Visual Intelligence
iOS 18 - iPhone 16
Prototype to keynote. UI, architecture, and Google Image Search integration.
Aaron Zinman, PhD
My
portfolio
Full-stack engineer and 0-to-1 thinker. Building intelligent experiences that empower people to be their best. Currently at Apple.
Apple
Apple Intelligence
iOS 18
System experience comps for notification summarization, messages, and writing tools.
Stickers
iOS 17 - macOS Sonoma
Architected key components of the Messages sticker overhaul.
Sleep Focus
iOS 16
Rewrote the Lock Screen sleep focus experience for SpringBoard.
Spatial Computing
Vision Products R&D
Led contextual-awareness efforts in Experience Prototyping.
3 Patents Issued
2022 - 2024
Context information, privacy-preserving propagation, physical object inclusion.
Empirical
Pro Controls
2015
Pro designed iOS controls. Fully-functional UX & code. Completely stylable.
Gather
2014 - 2015
Private sharing with short video reactions. Team collaboration enhanced with chat and smart notifications.
BetterNote
2014
Dropbox shared folders on steroids. Chat, events, todos, and smarter file views.
SmallTalk
2013
Texting without typing. One-touch buttons for common communication flows.
Comma
2013
Structured communication for coordination - meetups, movies, restaurants.
Iris
2012
Smart email dashboard. Flights, packages, bills auto-categorized before Google Inbox.
Stateless
2012
Touch-optimized browser with visual history clustering and simplified navigation.
MIT Media Lab
Defuse
2010 - 2011
Comprehending large comment discussions through statistical analysis and demographic visualization.
Konbit
2010
Phone-based resume creation for illiterate Haitians, matching skills to NGO employment.
DepthJS
2010
JavaScript API enabling web browsers to interact with Microsoft Kinect.
Personas
2009
Data portrait of how the internet sees you. 1.5M users in first month. MIT Museum exhibit.
Landscape of Words
2008
Topic modeling visualization tracking Twitter discussion patterns across communities.
Signs
2008
Instant messaging with persistent, mutable discussion spaces for discourse coherency.
Is Britney Spears Spam?
2007
Distinguishing undesirable contacts in social networks through profile and network analysis.
RadioActive
2005 - 2006
Mobile audio forum enabling voice-based persistent conversations on phones.
Open Sources
2005
Visualization revealing relationships between code repositories and community communication.
Some Recent Side Projects
Magic Remote
2026
A fast, local web app for controlling Sonos speakers without the sluggish official app.
Sassy Speaker
2024
A sassy Alexa alternative with way more personality, inspired by NeNe Leakes.
3D Chocolate Bars
2019
Custom wedding favors with 3D-printed molds of us, hand-tempered chocolate, and designed wrappers.
Papers
Me, Myself, and My Hyperego
PhD Thesis, 2011
Understanding people through the aggregation of their digital footprints.
Data Portraits
Leonardo, 2010
Donath, Dragulescu, Zinman, Viégas, Xiong.
Data Portraiture and Topic Models
NIPS, 2009
Zinman, Fritz. Workshop on Applications for Topic Models.
Signs
HICSS, 2009
Zinman, Donath. Increasing expression and clarity in instant messaging.
Organizational Maps and Mashups
IBM Technical Report, 2008
Soroker, Zinman, Narayanaswami.
Client-Server Architecture for Dynamic Visualizations
WWW, 2010
Coffman, Soroker, Narayanaswami, Zinman.
Is Britney Spears Spam?
CEAS, 2007
Zinman, Donath. Fourth Conference on Email and Anti-Spam.
Enabling Persistent Mobile Communication
Alt.CHI, 2007
Zinman, Donath. RadioActive for groups.
RadioActive
MS Thesis, 2006
Enabling large-scale asynchronous audio discussions on mobile devices.
Navigating Persistent Audio
CHI, 2006
Zinman, Donath.
Enabling Mobile-Based Audio Forums
CHI Workshop, 2005
Zinman, Donath. RadioActive.