Continuum Wins Four IDSA International Design Excellence Awards

made real

Continuum Wins Four IDSA International Design Excellence Awards

And six projects are named finalists

July 1, 2016
by Allison Ryder

Continuum is proud—excited! psyched!—to announce four IDEA wins! We’ve been watching and waiting since March, when we submitted several recent projects we felt represented significant innovations, as well as improvements to peoples’ lives, to an organization designers know and hold in high esteem: the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA).

Curious which of our projects took home this coveted prize? Stand by as we roll out the red carpet…

Exclave by Herman Miller has been named a Bronze winner. A suite of office products, Exclave is designed to enhance the process of effective collaboration and stimulate innovation in the workplace. Exclave gives individuals and teams the tools to develop and share ideas more fluidly and spontaneously—throughout the day and across the office landscape.

The Future of First Response, Continuum’s collaboration with the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) and the Department of Homeland Security, has been named a Gold or Silver winner—we’ll find out the final result of our efforts in August at the IDSA International Conference. The Future of First Response has been recognized in IDEA’s Strategy and Research category for the innovative methods the project team used to understand the daily needs of first responders. By riding along with firefighters, police, and EMTs, we experienced the types of jobs these professionals are called on to perform, and by speaking with them during interdisciplinary workshops, we learned about more extreme events. These workshops also provided us a forum to test product concepts with first responders and the industry partners who could make these new tools a reality.

Fisher-Price’s The Future of Parenting has also been honored with a Gold or Silver award in the 2016 competition. The work reflects a strategic vision for Fisher-Price to help inspire transformational innovation and the evolution of their business based on trends and fast-paced technology advancements. It is a multichannel plan to direct company investments, position them for partnerships, and backcast a product pipeline that is on the trajectory toward this vision. Working with technology futurists, psychologists, and industry thought leaders, the team created an ambitious but also pragmatic vision, which was brought to life in a three-minute video that premiered at the 2016 SXSW Interactive Festival. This has set a direction for Fisher-Price to carry their brand forward, as they look to anticipate the role that technology will play in the future of parenting and strive to resonate with their new consumers—specifically, Millennials and Gen Z.

We’re pleased to announce some recent digital service design work, the creation of Audi on demand, has earned us a Gold or Silver award. Our client, Audi Mobility, observed a trend in densely populated urban areas—people were continuing to rely on sharing economy services—and sought to reach a new consumer base. Working across our Boston and Milan studios, we designed all of the touchpoints of a luxury car-sharing service for one of the world’s strongest consumer brands. From app design to employee uniform selection, we made certain to consider every aspect of a service that would reach and delight new customers for Audi, and shift perceptions that to experience an Audi, you don’t have to own one.

Continuum is extremely proud to see these four recent projects honored with IDEA wins. We’ve also been named a finalist for our work with Daisy, Dental Wings, iluminage, Big Brothers Big Sisters Massachusetts Bay, Jana Care, and ArtCenter College of Art and Design. For more details on our winners and finalists, take a scroll through the slideshow below.

Our entries rank among more than 1,700 design projects from 30-plus countries that competed in IDEA 2016. The competition has awarded 26 Gold, 47 Silver, and 63 Bronze medals.

filed in: made real

About the Author