About me

About pages are always the hardest, right?

Waylon Baumgardner

Hi, my name is Waylon Baumgardner, and I'm a product designer, front-end developer who knows enough to be dangerous, design educator, mentor, and amateur violinist (very amateur) from and based out of Southern California. I grew up in San Diego, and now reside somewhere in between San Diego and LA.

I started my professional career as a web developer/designer. I spent ten years in higher education where I held various web development/design/leadership roles. I then shifted the focus of my career entirely to full-time product design roles.

What I believe

I've documented some truths I personally believe in that shape and influence how I work:

  • Practice empathy; we're all dealing with something
  • Good ideas can (and do) come from anyone and anywhere
  • Context, not content, is “king”
  • UX and UI design require different but complimentary skills
  • Users sometimes need guidance

My interests

  • Writing
  • Reading
  • Music
  • Web design/dev
  • Graphic design/typography
  • Obscure 90's TV
  • Coffee
  • Bourbon whiskey
  • Cars
  • Console video games

My knowledge areas

  • Higher education
  • Leadership
  • Nonprofits
  • Systems thinking
  • User-centered design
  • Computers & technology
  • Web development
  • Writing

Currently Reading

Backyard Starship

J.N. Chaney

Currently listening

The Dublin Pub Crawl

The Irish Rovers

See listening log

Copyright ©2024 Waylon Baumgardner. All rights reserved.