Martin Smith is an Industrial Designer and Design Educator with over 35 years of experience in product development, design education and design management. He believes that as a practicing product designer his real world experiences help prepare students for successful professional practice. Smith pioneered user experience design research while consulting for the Coca Cola Company in the late 80’s. Now common professional practice today research is an integral part of the students learning experience.
Smith is Chair Professor of the Industrial Design Department in the School of Design at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Previously he was Chair of the Product Design Department at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California, a position he held for 23 years. He is past Chair of the Los Angeles chapter of the Industrial Designers Society of America, and has been a judge of the IDSA/Business Week “IDEA” awards and the ID magazine Awards. Martin has published articles in “California Business”, “Audio Video Interiors” and contributed to “ROI- Return on Innovation” with Bill Dresselhouse. He has lectured throughout Europe and Asia about design education and the strategic value of design in product development.
As a consultant, he has overseen several major automotive design projects for Volvo, Mazda, General Motors, Chrysler and Subaru, as well as having designed products for Avery-Dennison, Reebok, Salomon, Olympus Image Systems, Playtex, and Coca-Cola. He continues to consult for small to midsize companies that are sourcing manufacturing in China. He holds numerous U.S. and International Patents for his designs and inventions. Martin has licensed half a dozen products he created to major companies for manufacturing and distribution.
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