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.

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.

In December 2010, Michelle Berryman participated as a juror for the Design Turkey Industrial Design Awards in Istanbul, Turkey. The awards program is a design evaluation system organized with the collaboration of the Turkish Undersecretariate for Foreign Trade (DTM), the Turkish Exporters Assembly (TIM) and the Industrial Designers Society of Turkey (ETMK), within the framework of the TURQUALITY® program. The program emphasizes the benefits good design brings to both society and industry in Turkey by rewarding design excellence that respects user needs and provides value and competitive advantage in the marketplace.

Michelle Berryman has been quoted by the TAXI Design Network in reference to her recent jury participation in the 2009 Australian International Design Awards in Sydney. The presentation for the awards will occur on May 29 in Melbourne.

At the invitation of Wu Jianliang, Director General of the Wuxi Municipal Science and Technology Bureau, Michelle Berryman attended and participated in the Opening Ceremony of the 2008 Wuxi International Industrial Design Expo in Wuxi, China on November 8th. After the ceremony, Michelle was interviewed by Yu Yi of CCTV 2, the economy-focused channel of the China Central Television network, about the state of design in China. On November 9th, Michelle delivered a presentation at the China International Industrial Design Forum on the topic ‘Social & Environmental Awareness: New Opportunities for Design in the 21st Century’.

In commemoration of being designated the World Design Capitol of 2010, the city of Seoul organized an inaugural 21-day multi-faceted event, known as the Seoul Design Olympiad, to celebrate the role design is playing in transforming Seoul into an eco-friendly metropolis rich in culture and creativity. Seoul Design Olympiad activities included the Seoul Design Conference and the Seoul Design Competition. At the invitation of Seoul’s Mayor, OH Se-Hoon, Michelle Berryman attended the conference and participated in the competition as a juror. The theme of the competition was ‘Design is AIR – Sustainable City Life of the Future’. Michelle’s category within the competition was ‘Water (Communication in Flow)’. Entries in this category included graphic design, information design and animation.

Said Berryman, “I thought that overall, the entries were very good and represented a strong sense of creativity, social responsibility and vision for Seoul’s future as a world design city. All of the entries had a participatory, communal quality too. They brought a sense of order, community and connectedness to Seoul and the people who live, work and play in the city. Some of the ideas represented big ideas like mapping emotions while others represented more practical ideas like clarity of public signature or encouraging people to park their cars and walk, ride a bike or take public transit. All of the ideas sought to enhance the Seoul experience for everyone. This was a very good experience for me.”

The Creative Coast Alliance, Savannah, Georgia’s knowledge economy focused public/private partnership has nominated Michelle Berryman to serve as one of five judges for its 2008 Innovation Awards program. Judging will take place in late August and culminate with an awards banquet in Savannah on October 23rd.

Michelle Berryman has been invited to participate on the jury for the Australian International Design Awards in Sydney. The jury will take place March 2nd to the 6th. The Australian International Design Awards, a division of Standards Australia, is recognized by the Commonwealth Government and the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design as Australia’s peak design assessment and promotion body, and for its important role in fostering a culture of design and innovation in Australia.

Michelle Berryman of EchoViz has been selected as a juror for the fourth annual Housewares Design Awards, to be held on November 14-16. Michelle will be one of 12 jurors for the event. The Housewares Design Awards recognizes design’s critical importance in the housewares industry. Submissions in 13 product categories will be evaluated, and five finalists per category will be chosen. The finalists will be notified in November and invited to the Awards Luncheon to be held on January 16, 2007 in New York City. At that event, the Best-in-Category selections will be announced.

Michelle Berryman has been chosen to be an international expert for The Observeur du Design jury, an international competition hosted by the Agency for the Promotion of Industrial Creation (APCI) in Paris, France.

The competition will highlight and reward “stars” to a selection of the best creations resulting from collaboration between companies and designers. An independent jury of professionals will choose the most outstanding achievements from 163 products presented this year. Contestants to this year’s competition are from such diverse locations as France, South Korea, China, Italy and Germany.

Winners will be chosen for outstanding and exemplary achievement in innovation, quality and originality of processes, and implementation of a global corporate strategy. Criteria included user friendliness, safety and ergonomics, improved comfort, reduced costs, formal, sensory and structural research, accessibility, respect for resources and the environment, anticipation of emerging needs, design progression in a new economical sector, promotion of traditional know-how and innovation.

The Observeur design exhibition will take place on October 10th at the Cité des Sciences et de l’Industrie, La Villette in Paris. The three-month run exhibition will be displayed until January 14th. The APCI was created in 1983 on the initiative of the French ministers responsible for industry and culture to contribute to the bringing together of culture, research and industry.