Steve Kaneko

Steve Kaneko, FIDSA

Inducted into the Academy of Fellows: 2005

Steve is an award-winning design director in Microsoft's Entertainment Experience Group, where he oversees the product experience for Zune. Before going to Zune, he was the founding director of Microsoft's Windows Hardware Innovation Group, where he championed the design philosophy of the next-generation Windows Vista PC hardware experience, resulting in an international design initiative to change the way consumers interact with and perceive personal computers.

Steve has been a Microsoft design pioneer since 1991, having run the Hardware Peripherals Design Group and serving as a design director for the Windows organization, overseeing shell and brand experience coordination for Windows XP. He continues to be one of Microsoft’s most patented employees, and is highly recognized for his contributions to the design and development community. Prior to Microsoft, Steve held design positions at Fluke Corporation, Hewlett-Packard, and the award-winning design consultancy Technology Design.

Steve has garnered numerous industrial design awards for his work, and is a frequent presenter at universities and conferences on design, ergonomics, and interaction. Microsoft Mouse 2.0, which he designed in 1993, has been included in the Museum of Modern Art's permanent design collection in New York. His pioneering work in the area of input device design and interaction continues to be referenced in today's market. In 1995, He was named one of ID magazine's ID Forty, recognizing the 40 most influential designers in the field of technology. He was also a 1999 finalist in The Economist's World Technology Awards. His most recent honor came in 2005, where he was inducted into the Industrial Designers Society of America's Academy of Fellows for his significant contributions to the profession.

Steve holds a BFA in industrial design from the University of Washington in Seattle.