Having spent his formative years in Italy and England, Daniele completed his degree in Industrial Design at the Central School of Art and Design in London. After graduating, he headed to California to join ID Two in San Francisco (now part of IDEO). His consulting experience expanded to New York where he worked until joining the Industrial Design Team at Apple in 1991.
Daniele flourished and then finished his 27-year contribution to Apple's world class design team in 2018, leaving behind a legacy of iconic products that helped change the consumer electronics world forever. Among his many professional accomplishments during his tenure at Apple, he is named as an inventor of over 400 design and utility patents.
We had the opportunity to have a chat with him and did a really interesting discussion! Read all about it below!
When did you get involved with Occuity?
Mark (Jenkins) reached out to me in October 2019 when Occuity was just starting and after several emails and conversations, I flew to London to meet the team and discuss the projects.
Why did you feel it was the right thing for you?
The current solution to monitor chronic diseases like diabetes has been rooted in repetitive blood testing, with all of the discomfort and inconvenience that brings. In contrast, the technology being developed at Occuity will simply scan the eye to take a measurement and provide a pain-free, 21st century solution that's long overdue and I thought it almost irresponsible not to be involved.
Considering your significant experience working at corporate level, moreover working on probably some of the most famous designs worldwide, what made you switch to a UK MedTech start-up?
I was fortunate enough to have some time between when I left Apple and a year later when the opportunity presented itself with Occuity. When I heard about the transformative technology the team was developing, I felt I couldn't not be involved and was excited to work on design solutions that would impact and help millions of people worldwide.
What does Industrial design mean? What do you do?
One definition of Industrial Design I like to use and helps people understand what I do is 'to imagine objects that don’t exist and to guide the process that brings them to life…that includes defining the experience that a customer has when they touch and feel the product. It’s managing the overall form and the materials, the textures, the colours. And it’s also working with engineering teams to bring it to life, to bring it to the market and to build the craftsmanship that it absolutely needs to have the very best and enduring quality’.
Very generally speaking what are the basic processes for starting the design of a new product?
Understanding the goals of the product and why it needs to exist helps provide the foundation in order to ask the right questions of the user and for some of our products, the patient too. This feedback informs the initial design process along with the highly iterative dialogue with the many disciplines involved throughout the development of a new product.
Why does the design of Med-tech products matter?
I think the design of everything matters regardless of subject matter. Medtech products have intrinsic and unique challenges compared to consumer electronics however doctors, clinicians and patients are consumers too, so the fundamentals of designing a product are no different.
What makes a particular design good?
When the holistic experience of the product is intuitive and doesn’t require or demand work from the user but rather speaks to the relevant senses appropriate to the product.
What inspires your design work?
The responsibility entrusted in me by the customers who will use the products I work on.
Which product/project/device most excites you?
The project I’m working on next…
How do you think will Occuity’s future look like?
I think Occuity’s future looks really exciting knowing the products we have on the roadmap and the solutions to challenging problems we are developing which we’re looking forward to sharing…
To meet more of our team and find why they chose to work at Occuity click here.
Want to join the team? Check out our Careers website.