Our design leadership is reflected not only in the work we do, but in how we engage the design community, participate in public dialogue, and share expertise and insight with the world at large.

Fast Company: At the 2010 National Design Awards, Design is About People, Not Things
Smart Design President Tom Dair blogs about being quoted by First Lady Michelle Obama.
Press: Jul 22, 2010
The good news keeps coming! Smart receives six 2010 IDEA Awards.
Fast Company’s new online gallery of the IDSA 2010 International Design Excellence Awards highlights the best of design.
Announcement: Jun 25, 2010
2010 red dot Product Design Awards for Smart designs
Smart is pleased to announce that it has received three red dot Product Design honors this year.
Announcement: Jun 25, 2010
2010 iF Product Design Awards Announced
Smart’s work earns two iF Product Design Awards for 2010.
Announcement: Jun 22, 2010
Smart Design wins National Design Award
Third time’s a charm. After being named finalist twice, Smart Design is honored to receive the 2010 National Design Award for  ...
Announcement: Jun 17, 2010
Smart SF opens its studio doors for SF Design Week 2010
As part of SFDW’s Open Studios, Smart Design in San Francisco will host Bay Area friends and colleagues on Thursday, June 17th  ...
Events: Jun 15, 2010
Whitehall joins the panel for New Face of Affluence - IDEAS Conference co-located with Dwell on Design
VP of Industrial Design, Richard Whitehall, will speak on Smart’s approach to sustainable design at a new Dwell Strategy +  ...
Events: Jun 14, 2010
Fast Company: Microgrid Energy Rules the Sustainable Brands Innovation Open
Developed while at Smart Design, Jonathan Cedar and Alec Drummond’s innovative BioLite Stove earns top honors in Sustainable Brands  ...
Press: Jun 14, 2010
Smart Design receives 2010 Medical Design Excellence Gold Award for Cimzia packaging project
Patient-centric approach drove Smart’s innovation in Cimzia prefilled syringe and packaging for UCB.
Announcement: Jun 9, 2010
Graphics.com: Package Design: Showcasing a Better Mousetrap
A case study of the simplehuman packaging designed by Smart Design.
Press: Jun 1, 2010
Cincinnati’s CAC and AIGA to host Dan Formosa and Objectified
Dan Formosa will be in attendance at Contemporary Arts Center in Cincinnati for Objectified on June 7th at 5:30pm.
Events: May 25, 2010
Core77.com: Watch this right now: Product/Service Break-up Videos
Core77’s Allan Chochinov writes about attending IIT’s Design Research Conference and watching a video shown by Smart Design’s  ...
Press: May 20, 2010
Fortune: Hey Facebook! Here’s your privacy redesign
Fortune asked several leading user experience designers how they’d overhaul the social network’s obtuse privacy settings interface  ...
Press: May 19, 2010
Fast Company: Biomimicry Challenge
For IBM, Smart Design Draws Water Conservation Inspiration From Ecosystems
Press: May 18, 2010
Hidden in Plain Sight: Ted Booth on changing the world by looking outside of design
Ted Booth and others will dig deep into where and how design lives in our great “undesigned” world during a talk at AIGA-NY.
Events: May 13, 2010
Heather Martin and Blake McEldowney to speak at Mobile User Experience Conference (MEX) in London
Their session will address design strategies for creating mobile user experiences across multiple touchpoints.
Events: May 10, 2010
Packaging Design 6th Annual in Amsterdam to hear from Smart’s Sean O’Connor
“Making Emotional Connections with Package Design” will be featured at the 6th Packaging Design Annual hosted by European  ...
Events: May 4, 2010
Fast Company: Oxo Good Grips Designers Take on Tablet Magazines
Recently, Smart looked at how traditional print media such as newspapers and magazines might be repurposed to play out in the iPad domain. Matt  ...
Press: Apr 19, 2010
Design Victoria: Designing Ms Conceptions
The trailblazing Femme Den is a design coterie within the Smart Design consultancy that addresses the ‘gender-ation gap.’ Finally taking the  ...
Press: Apr 12, 2010
The Age (Australia): Design: What a woman really wants
“It was only five years ago that Agnete Enga first realised the power and potential of being a woman in her workplace.”
Press: Apr 10, 2010
Design Victoria: Smart Talk
Addressing the why not the what, Smart Design transcends brand, received wisdom and status quo to create new paradigms in usability in which  ...
Press: Apr 9, 2010
HOW Interactive Design Award Goes to Ford SmartGauge
The 2010 HOW Interactive Design Awards were revealed in their latest issue and Smart’s work on the Ford SmartGauge received an “Outstanding  ...
Announcement: Mar 29, 2010
Fast Company: Smart Design’s iPad ... Circa 1989
Tom Dair blogs about Smart Design’s 1989 work on tablet device concepts for Apple.
Press: Mar 29, 2010
Smart Design appoints Heather Martin as Director of Interaction Design
Co-Founder of Copenhagen Institute of Interaction Design to head up Smart Design’s expanding interaction design practice in Europe.
Announcement: Mar 29, 2010
Allen Zadeh joins “Skin” panel at Boston’s Institute of Contemporary Art
Co-sponsored by AIGA, the panel will tackle the “challenges of creating the most personal and intimate of designs.”
Events: Mar 23, 2010
Smart Design to be featured at agIdeas 2010 international design week in Melbourne, Australia
Dan Formosa and Agnete Enga are set to speak at Australia’s biggest annual design event.
Events: Mar 17, 2010
Metropolis Magazine: The Ripple Effect: Cimzia Syringe
A better-designed syringe means improved self-treatment for sufferers of rheumatoid arthritis.
Press: Mar 17, 2010
Dwell Presents: The Bathroom Reinvented: Universal Design in Public Bathrooms Part 2
For the second offering of Dwell’s two-part series on Universal Design, our VP of Industrial Design, Richard Whitehall, heads over to some  ...
Press: Mar 16, 2010
Dan Formosa set for keynote address at ASU’s Third Annual “Exposed” Design Symposium
Along with Michael Graves and Bruce Mau, Dan will present at ASU’s Exposed 2010 > Design Research in Action on April 7-10.
Events: Mar 16, 2010
Heather Martin to Give Opening Keynote at Umeå Institute of Design’s SIDeR Conference
Newly appointed Director of Interaction Design, Heather Martin, will speak on the challenges and benefits of designing integrated, simplified  ...
Events: Mar 16, 2010
Femme Den set to conduct workshop and talk at Design Research Conference
A keynote session with Femme Den co-founder Erica Eden and an interactive workshop with Yvonne Lin and Diane Lee will provide conference  ...
Events: Mar 12, 2010
Agnete Enga discusses design and gender at upcoming Diseña Forum
Diseña Forum focuses on “the role of design in the new society” and will feature several leading designers.
Announcement: Feb 22, 2010
RESCHEDULED for March 4th! Dan Formosa to be on Cooper-Hewitt’s “Design for Humans” panel.
The “Design for Humans” lecture will focus on user-centered design with National Design Award Winners and Finalists.
Events: Feb 12, 2010
Dwell Presents: The Bathroom Reinvented: Universal Design in Public Bathrooms Part 1
In the first of a two-part video series, Smart Design examines the intersection between Universal Design principles and public restrooms  ...
Press: Jan 28, 2010
Dan Formosa published in Jan/Feb issue of Interactions Magazine
“Why Marketing Research Makes Us Cringe” is a new article from Dan Formosa, founding member of Smart Design.
Press: Jan 5, 2010
Our Happy New Year ’Flakes Get Some Love
Smart’s New Year’s card is chosen as an UnBeige.com Holiday favorite.
Press: Jan 1, 2010
Tom Dair interviewed for German graphic design publication, NOVUM
In a piece called “Why design sells: Creating value and profit”, Tom discusses how to convince companies to invest in design.
Press: Dec 30, 2009
Paulette Bluhm-Sauriol, Director of Brand Communication, discusses how to ’humanize’ meetings and conventions
Convene, the meeting industry’s premiere publication, chose 16 experts to examine ways to improve the experience of  ...
Press: Dec 20, 2009
Ford Fusion named 2010 Motor Trend Car of the Year
Citing the “fun and intuitive” SmartGauge as a user interface that “will train you to drive more economically,” Motor  ...
Press: Nov 17, 2009
BusinessWeek: Energy Use: Neighbor vs. Neighbor
BusinessWeek discusses Opower and how they are using the energy consumption report Smart designed to encourage energy conservation.
Press: Nov 12, 2009
Ted Booth to Speak at World Usability Day: Designing for a Sustainable World
Featuring Ted Booth of Smart, the event will focus on finding new and innovative solutions in sustainability.
Events: Nov 12, 2009
Curve: Package - Patients come first
Curve features an article on our UCB/OXO Cimzia packaging project in its October 2009 issue.
Press: Nov 11, 2009
Smart Gets Sparked: Spark Design Awards Announced for 2009
Spark Award winners include five Smart Design projects.
Announcement: Nov 2, 2009
Beyond Design Thinking: Smart Design Offers Fresh Ideas at Barcelona Design Week
Smart Design to speak at BDW’s Design Thinking Conference and host Open Studio.
Events: Oct 26, 2009
Smart’s team takes 2nd Place in 4th Bin Design Competition!
The Smart Design team earned well-deserved kudos for their development of a collection bin system for ewaste recycling.
Announcement: Oct 20, 2009
Sex & Sensibility at DMI Design/Management Annual 34
Agnete Enga to speak at DMI Design/Management Annual 34, where she’ll share insights on the Femme Den design approach.
Events: Oct 19, 2009
New Design (UK): Sustainability - Course of Action
Consumers may have good intentions when it comes to sustainability but Richard Whitehall argues design must ensure intentions are  ...
Press: Oct 19, 2009
Ted Booth talks experience at IxDA’s NY Fall Design Workshop
IxDA’s New York Fall Design Workshops feature Ted Booth in a session on designing hardware-software experiences.
Events: Oct 17, 2009
“Making Emotional Connections with Package Design” goes to Amsterdam
Sean O’Connor to give his successful Emotional Packaging talk to GBG’s 4th Packaging Forum: The Future of Packaging Design.
Events: Oct 14, 2009
Fast Company — The Secrets Behind Great Design: IDSA Announces Catalyst Case Study Winners
Congratulations to OXO Good Grips, a recipient of the 2009 IDSA Catalyst Award.
Press: Oct 13, 2009
Smart heads to Korea to discuss “Designomics”
Davin Stowell and Dan Formosa to speak at Seoul Design Conference.
Announcement: Oct 9, 2009
New Leadership for Smart Design’s Interaction Group Signals Re-energized Commitment to Intuitive and Satisfying User Experiences
Smart Design hires industry expert Matt Barthelemy as Vice President of Interaction Design.
Announcement: Oct 8, 2009
Introducing the Femme Den: Going Beyond “Shrink it and Pink it”
Senior Writer Linda Tischler welcomes the Femme Den to FastComany.com’s “Expert Design Blog”
Press: Sep 21, 2009
BusinessWeek Innovation Strategy: No Recession at OXO
An in-depth article highlighting OXO’s smart moves in product development and licensing.
Press: Sep 21, 2009
Fast Company 2009 Masters of Design issue features Femme Den
Separate. And Equal. Forget “Shrink It and Pink It”: the Femme Den Unleashed
Press: Sep 17, 2009
red dot: communication design award for Cimzia packaging
UCB and its design partners win 2009 “red dot: communication design”
Announcement: Aug 11, 2009
Smart Design shines with IDEA 2009 honors
With a 2009 Silver IDEA award and multiple IDSA Finalists, the design community continues to recognize “Smart work.”
Announcement: Jul 29, 2009
BusinessWeek Special Report on “Innovation in a Recession” features Smart Design
Smart’s recent innovations for Staples and OXO are featured at BusinessWeek.com and “Design in a Recession” podcast.
Announcement: Jul 23, 2009
Your Surgeon Might Be Pregnant: Addressing Gender in Medical Design
Smart Design launches “Gendered Medicine” to address gender bias in the design of healthcare products.
Announcement: May 12, 2009
Redesigning the paper clip (sort of)
Universal Design in the work place? Why not?! OXO and Staples introduce an innovative approach to cubical classics.
Announcement: May 7, 2009