Moving on from neurobiology and music, we examine the world of product development next. Our next TEDxKraków speaker, Matt Marsh, is an expert in customer centred innovation and through his consultancy, Firsthand Experience, he helps businesses to maximise the fundamental appeal of new products, services and visitor experiences. He has developed what he calls a “people-shaped approach” to innovation. Previously, headed up the human factors design research department at innovation gurus IDEO in San Francisco before becoming their Marketing Director and Studio Leader of their product and service innovation team in London. He has also served as a user-centred design and innovation envoy at the Design Council in London and is a co-opted member of the Ergonomics Society Professional Affairs Board. He is also a Visiting Professor at Ravensbourne College of Design and Communications.
On 20 October he will speak about what he sees as a too-frequent failure in product design – a lack of involvement of the users in the initial stages of development. He argues that there is an alternative, a people-shaped approach that offers new attitudes and approaches to product and service development which result in products, services and spaces that people actually need, maximizing the chance of making something that people really want, better quality and more appealing design solutions, minimising the risk of getting things wrong and innovating more successfully in a digitally connected age.