After working together for more than six years on a wide variety of successful client engagements, THINK Interactive is acquiring Echo Visualization (EchoViz). “Given our history together, the synergy of our teams and consumer demands in the marketplace, this was an obvious and natural evolution for both firms,” said Chris Wilson, Co-owner of THINK.

The 2012 Cooper Hewitt National Design Awards have been announced. Michelle Berryman juried the awards in March. The National Design Awards were conceived by the Smithsonian’s Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum to honor lasting achievement in American design. The Awards are bestowed in recognition of excellence, innovation, and enhancement of the quality of life. Meet the 2012 Winners.

On March 30th, Michelle Berryman will keynote the 3rd Annual “Power Your Potential” Leadership Conference for Women, sponsored by the Rochester Institute of Technology’s E. Philip Saunders College of Business. (More details to follow.)

Michelle Berryman will be a speaker and panel moderator on the subject of “Responsible Designing” at the International Conference on Innovation and Creativity of Women for Economic Development – Designing Quality of Life in a Modern Economy in Warsaw, Poland, March 22-23, 2012. The event is organized by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the Patent Office of the Republic of Poland (PPO), the Office of Harmonization for the Internal Market (OHIM) and the Warsaw Stock Exchange. The conference will be the fifth event of a series of annual conferences on Women’s Contribution to Innovation and Creativity. The conference will address the following topics:
• Promote innovation, creativity and intellectual property (IP) as a power tool for economic development amongst women;
• Promote the innovative and creative work of women in science and business;
• Raise awareness among the targeted group on IP-related issues and industrial design;
• Promote the active use of the IP system, in particular the Hague system for the protection of industrial designs.

Michelle Berryman has been invited to serve as a juror for the Smithsonian’s Cooper-Hewitt Museum’s National Design Awards Program, March 12–13, 2012. The National Design Awards were conceived in 1997 by the Smithsonian’s Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum to honor lasting achievement in American design. The Awards are bestowed in recognition of excellence, innovation, and enhancement of the quality of life. First launched at the White House in 2000 as an official project of the White House Millennium Council, the annual Awards program celebrates design in various disciplines as a vital humanistic tool in shaping the world, and seeks to increase national awareness of the impact of design through education initiatives. More information about the National Design Awards can be found here: http://www.cooperhewitt.org/nda.

The International Council of Societies of Industrial Design (Icsid) announced the new slate of Executive Board of Directors for the 2011-2013 term, and Michelle Berryman is on it! Congratulations Michelle! Read the full story here.

Congratulations to Echo’s Vicki Haberman, in finishing step four out of five on her way to a PhD at Georgia Tech, officially becoming a Candidate last week! Vicki has been looking at design considerations for improving the mobile phone user experience through device customizations, specifically missing opportunities in ensuring meaningful and memorable experiences by individuals diverse in age and ability.

Michelle was quoted by Fast Company for the story Straight Talk On American Design. Check out her quote as well as other interesting quotes from American designers.

Dover Fluid Management will be hosting a Remote Monitoring & Automation Conference in Nashville, TN, on September 20-22, 2011. This event will be held in conjunction with the Remote 2011 Monitoring & Control Conference and Expo, focusing on technology and innovation in multiple industries including utilities, infrastructure, power, oil and gas, telecom, industrial, water and public utilities, agriculture, remote networks and facilities management. Michelle Berryman will be delivering a presentation to Dover executives titled “Technology Isn’t Seductive. The Experience Should Be.” The presentation will introduce user experience design as a value driver that increases market share, reduces customer support needs and builds brand equity with users.

Slides for Vicki & Michelle’s UX Australia presentation are now posted. Audio will be forthcoming from the event organizers in a few days. Until then, enjoy the visuals.