On August 21, 2019, IDSA announced the latest recipients of the IDSA Awards. These honors are presented in recognition of significant contributions to the Society or the industrial design profession, excellence in academic advancement or personal achievement.
The winners this year include industrial design educators, business leaders and a non-profit that supports the next generation. We are honored to celebrate the work of our members each year through this program. Please join us in congratulating the 2019 IDSA Award recipients.
Academy of Fellows
Jeevak Badve, FIDSA
sundbergferar.com
Biography
Personal Recognition Award
Dan Harden, IDSA
whipsaw.com
Biography
Dan Harden is a consummate designer. He has designed hundreds of successful products, ranging from baby bottles to supercomputers. A few of his hits include Google Chromecast and OnHub, Nest Dropcams, Brita Stream, Dell Precision, Eton radios, Tonal gym, Intel tablets, Motorola phones and many more.
Prior to cofounding Whipsaw in 1999, Dan was VP and President at frog, where he designed many notable products for luminaries such as Steve Jobs and Larry Ellison. He also worked at Henry Dreyfuss Assoc. and George Nelson Assoc.
Dan has been called “design’s secret weapon” by Fast Company and has been granted over 500 patents. His work has been featured in The Henry Ford Museum, The Chicago Athenaeum, the Smithsonian Cooper Hewitt Museum, and the Pasadena Museum of California Art.
Dan has won over 300 design awards, including 41 IDEA’s.
Personal Recognition Award
Michael DiTullo, IDSA
michaelditullo.com
Biography
Michael DiTullo has designed for mega-companies like Google, Nike, and Honda as well as innovative start-ups. He has been the Design Director at Converse, Creative Director at frog, and Chief Design Officer at Sound United.
Michael is known for his impressive body of work, yet as one of his nominators writes, “his ability to give back is underrated.” He is gracious in giving his time to students and non-profits; served on several design boards and committees, including this year’s IDEA jury; and has contributed to Core77 for nearly two decades.
Michael is praised for his honesty and willingness to promote a healthy dialogue about big issues in ID. His latest initiative #RealDesignersShip is just one example of his ongoing commitment to building a supportive and trusting design community.
Special Achievement Award
Advanced Design
advdes.org
Advanced Design began in 2016 as a summer workshop for 15 design students. Weekly workshops were held at the UIC Innovation Center and sponsored by the IDSA Chicago Chapter.
Each session provided an opportunity for students to interact with design professionals, who in turn shared their insights and answered questions from students about the design industry.
Advanced Design is now a multifaceted student and professional run non-profit that collaborates with professional designers and educators from around the world.
Based on its strong presence here in Chicago and in Milwaukee, Advanced Design runs SQ1 CON—with a focus on visual communication—in addition to offering workshops and a free video library on YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram that features sketching videos from some of the most notable industrial designers of our time.
At the core of Advanced Design is a small team of design students and professionals led by Hector Silva, IDSA. This diverse group of young designers takes on graphic design, marketing, and event-planning to develop SQ1 each year.
Young Educator Award
Hale Selek, IDSA
selek.design
With a bachelor’s in ID from Middle East Technical University in Ankara, Turkey, Hale Selek is an assistant professor of product design at the University of Oregon. Previously, she taught industrial design at Massey University in Auckland, New Zealand and at Iowa State University.
Hale joined the University of Oregon faculty about four years ago, and in that time has made a remarkable impact on her students and the program. She has elicited invitations for students to participate in international exhibitions, opening their eyes and opportunities. She also has guided them to envision their concepts more clearly, as students and teachers alike have noticed improvements in student content and professional delivery under her tutelage.
Her many nominators have described her as a “phenomenal teacher,” “a master at finding compromise between ideals and reality,” and an advocate for her students’ creative intelligence and potential.
Education Award
Lance Rake, IDSA
lancerake.com
Biography
Lance Rake was honored as a Fulbright Scholar in 2015 and is currently a professor of industrial design at the University of Kansas. He also has taught at Auburn University and internationally in New Zealand, Sweden, England, and India.
Several of Lance’s former students wrote to IDSA to share his positive impact on their lives and careers. One wrote that he “instilled in me the core values of sustainability, human centered design, and overall hard work by demonstrating and actively practicing [these values] himself.”
Indeed, Lance continues to lead by example. His recent research efforts focus on using design to create sustainable, craft-based enterprises in rural communities in the US, Africa, and India.
Education Award
Verena Paepcke-Hjeltness, IDSA
Biography
Verena Paepcke-Hjeltness has served as a faculty liaison for IDSA student chapters. Her students and colleagues have called her “deeply committed and caring,” with “a clear passion for helping others succeed both in and outside the classroom.”
Verena has been recognized in the ID world for pioneering “sketchbooking” as a methodology at Iowa State. However, as one of her nominators said, she also deserves to be recognized for her inspirational teaching.