Ruby Steel

Ruby Steel, 30, is currently Senior Design Strategist at Smart Design.

She has been committed to making people’s lives better through the power of design since the age of seventeen when she met an extraordinary girl living with HIV. Emma’s story had a profound impact on Ruby. Shunned by her mother and belittled by total strangers, it was the social stigma that caused Emma the most pain. Something about her stunning honesty, wit and bravery instilled a drive in Ruby to use empathy and creativity to make things better for those isolated by circumstance.

Ruby, later graduated from Kingston University and then went on to gain a Master’s degree in Innovation Design Engineering at the Royal College of Art and Imperial College of London. Ruby has been awarded two Helen Hamlyn Design Awards for Creativity and Inclusive Design, and has received honourable mentions from Core77 Design and RSA for her design solutions combating issues such as social isolation in older people.

Ruby has worked at some of the top design agencies in London, across a variety of industries but with a particular emphasis on healthcare, where design would help people live better with conditions such as diabetes, epilepsy and ileostomies.

Ruby always puts the people and their stories at the core and the ethos of the consultancy she currently works for is design with meaning.

With more than eight years of experience in user-centered research, co-creation, and product, service and experience design, Ruby’s passion for creating a positive impact on individuals that live with a more challenging circumstance remains unshaken.

Ruby is originally from South West London and lives in London.