Interview with Julián Lizán: ethical and sustainable industrial design to meet user needs

Julián Lizán (Zaragoza, 1990), Industrial Design and Product Development Engineer at Infinitia, marks two milestones in a career that began almost ten years ago.

In 2012 he won a research grant from the Government of Spain with which he joined the HowLab group at the University of Zaragoza. In that entry into the professional world, he obtained his first patent with the ‘3Tool’ device, a tool currently used internationally in various physiotherapy treatments. Some time later, in 2016, he obtained, together with his startup Aureel S.L., the award for second best international business project with satellite technology from the European Space Agency (ESA). His proposal was based on what is known as ‘wearable technology’ and consisted of an ‘electronic wearable’ for non-intrusive visual support for athletics training.

Leaving aside his main achievements, Julián assures that his main inspiration comes from anyone capable of, through design, solving a problem or satisfying a need that helps to improve society and the environment without seeking economic or professional growth as a primary objective.

In this way, the role played by Infinitia’s Mechanical and Prototyping Department is to analyze the requirements of the different customers in order to develop a solution that adapts to their needs. Thus, once the idea is developed, the user’s demands are materialized in a prototype to verify its correct operation; and allows them through the necessary modifications to reach an optimal industrializable solution.

Graduated in Industrial Design Engineering and Product Development at the University of Zaragoza, with a Master’s Degree in Industrial Design Engineering at the Polytechnic University of Valencia, in 2015 Julián combined his freelance design work with his start-up with his work in the R+D+i department of Kepar Electrónica. There he specialized in mechanical design and participated in the development of several products, including the V-16 luminous beacons for automotive Help Flash brand.

Based on his experience, he talks about the relevance that, for him, engineering has today. Internet shopping platforms mean that we have access to hundreds of products of varying quality and origin. This, he says, means that a company has to resort to quality and other added values to stand out and be competitive. This differentiation is obtained, from his perspective, by resorting to services such as those of Infinitia, which offers the support of a multidisciplinary team of experts to advise them throughout the development of their product.

He also concludes that design should be a tool to improve the lives of users by solving problems and needs in an ethical and responsible manner. For this reason, he points out that it is necessary for companies to acquire this type of practices following the guidelines of other conscious companies, as is the case of Infinitia Industrial Consulting, for which he works.