Member News

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.

IDSA Member Blogs on Wired

JD Albert, IDSA, director of engineering at Bresslergroup, blogs on “Not Just for Coders: Hackathons for Hardware Innovation” in the January 2015 Wired. “As someone who does product development professionally, the hackathon intrigued me as a method of innovation…. What could a group of strangers accomplish in a couple of days?

Crowned for Design

One of the world’s largest material handling companies has extended its legacy of design excellence by winning its 14th GOOD DESIGN™ Award from the Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design and The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies.

ICSID: Thriving by Design

Patricia Moore, FIDSA, credited as the pioneer of universal or inclusive design, is best known for an experiment she undertook from 1979-1982 where, at the age of 26, she reduced her natural capacities and manufactured blurred vision with glasses, altered her posture, reduced her range of motion and way of walking with bandages and ill-fitting shoes. For three years and in over 100 North American cities, she passed for a woman in her 80s.

Whipsaw Wins 7 GOOD DESIGN Awards

Whipsaw received 7 GOOD DESIGN Awards for Design Excellence from The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design and The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies. 

Pages