Smart Design appoints Heather Martin as Director of Interaction Design

Barcelona, Wednesday 24th March; Smart Design announces today that Heather Martin joins the firm as Director of Interaction Design for their studio in Barcelona, Spain. Martin adds strength to a growing team in interaction design at the award-winning global consultancy.

Martin comes to Smart Design from her latest venture in Denmark, co-founding the renowned Copenhagen Institute of Interaction Design (CIID). Prior to the start of the CIID, she held positions at IDEO and Tangerine, was Academic Director of Interaction Design Institute Ivrea (IDII), was a Fellow at the Royal College of Art, and worked with a number of high-profile clients along the way such as Prada, Lufthansa Technik, Intel, Sony, Samsung, Nokia, LG Electronics, and Artemide. She holds a degree in product design from Newcastle University and a degree in interaction design from London’s Royal College of Art.

Martin explains her enthusiasm for moving to Smart Design, “Technology needs to fit people – not the other way around. I love that Smart’s focus is on keeping it simple, relevant, and meaningful. It’s a very human approach. And, this is especially important when you are developing complex digital ecosystems and services.”

She continues, “This company is built on a foundation of expertise in the product development cycle and has a comprehensive understanding of designing products from conception right through to manufacture. It’s rare nowadays to have this level of expertise in-house. It enables us to have confidence in designing new devices, services, and systems that are not only well thought through from conception – but well executed.”

Building upon recent successes, such as Ford’s SmartGauge LCD screen instrument gauge, Smart Design continues to enhance their ability to deliver delightful user experiences and compelling interaction design to match the growing needs of their clients around the world.

Smart Design’s Vice President of Interaction Design, Matt Barthelemy, comments on Martin’s appointment. “Heather is the ideal person to lead Smart’s rapidly growing interaction design practice in Europe, and to enhance our service offering and thought leadership company-wide. Her holistic understanding of design—from hardware and software, to brand communications and service design—is in sync with how Smart Design works to improve people’s lives and our clients’ businesses through our integrated design solutions.”

Martin delivered the opening keynote address at Umeå Institute of Design’s 2010 SIDeR Conference in Sweden. She addressed the topic of orchestrating an “overall experience” through the use of new design methodologies and tools that are founded on a holistic understanding of the digital systems in people’s lives.

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