EchoViz has added Shelton Davis to the team as an Experience Designer. His abilities include User Experience Design, Interactive Prototyping and Information Architecture. Please help us welcome Shelton!

Michelle Berryman will speak at the TEDxCreativeCoast, to be held June 18, 2010 from 9:00am – 6:00pm at Meddin Studios in Savannah, Georgia. The theme this year is Designing Creativity.

TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) is a nonprofit organization devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event.

Michelle’s presentation, “Where there’s a will . . . !”, will discuss the myriad of ways people and nature use design thinking and creativity to overcome obstacles and achieve meaningful results.

On February 9, Fast Company magazine announced the jury selection for the 2010 International Design Excellence Awards (IDEA®). The internationally diverse jury of 10 men and 8 women, chaired by John Barratt, president and CEO of Teague, will include Michelle Berryman of EchoViz. Sponsored by the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA), the IDEA® program is the premier international competition honoring design excellence in products, ecodesign, interaction design, packaging, strategy, research and concepts. Michelle will be judging entries in the categories for environments and interactive product experiences. Judging will take place in April at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan, with winners announced in the July/August issue of Fast Company magazine. Winners will be honored at this year’s IDSA international conference, held from August 5 to 7 in Portland, Oregon.

Principal Michelle Berryman participated on the jury for the Australian International Design Awards, highlighting the outstanding work of Australian designers and products available in the Australian market. The results of this year’s awards can be seen in the Australian Design Awards Yearbook, which is now online, and can be viewed here.

The Korea Digital Design Council has invited Michelle Berryman, IDSA to be a member of the organizing committee for the International Digital Design Congress 2009 (IDDCo 2009), which will take place November 12-14 at the Design Center Busan and BEXCO in Busan, Korea. The theme for IDDCo 2009 is ‘Digital Energy: Time, Zero, Energy, and Principle’. The concept of the conference is based on the “Yin Yang Wu Xing” philosophy of East Asia. “Yin and Yang” are used to describe how seemingly disjointed or opposing forces are interconnected and interdependent in the natural world, giving rise to each other in turn. “Wu Xing” refers to the five truthful ways the fundamentals operate in the universe. Thus, “Yin Yang Wu Xing” reflects all philosophy of East Asia. Within this framework, IDDCo 2009 is eager to communicate with melted mutual energy and rational principle between designers, creating together, a new hope for the future of Digital Design.

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.

Echo Visualization wins again! Echo has won another Horizon Interactive award. This time the award is for the Cooper Lighting McGraw-Edison Talon Fixture Configurator in the Business to Business category. The award is for outstanding achievement among interactive media producers.

Alfredo Aponte was recently interviewed by Intelligent Life, a quarterly magazine from The Economist, for his involvement with Atlanta Pecha Kucha. The article, “Pecha Kucha”: Doing the Electric Slide, discussed how he connects with other designers to talk and share ideas.

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’.

While in Wuxi, China for the 2008 Wuxi International Industrial Design Expo, Michelle Berryman was invited to visit Jiangnan University on November 10th to tour the facilities, interact with students in the design department and participate in a forum where her friend and fellow IDSA Board Member, Brian Roderman, delivered a presentation on divergent thinking in design. During the visit to Jiangnan University, Michelle was conferred the title of Visiting Professor through December 2011. In addition to this honor, Michelle was also named Honorary Chair of the Editorial Committee for Creation & Design Journal, a publication of the School of Design. This appointment also runs through December 2011. On November 11th, Michelle was invited to participate in the 50th Anniversary celebration of Jiangnan University by cutting the ribbon and officially dedicating the new Museum of Design on campus.