Stephen Melamed

Stephen Melamed, IDSA

Stephen Melamed, IDSA, began his studies in theoretical physics at Boston  University and later received a Masters Degree with distinction in Industrial Design from the University of Illinois Chicago. Melamed also studied under Bauhaus designer/artist/author Werner Graeff. He has been awarded a Design Fellowship by the National Endowment for the Arts & Humanities and a grant from the R. Buckminster Fuller Foundation. He authored By Design: Museum Environments for All and was a speaker at the First International Interdisciplinary Design Conference at the United Nations in New York City.

Over the last three decades Melamed has worked in manufacturing, corporate, not-for-profit and consulting. He is currently Managing Partner of the award-winning Chicago based Industrial Design consulting firm, Tres Design Group, founded with French designer, Luc Heiligenstein, the firm has received numerous international design awards as well as an IDEA Silver Medal for design excellence. He is also an LSP (Lego® Serious Play) Certified Facilitator. In addition to his duties as a Principal at Tres Design Group, he is currently Clinical Professor of Interdisciplinary Product Development (IPD) and Industrial Design at the University of Illinois Chicago. He is also on the leadership team for the UIC Innovation Center created in partnership with Motorola. In 2011, he was honored as the IDSA Midwest Educator of the Year. He was a founding member of the not-for-profit AIGA national design advocacy group, Design For Democracy (D4D) and has served on its Board of Directors. Melamed has written numerous articles on the topics of innovation, industrial design, interdisciplinary product development and design research and has been a featured lecturer at universities and conferences.