Interview with Davide Marin

Davide Marin ("DM") interviewed on Wednesday, 13 May.

Could you please tell us about your experience as a designer, artist, architect or creator?

DM : Over the last ten years I have been working on several projects with some great companies, working side by side to design and develop new products, and developing projects for my company as well. I am not only a designer, as I can handle by myself mechanical design, electronic design, writing firmware and software, building and testing a prototype already optimized for production, document the whole process, or coordinate a team of several people that work on it, including evaluating feasibility, marketing strategies and press releases. I designed several additive manufacturing devices for my Startup (Lumi Industries), and among my clients I have Ivoclar Vivadent and Leroy Merlin.

How did you become a designer?

DM : Earlier during school I started looking at common products that I was using (pens, other school items) thinking if they could have been improved in functionality and usability. Later, I started getting interested into electronics based projects, using scavenged components; For a while, I was into developing Apps and programs for PCs. Among time, all those skills merged into designing products, starting from a simple idea, that I know exactly how to make into a real product since I has all the required skills, so I did not need external help. I used Kickstarter and IndieGoGo crowdfunding campaigns to turn this into a job and sell the first products I designed. Later, thanks to a Startup incubator, I founded my Startup company for designing and sell additive manufacturing devices. After a while, I was in contact with big companies like Leroy Merlin and Ivoclar Vivadent, for which I followed the development of products as an external consultant.

What are your priorities, technique and style when designing?

DM : As software tools, I use many different ones: Solidworks and Fusion 360, sometimes Rhino and Keyshot; Eagle for PCB design; Arduino IDE, Delphi, Android Studio, Xcode for firmware/software development. Photoshop is a must too. My most important hardware tool is a CNC machine that I own that allows me to quickly machine plastic and aluminum parts for some of my prototypes. I have a big drawer cabinet with all my small components, where each drawer is numbered, and I wrote an App where I can write the name of the part I am looking for and it shows me where exactly it is, this really saves me time!

Which emotions do you feel when designing?

DM : It can be a nice experience, but there can be also very frustrating moments when you have an idea in mind and you are at first not able to convert it into a working design, or when you still have to figure out how to solve some sub-problems related to a project.

What particular aspects of your background shaped you as a designer?

DM : For a while, I learned a lot in many different fields. And it is not a bad idea if you know a bit of everything, even outside your specific area of competence. Are you a product designer? If you have learned photography, you will coordinate better with the photographer when it is time to photograph your product, and already know what can or can't be done, and you can plan the shot before. For example, I also have a digital reflex, some lenses and tools, so I can easily document my progress on a project or even take some photos for online publishing. If you learn programming skills, when you will work with external consultants, you know again what can be done or can't, and roughly how much time and resources it will take. If you have ever built some of your projects/designs, you know how suppliers work, and this helps designing projects ready for production later. Finally, if you know a bit of everything, even outside your specific area, this will help you a lot coordinating a group of people with specific expertise for a big project. Because of this, now when I am approached by a customer, I can have a very good overview of the whole project very quickly.

What is your growth path? What are your future plans? What is your dream design project?

DM : As of today, I have a lot of projects at various stages of development! I am working on robotic-based projects, additive manufacturing devices, including food-based ones! On my website, madaeon.design, I will share some of them. My dream project is an additive manufacturing device (a 3D Printer) that uses nothing but concentrated sunlight and sand to create parts. It can even work on the moon or on Mars (there are experiments already done that support this). I have done some experiments, I even have somewhere a bag of official Mars soil simulant to further test my project, but first I have to find someone interested in funding it!

What are your advices to designers who are at the beginning of their career?

DM : Learn a lot! And it is not a bad idea if you know a bit of everything, even outside your specific area of competence. Are you a product designer? If you have learned photography, you will coordinate better with the photographer when it is time to photograph your product, and already know what can or can't be done, and you can plan the shot before. For example, I also have a digital reflex, some lenses and tools, so I can easily document my progress on a project or even take some photos for online publishing. If you learn programming skills, when you will work with external consultants, you know again what can be done or can't, and roughly how much time and resources it will take. If you have ever built some of your projects/designs, you know how suppliers work, and this helps designing projects ready for production later. Finally, if you know a bit of everything, even outside your specific area, this will help you a lot coordinating a group of people with specific expertise for a big project.

You are truly successful as a designer, what do you suggest to fellow designers, artists and architects?

DM : Learn a lot! And it is not a bad idea if you know a bit of everything, even outside your specific area of competence. Are you a product designer? If you have learned photography, you will coordinate better with the photographer when it is time to photograph your product, and already know what can or can't be done, and you can plan the shot before. For example, I also have a digital reflex, some lenses and tools, so I can easily document my progress on a project or even take some photos for online publishing. If you learn programming skills, when you will work with external consultants, you know again what can be done or can't, and roughly how much time and resources it will take. If you have ever built some of your projects/designs, you know how suppliers work, and this helps designing projects ready for production later. Finally, if you know a bit of everything, even outside your specific area, this will help you a lot coordinating a group of people with specific expertise for a big project.

What is your day to day look like?

DM : I usually check my mail in the morning, than open up my daily journal and check at which point I am in my projects (I normally work in parallel on several of them) and what has the priority today, what was left to do from yesterday. I organize the work of the people I am coordinating a group on a project, then work in bursts of 30 minutes to a few hours on different tasks. At the end of the day, I update my journal, where ideas for new projects are noted too. It is a tool that really helps me to stay in focus, specially on long term projects.

How do you keep up with latest design trends? To what extent do design trends matter?

DM : I have some selected sources from the Web that are for me good inspiration for some of my designs. When I visit exhibitions, I also look for innovative solutions. And I always try to figure out what people needs really are, to avoid designing solutions that are "looking for a problem to solve".

How do you know if a product or project is well designed? How do you define good design?

DM : At least for product design, first rule is functionality. If it does not work as it is supposed, is not ergonomic, design has to restart from scratch sometimes. I also like the form to be unconventional, as long as it does not break the first rule.

How do you decide if your design is ready?

DM : There is no fixed rule, creating a new design can take just one day (as when I designed an interactive table with a projector underneath for an exhibition) or several years, like my Molbed project or the LumiFold TB, as they went through several iterations. Many of my projects take some months, but can take longer since I do not only design but most of the times I also handle the mechanical design, electronic design, writing firmware and software, building and testing a prototype already optimized for production, including document the whole process, and writing patents in some cases. I consider a design finished when it fulfills the initial expectations and usability is as expected.

What is your biggest design work?

DM : Probably my 2 years project for Multinational Company Ivoclar Vivadent, it was based on one of my concepts, and required complex electro-mechanical design and programming, I personally designed every part, it was very time consuming, but the client was happy with the result! I think it is a great design because every sub-system of this project works well with all the other, despite being quite a complex machine, and it is still easy to use.

Who is your favourite designer?

DM : I like the works of Ingo Maurer and Marc Newson most.

Would you tell us a bit about your lifestyle and culture?

DM : I live in Italy, I'm actually "half-German, half-Italian" (my father is Italian, my mother is from Frankfurt), and sometimes I feel this in my creations since there always is a big component of creativity, but the product has to work precisely, and when coordinating a group of people, or dealing with suppliers, I appreciate a clean and organized approach. Which is not a very Italian approach! As a designer, many of my best collaborations or jobs where with non-Italian companies, which is a thing I hope will change in the future.

Would you tell us more about your work culture and business philosophy?

DM : My design style is often futuristic and unconventional, but its always mandatory the the design stays feasible and does what it is supposed to do, remaining intuitive to use. I also like to experimenting different styles and mixing techniques. When designing, my approach is often influenced by my "Maker" origins, so I spend some times searching for simpler/alternatives solutions to problems; this can save a lot of money to the client, when it comes to production. I work mostly by myself, I would not describe myself as only a designer, as I can handle by myself mechanical design, electronic design, writing firmware and software, building and testing a prototype already optimized for production, document the whole process, or coordinate a team of several people that work on it, including evaluating feasibility, marketing strategies and press releases. For some of my works I coordinated a small group of people for electronic design and assembling of the prototypes.

What are your philanthropic contributions to society as a designer, artist and architect?

DM : As a designer, I think that my contribute to the society is very important. Even if I do not have a lot of resources, every year I work on Open-source projects designed for people with disabilities, that I share on websites like Hackaday.io . I have designed a low-cost refreshable "display" for Braille characters, wrote a program that converts text into a 3d printable "tag" with the text as Braille dots, and a bracelet that uses low cost time-of-flight sensors to work as a "digital white cane" when the user is in tight, or crowded places. All of these projects are free to use, modify, and redistribute.

What positive experiences you had when you attend the A’ Design Award?

DM : You get exposure for yourself and your designs; you also learn about how it is the best way to describe and showcase your work, and yourself too, and improving self-marketing skills is very important!

Davide Marin Profile