International Design Awards Announce 2011 Winners; 3 Designs by RKS Honored

(Los Angeles, CA)  The RKS design team was awarded three IDA awards this week - First Prize for KOR’s Aura, Third Prize for the Orion-18 (Levelstar/APH) and an honorable mention for Nuance (DenMat). Aura is KOR Water’s latest and most affordable sustainable hydration alternative, the Orion-18 is a smart new Smartphone optimized for blind users, and Nuance is an innovative composite syringe for dental professionals.

The International Design Awards celebrates the world’s most visionary designers and promotes the appreciation of design worldwide, honoring designs for excellence in originality, creativity, execution and overall impact.

Connecting the Blind to the Digital World

Design Magazine (CIDA) April 2012

Check out China’s Design Magazine this month (Titled Extra-Ordinary Life) for a feature on the development for the Orion-18, and learn about RKS’ collaboration with LevelStar and APH to empower the blind with a smartphone designed to meet their specific needs. You can learn more about Design Magazine and CIDA (China Industrial Design Association) here, or download the article as a PDF.

Design Collaboration

Orchestrating Design Collaborations: Think Like a Family

The current issue of dmi Review tackles the topic of design collaboration, examining the benefits of collaborative design and exploring effective options for managing the collaborative process.  RKS’ Harnish Jani and CEO Ravi Sawhney contributed their professional point of view on the critical topic, co-authoring a feature entitled “Orchestrating Design Collaborations: Think Like a Family,” which shares a globally-recognized analogy to help guide managing modern design collaborations. 

Copies of the issue and article are available here.

American Design and the Innovation Nation

CEO Ravi Sawhney recently completed a blog series addressing the changing nature of ‘Made in America,’ which highlights good news in manufacturing, the need to better protect IP, ideas for better national leadership around innovation, and a pathway to better brand the American design community.

Part 1: America, the “Innovation Nation”

Part 2: Here’s Some Good Economic News: U.S. Manufacturing Is Rising Once Again

Part 3: Protecting Design IP for the US to Remain On Top

Part 4: U.S. Innovation Can’t Stay On Top Without Smart Government

Part 5: Designers: Help Me Rebrand American Innovation

By U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Kevin S. O’Brien [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Dear 2011 Design Graduates: A Note from Ravi Sawhney

Last week I had the privilege of speaking at my alma mater before the graduating seniors at commencement and my mind has been filled for days with thoughts about the journey on which they now embark, full of both challenges and tremendous opportunity.

News media report a modestly improved domestic environment for the 2011 crop amid headlines of Spain’s ‘Young & the Restless,’ Les Miserables and GDP growth rather anemic here at home. While I’m not sure all grads are well-prepared for the market…