DesignBytes

Phase I of the U.S. Coast Guard Ready for Rescue Challenge invites you to submit a concept for a solution that helps make a person in the water easier to find. Submissions are due by Oct. 15.

Here are the favorite pens of six designers (some couldn’t pick just one).

“Our first goal with our design was to bring value to customers. To receive accolades from the design community as well makes our journey even more satisfying,” says Brian Balicki, head of design for Volvo Trucks North America.

IDSA's International Design Conference took a humanistic approach to futuristic design. The predominant theme of the conference seemed to be collaborative design, with many speakers emphasizing the importance of multidisciplinary teams and using technology to better connect with coworkers and customers.

To this day, these tools are the best articulation of the potential of inclusive design: Developed for people with arthritis, Good Grips had thick rubbery handles that were also better tools for everyone to use.

“To win a Gold award in this premier international design competition that recognizes design excellence across a wide range of industries and disciplines is an outstanding honor for our internal design team,” said Martin Chenette, from Teknion Roy & Breton.

Donald Strum, IDSA, MGA&D principal and head of product design led the US Open court furniture project and played out his mentor’s philosophy on center court.

Fifteen students in RIT’s Industrial Design program will spend this semester designing products for Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit educational organization behind Sesame Street.

To help reduce the global impact of the 600 billion disposable cups sold each year, Starbucks and McDonald’s are launching a three-year project to build a better cup: one that’s both fully recyclable and compostable.

MIT researchers have debuted a tool that automatically generates products–and analyzes them in detail–on your behalf.

After a number of years as senior director, Oliver Seil, IDSA, assumed the helm of the design group, where he harnesses Belkin's considerable resources to execute projects that while adhering to Belkin's motto of "People inspired."

Tonal CEO and founder teamed up with Dan Harden, IDSA, the CEO and principal designer at Whipsaw, to take his engine and turn it into a compact exercise machine that wouldn’t be out of place in the home.

Designers can’t simply make digital products easier to use. They have to think about what’s in the best interests of the user.

An ex-Apple employee is releasing a new book that details Apple’s design process from the inside, retelling his own anecdotes of working on the iPhone and iPad, demoing to Steve Jobs and more.

IBM’s growing security-focused creative unit is comprised of UX specialists, industrial designers, content writers, motion animators, illustrators, developers, and user researchers.

To keep passengers safe and chilled out, a lot goes into designing airline seats—including selecting the right color.

You are not holding just a red plastic party cup, you are holding a story, a lineage, a tragedy and a comforting cultural signifier of communal togetherness. You are holding a lesson in the pros and cons of ubiquity, and a model of clean design.

Read the employment growth rates, what skills are trending, and where in the US industrial designers work.

Over the years, some have noticed a minor turf battle for rights to the title of “designer.”

A recap of the second Square One conference (SQ1CON), hosted by nonprofit Advanced Design Sketching and created by Chicago design educator Hector Silva, IDSA.

Lisa Yong offers these words of advice to other young women looking to succeed in traditionally male-dominated fields.

This may sound like a generational battle but there is more to it. These debates encourage humility. You don’t find unity in what great designers love and hate as far as design tools. There is no “best” design method and no “best” design tool.

“If I hadn’t been involved in IDSA and going to the district conferences and events like that, I can’t say that I would be on the path that I am on now. It is part College and part me that took the initiative to be involved,” said ClayVon Lowe, IDSA.

The design field can be competitive and demanding, but it's a great career path for anyone truly passionate about art.