Steven Visser

Specialization

Industrial Design

Steve Visser is a Professor of Industrial Design at Purdue University and has been on faculty since 1989.  In 1996 he served as a Fulbright Professor at the University of Art and Design Helsinki. in 2007 he was named Honorary Professor at Nanjing University of Science and Technology in Nanjing China. Before teaching, he worked as an industrial designer at Hari and Associates in Skokie, Illinois. He received an MFA in Industrial Design in 1988 from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Professor Visser's designs have been recognized nationally and internationally. In 2004 he received an honorable mention in the ID magazine annual review. In 2003 he received and Award of Excellence in the Taiwan International Design Competition and an Opus Design Award from Japan. Previously he has received a Good Design Award, two IDEA Silvers, and second place in Forma Finlandia III International Plastic Design Competition.

His designs have been exhibited nationally including the Museum of Modern art, Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum, and the Chicago Athenaeum Museum of Architecture and Design. Additionally, his designs have been exhibited internationally, including; Japan, Italy, France, Finland, Taiwan, Czech Republic, The Netherlands, Sweden, Germany, Belgium, Italy, Portugal, China, Korea, and the UK.

As a teacher he encourages students to be innovative thinkers and to solve real problems for people with mass-produced designs. His students have consistently been recognized for their creative designs. Recently his students been recognized nationally and internationally in the following competitions, International Marine Design competition, Grand Prize,  International Aluminum Extrusion Competition, first second, and third places, InterZinc challenge, and three prizewinning finalists in the Opus International Eyewear Competition in Japan.

Professor Visser has received six patents for designs he has worked on. Additionally he has served as an expert witness on patent infringement cases involving a variety of companies, including, 3M, Diebold, Fisher Price, and Intex recreational products.