Articles

Design Concepts is pleased to sponsor the 5th annual, Maddie’s Miracle children’s carnival in support of the American Family Children’s Hospital (AFCH). The family-friendly carnival, complete with plenty of games and prizes will be held Friday, August 13th, 2008, from 3 pm – 8 pm at Carriage Hills Park in Sun Prairie, WI.

To look for the next generation of engineering and design talent, look no further than the kids selected to participate in the University of Wisconsin – Madison College of Engineering’s Camp Badger program. On Friday, July 23rd, Design Concepts’ staff members were visited by thirty-three, soon-to-be eighth grade students attending the week-long residential learning opportunity held on the UW campus each year.

Their creativity and enthusiasm were clear as they pondered a better way to move books from class to class and make today’s backpack obsolete. Their free-wheeling brainstorming session generated amazing ideas that got everyone talking and thinking about how great ideas become successful new products.

Design Concepts’ staff members Rachel DeSmidt, industrial designer, and Scott Biba, senior mechanical engineer, will be at The 2010 Green Manufacturing Summit presented by the Bradley Corporation, Focus on Energy and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. The third annual Summit will be held at The Schlitz Audubon Nature Center on August 31, 2010. The Summit brings practitioners and thought leaders together in an effort to encourage environmentally conscious manufacturing practices.

DeSmidt and Biba will present Designing for Disassembly. They’ll discuss the importance of considering the end of a products’ life cycle throughout the design process. They’ll share perspectives and reasonable, practical steps to move manufacturing practices toward this sustainable idea.

Both Rachel and Scott are members of Design Concepts’ Green Team, organized to make information and resources on green design available to staff.

To learn more about The Green Manufacturing Summit, please visit the Green Manufactaing Summit Web site.

To register please visit the Green Manufacturing Summit Web site.

Each year, Design Concepts hosts internship opportunities for students interested in the field of design. This year, we’re welcoming four talented individuals (some current students, some recent graduates) with skills in strategy & research, industrial design and graphic design. They’ll work on every aspect of client projects as well as projects internal to the firm.

In addition to project work, this year’s interns will complete a research project for Design Concepts’ exploring the decision making process. Their completed project will articulate the motivation and process behind the choices we make and will guide the company’s thinking on future projects and client work.

We feel fortuante to have them here, and just had to ask: How did we get so lucky? Why did you choose an internship at Design Concepts?

Pictured (from left to right)

Jarod Beukelman
BFA, Savannah College of Art and Design, Industrial Design
Design Concepts was not just another industrial design firm ornamenting useless objects with plastic. Rather they seemed to really value the holistic design process to solve problems that better people’s lives.

Vivian Lin
Current candidate for AAS in Mechanical Design Technology at Madison Area Technical College (MATC)

PhD, Linguistics (MIT)
MA, Linguistics (SOAS, University of London)
BA, Linguistics (Harvard)
I loved the energy of the people I’d met, and I was drawn by the company’s philosophy and culture. I also felt that the people at Design Concepts were offering me a tremendous opportunity to learn, as well as contribute. I want to help design cool stuff, too!

Jake Ruesch
Herzing University, Graphic Design
I loved the atmosphere, people, projects and the potential for personal growth.

Nick Remis
Savannah College of Art and Design, Industrial and Service Design
I chose an internship with Design Concepts because they use a wide variety of methodologies and disciplines to create innovative strategies, concepts and products for a wide range of clients and fields.

Design Concepts principals Stefanie Norvaisas, director of strategy & research and Ami Verhalen, director of industrial design, lead a PDMA webinar series to introduce design thinking – an approach to innovation that is changing business as usual.