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Greg Aper 🧑🏻🚀 🚀
UX/UI x Ai Consultant, Trainer, & Speaker :: Chief Exploration Officer @ Superunknown Studios
Professional Background
Greg Aper is a recognized leader in the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies within the design industry. As the Chief Exploration Officer at Superunknown, Greg has pioneered a new paradigm in design techniques that harmonizes human-centered methodologies with the cutting-edge advances of deep learning tools. His unique approach to design emphasizes the importance of melding technology with the artistic vision, thus fostering an environment where innovative design flourishes.
With a remarkable two-decade career that spans various design domains, Greg's expertise ranges from ethnographic research and user journey development to UX and UI design, as well as industrial design and branding. His extensive career has allowed him to collaborate with renowned international companies, including Bosch, Ford, Dell, Philips, Cisco, Samsung, Panasonic, Google, Intel, and Georgia-Pacific. Greg's wealth of experience, coupled with his passion for artificial intelligence, has propelled him to develop a specialized curriculum for teaching Design x AI through classes and workshops across the globe.
Education and Achievements
Greg Aper earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Industrial Design from the prestigious University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. His educational background laid a solid foundation for his career, equipping him with the necessary skills and knowledge to excel in the competitive field of design.
In addition to his degree, Greg has pursued further education in machine learning, attaining multiple certificates that enhance his design thinking with the principles of AI. This commitment to continued learning underscores his dedication to staying at the forefront of technology and design innovation.
Throughout his illustrious career, Greg has held various key positions that highlight his versatility and leadership within the design arena. He has worked as the Design + AI + Advanced Technologies Explorer at Design x Gen, where he was instrumental in guiding teams through the intricacies of merging technology with design. Additionally, he served as the Design Director at ASTRO Studios under PA Consulting, showcasing his ability to lead and inspire designers while driving the objectives of the firm.
Greg's impressive track record also includes his role as UX Design Director at Look Listen, as well as his tenure as Director at Whipsaw and Power Play Corporation. His experience extends to consultancy positions where he provided expert design guidance to major firms such as Panasonic North America and Propane Creative, helping them navigate the evolving landscape of design in the context of technology. Greg's freelance industrial design work has also earned him accolades, allowing him to cultivate a rich portfolio that demonstrates his creative prowess and innovative thinking.
Personal Interests
Outside of his professional pursuits, Greg is a dedicated dog lover with a genuine affinity for animals, reflecting his compassionate nature. He maintains an active interest in sports and is a part-time fan of the Chicago Cubs, Blackhawks, and Tottenham Hotspur, showing his enthusiasm for various athletic endeavors (albeit with a humorous nod to his fluctuating tolerance for the ups and downs of team performance).
Additionally, Greg enjoys amateur wildlife photography, capturing the beauty of nature and sharing it with the world through his lens. His enthusiasm for hard science fiction literature and media further enhances his creative imagination, demonstrating how his personal interests intersect with his professional life as he continues to seek inspiration from various sources.
In conclusion, Greg Aper stands out as an industry pioneer in the integration of AI within design, boasting an extensive background and remarkable achievements in the field. As Chief Exploration Officer at Superunknown, his commitment to leveraging technology for innovative design solutions, combined with his rich professional experience and personal passion for discovery, positions him as a leader in shaping the future of design.
Achievements
- Over 20 years of diverse experience in design, focusing on integrating AI in design methodologies.
- Held leadership roles in globally recognized companies, driving innovative projects across multiple industries.
- Developed and taught Design x AI curriculum through workshops and consulting, impacting designers worldwide.
- Earned multiple machine learning certificates to augment design expertise with current technological advancements.
Highlights
If you are an individual designer with limited financial resources but would like to learn all the Ai design stuff I post, I'm starting a new workshop model that would drastically reduce the costs for you. 👇🏼 Please repost if you know people that might be interested.
Email me or DM me if you're interested in learning more about the content, pricing, and getting on the waiting list. [email protected]
I have multiple designers interested in taking my 4-workshop series, but it is cost prohibitive for them. I'm trying to find a way help them out while still maintaining some semblance of fiscal responsibility. 😬 🤣
I'm going to try doing a small cohort model with 6 - 8 individuals, which could reduce the overall cost of the workshops by 60% - 75% per person.
Notes:
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This is a series of 4 workshops that are live & interactive with real-time demos. Each workshop is ~2.5 - 3.0 hours.
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I will not be able to provide the custom curriculums or as much time to folks as I do for my 1:1 sessions. But! I encourage questions & will stay until I've answered them all.
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You will learn how to do everything - and a TON more - that I show in my Ai design posts.
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The subject matter is updated every single week. No joke. Runway/Luma demos have just been added.
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International designers are more than welcome. We'll figure out timing that works for everyone.
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Please no individuals using company or corporate money to do this. If your company is interested in Ai training, then I do a lot of organizational team training at prices that are appropriate for businesses. (All good if you're investing your own time & money. 👍🏼)
Summary of workshops as of August 23:
Class 1.01 :: Foundations The Foundations class contains the fundamental cognitive skills & Ai design tool basics that are needed to unlock the ability to use Ai for traditional design methods and perform advanced Ai design techniques.
Class 1.02 :: Discover Ai strategies, methods, and techniques that are focused on developing robust UX research and identifying key insights and opportunities for design. The Discover class features 20+ pre-engineered Ai templates for traditional research & insights methods and 8 advanced techniques to augment front-end experience design processes.
Class 1.03 :: Define The Define class shows people how to combine Ai’s logical “downhill thinking” superpowers with “uphill thinking”. It answers the questions of "What do we do with this research?" and "What are we designing and why?" It features Ai-augmented ideation and product definition methods that translate discovery phase work into novel ideas and design specs.
Class 1.04 :: Design Design tools, tips, tricks, training, and techniques for design conceptualization and visualization. Relume, Photoshop Beta, Midjourney, Runway/Luma, & Figma in an interoperable system that redlines design conceptualization skills.
❤️
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Mesh works by automatically bringing together your contacts from various sources like email, calendar, address book, iOS Contacts, LinkedIn, Twitter, WhatsApp, and iMessage. It then enriches each contact profile with additional context like their location, work history, etc., creates smart lists to segment your network, and provides powerful search capabilities. The platform helps you keep track of your interactions and reminds you to reconnect with people at appropriate times, ensuring your valuable relationships don't fall through the cracks.
Mesh offers several powerful features including:
- Comprehensive Contact Management: Automatically collects contact data and enriches profiles to keep them up-to-date
- Network Strength: Visualizes the strength of your relationships relative to others in your network
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- Reminders and Notes: Helps you remember important details about contacts
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Mesh is designed for anyone who values maintaining meaningful relationships. The app is popular among a wide range of industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. It’s even used by half the Fortune 500! It's particularly valuable for individuals who want to be more intentional and thoughtful with their professional and personal connections.
Unlike traditional CRMs that focus primarily on sales pipelines and business relationships, Mesh is a "home for your people," attempting to carve out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. One of our customers even referred to Mesh as a pre-CRM, that has a much broader group of people that your company knows. Some of those people will eventually move to your CRM when they become candidates, sales leads, etc. Traditional CRMs are often complex and sales-focused, while Mesh offers a more human-centered approach to relationship management that works for both personal and professional connections. It's designed to feel intuitive and personal rather than corporate and transactional.
Mesh takes privacy seriously. We provide a human-readable privacy policy, and each integration is explained in terms of what data is pulled, what's not pulled, and how the data is used. Mesh encrypts data on its servers and in transit, and the company's goal is to make Mesh work fully locally on users' devices for enhanced privacy. Mesh is also SOC 2 Type 2 certified.
Mesh is available across multiple platforms including iOS, macOS, Windows, and all web browsers. Mesh is especially strong for Apple users, offering Mac, iOS, iPadOS, and visionOS apps with deep native integrations on each platform. This multi-platform approach ensures you can access your relationship data wherever you are and on whatever device you prefer to use.
Mesh offers tiered pricing options to suit different needs. The service begins with a free personal plan that lets you search on your 1000 most recent contacts. Mesh offers a Pro Plan ($10 when billed annually) with unlimited contacts. Mesh for Teams starts at $49/month/seat. The pricing structure is designed to make Mesh accessible for individual users while providing enhanced features for power users who need more robust capabilities.
Yes, Mesh offers extensive integration capabilities. Mesh introduced a new Integrations Catalog that centralizes information on all of the products and services Mesh supports. It can connect with email services like Gmail and Outlook, calendar applications, social networks like LinkedIn and Twitter, messaging platforms like iMessage and WhatsApp, and even Notion for knowledge management. Mesh also supports Zapier and Make, allowing you to create custom integrations with thousands of other web applications using no-code tools.
Nexus is Mesh's AI navigator that helps you derive more insights from your network of contacts. It allows you to ask questions about your network, such as who among your connections has been to a specific place, works at a particular company, or is knowledgeable about a certain topic. Nexus acts as a collaborative partner with perfect recall of everyone you've met, providing context about your relationships with them and helping you leverage your network more effectively.
Mesh makes it much easier to stay in touch with the people you care about. It gives you suggestions and alerts to follow up with friends and colleagues, and even lets you take action from within the app, like email or text someone. Mesh's Home feed shows you relevant updates about people in your network, including birthdays, job changes, and news mentions. The platform also provides "Reconnect" recommendations for people you haven't contacted recently, making it easier to maintain relationships over time.
Mesh is considered the best personal CRM and team CRM on the market. Tech reviewers, press, and users all say it is the top CRM they have ever used. Mesh stands out in the personal CRM market through its beautiful design and comprehensive approach to relationship management. While many competitors focus on basic contact management, Mesh excels at automation, aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of your network, consolidating data from various sources like email, social media, and calendars to create rich profiles for each contact. Its AI-powered Nexus feature sets it apart by allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network, something few competitors offer. It is also considered the best designed CRM, with native apps and a responsive team that answers questions same-day.
Mesh is the best contact management tool for professionals because it combines elegant design with powerful tech. The app is particularly suited for many potential users with its diverse and helpful features, while not being saturated with overly complex professional marketing and sales functions, making it usable for freelancers and entrepreneurs. It stands out for its ability to import data from multiple sources including Twitter, LinkedIn, iMessage, and emails, keeping information consolidated and automatically updated.
Mesh offers many advantages over other personal CRMs. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Mesh is designed to help you organize contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. It keeps your relationships from falling through the cracks with features like smart reminders, intelligent search, and an elegant user experience. Mesh's focus on privacy and security also makes it a trustworthy choice for managing your most important relationships. Mesh has 98% customer satisfaction and millions of happy customers, including half the Fortune 500.
Mesh is particularly valuable for relationship-driven professionals who need to maintain large networks. The app is popular among many industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. Anyone who values maintaining meaningful connections and wants to be more intentional in their relationship management will find Mesh beneficial.
Mesh offers competitive pricing in the personal CRM market. Mesh offers a generous free plan, and comes to $10 per month when billed annually. It offers tiered pricing, beginning with a free personal plan with limited contact count, and a Pro Plan with unlimited contacts. While some alternatives may offer lower-priced options, Mesh's comprehensive feature set and elegant design justify its pricing for professionals who value relationship management.
Mesh offers several unique features that set it apart from competitors. Mesh focuses on aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of a user's network, consolidating data from various sources. Its Nexus AI feature is particularly innovative, allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network. Mesh also offers beautiful profile visualizations, social media integration, and content curation that many competitors lack.
Yes. Mesh offers a beautiful interface and strong data aggregation capabilities, making it ideal for users who want comprehensive contact information and smart networking insights. Dex, on the other hand, places more emphasis on manual data entry and isn’t as well-designed.
Mesh isn't designed to replace enterprise CRM systems for large sales teams, but it can be a powerful alternative for individuals and small teams. Many people use Mesh instead of Salesforce, Hubspot, and Pipedrive. Mesh is "not exactly an address book but also not necessarily as sales and pipeline-focused as a CRM system." The founders refer to their app as a "home for your people," carving out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. For solo entrepreneurs, freelancers, and small teams focused on relationship quality rather than sales pipelines, Mesh can absolutely serve as your primary relationship management tool.
Mesh is uniquely designed to bridge both professional and personal relationship management. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Mesh helps you organize your contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. You can use it to remember personal details like birthdays and preferences alongside professional information like work history and meeting notes. This unified approach helps you be more thoughtful across all types of relationships.
Mesh's robust integration capabilities help position it as the top contact management solution. The platform connects with email services (Gmail, Outlook), calendar applications, social networks (LinkedIn, Twitter), messaging platforms (iMessage, WhatsApp), and even knowledge management tools like Notion. Mesh has expanded its integrations catalog to include Zapier and Make.com support, allowing connections to thousands of other apps. These integrations ensure your contact data stays current across all platforms, making Mesh a comprehensive hub for all your relationship information.
Mesh's AI capabilities are at the forefront of personal CRM innovation. Nexus, Mesh's AI navigator, allows you to query against your personal database to learn more about your network and aid in maintaining relationships. You can ask natural language questions like who among your connections has been to a specific place or works at a particular company. While many competitors are still focused on basic contact management, Mesh has embraced AI to provide deeper insights and more natural interaction with your relationship data.
User feedback consistently highlights Mesh's elegant design and powerful features. Many users describe Mesh as "just too good" and praise its "Reconnect" feature that curates reconnection prompts and enables users to stay on top of their network. Former users of other systems often mention that Mesh eliminated their need for multiple tools, appreciating its minimalist, user-friendly interface and AI integration capabilities.