Interview with Honeywell Aerospace

The Honeywell User Experience (HUE) team is one of the enablers within Honeywell and is a key driver of innovation and growth. It is through this enabler that Honeywell aspires to be “the Apple of the industrial sector” with intuitive, easy to use, easy to install, and easy to maintain products that delight our customers and end users. It involves a comprehensive approach that focuses on the end-to-end experience (not just product features) and also applies to business interactions and internal processes.

In its essence, design is problem solving. Laughably cliche, but true!

I’ve learned that I absolutely need my work to be challenging, or I will be bored. So right now that’s User Experience Design.

This is like asking who your favorite musical artist is, it changes with the times. So at this moment, I’m really interested in the works coming out of the InVision Studio.

If I start with what I count as my first “big-dea” job, I was a Graphic Designer for Fender Musical Instruments. My first project was to design a magazine advertisement for the Fender Statocaster. A dream come true if you know me.

Sketch is a game changer, friends. Hype is real.

Sunday night, it’s 10:30 pm, I’m inside my home studio, the lights are dim, the drink is strong, and thoughts are uninterrupted.

If what I’m creating is actually useful, followed closely by the visual design. I’m a sucker for a clean interface.

Ever hear of the term “Flow-State”? It’s that meditative-like state you achieve when you’re really focused on something. Time kind of melts away and before you know it hours have passed by. That’s what I feel.

Pride. I like to compare this to hiking. The bigger the mountain, the bigger the feeling of accomplishment when you’re standing at the top.

If the people you created it for actually find it useful.

I think in blanket terms it’s difficult to judge something as good or bad. With most things in life, it’s relative to the situation and problem at hand.

Simply create. By focusing our energy on the creation of something new, we as individuals will eventually find a path where that energy can be utilized for the betterment of humanity. Whether it be with a sense of sustainability, biomimicry, or more. As a designer, artist, or dreamer, it’s our duty to hone that creative skill and bring something into this world.

I believe we are currently in a transitionary period to the internet of things. Sure we have interconnected objects, but that’s only the beginning. Got 2 more hours? We can talk about this one for a while...

I took part in this experimental urban art exhibition called the London Loop. Myself along with other artists, submitted poster work that was featured throughout London at various public transportation hubs. My next exhibition? Probably something more local (laughs).

Music. I’m a designer by day, musician by night, and that creative feeling I get when writing music allows me to always have a fresh mind whenever it’s time to design.

Pragmatic and objective with a sense minimalist-style. I lean less towards trends because I enjoy a timeless look. Imagine yourself in a photo 40 years from now, are you the cool parent that could easily fit in the new year, or the hype-beast moving with the trends. I view design through a similar lens.

Phoenix, Arizona, United States. This is an interesting question, I think the rise of technology has positioned the United States as a forerunner in User Experience design, I’m very lucky to be within a culture that is currently focusing on that. This is a question I’ll have to think more about.

With a contract (laughs). Seriously, I think your engagement model is subject to change whenever you work. The better integrated the design culture, the easier it is to be a designer. However, designers shouldn’t be afraid of challenging cultures. It is up to you to represent that value and act a change agent.

If you can really understand the value design represents, your business will succeed. Design shouldn’t be viewed as something that can be simply “done”. It’s a philosophy they need to believe in, because when they do, that in turn will drive a culture that cares deeply about it’s product, which, will result in a more successful product.

Do whatever I need to do to understand that problem at hand. If it’s user research, project brief, or meetings with stakeholders. Then I do a lot of sketching at first while I’m trying to synthesize my understandings, from there I go through the rather straightforward design and evaluation model of product creation.

My iMac, Moleskin notebook, Uniball Vision Pen, AKG K701 headphones, and my Fender Statocaster. Yes that is a design item and I won’t hear otherwise.

I wake up in the morning at 6:30 am to get started relatively early. Either cardio or yoga in the morning. By 7:30 I’ve showered, eaten, and prepared for the day and head into the office. Arrive at the office at 8:00 am and tackle whatever may be on the agenda. One secret to staying productive is that I block out time when I intend to design, this way, as the meetings begin to filter in, I do not book over that valuable time. I leave work at 5:00pm and head straight to the gym where I do some strength training until 6:30 pm. From there I head home where I spend time with my girlfriend, our dog, and eat dinner. Around 10:00 pm my girlfriend will go to bed and I will go into my studio where I write and record music until 11:30 pm. I’m in bed and ready for sleep by 11:45 pm. Weekends are far less structured.

Get out of your comfort zone. Take the job that you’re intimidated by, stay up late working on an extra freelance job, find things that inspire you and do those things.

Positive: Creativity as a living. Negatives: Creativity as a living. If you’re in the industry you know exactly what this means.

“The process is the goal.”

In my career I’ve learned that communication is a foundational element of any truly successful designer. If you can explain the thought processes that brings you to a conclusion, in a manner anyone can understand, you’re going to go far.

ication, hardware, books, sources of inspiration etc.? Starts with an Apple computer, Imac or Macbook pro. Adobe suite is a must, Sketch and Invision to build my designs/prototypes. Email, slack, microsoft, etc to communicate. I’m an especially happy camper when we’re using project management tools like basecamp, jira, etc.

I pride myself on being fairly good about time management. My advice would be to understand a task and timebox yourself. Over run with emails? Have a time of day where you check and respond to emails, and only do that. You need to allow yourself a space to stay focused. Apply that thinking to anything you need to do and soon productivity is a natural occurrence.

Very hard question to answer without some context. It depends on the problem at hand...

When will you be finished? (laughs)

Honestly, my first professional mistake. You learn quickly that mistakes happen and the only way to improve is to make those mistakes often. Fail fast and often.

I’ve worked with companies of all sizes. Currently I’m working at Honeywell as a User Experience Lead, but I’ve worked with music brands in the past such as Fender, Jackson, Eddie Van Halen, and Gretch. To keep it interesting, I will also take up side projects when I have the time. Most recently I did some branding/web work for a cryptocurrency startup.

“Actually, it is rocket science.” is something we joke about at Honeywell. I’m really enjoying my time as a user experience designer at Honeywell Aerospace. Solving complex aerospace problems has yet to lose my interest.

I’m currently working on the adjacent creative endeavor of completing my first album.

Also contextual. At Honeywell I’m a design lead so I work with quite a lot of people, both co-located and across the world, from various functions. To slightly alter the question, I would say I prefer to work in teams, as I believe the best work comes from a good team.

I can’t necessarily speak about what’s in the works here at Honeywell, but as mentioned before, my current personal venture is completing my first album. I’m very excited to be making progress on that.

Head over to matthewsolis.com

No, thanks for your time!