Mathis Heller

Mathis Heller

Teacher Creative Business
Mathis Heller is an award-winning design professional with extensive international experience in different creative and educational roles. He enjoys working within an interdisciplinary environment and gained his experience by living and working in Munich, Shanghai and Amsterdam.

Biography

Mathis obtained his Master’s degree in product design at the University of Art and Design, Burg Giebichenstein in Germany.

He has intensive design agency experience on a large variety of design projects in different fields for brands such as BMW, Siemens, Unilever and tech-startup companies.

His designs received many renowned international design awards including the red dot award - best of best and the iF award gold. He also serves as jury member at several design awards such as the Red Star Award Beijing and the iF design award.

In recent years, Mathis has been teaching as a professor at the Detao Masters Academy - Shanghai Institute of Visual Art while keeping active in the design field running his own studio in Shanghai and in Amsterdam. Next to teaching he held keynotes at conferences and guest lectures at universities all over China including the Peking University.

Next to human-centred design, his strength lays in concepting and innovation by design thinking, branding and brand strategy and agile product development.

At the HU, Mathis is currently teaching Creativity and Digital Media Design.

Creativity classes let students discover and expand their creative mind by applying design thinking methods and artistic skills. Assignments include a personal artistic portfolio and a group project where students use their collaborative creativity to create a new consumer experience or business opportunity.

Digital Media Design teaches students the importance of a Visual Brand Identity creating meaningful brand experiences by the use of brand-driven design principles, logo design, typography, colour theory and imagery. Assignments include the analysis of an existing visual identity and a pitch of a new visual identity for a start-up brand.

Fields of expertise

  • Digital Media Design (currently teaching)
  • Creativity (currently teaching)
  • Design Thinking (expertise)
  • Human-centred Design (expertise)
  • Branding (expertise)
  • Technology (expertise)

Research themes

Coming from the professional field, projects include user-centred design of automotive, b2b and consumer products and packaging as well as future scenarios, for example urban mobility concepts.

Project title Miscea Classic - sensor faucet & dispenser
Keywords User-centred design, tech start-up, innovation
Years of completion 2008
General project description

The miscea CLASSIC faucet reduces the risk of cross-contamination for a hygienic and germ-free environment. By combining the functions of a water faucet with two dispensers for soap and disinfectant, Miscea has made hand washing more comfortable, convenient and efficient. This system is especially suitable for hygiene-sensitive applications such as in medical environments and the catering industry.

The success of the Miscea Classic design turned a tech start-up company into a well-established brand.
Your Role in project Inventor and designer

Other recent projects

DESIGN PROJECTS

DESIGN RESEARCH PROJECTS

  • Future Urban Mobility in Mega-Cities - 2013 - Shanghai - Professor
  • Brand-Driven Design and Psychology of Branding - 2015 - Shanghai - Professor
  • Design for Industry 4.0 and Digital Manufacturing - 2017 - Shanghai - Professor

AWARDS

  • Red Dot Design Award 2009 - best of best

  • Red Dot Design Award 2011
  • iF Product Design Award 2005
  • iF Product Design Award 2006
  • iF Product Design Award 2008
  • iF Product Design Award 2009
  • iF Product Design Award 2011 - gold
  • iF Product Design Award 2012
  • iF Product Design Award 2017
  • iF Product Design Award 2018
  • A’Design Award, bronze 2016
  • Top Innovation Award 2018, China
  • Top Innovation Award 2019, China
  • GIO Award 2011 (Good Industrial Design, NL)
  • GIO Award 2011
  • GIO Award 2010
  • GIO Award 2009
  • Plus X Award "Design" Germany 2009

  • Plus X Award "Design" Germany 2010

  • German Design Award, 2014, special mention
  • 𠊍utch Design Award 2009, finalist

  • Dutch Design Award 2011, finalist

PATENTS

  • us D500625
  • eu WO2008077619A3
  • eu WO2008077620A1
  • de WO2008077619A2


JURY MEMBER

  • iF Design Award, Germany
  • Red Star Design Award, Beijing
  • A' Design Award, Italy, four times
  • Canton Fair Design Award, Guangzhou
  • Design Intelligence Award DIA, Hangzhou
  • Successful Design Award, Shanghai
  • Top Innovation Award, Hangzhou
  • Car and Driver Magazine's 10 Best Awards, Shanghai
  • Car and Driver Magazine's Most Beautiful Car of the Year Awards, Beijing

GUEST LECTURES

  • 2012-03 University of Applied Science Utrecht, NL
  • 2011-09 SIVA Advisory Conference
  • 2012-05 Peking University
  • 2013-09 SIVA Advisory Conference
  • 2014-06 USST, Shanghai
  • 2014-10 JiaoTong University, Shandong
  • 2014-10 Peking University
  • 2014-10 Shanghai Library
  • 2015-05 Beijing Mining University
  • 2015-05 Shanghai JiaoTong University
  • 2015-08 Zhejiang University
  • 2015-09 University of Amsterdam
  • 2015-10 Shenzhen PKU Graduate School
  • 2015-11 Shanghai Institute of Visual Art
  • 2015-11 Wuhan University for Technology
  • 2016-06 Fuzhou University of Technology
  • 2016-11 Shanghai Institute of Visual Art
  • 2017-04 Wuhan University of Technology
  • 2017-05 Peking University
  • 2017-05 Shanghai Institute of Visual Art
  • 2018-04 SIAS University, Changzhou
  • 2018-05 6th International Innovation Design & Education Forum, Nanjing University of Science and Technology

CONFERENCE KEYNOTES

  • 2011-09 Red Dot Award Conference, Eindhoven
  • 2014-04 Canton Fair Design Conference, Guangzhou
  • 2014-07 CDI Inauguration Conference, Shanghai
  • 2014-09 Electric Vehicle Forum, Hunan
  • 2015-07 Design Conference ‘International Designers Approach Jiangsu’
  • 2015-07 Design Conference, Textile Science and Research Institute, Shanghai
  • 2015-08 Nanjing Industry Meet & Match
  • 2015-11 Foreign Experts in Anhui Province
  • 2015-11 Innovation Design International Conference, Wuhan
  • 2015-11 CIDI Innovation Design Forum, Shanghai
  • 2016-04 Dongguan Design Conference
  • 2016-04 Masters in Jiangsu Conference
  • 2016-05 DIA Award Design Conference, Hangzhou
  • 2016-05 CIDA National Designer Conference, Shenzhen
  • 2016-06 ZITTC Conference Zhejiang
  • 2016-11 Make Tomorrow Today Summit, Shanghai
  • 2017-04 Jomoo Design and Innovation Conference, Fujian
  • 2017-10 CEC-Detao Smart Manufacturing Summit, Qingdao
  • 2017-11 CIDA 12th Design Week Congress, Bengbu
  • 2017-12 CXMG Design Forum, Xuzhou
  • 2017-12 Detao GiN Launch Conference, Shanghai
  • 2017-12 One Road and Belt Innovation Summit, Haikou
  • 2018-05 8th New Energy Vehicle Forum, Shanghai
  • 2019-09 World Industrial Design Conference, Yantai
  • 2021-09 World Industrial Design Conference, Yantai

Key publications

Qualifications

  • Master’s Degree (Diplom-Designer), Product and Industrial Design, Burg Giebichenstein - University of Art and Design, Halle/Saale, Germany (1995)