Product design and engineering together can stand out as a rare force, creating innovations that prioritize technical precision while attending to the human experience.
Operating within this demanding field is Anna Belhassen, a product designer and biomedical engineer whose influence spans from her early contributions to luxury beauty packaging to her work on implantable neurotechnology, which is defining the future of consumer electronics.
Belhassen’s unwavering commitment to user empathy is a philosophy that drives her excellence in every effort. Long before any sketch or prototype, she starts with conversations — and this can make all the difference.
She has made waves in the field of neurotechnology, developing a one-of-a-kind prototype of a miniaturized sub-scalp EEG monitoring device. The latter completely overhauled how people think about EEG monitoring devices, which are typically cumbersome and hard to wear during sleep and in daily life.
At the same time, Belhassen has also stood out as one of the people who worked on a mat sensor for wheelchair fencing at the Paralympics.
The mat sensor was able to detect when 50% of bodyweight was lifted off of the chair, which allowed judges to verify fouls via metrics instead of subjective visual observations.
Her unique methodology stems from a long history in product design. She worked at Victoria Beckham Beauty, where her engineered packaging design later became a staple of their best-selling Smokey Eye Brick and won awards in 2020.
Belhassen also interned at Apple as part of its highly selective and prestigious iPhone Product Design team, where she collaborated directly across industrial design, hardware, and operations.
Today, she continues to foster community, education, and collaboration as the founder of the Neurotechnology Society in Imperial College London. She serves as a judge for hackathons and occupies editorial board memberships.
At the same time, she is a member of different engineering and design societies, including the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and the Industrial Designers Society of America.
In this article, we sit down with the Imperial College London-trained innovator to explore how this philosophy drives her work across various industries.
What drew you to product design and engineering, and how did early experiences shape your user-first approach?
Anna: “I’m French, but I grew up in London. I had two grandparents that I was close to from a young age, but they both battled Parkinson’s for as long as I could remember. It was heart-wrenching to watch their lives overtaken by a neural disease, which later robbed them completely of movement in old age.
From then on, I had a passion for neurotechnology. I wanted to create brain implants that could restore function. When I went to university, I found out that product design wasn’t just about fixing problems functionally. I learned about the solutions we needed to learn to make everything feel more intuitive, comfortable, and even beautiful in daily use. What you need is a blend of engineering rigor and deep human understanding.”
You emphasize starting every project with user conversations. Can you walk us through your process?
Anna: “Absolutely. Before I touch CAD software or run simulations, I first talk to the people who will actually live with the product. I identify their pain points and needs. What frustrates them? What small joys could we amplify?
For my Master’s thesis at Imperial’s Next Generation Neural Interfaces Lab, I designed a wireless, injectable sub-scalp neuromonitoring implant for EEG sensing. Traditional devices required bulky external recorders that made sleeping or daily life uncomfortable, especially for epilepsy patients who will use them long-term.
The project started with deep empathy for epilepsy patients who live with constant monitoring needs.
They explained the devices made sleep uncomfortable, daily activities awkward, and long-term compliance challenging. Many users described the hardware as stigmatizing, itchy, and disruptive to their dignity.
Rather than jumping straight into technical specifications, I prioritized user conversations. This user empathy became the north star for the entire design process.
By speaking directly with users, I reimagined the solution: a discreet implant that lets patients tap their phones to transfer data after a seizure. No more visible hardware. The result was a device that prioritized dignity and seamlessness alongside clinical performance.
The system eliminates external recorders entirely. When a patient experiences a seizure, they can simply tap their phone to their head via near-field communication (NFC) to transfer the captured EEG data securely for later clinical review.
I wanted the technology to disappear. The engineering had to deliver clinical-grade performance while restoring a sense of normalcy and control to users.
By blending biomedical engineering rigor with thoughtful product design — considering factors such as implantation methodology, low-power electronics, wireless reliability, and human factors — we created something that feels intuitive rather than clinical. I am delighted and proud to say this work has had an influence on how other countries look at their designs and has been gaining influence in the United States as a considered approach.
You have a daily ritual of stepping back to ask a specific question. What is it, and why does it matter?
Anna: Every single day, often multiple times, I pause and ask: ‘What experience am I creating for the person who will hold this product?’
This sensitivity separates good engineering from truly exceptional products. Technical excellence is table stakes. I am asking what elevates a design. I believe it is empathy, so you can understand the context, emotion, and real-world friction for the user. It forces you to zoom out from tolerances and materials to the human story.
What makes empathy such a competitive advantage today?
Anna: “Empathy is the ultimate competitive advantage because users don’t just buy functionality. They want products that feel like they were designed for them, not at them. When someone picks up a device and thinks, ‘They really get me,’ that emotional connection drives loyalty, word-of-mouth, and long-term success.
As a product designer and biomedical engineer, I’ve seen this play out across industries from luxury beauty to neurotechnology and consumer electronics.
“Technical excellence is now table stakes. In an era where AI can handle much of the heavy lifting on iteration and analysis, the differentiator is the depth of human understanding. I ask myself every day, ‘What experience am I truly creating for the person who will hold this product?’ It forces you to zoom out from materials and tolerances to emotions, context, and real-world friction. That’s what separates good engineering from truly exceptional, market-defining products.”
Ultimately, empathy is strategic. It can lead to better retention, stronger brand affinity, and innovations that don’t just solve problems but enhance lives. That’s the philosophy I bring to every project, and it’s why I believe the most successful product engineers of the future will be those who care most deeply about the humans on the other end.”
How has your methodology played out across your diverse portfolio?
Anna: “It’s been transformative. Take my work on a piezoresistive sensor mat for wheelchair fencing in collaboration with the International Wheelchair and Amputee Sports Federation (IWAS). Athletes faced unfair foul calls based on subjective visual judgments.
Through close conversations with competitors, we engineered a pressure-sensing mat that objectively detects when more than 50% of body weight lifts off the seat. It endured sweat, movement, and intense use after multiple iterations under tight deadlines—and was deployed at the 2022 Wheelchair Fencing World Cup and aided athletes from multiple countries. The athletes’ gratitude was the ultimate validation.
I was also lucky to intern at Victoria Beckham Beauty right before their initial launch, a critical time in the brand’s creation. As part of the Product Development team, I focused on the luxurious packaging for their Smokey Eye Brick S and Satin Kajal liner—both of which remain best-sellers and brand signatures.
It is not an exaggeration to say we obsessed over how the packaging would feel in a woman’s hands—the satisfying click, the weight, the emotional reward of luxury. That user-centric precision helped create an experience that continues to resonate years later.
More recently, I interned on Apple’s iPhone Product Design team, an experience that profoundly reinforced my user-first methodology and deepened my appreciation for designing at a scale that reaches millions of people every day.
By meticulously reviewing thousands of user feedback reports and experiences, I was able to leverage those insights directly into my mechanical designs, ensuring every component I owned delivered intuitive interactions that resonate with global consumers in their daily lives.”
Working on future iPhone hardware allowed me to influence products used by millions of people across the United States, from Silicon Valley innovators to small business owners across the country, creating technology that enhances productivity and connectivity nationwide.”
My contributions, though focused on specific components such as button assemblies and flex systems, were part of a larger ecosystem that strengthens America’s position as a global leader in consumer technology innovation.
Through careful attention to human factors and iterative refinement based on real user data, I helped create devices that build deeper customer trust, making people feel genuinely heard when they interact with technology designed and engineered with their feedback at the forefront.
The iPhone’s cultural significance in the U.S. cannot be overstated; it has transformed how Americans work, learn, communicate, and access services, and being part of that design process was both humbling and inspiring.
My time at Apple highlighted the power of user-centered design to drive national competitiveness — ensuring that the technology remains intuitive, reliable, and ahead of global competitors in an increasingly digital economy.
Ultimately, the experience solidified my belief that when engineers prioritize empathy and precision, innovation doesn’t just produce devices — it creates tools that empower individuals, uplift communities, and reinforce the country’s technological leadership.
Contributing to Apple’s iPhone programs taught me that even small design decisions, when executed with excellence, can strengthen customer loyalty and economic impact across the United States and the world, while advancing the very principles of accessible, human-centric technology I champion in neurotechnology and beyond.
.My international experience has also enabled me to sharpen my edge significantly. Through internships and projects in Sweden at Teenage Engineering, Singapore with Treat Therapeutics, the United States at Apple, and across Europe, I’ve witnessed how design expectations shift dramatically across cultures. What feels luxurious and intuitive in one market might feel cold or overly complicated in another.
This global perspective allows me to bring fresh, culturally attuned insights to every challenge — whether I’m engineering mechanisms for Victoria Beckham Beauty’s award-winning eyeshadow palette that still drives sales years later, or refining user-interface components on next-generation consumer devices.”
What other recognitions have you received?
Beyond academic awards and nominations, I was invited to serve as a guest speaker at Imperial College London in recognition of my expertise in Product Design and Neurotechnology. I was also invited to run a workshop on miniaturization and manufacturing of technologies, attended by academics, professors, and entrepreneurs all across the U.K.
I was also proud to be named Best Product Design Engineer of 2025 by the Best of Best Review. I can’t deny that it’s been such an honor to receive these awards, and it’s gratifying to know the hard work has paid off.”
You founded the Neurotechnology Society at Imperial College London — the first student-led society of its kind in the UK. What inspired its creation, and how did your background in product design and engineering shape its direction?
Anna: “Neurotechnology has enormous potential to transform lives, but it often feels intimidating and inaccessible to the very people it aims to serve. That’s what drove me to found the Neurotechnology Society at Imperial College London — the first student-led society of its kind in the UK. Having watched my grandparents battle Parkinson’s disease, I’ve always been passionate about making neural technologies more human-centered and approachable. I wanted to create a space where that could actually happen.
“As a product designer and biomedical engineer, I approached building the society the same way I approach any complex product: start with deep user understanding, then engineer systems that deliver real value. Students, researchers, clinicians, and entrepreneurs were my end users. They needed accessible ways to engage with a highly technical field, so I designed the society around that.
We launched a weekly speaker series featuring professors from the Francis Crick Institute, founders from companies like Mintneuro, and later experts from Neuralink and Kernel. We organized hands-on hackathons and symposia that brought together hundreds of participants from London universities and international institutions. I made sure we focused not just on theory, but on practical product development — things like low-power implantable systems, wireless interfaces, and human factors in neural device design.
My product design methodology shaped everything: rapid iteration, cross-disciplinary collaboration, and always keeping the user at the center. We created an environment where people could prototype, test ideas, and solve real engineering challenges together. The society quickly grew into a thriving community that’s still active today, hosting events across institutions and even expanding into universities in the US. It proves that strong product thinking isn’t limited to physical devices — it can also be applied to designing communities and innovation pipelines that make advanced engineering more inclusive and impactful.
At its core, the society reflects my belief that empathy and rigorous engineering together create the ultimate competitive edge — whether you’re building a device or building a movement.”
Any final thoughts on the future of product engineering?
“I want neurotechnology and advanced devices to lose their intimidating reputation and become truly accessible. My personal mission is to ensure the people I design for feel heard—down to the smallest detail. When a user picks up something I’ve engineered and thinks, ‘They really got it,’ that’s everything.”
About The Author
Mahadharani Vijay is a writer specializing in digital marketing, electric and concept cars, gadgets, and media and entertainment. She focuses on turning emerging trends and innovations into clear, engaging, and accessible stories for both professionals and wider audiences.
