Dan Saffer

Author Q&A Contributor / Designer; Design/Production Director / United States / Smart Design

The son of a plumber and a psychologist, Dan Saffer feels the interaction design he does is a little bit of both. Since 1995, he has designed everything from websites to consumer electronics to robots. He feels that design isn’t only about problem solving, but about creating a better, more humane, future.

A Creative Director at Smart Design, Saffer leads teams in creating new interaction paradigms across a wide range of products, spanning both digital and physical. Saffer’s insightful, thoughtful approach to design has been captured in the four books he has written—including Designing for Interaction, Designing Gestural Interfaces, and Designing Devices. His latest book, Microinteractions, about the details of design, was published to much acclaim in 2013. You can follow him on Twitter at @odannyboy or email him at

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