David Webster joined Google to head UX Design and Research for the Labs organization that was established in 2022, after many years at IDEO. The move is the latest phase in a career dedicated to applying design, the creative spirit, and user insight to humanize technology. It was motivated by the desire to be in a position to positively influence the trajectory of fast moving and profoundly impactful technologies.
As one of the original IDEO Partners, his responsibilities spanned global creative leadership, and management of the company’s largest P&Ls. He was Managing Director of the San Francisco Studio, Global Head of IDEO’s Health & Wellness practice, Managing Director of IDEO Palo Alto, and was responsible for 120+ UX designers distributed across the US in the company’s Products & Services and Realization groups.
Before IDEO, David practiced design and engineering at GK Design in Tokyo, under the mentorship of renowned Japanese industrial designer Kenji Ekuan.
Throughout his career, his ethos has remained constant: the essence of design is captured in a phrase he learned from Ekuan: “human-machine-soul-energy”. A successful creative culture enables that energy to flow by having tangible realization of ideas at its core. Webster has applied this ethos to creating product-market-fit for emerging technologies, to catalyzing organizational change, and to building thriving, engaged creative and technical design cultures.
Webster received an IDEA Gold Award in the Automotive & Transportation category in 2008 for the work he led designing a new bicycle category for Shimano.
He holds a Master’s degree in Industrial Design Engineering from the Royal College of Art and a Bachelor’s inMechanical Engineering from University of Edinburgh. He is happiest when behaving like a kid with his kids.
