Member News

“A Natural”

She wrote the book on ID recruiting, literally, and has been called a pioneer in the field. Now, RitaSue Siegel, IDSA, has been named this year’s professional recipient of one of the highest accolades in industrial design. She will be honored with the Rowena Reed Kostellow Award at a ceremony in March in New York City.

Eye on Design

Dwell.com is focusing on a New York City designer who's been an IDSA member since 1978. Lucia DeRepinis, L/IDSA, was one of the first students at the Pratt Institute to earn a bachelor's degree in industrial design in 1952. She was one of only six women in a class of 106 men.

Getting to the Core

Dan Harden, IDSA, president, CEO and principal designer of Whipsaw, Inc., has been granted hundreds of patents and won hundreds of design awards in his career that spans more than three decades. Now he’s been named as a jury captain for the 5th annual Core77 Design Awards.

Young Minds with Bright Ideas

A new video is focusing on what happens when dozens of undergraduate students from 21 top higher education institutions in the country—from Cornell to Stanford—come together to tackle some of the world’s toughest challenges. The Design for America (DFA) Leadership Studio met at the Ford Motor Company Engineering Design Center at Northwestern University

Pure Michigan Sets its Sights on Design

The state with the largest number of industrial designers and related design professionals is launching the Michigan Design Council (MDC) as a key part of Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder’s 2015 strategic plan to attract talent and increase economic activity.

The announcement comes a year after the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) asked the Detroit-area, product design and innovation consultancy Sundberg-Ferar to deploy its research and innovation methodologies and lead the way in defining an actionable framework to grow design in Pure Michigan—a dynamic brand representing business, talent and tourism initiatives across the state.

“Michigan’s numbers are impressive and hold immense potential,” says Jeevak Badve, IDSA Central District vice president; Sunberg-Ferar vice president, strategic growth; and a founding MDC board member. “The MDC will leverage these statistics to increase awareness and draw talent and commerce to the state.”

Design for All

“All the developed and developing nations on our planet will be facing aging populations, longer life spans, and the host of social and economic issues accompanying these realities as the century progresses. How the design community responds to these challenges in the decades ahead will directly affect the quality of lives for millions of people worldwide."

The latest issue of the Design for All newsletter focuses on Women in Design who are speaking about universal design products consciously crafted with the elderly and disabled in mind.

“As a designer, the one consistent ingredient I have found to be true is that people of all abilities are unique, regardless of their age, ability, gender or social status in life,” says Guest Editor Stephanie Battista, IDSA, senior design program manager of wearables at Modern Edge in Portland and a speaker at the 2014 Southern District Design Conference. “To have the opportunity to design for all is such a pleasure.”

IDSA’s Board Chair Joins UNITE Panel

Charles Austen Angell, Chair of IDSA’s Board of Directors, and CEO and creative director of Modern Edge, recently served on a panel at the Design Museum Portland's UNITE: Data x Design x Health. "With healthcare’s advancements in technology and data, we are able to monitor health in ways never before thought possible. The design challenge is to ensure these services, products and interactions are developed in a way that creates universal accessibility,” said Angell.

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