IDC’s Design Director, Marc Tanner, Dies after a Short Illness

It is with great sadness that IDC announces the death of Marc Tanner, IDC’s Design Director. Marc passed away on Monday, 15th August, after a battle with cancer.

Marc led the industrial design team at IDC for almost 11 years and his creative thinking, warm, easy-going personality and mentoring will be greatly missed by all. During that time he championed user-centred design which has been the essence of IDC’s product developments; earning numerous awards for his projects including: Red Dot, Medical Design Excellence, Red Star China and IDEA awards. Marc cared deeply about making products that improved people's lives and paid great attention to detail and understanding the needs of users.

IDC’s MD, Stephen Knowles, remembers the time he took to support others, “I think one of Marc's great strengths was the way in which he used his passion for design to inspire others. Throughout his career he mentored many designers, taking time to explain his philosophy and help colleagues constantly improve their work. Over the years, many of his colleagues, including myself, acknowledged Marc's great influence on their approach to design and we owe him a deep debt of gratitude. We are all deeply saddened by his passing.”

Marc started his design career in 1979 after graduating from Northumbria University with a degree in Design for Industry. As a new graduate he joined design consultancy IDEO, where he worked in product development for 24 years. This gave him vast experience designing products for a number of industry sectors and a variety of global markets. He also enjoyed an international element to his career, working in San Francisco, Tokyo and London for clients in Europe, USA, Korea, Taiwan, and Japan. IDC China owes much to Marc who was instrumental in establishing the success of the company over the last 5 years. Marc regularly worked with the team at their office in Shanghai and provided ongoing support from the UK.

Brian Gough, IDC’s Projects Director, remembers Marc’s sense of fun and enjoyment of sports; “Outside of work Marc had a passion for sailing, both as a sailor and spectator. He also skied regularly, but rugby was his great love and he enjoyed supporting England and his local team, Blackheath. He was a good friend and we will all miss his kind, caring personality as well as his creativity – in fact one of Marc’s regrets during his illness was that he couldn’t contribute to another project for IDC.”