Echo | News

November 17, 2008
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'.

November 17, 2008
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.

October 16, 2008
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."

July 25, 2008, 5:10 PM
Introducing the first EchoViz baby, Braiden Christopher Lynn! This little guy is 8 pounds, 1.8 ounces and 20.5 inches. Everyone's doing fine!

July 16, 2008
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.

June 2008
The Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine has named Fredo Aponte one of their '30 Under 30' for his work with Atlanta Pecha Kucha. A summa cum laude graduate of Georgia Tech, past president of the student chapter of the Industrial Designers Society of America, 2007 IDSA National Student Merit Award winner for the southern district and EchoViz designer, Fredo is a great ambassador for Georgia Tech and EchoViz. Mark your calendars: The next edition of Atlanta Pecha Kucha will be September 21st at Octane Coffee Bar.

April 14, 2008
The United States Patent and Trademark Office, in conjunction with the American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA) and the Intellectual Property Owners Association (IPO), invited Michelle Berryman to participate as a speaker in their USPTO Design Day conference in Washington, DC. The conference was attended by US Design Patent Examiners, Intellectual Property Attorneys and designers. Using the IDEA Awards and Design & Business Catalyst Awards as examples, Michelle addressed the value and power of design as a competitive tool and market differentiator.

February 10, 2008
Michelle Berryman gave Atlanta Pecha Kucha a bit of a cultural shock with her documented photos of street food from her trips to Asia in 2005 and 2007. She was one of nine presenters in the Volume Three Spring Session. Check out the presentation on iTunes.

January 7, 2008
Early in 2008, Michelle Berryman will be a panelist at the CES show in Las Vegas. The panel will discuss "ISO - The Next Big Thing: Avoiding the Pitfalls in Creating Best-Selling Products."

The focus of the address will be how to avoid the roadblocks in the quest for the next blockbuster product. Also discussed will be the challenges off-shore manufacturing centers present, how non-CE companies use virtual reality to work toward a greener future and what helps keep the budget from derailing innovation.

October 18, 2007
Michelle Berryman participated in an "East-West Connection" panel discussion at the IDSA/Icsid Connecting '07 World Design Congress in San Francisco.

The panel discussed the service and communication models necessary in face of globalization, and how design firms provide values to help their global clients in creating differentiation.

The forum encompassed new design approaches and local anecdotes in search of the best-practice design solutions. In addition, the future trend of global cooperation network was explored.

October 10, 2007
IDSA president and Echo Visualization founding principal Michelle Berryman, as part of the ID@GT Fall 2007 Lecture Series, presented a lecture on Women in Design Leadership at the Van Leer Building Auditorium of Georgia Tech. The ID@GT Lecture series is sponsored by the IDSA Atlanta Chapter and the Industrial Design Program in the College of Architecture, Georgia Institute of Technology.

June 6, 2007
Michelle Berryman spoke at the Carrera de Diseno Industrial of DuoUC in Santiago, Chile at a seminar on design as a tool for strategic development and innovation (Seminario "Diseno como factor de innovacion y desarrollo estrategico"). DuoUC is a branch of the Pontifica Universidad Catolica de Chile.

July 1, 2007
Echo Visualization has moved to a new location! Find us in the historic A&P Lofts.

March 12, 2007
The petroleum marketing industry received its first collective glimpse of the future of fuel management at the retail site as OPW Fuel Management Systems debuted its new SiteSentinel® iSite automatic tank gauging system on February 20, 2007, at the Western Petroleum Marketers Convention & Convenience Store Expo in Las Vegas, NV. The iSite system provides users with a revolutionary new solution that is easy to use, install and provides complete inventory, delivery, automatic reconciliation and environmental compliance information for as many as 256 underground storage tanks and/or above ground storage tanks, 1,000 external sensing devices, or a combination of both, through a single console. The user-friendly aspects of the iSite make it the easiest tank gauge to use in the industry. The iSite requires the least amount of training and requires the least amount of menu navigation, with the most frequently accessed information displayed on the "Home" screen cockpit view. EchoViz is pleased to have worked with OPW to design the look and feel, the iconography and the user interaction of the iSite system.

January 26, 2007
On February 12th, the House of Sweden, the cultural wing of the Swedish Embassy in Washington, D.C., will be hosting a one day conference on Design Connections. The focus of the conference will be to advance the necessity of good design as a competitive tool for industry and on connections between Sweden and the United States regarding design policies, perspectives and the latest technologic achievements. EchoViz's own Michelle Berryman will be a featured speaker for the conference, and her topic of discussion will be about design perspectives. The event is part of the ongoing celebration of design, promoted by the Swedish Government through the House of Sweden.

November 27, 2006
Michelle Berryman was recently interviewed by IDSA and Businessweek Magazine for a new podcast series called 'Making Innovation Work - Corporate Creativity in Action'. The interview was released on the Businessweek site and via iTunes on Thanksgiving Day. Michelle spoke on interaction design and trends in the field. Of course, there is also some discussion about EchoViz and the type of work we do. The podcast is called 'Trends in Interaction Design'. Check it out!

October 30, 2006
EchoViz principal Michelle Berryman has been elected president of the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA).

October 25, 2006
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.

September 26, 2006
EchoViz principal Michelle Berryman will be presenting a lecture on Interaction Design this Friday, September 29, at Virginia Tech to the industrial design students. The lecture is titled "Convergence: Industrial Design + Interaction Design".

September 25, 2006
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.

June 2, 2006
Echo Visualization and Cooper Lighting received 'Best in Show' honors for booths 600 square feet and above at Lightfair 2006 in Las Vegas, by unanimous vote of the judges for the design of the Cooper Lighting exhibit. This is the first time that Cooper Lighting has ever garnered 'Best in Show' honors at Lightfair. Various defining factors, including effective branding, product presentation and unique use of design elements were utilized. The winners were selected by an independent panel of judges who bring decades of visual display expertise to the program.

The EchoViz team was also responsible for the interface design of the exhibit's wireless lighting control system, multimedia plasma screen presentations, Energy Solutions Calculator demonstration and the on-site Internet-based 'Voice of the Customer' surveys. As part of the Lightfair rollout, EchoViz also assisted in updating the Lumiere, Corelite, Farallon and Healthcare brand websites for Cooper Lighting as well.

Lightfair is the world's largest and most comprehensive annual architectural and commercial lighting conference. It is sponsored by the International Association of Lighting Designers (IALD) and the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America (IESNA).

April 20, 2006
Echo Visualization wins two Horizon Interactive awards. This marks the second award for the Cooper Lighting Buyer's Guide and the first for the Cooper Lighting F-Bay Calculator. The Cooper Lighting Buyer's Guide won a Bronze award in the Self-Promotion / Company Identity category, and the F-Bay Calculator won a Bronze in the Business To Business category.

April 10, 2006
The March 2006 issue of the SEEdesign Bulletin features an interview with Michelle Berryman, EchoViz Principal and Executive Vice-President of IDSA. In the article, Michelle discusses IDSA's influence at national and international levels.

December 19, 2005
The December 2005 issue of Fast Company has an article called "How Samsung Design Got Cool" by Bill Breen. The article discusses how Samsung used design to transform from a manufacturer of cheap knock-off electronics into a major global brand. EchoViz Principal, Michelle Berryman is quoted on page 94 of the magazine.

December 19, 2005
Michelle Berryman has been invited to jury the fifth annual Marksman Design Award in February in the Netherlands. This student design competition, endorsed by the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design (ICSID) (http://www.icsid.org/), will focus on the design of a mobile electronic business accessory. The first place design will be awarded $10,000 and the design may be put into production with the student designer following the process from concept through production.

November 22, 2005
Josh Teague, one of our resident designers, had a big weekend up in Chattanooga, TN at the National Cre824 Web Design Competition. Josh entered the competition with a few old friends and took home top honors. He's off to compete in Paris for the International competition in February. Look for team 'Lorem Ipsum.'

November 2, 2005
Michelle Berryman will join five other designers and tradeshow professionals as a member of the "Best-of-Show" judging team at the upcoming Produce Marketing Association "Fresh Summit" Show at the GWCC in Atlanta on Sunday, November 6, 2005. Together, they will judge 625 exhibits to determine a 1 st and 2 nd place winner in 2 categories: In-line booth and island booth.

October 13, 2005
Michelle Berryman, Principal of EchoViz, will be a juror for the prestigious Taiwan Design Award that is sponsored by the Taiwan Design Center as part of the annual Taiwan International Design Competition. Jurying will take place on October 13th & 14th in Kaohsiuang, Taiwan. Following this event, Michelle will be presenting "Branding in Multiple Dimensions" at the Taiwan International Design Forum in Taipei on October 18th from 1:30 PM - 4:00 PM.

October 10, 2005
EchoViz Principal, Michelle Berryman, will be speaking to the graduate students at the School of Design in The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (Address: 1/F, Core A, School of Design, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Kowloon, Hong Kong) on October 12th at 6:00 PM. The presentation will be an updated version of the "Four Dimensions of Interactive Marketing" talk that Michelle originally delivered in 2004 at the International Home and Housewares Show in Chicago.

September 28, 2005
Candy-colored "Blobjects" for All. Financial Times has a feature on Karim Rashid and his view of design. Our own Michelle Berryman, executive vice president of IDSA, is interviewed regarding his legacy.

August 15, 2005
Michelle Berryman, Principal of EchoViz, has been quoted in the Austin American-Statesman newspaper in an article titled "Dell, tog toys & doodads: It's all about design".

August 5, 2005
The Bridge's mission is to heal the psychological wounds of Georgia adolescents who have suffered the deprivation of abuse and neglect by providing comprehensive residential treatment and education, family counseling and support, aftercare and community based programming. EchoViz will be donating time to design of the Ray of Hope portion of their site in order to generate interest in 11th Annual Ray of Hope Celebration, its most important fundraising event of the year.

May 27, 2005
EchoViz Principal Michelle Berryman has been selected to juror the "RESI Awards", a competition to honor the most innovative residential electronic product designs, sponsored by Residential Systems magazine. She will be part of an expert panel of dealers and design professionals to judge this year's product entries based on their aesthetic appeal, solutions-based innovation, user friendliness and ease of manufacturing. This is the second year of the contest, and the second year that Michelle will judge the competition. For more information on the contest and the magazine, please visit http://www.resmagonline.com/.

May 27, 2005
EchoViz has updated the "Our Work" section of the company website to reflect some additions to our web design portfolio. Check out the latest work »

April 25, 2005
You're invited to an upcoming EDPA event featuring Tim Kelley , Principal of Blue Sky Exhibits and Brian Lynn, & Michelle Berryman from EchoViz. Brian and Michelle will be speaking on trends in software and technology in the exhibit industry. Learn how to create sizzling animations and interactive presentations that will help your jobs sell. See you on Tuesday, May 17 from 11:30 - 1:30PM. Go here for more details.

April 11, 2005
Echo Visualization is proud to announce another award for the InVUE Lighting Interactive Catalog. The Summit Creative Awards has given Echo a silver award for achievements in interactive work. Read the Press Release.

April 11, 2005
The Atlanta chapter of AIGA is sponsoring an upcoming event entitled "Interactive Best Practices." Mark your calendars for April 21, 2005 for an enlightening experience featuring Mitch Spolan from Yahoo!, design technology gurus Paul Goggin & Stefan Kjartanson, and Echo's very own Michelle Berryman serving as the usability panelist. You're invited to attend.

April 1, 2005
Echo Visualization wins another Horizon Interactive award. This time for the Cooper Lighting Buyer's Guide in the Business to Business category. Read the Press Release.

March 20, 2005
Michelle Berryman featured in Deep Magazine as "Top 10 Innovators You Should Know."

March 2005
Michelle Berryman, Principal, to speak at International Housewares Show in Chicago.

March 14, 2005
Echo Visualization overhauls its web presence. Changes include new and updated content, a sidebar blog and a new resources area. EchoViz.com

February 2005
Echo Visualization hires designer Jeremy Van Hill. Jeremy's expertise and breadth of experience in interaction design, space design and animation makes a perfect fit for the company.

January 2005
In the January/February issue of I.D. Magazine, Michelle Berryman offers commentary and updates for the 1964 article, "The Designing Women" by Edward Carpenter. See the hi-res cover ».

January 2005
A January 2005 issue of the Atlanta Business Chronicle has an article titled "Building a Better Putter and More" by Sean McFadden. The article discusses how broadening your design business while focusing on a few nitche services can help prevent jobs from being outsourced. EchoViz Principal, Michelle Berryman is quoted at the end of the article. Read it here.

November 4, 2004
Michelle Berryman quoted in NY Times article, "In This Ring, a Designer Slugfest." Link to article ».

July 1, 2004
Echo Visualization moves to its new location at 500 Bishop St. View directions here.

March 6, 2004
Press Release -- Michelle Berryman of EchoViz to present Primer on Exhibit Design at Housewares Show.

January 6, 2004
Press Release -- EchoViz designer Michelle Berryman to promote design awareness at Consumer Electronics Show.

August 11, 2003
Georgia Institute of Technology Research News -- "The Need for Speed". GTRI and EchoViz designer Michelle Berryman create ergonomically superior interface for international manufacturer.

July 10, 2003
Atlanta Journal & Constitution -- "Ergonomics: Trend sweeping throughout home" -- [Former Echo Visualization Principal] Leslie Brown, was interviewed and quoted by author Sandra Eckstein for a feature article in the Buyer's Edge section of the Atlanta Journal & Constitution.

May 2003
Echo Visualization, LLC, in conjunction with Czarnowski Exhibit Services, recently won awards for Best of Show and Best Graphics from the Electronics Transaction Association. The 20'x50' exhibit space, designed for First Data Corporation, provided visitors with a theme-branded experience. The structure also incorporated a modular system for future shows and exhibit needs. Echo Visualization's design for the exhibit and all graphics were both produced by Czarnowski, Atlanta.

March 2003
Echo Visualization, LLC, announces two new capabilities that will enhance our rendering and animation services. We have recently incorporated Onyx Tree Professional into our repertoire of skills. This is the same software package used to create special effects in "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets." This package allows us to render botanically accurate flora as still pieces or as animated elements depicting growth, wind and storm conditions. We have also added PeopleNMotion to our skill set. This software package enables us to incorporate real people walking naturally, standing using hand gestures, talking on cell phones, examining objects with their hands, etc. into our animations. The added realism of moving people and life-like flora has taken Echo Visualization's rendering and animation capabilities to new level. We are pleased to offer these services and we look forward to pushing the envelope with these capabilities.