Product Design Leader · Edison Award · Crain’s 40 Under 40
Mike Forbes
Product Designer with 14+ years of experience across physical and digital — medical devices, cardiac planning software, automotive R&D, VR simulation platforms, and consumer products. I've led design in regulated healthcare environments, innovation labs, global automotive technical centers, and early-stage startups, working directly with engineers, clinicians, and executives from first concept through market launch.
BFA in Product Design, College for Creative Studies, Detroit. Edison Award winner. Crain's Detroit Business 40 Under 40. Multiple patents across medical device and product design. Work covered by The New York Times, NPR, and The Washington Post.
Across every project and industry, the challenge is the same: balance what's technically feasible, what's clinically and regulatorily sound, and what a real person will actually use under pressure. I've done that at Materialise USA, Elm Park Labs, Henry Ford Health System Innovations, Hyundai-Kia America Technical Center, and Inspire Rx — in operating rooms, cath labs, ICUs, and design studios.
Skills & Tools
How I Work
I do primary research.
I don’t design from assumptions. I interview, observe, and shadow. The cardiologist who showed me how he mentally models anatomy during TAVR planning changed how I designed the entire planning interface. That kind of access is what separates a design that ships from one that gets used.
I work across the table from engineers.
I can read a CAD file, have a constraint conversation, and adjust the design — not the engineering timeline. 14 years of cross-functional work means I know how to find the version of the idea that’s actually buildable.
I build the case, not just the design.
Design decisions need to survive stakeholder scrutiny. I write the rationale, run the research, and present the finding — not just the deliverable. Especially in regulated environments, that documentation is part of the work.