Jury Alumni

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  Aimee Franco

  Product Designer

  2017 Commercial Equipment Jury Member

  Aimee Franco is an independent design consultant based in Brooklyn, NY. She studied industrial design at the College for Creative Studies in Detroit, Michigan and currently works on projects that span the physical and digital product realms.
  
  Passionate about designing for impact, Aimee has spent most of her career working in the healthcare space. Early on, she worked with Fortune 500 medical technology companies as an industrial designer at​ ​Tekna​. Later, she collaborated with​ ​iDE Cambodia​ on healthcare-focused international development projects, and she began designing digital experiences. More recently, as Product Design Lead at Caremerge, she worked on designing a care coordination platform for older adults, and has since become an independent consultant.
  
  Aimee has also taught as an adjunct instructor for Startup Institute’s web design program.

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  Danny Kuo

  Designer

  2017 Furniture & Lighting Jury Member

  Danny Kuo is a Dutch designer currently based in Shanghai.
  As a designer he wants to address the issue of our changing reality as a result of technological progress. This is why flexibility and adaptability are the keywords with regard to both his work and his life. By creating effective products he wants to improve our lives and offer something we can enjoy.
  When Danny Kuo designs his objects, he is not only concerned about playful flexibility but also about enhanced usability.

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  Jifei Ou

  Designer

  2017 Open Design Jury Member

  Jifei Ou (欧冀飞) is a designer, researcher and PhD candidate at the MIT Media Lab, where he focuses on designing and fabricating transformable materials across scales (from μm to m). Physical materials are usually considered as static, passive, and permanent. Jifei is interested in finding ways to redesign physical materials with the characteristics of digital information, such as the ability to change shape and and to be programmable. Such new materials could be used to construct a responsive living environment, accelerate the process of design and manufacturing, and enhance our existing interaction with products. As much as his work is informed by digital technology, he is inspired in equal measure by the natural world around him. He has been leading projects that study bio-mimicry and bio-derived materials to design shape-changing packaging, garments and furniture.
  
  Jifei holds an MS from the MIT Media Lab and a Diplom in Design from the Offenbach University of Art and Design in Germany.

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  Dan Chen

  Engineer & Designer

  2017 Open Design Jury Captain

  Dan Chen is a designer and engineer. He communicates his ideas through working prototypes, investigating new ways of approaching user interactions.
  
  He has several degrees including a MAS from MIT, an MFA in digital media from RISD and a BFA in communication design from UConn. He has over 8 years of design experience and now works at Culture Robotics as senior engineer. Previous positions include MIT Lifelong Kindergarten as an industrial designer. Johnson & Johnson as Senior Interaction Designer. Senior Interaction Designer at IDEO.
  
  His personal work has been featured in CNET, The Huffington Post, the verge, Engadget, Mashable and Daily Mail. Dan was invited as a speaker at TEDx Vienna on the future of intimacy in 2016. His work was exhibited in Vitra Design Museum, MAK Wien, Design Museum Gent & Ars Electronica.
  
  Working in the realms of robotics, communication design, interaction design and product design, Dan explores the new ways of communication and human experience through working prototypes and storytelling, inviting a reflective evaluation and implication.

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  Sasa Radulovic

  Co-Founder, 5468796

  2017 Built Environment Jury Member

  5468796 architecture is a Winnipeg-based studio established in 2007 by Johanna Hurme and Sasa Radulovic and joined shorty by the third partner Colin Neufeld. In the past [nearly] ten years the firm has achieved national and international recognition and its work has been published in over 200 books and publications. Project specific awards include Progressive Architecture Awards; Awards for Emerging Architecture & Future Project Award from from Architectural Review; Governor General Medals in Architecture and Awards of Excellence from the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada, as well as recognition as a finalist of IIT’s emerging MCHAP award on two consecutive years, to name a few. Firm recognitions include the 2014 Rice Design Alliance Spotlight Award, the RAIC Emerging Architectural Practice Award, WAN 21 for 21, as well as the Architectural League of NY Emerging Voices lecture series and the Design Vanguard issue of Architectural Record.
  
  5468796 makes design advocacy an ongoing pursuit through critical practice, professorships at the Universities of Manitoba, Toronto and Montreal; and through numerous public engagements. In 2012 5468796 represented Canada at the Venice Biennale in Architecture and in 2013 they were selected as recipient of the 2013 Prix de Rome Award in Architecture for Canada by the Canada Council for the Arts.
  
  In addition to practice Johanna + Sasa are activists and advocates. They are passionate about making architecture an integral part of broader culture by spearheading ventures like Table for 12 + 1200, Chair Your Idea and Design Quarter Winnipeg. Sasa is a member of the University of Manitoba Partner’s Program Executive Board and currently serves on the Presidential Advisory Committee for the selection of the Dean at the University of Manitoba.

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  James Coleman

  Research and Development Engineer, A. Zahner Company

  2017 Open Design Jury Member

  James Coleman currently acts as a Research and Development Engineer at A. Zahner Company. He is involved in projects as a digital design and manufacturing specialist. James holds master’s degrees in architecture and mechanical engineering from The Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He couples his architectural and mechanical engineering education with an expertise in parametric design-to-fabrication methodologies.
  
  James has presented and taught widely at events including the NYC AIA Center for Architecture’s Technology Lecture Series, OReilly Solid: Software/ Hardware/ Everywhere, ACM SIGGRAPH 2015, as an MIT Teaching and Research Fellow, Singapore University of Technology and Design studio instructor,FAB11 Boston workshop lead and more. It is up for debate whether he holds the record at MIT for acting as Teaching Assistant for the most classes over a 4-year period (14). He is also a long time contributor to the infamous MIT course How to Make Almost Anything and Fab Academy taught by Neil Gershenfeld.
  
  He has worked internationally as design engineer for architectural projects of a variety of scales and also as a Product Development Engineer at the Ford Motor Company in Dearborn, Michigan. James deploys a diverse set of fabrication equipment, industrial robots, and custom made machinery with which he makes things, breaks things, and invents things with varying levels of success and sophistication.

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  Ben Hughes

  Founder, A4

  2017 Furniture & Lighting Jury Member

  Ben Hughes is a designer, educator and author who has worked for consultancies in UK, Australia and Taiwan. From 1999 to 2011 he was the Director of Postgraduate Industrial Design at Central Saint Martins. In 2011 he relocated to Beijing where was Professor of Industrial Design at the Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA) until 2016. In 2019 he was appointed Director of the International Design Centre at Beijing Institute of Technology. He continues to run his own design studio, A4, in CaoChangDi, Beijing.

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  Phil Hamlett

  Director, School of Graphic Design, Academy of Art University

  2017 Design Education Initiative Jury Member

  Phil Hamlett is the Director of the School of Graphic Design at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco, the largest private art and design school in the country. In this setting, he teaches classes, develops curriculum, recruits and manages instructors, advises students, manages the graduate thesis development process, conducts outreach and establishes the strategic agenda for the School. His students emerge as advanced design practitioners and go on to acquire positions at leading firms around the world. Phil joined the Academy in 2004 and served for thirteen years as the Graduate Director for the School of Graphic Design, building the nascent MFA program from scratch.
  
  Prior to becoming a design educator, Phil led design studios on both coasts, creating award-winning work for clients large and small. His extensive professional experience provides him with the perspective necessary to prepare students for the challenges of the real world. Capable of playing a wide variety of design, communication and managerial roles, he is adept at identifying creative challenges, distilling core objectives, formulating a plan of attack, and managing the team that will then fix everything.
  
  Phil recently completed his term as president of the AIGA San Francisco chapter, for which he continues to serve ex officio. He is also a former AIGA national board member, founder of Compostmodern and co-author of the Living Principles for Design — the means by which he guides the development of sustainable business practice within the design community As a charter member of the Winterhouse Institute Founder’s Circle, he helps articulate the value of design education for social impact.
  
  In his off time, he can usually be found chasing around his two adorable children (photos available upon request).

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  Norio Fujikawa

  Creative Director, Astro Studios, Inc.

  2017 Transportation Jury Member

  Norio Fujikawa is an award winning industrial designer currently working as a Creative Director at Astro Studios in San Francisco, where he has designed products for many of the world’s leading companies. Microsoft, Intel, HP, P&G, Samsung, Disney, Nike, and Nissan have all benefitted from Norio’s keen eye for innovative design. He has worked across a wide range of businesses and industries that include consumer electronics, home goods, appliances, toys, equipment, and automotive. Norio has also mentored start-ups with his 20 years plus of knowledge in developing products, brands, and experiences.
  
  
  Born and raised in Chicago, Norio studied at the Institute of Design. At the heart of it all, Norio is an artist. When he isn’t designing, he is either professionally illustrating or hanging his paintings in better art galleries around San Francisco. Norio has also been a semi-professional tumbler, and is a fully-professional fish monger.

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  Mariano Flore

  Senior Graphic Designer, Atipus Barcelona

  2017 Visual Communication Jury Member

  Mariano Fiore is an Argentinian Graphic Designer based in Barcelona specializing in corporate identity, editorial design and packaging.
  
  He believes in a conceptual work and a simple and direct visual language. In 2009 Mariano got his degree in Graphic Design from the ESD of Murcia. He has 6 years of graphic design experience working in studios from Bolzano (Italy), Murcia and Barcelona (Spain).
  
  In the last years Marino has worked developing projects for national and international clients.
  
  He is currently working at Atipus Barcelona as a senior graphic designer.

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  Joe Speicher

  Executive Director, AutoDesk Foundation

  2017 Design for Social Impact Jury Captain

  Joe Speicher is the Executive Director of the Autodesk Foundation. Under his leadership, the Foundation supports the people and organizations designing and engineering high-impact solutions to the world’s most pressing social and environmental challenges. Prior to joining Autodesk, Speicher was on the founding team of Living Goods, where he spent six years leading operations for the global health organization. He began his career in the banking and finance sector, working with Deutsche Bank and Cambridge Associates. He then spent three years in the Peace Corps in the Philippines and has worked as a consultant for the Economist Intelligence Unit, the World Bank and Google.org. He earned a Masters degree in Development Economics from Columbia University and holds a Bachelors of Science degree from Washington and Lee University.

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  Jakob Kristoffersen

  Design- and Concept Manager, Bang & Olufsen

  2017 Design Concept Jury Member

  Jakob Kristoffersen, by formal title; as Concept & Design Manager for B&O PLAY by Bang & Olufsen, doesn’t really say much. His craft is creative direction, but he sees the essence of his role in designing and nurturing EXPERIENCES, ideas – concepts. a Storyteller. Spending time understanding the unarticulated drivers of urban creative individuals. Curating design strategies and philosophies down to products answering those needs. Directing the creative process of concepts to realize these in luxuriously simple beautiful designs in tune with tones and styles in the time.
  Packs a background in start-ups in Silicon Valley, educated in Global Business Engineering and Innovation Management from Denmark, Business Administration and Design at Harvard Business School and Harvard University in Boston, business development in China, and a detour to management consulting. A fan of emotional- and rational passion. Speaks Chinese. Coat size 48.

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  Perniclas Bedow

  Creative Director & Founder, Bedow

  2017 Visual Communication Jury Member

  Perniclas Bedow is the founder and creative director of Stockholm based design studio Bedow. The studio mainly works with branding, packaging and book design and for the last decade their work has been widely acknowledged around the world through books, lectures and exhibitions. Perniclas’ work has been awarded by Art Directors Club, Cannes Lions, D&AD and Epica Awards, to mention a few.

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  Emanuela Frattini Magnusson

  Global Head of Design, Bloomberg LP

  2017 Strategy & Research Jury Member

  Since 2013 Emanuela Frattini Magnusson is Global Head of Design of Bloomberg LP, a global data and news company headquartered in New York, where she is responsible for the design strategy of the company’s real estate portfolio consisting of more than 180 locations. Prior to joining Bloomberg she founded and led EFM Design, an international award-winning multidisciplinary practice that spans architecture, interiors, product design, brand development, and graphics.
  
  In addition, she is founder and principal designer of Articolo, a collection of high-quality European-produced furniture, distributed exclusively through the company’s website and creative director of Spinneybeck Leather, producer of accessories and architectural products. Her Propeller Collection of tables for Knoll has been a bestseller since its introduction in 1994 and has won numerous awards, including the ,IDEA Award in Business Week and her collection of accessories is licensed exclusively to the Museum of Modern Art for sale and distribution in the United States.
  
  She has served as a visiting faculty member at Parsons School of Design and Yale University School of Architecture. She began her professional career in Milan collaborating with her father, world-renowned architect Gianfranco Frattini. Her architectural and design work has been widely published, including articles inThe NewYorkTimes, Metropolis, ID Magazine, and Metropolitan Home and numerous books. She holds an MA in architecture from the Milan Polytechnic and an MBA from New York University’s Stern School of Business. A Registered Architect in the American Institute of Architects as well as the Ordine degli Architetti di Milano in Italy, she is a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Accredited Professional.

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  Heather Fleming

  Founder and CEO, Catapult Design

  2017 Design for Social Impact Jury Member

  Heather Fleming is the CEO and co-founder of Catapult Design, a product and service design firm with an expertise in human-centered design for marginalized communities. Catapult partners with organizations to develop sustainable solutions that address technology and social issues such as: rural electrification, water purification and transport, food security, and improved health. Before starting Catapult, Heather was a product design consultant in Silicon Valley, designing products for a diverse range of corporate clients and an Adjunct Lecturer at Stanford University and California Academy of the Arts. In 2005, she co-founded and led a volunteer group, the Appropriate Technology Design Team (ATDT), focused on social impact design work through a professional chapter of Engineers Without Borders (EWB) in San Francisco. Heather was named a Pop!Tech Social Innovation Fellow and World Economic Forum Young Global Leader for her work with EWB and Catapult Design. She is also a Board member for the Navajo Chamber of Commerce and serves on ASME’s Engineering and Global Development committee, chairing an initiative to create standardized evaluation metrics and design guidelines for products distributed in impoverished communities.

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  Margo Chase

  Founder, Chase Design Group

  2017 Packaging Jury Captain

  Since founding Chase Design Group in 1986, Margo’s vision has provided the fuel for Chase Design Group’s growth and achievement. Recognized worldwide for her skill with custom typography and identity development, Margo is dedicated to creating client success through high-quality, intelligent creative.
  
  Over the past 30 years, Chase’s landmark identity design has gained international recognition. Building on early successes in the music business designing packaging for artists Madonna, Cher, Prince, Bonnie Raitt and others, Chase Design Group is now a bi-coastal creative agency with offices in Los Angeles and New York. Their award winning branding, packaging and design strategy has earned them a long roster of prestigious clients including Sun America, Belkin, The CW Network, Bolthouse Farms, Califia Farms, CVS/pharmacy, Discovery Communications, Mattel, Nestlé, Nike, PepsiCo, Procter & Gamble, Quaker, Starbucks, Stila Cosmetics and Target.
  
  Margo was a 2009 recipient of the AIGA Fellows Award for her contributions to the field of Design. In a recent Graphic Design USA reader’s poll, Margo was one of only two designers to make the top ten in both “Most Influential Graphic Designers of the Era” and “Most Influential Graphic Designers Today”. Chase Design Group also was voted in the top ten “Most Influential Design Firms of the Era”. Among numerous other awards, Chase was selected as one of I.D. Magazine’s “I.D. Forty”. She was recently featured in the celebrated show “Women Designers in the USA, 1900-2000: Diversity and Difference” on exhibition in New York City. She has taught the highest level typography classes at Art Center College of Design and California Institute of the Arts.
  
  Outside of the office, you will find her flying upside down. She competes nationally in aerobatics and is the 2014 western regional champion in the advanced division.