I grew up in the Midwest, and a pivotal moment in my childhood was getting my first Apple products in middle school. It started with an iPod Shuffle, followed by an iPod Touch, then my first iPhone, then my first MacBook. Growing up, I spent time in the shop using tools and building things with my hands, developing a deep appreciation and curiosity for well-designed and engineered products. I became engrossed and inspired by my Apple products as I grew up with them, which led me to learn more about the company and the people behind these products I loved. At that time, I dreamed of working for Apple.
Throughout my grade school years, I took design, engineering, and shop classes alongside my focus as an athlete. At 18, I decided to pursue my dream to design technology, packed a bag, and moved to Northern California. Inspired by Apple and my respect for Steve Jobs, Jony Ive, and the apple design team; I pursued a degree in liberal arts and started a company while doing so. This startup became my introduction to building products for real customers in a commercial setting. During this time, I began to develop my craft to more closely match my taste, connected with like-minded individuals, and focused my energy on understanding how technology would impact our future lives.
Having grown up with technology from an early age, I developed a nuanced relationship with it. While technology had meaningfully improved my life, a trend I believed would accelerate, it also presented challenges and a test. I developed deep personal empathy for the externalities that came with this relationship, as unchecked use made it increasingly difficult to focus and spend my attention in fulfilling ways. This experience motivated me to work on human-computer interaction problems that could improve our relationship with technology, building products designed from a foundation in the humanities and in service to humans, that understood our primitive needs and desires.
Lucas
