1. If you could describe your job to a 5 year old, how would you describe it?

Everything you touch, see and feel online, whether it be an app, a website or a video, has been carefully and consciously designed by someone like me. Some of these experiences are obviously designed better than others, some apps are more delightful, some websites are easier to navigate and some videos are more engaging. My job as a designer is to design experiences that are simply better, and more useful to the person on the other side of the screen.

2. What's the best advice you've received?

"You are enough" — In a world of inevitable stress, rejection, failure and politics, it's easy to feel inadequate.

It's easy to feel like others know more, are smarter and more skilled than you are. It's easy to feel that in order to be successful, you have to accomplish SO MUCH, and this insatiable pursuit ultimately leads to feeling like, no matter what you do, you're simply not good enough.

The best and most empowering advice I have ever received is being told by my wife that I was enough. I am enough without my career, I am enough without my knowledge and experience and I am enough without the approval of others. There are no wrong choices in life and no one really knows what they're doing. So, you don't have to succumb to the pressure of constantly trying to be better or working harder and earning more money, because the gift of life is already enough and you should tell the ones you love that they're enough also.

3. If you could thank someone that helped get you to where you are now, who would you thank and what would you say?

The success I've had in my career is entirely the result of other people's contribution, PERIOD.

People who gave me a shot, opened a door, taught me something new, or those who simply provided friendship and camaraderie, have literally enabled me to be who I am today.

I have been so fortunate to have worked for (and alongside) so many amazing people, but if there was one person who has had more influence on my professional growth than anyone else, it is my very first design director, Kerry Edward. He taught me how to design! He also taught me to have thick skin, how to be a professional as well as igniting my passion for all things design. Kerry was a reluctant mentor, and it's been over 10 years since we worked together, but I still cherish and use the skills and wisdom he gave me to this day.

*Alex lives in San Francisco, CA and currently Design Director at BASIC @ Google.*