCAG compliance.
Design System Lead · FS Design System
December 2020 – Present · 4+ years · Remote
Built and maintained 1,400+ design tokens, 1,000+ icons, and 40+ components with 2.5M+ instances in use in Figma, supporting 50+ teams across the Financial Services division.
Led the FS Design System Brand Refresh, significantly advancing migration from V1 to V2, ensuring strong adoption and alignment with updated enterprise brand standards.
Created a flexible theming solution supporting light/dark mode, wireframing, an ultra-premium theme, and multiple private-label brands.
Developed governance and contribution models, enabling cross-functional teams to scale and sustain system adoption enterprise-wide.
Shaped governance and direction of Capital One’s enterprise design systems, driving collaboration through workshops, documentation, and leadership engagement.
Produced educational resources like the UI Icon Contribution Guide, Data Tables Playground, and Vision Simulator Demo to improve onboarding and best practice adherence.
Managed a dedicated Slack channel for 280+ designers and developers, centralizing announcements, discussions, and issue resolution.
Led the Sketch-to-Figma migration in 3 months, architecting libraries, design tokens, and Auto Layout components to ensure a seamless transition.
Optimized components by reducing variants by 80%, improving memory usage and performance.
Built a custom Vision Simulator tool in Figma, enabling real-time accessibility testing without plug-ins, helping teams simulate vision impairments and ensure WCAG compliance.
Product Design Manager · Consumer Auto
January 2018 – December 2020 · 3 years · Plano, TX
Upgraded the Auto Navigator Library to V3, unifying Web, iOS, and Android with 1,480+ new symbols, 390+ styles, and 60+ icons, leveraging the latest features in Sketch.
Established the One Design System Sketch library, applying learnings from the Auto Navigator Pattern Library to accelerate the creation of the first enterprise-wide design system.
Built a Flow Kit Sketch library for flowcharts and sitemaps, streamlining experience mapping and design annotations across all teams in FS.
Led a 4-hour Sketch 101 workshop for a local design agency, teaching aspiring designers basic skills.
Product Design Manager · Consumer Auto
January 2018 – December 2020 · 3 years · Plano, TX
Upgraded the Auto Navigator Library to V3, unifying Web, iOS, and Android with 1,480+ new symbols, 390+ styles, and 60+ icons, leveraging the latest features in Sketch.
Established the One Design System Sketch library, applying learnings from the Auto Navigator Pattern Library to accelerate the creation of the first enterprise-wide design system.
Built a Flow Kit Sketch library for flowcharts and sitemaps, streamlining experience mapping and design annotations across all teams in FS.
Led a 4-hour Sketch 101 workshop for a local design agency, teaching aspiring designers basic skills.
Product Design Manager · Consumer Auto
January 2018 – December 2020 · 3 years · Plano, TX
Upgraded the Auto Navigator Library to V3, unifying Web, iOS, and Android with 1,480+ new symbols, 390+ styles, and 60+ icons, leveraging the latest features in Sketch.
Established the One Design System Sketch library, applying learnings from the Auto Navigator Pattern Library to accelerate the creation of the first enterprise-wide design system.
Built a Flow Kit Sketch library for flowcharts and sitemaps, streamlining experience mapping and design annotations across all teams in FS.
Led a 4-hour Sketch 101 workshop for a local design agency, teaching aspiring designers basic skills.
Principal Product Designer · Auto Navigator
January 2015 – December 2017 · 3 years · Plano, TX
Led the design strategy, contributing to $1.54B in loan originations and increasing NPS from 75 to 82.
Built the Auto Navigator Pattern Library V1, transitioning the team from Photoshop to Sketch, standardizing UI components, and dramatically improving design speed, consistency, and efficiency.
Redesigned the pre-qualification flow, increasing joint applications by 17%, reducing invalid income entries by 40%, and increasing overall conversion rates by 11%, resulting in $250M in funding.
Developed a data-driven search & filter experience, increasing inventory search engagement by 23%.
Pioneered a “Search by Photo” feature, earning a patent for innovative visual search technology.
Principal Product Designer · Auto Navigator
January 2015 – December 2017 · 3 years · Plano, TX
Led the design strategy, contributing to $1.54B in loan originations and increasing NPS from 75 to 82.
Built the Auto Navigator Pattern Library V1, transitioning the team from Photoshop to Sketch, standardizing UI components, and dramatically improving design speed, consistency, and efficiency.
Redesigned the pre-qualification flow, increasing joint applications by 17%, reducing invalid income entries by 40%, and increasing overall conversion rates by 11%, resulting in $250M in funding.
Developed a data-driven search & filter experience, increasing inventory search engagement by 23%.
Pioneered a “Search by Photo” feature, earning a patent for innovative visual search technology.
Principal Product Designer · Auto Navigator
January 2015 – December 2017 · 3 years · Plano, TX
Led the design strategy, contributing to $1.54B in loan originations and increasing NPS from 75 to 82.
Built the Auto Navigator Pattern Library V1, transitioning the team from Photoshop to Sketch, standardizing UI components, and dramatically improving design speed, consistency, and efficiency.
Redesigned the pre-qualification flow, increasing joint applications by 17%, reducing invalid income entries by 40%, and increasing overall conversion rates by 11%, resulting in $250M in funding.
Developed a data-driven search & filter experience, increasing inventory search engagement by 23%.
Pioneered a “Search by Photo” feature, earning a patent for innovative visual search technology.
imc²
August 2004 – January 2015
10+ years · Dallas, TX
A highly regarded digital agency known for its marketing, strategy, and design expertise, ranking among the top 10 independent firms.
imc²
August 2004 – January 2015
10+ years · Dallas, TX
A highly regarded digital agency known for its marketing, strategy, and design expertise, ranking among the top 10 independent firms.
imc²
August 2004 – January 2015
10+ years · Dallas, TX
A highly regarded digital agency known for its marketing, strategy, and design expertise, ranking among the top 10 independent firms.
Associate Creative Director ← Art Director ← Senior Designer ← Production Designer
Led many design efforts for global brands including Louisville Slugger, Burt’s Bees, Omni Hotels & Resorts, Pfizer, GSK, Eli Lilly, Shire, Procter & Gamble, and Novartis for over 10 years.
Developed a Designer Handbook training program to onboard new hires and train 60+ designers, establishing best practices and operational standards.
Advanced from hands-on design execution roles to leadership roles, shaping team strategy, business development, and design process frameworks.
Associate Creative Director ← Art Director ← Senior Designer ← Production Designer
Led many design efforts for global brands including Louisville Slugger, Burt’s Bees, Omni Hotels & Resorts, Pfizer, GSK, Eli Lilly, Shire, Procter & Gamble, and Novartis for over 10 years.
Developed a Designer Handbook training program to onboard new hires and train 60+ designers, establishing best practices and operational standards.
Advanced from hands-on design execution roles to leadership roles, shaping team strategy, business development, and design process frameworks.
Associate Creative Director ← Art Director ← Senior Designer ← Production Designer
Led many design efforts for global brands including Louisville Slugger, Burt’s Bees, Omni Hotels & Resorts, Pfizer, GSK, Eli Lilly, Shire, Procter & Gamble, and Novartis for over 10 years.
Developed a Designer Handbook training program to onboard new hires and train 60+ designers, establishing best practices and operational standards.
Advanced from hands-on design execution roles to leadership roles, shaping team strategy, business development, and design process frameworks.
Recommendations
Recommendations
Recommendations
“
Aaron brings unmatched craft, precision, and thoughtfulness to everything he touches. His design work set the standard for our system and helped shape how teams across Capital One build with quality, clarity, and care.”
Chris Ryan
Sr. Design Manager
“
Aaron brings unmatched craft, precision, and thoughtfulness to everything he touches. His design work set the standard for our system and helped shape how teams across Capital One build with quality, clarity, and care.”
Chris Ryan
Sr. Design Manager
“
Aaron brings unmatched craft, precision, and thoughtfulness to everything he touches. His design work set the standard for our system and helped shape how teams across Capital One build with quality, clarity, and care.”
Chris Ryan
Sr. Design Manager
“
Aaron consistently pushes the boundaries of Figma tooling and design system organization. His experience and insights have been invaluable to cross-system collaboration.”
Richie Hollins
Sr. Design Manager
“
Aaron consistently pushes the boundaries of Figma tooling and design system organization. His experience and insights have been invaluable to cross-system collaboration.”
Richie Hollins
Sr. Design Manager
“
Aaron consistently pushes the boundaries of Figma tooling and design system organization. His experience and insights have been invaluable to cross-system collaboration.”
Richie Hollins
Sr. Design Manager
“
Aaron’s influence extends far beyond his team. His expertise in design architecture, file management, and token systems has shaped how we build and scale enterprise-wide.”
Erin Potter
Sr. Design Manager
“
Aaron’s influence extends far beyond his team. His expertise in design architecture, file management, and token systems has shaped how we build and scale enterprise-wide.”
Erin Potter
Sr. Design Manager
“
Aaron’s influence extends far beyond his team. His expertise in design architecture, file management, and token systems has shaped how we build and scale enterprise-wide.”
Erin Potter
Sr. Design Manager
“
Aaron sets the bar for design systems at Capital One. His artifacts are industry-leading, and our team regularly draws inspiration from his work. His documentation, accessibility tooling, and governance have been invaluable.”
Chris Macholz
Sr. Design Manager
“
Aaron sets the bar for design systems at Capital One. His artifacts are industry-leading, and our team regularly draws inspiration from his work. His documentation, accessibility tooling, and governance have been invaluable.”
Chris Macholz
Sr. Design Manager
“
Aaron sets the bar for design systems at Capital One. His artifacts are industry-leading, and our team regularly draws inspiration from his work. His documentation, accessibility tooling, and governance have been invaluable.”
Chris Macholz
Sr. Design Manager
“
Aaron doesn’t just build components—he builds clarity and efficiency. His work empowers designers and engineers to move faster with confidence.”
Caleb Williams
Staff Software Engineer
“
Aaron doesn’t just build components—he builds clarity and efficiency. His work empowers designers and engineers to move faster with confidence.”
Caleb Williams
Staff Software Engineer
“
Aaron doesn’t just build components—he builds clarity and efficiency. His work empowers designers and engineers to move faster with confidence.”
Caleb Williams
Staff Software Engineer
“
The FS Design System wouldn’t be what it is without Aaron’s leadership. His rigor, strategic thinking, and dedication have created something truly impactful.”
Peter Vogt
Lead Design Engineer
“
The FS Design System wouldn’t be what it is without Aaron’s leadership. His rigor, strategic thinking, and dedication have created something truly impactful.”
Peter Vogt
Lead Design Engineer
“
The FS Design System wouldn’t be what it is without Aaron’s leadership. His rigor, strategic thinking, and dedication have created something truly impactful.”
Peter Vogt
Lead Design Engineer
“
Aaron continually raises the bar for design quality. His attention to detail, systematic thinking, and work on design systems have had a lasting impact across the organization.”
Jeff Whalen
Design Manager
“
Aaron continually raises the bar for design quality. His attention to detail, systematic thinking, and work on design systems have had a lasting impact across the organization.”
Jeff Whalen
Design Manager
“
Aaron continually raises the bar for design quality. His attention to detail, systematic thinking, and work on design systems have had a lasting impact across the organization.”
Jeff Whalen
Design Manager
“
Aaron sets the gold standard for design systems at Capital One. His work is the most robust and efficient across the enterprise, impacting designers and teams at every level.”
Chad Poorman
Design Manager
“
Aaron sets the gold standard for design systems at Capital One. His work is the most robust and efficient across the enterprise, impacting designers and teams at every level.”
Chad Poorman
Design Manager
“
Aaron sets the gold standard for design systems at Capital One. His work is the most robust and efficient across the enterprise, impacting designers and teams at every level.”
Chad Poorman
Design Manager
“
The FS Design System’s success is largely due to Aaron’s ingenuity and structure. Everything he builds—from components to governance—directly impacts our team’s success.”
Christine Huynh
Sr. Product Designer
“
The FS Design System’s success is largely due to Aaron’s ingenuity and structure. Everything he builds—from components to governance—directly impacts our team’s success.”
Christine Huynh
Sr. Product Designer
“
The FS Design System’s success is largely due to Aaron’s ingenuity and structure. Everything he builds—from components to governance—directly impacts our team’s success.”
Christine Huynh
Sr. Product Designer
Areas of Expertise
Areas of Expertise
Areas of Expertise
Design Systems
Accessibility (WCAG)
Design Tokens
Documentation
Educational Resources
Figma Auto Layout
Figma Libraries
Figma Variables
Governance
Iconography
Typography
Version Control
Web Components
Accessibility (WCAG)
Design Tokens
Documentation
Educational Resources
Figma Auto Layout
Figma Libraries
Figma Variables
Governance
Iconography
Typography
Version Control
Web Components
Accessibility (WCAG)
Design Tokens
Documentation
Educational Resources
Figma Auto Layout
Figma Libraries
Figma Variables
Governance
Iconography
Typography
Version Control
Web Components
Product Design
Product Design
Branding
Design Strategy
Interaction Design
Native Mobile
Prototyping
Research
Responsive Web
UI Design
UX Design
Visual Design
Branding
Design Strategy
Interaction Design
Native Mobile
Prototyping
Research
Responsive Web
UI Design
UX Design
Visual Design
Branding
Design Strategy
Interaction Design
Native Mobile
Prototyping
Research
Responsive Web
UI Design
UX Design
Visual Design
Tools
Tools
Adobe Creative Suite
Figma
Google Workspace
Jira
Sketch
Adobe Creative Suite
Figma
Google Workspace
Jira
Sketch
Adobe Creative Suite
Figma
Google Workspace
Jira
Sketch
Awards
Awards
Awards
2022 · Mark of Distinction Award
2022 · Mark of Distinction Award
First non-product team recognized for unifying UI and enhancing accessibility across 20+ products with the FS Design System.
First non-product team recognized for unifying UI and enhancing accessibility across 20+ products with the FS Design System.
2019 · High Octane Award
2019 · High Octane Award
Improved SEO, performance, and engagement with a landing page redesign.
Improved SEO, performance, and engagement with a landing page redesign.
2018 · Mark of Distinction Award
2018 · Mark of Distinction Award
Awarded a patent for the “Search by Photo” visual search technology.
Awarded a patent for the “Search by Photo” visual search technology.
2018 · High Octane Award
2018 · High Octane Award
Improved engagement and user experience for Auto Navigator’s pre-qualification and search.
Improved engagement and user experience for Auto Navigator’s pre-qualification and search.
2017 · MVP Award
2017 · MVP Award
Increased efficiency and design consistency with the Auto Navigator Library.
Increased efficiency and design consistency with the Auto Navigator Library.
Training + Certifications
Training + Certifications
Training + Certifications
2023 · Clarity Conference
2023 · Clarity Conference
Operating Design Systems · Nathan Curtis
Operating Design Systems · Nathan Curtis
2022 · Udemy
2022 · Udemy
How To Design for Accessibility · Liz Brown
How To Design for Accessibility · Liz Brown
Education
Education
Education
Oklahoma State University
Associate’s Degree in Applied Science,
Multimedia Technology
Associate’s Degree in Applied Science, Multimedia Technology
Associate’s Degree in Applied Science, Multimedia Technology
Brass Ring Awards
2004 · 1st Place
2002 · 1st Place + Best of Show
Contact
Contact
Contact
Interested in working together?
Interested in working together?
I’m currently working as a Design System Lead at Capital One.
If you’d like to talk shop or discuss an opportunity, send me an email or connect with me on LinkedIn.
I’m currently working as a Design System Lead at Capital One.
If you’d like to talk shop or discuss an opportunity, send me an email or connect with me on LinkedIn.