Dan Martin Email & Phone Number

Newcastle Upon Tyne, United Kingdom

Alongside my co-director; Peter Masters, I have been running our design and innovation consultancy - Octo Design - since 2001. We particularly specialise in developing products for B2B businesses whose markets are professional, industrial and commercial users. I run Octo Clearstart - Our innovation and strategy program - helping businesses to build the capability to create and evaluate new value propositions for their markets. This is primarily based on 'Strategyzer' techniques and mindset - of which we have extensive practical experience - I regularly participate in Masterclasses to ensure our practice is cutting-edge. We are in the process of developing skillsets in applying design and innovation to Sustainability & Circularity challenges.

Design Council Experts are a network of design pioneers who work with Design Council to advocate for design, share knowledge about best practice and help us deliver advice and programmes.The 2024 cohort was selected by Design Council colleagues and an external steering committee to represent a full spectrum of design disciplines, regional and demographic diversity, and skills that will help accelerate our Design for Planet mission.

Newcastle Upon Tyne, United Kingdom

One of the founder members of Curar: We specialised in transferring and optimising human medical technology for the veterinary sector. My input included: fund-raising, business strategy, design development, project management.

Elected to National Board of BIDA (British Industrial Design Association)

North East

BIDA are the membership organisation for Industrial Designers involved in product, service and interaction design. I helped to represent BIDA and our membership's interests in the North East Region.

Newcastle Upon Tyne, United Kingdom

XPD was part of Express Engineering Group, which gave me a broad experience in their range of manufacturing processes, particularly injection moulding. During my time at XPD, I developed and led the Industrial Design team and processes. I managed a range of projects for Bluechip corporate accounts such as IBM, NCR and Medtronic, working from both the U.S. and U.K. offices. I developed and championed Pro/Engineer CAD best practice and implemented training within the design and engineering teams.

Newcastle Upon Tyne, United Kingdom

CfID gave me the opportunity to learn and develop client-facing skills, and to refine my technical skillsets as an Industrial Designer.