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This year's People's Design Award nominees. Courtesy of Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum.

Every fall, I look forward to the time when the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum hosts its People’s Design Award contest. For this aspect of its larger National Design Awards program, the museum invites the public to nominate an object by uploading an image of it or to vote for an existing nominee that, in their opinion, constitutes good design.

Polls opened this week, and as I write, there are already 66 nominees. Up for debate are the usual throwback designs. One this year is the Ford Model T. And, of course, there are some shoe-ins, like the iPad 2. But, otherwise, the ballot is a real smorgasbord. Cuboro Marble Run puts the Marbleworks of my childhood to shame, in the way it encourages kids to think more mechanically. I hadn’t yet seen Puma’s Clever Little Bag, a reusable bag that the shoe company is now using in place of a cardboard shoebox. Speaking of shoes (a shoe took the prize in 2007), the nominated Mojito Shoe is so artistically abstract it is almost unrecognizable as a shoe. Even WordPress, the publishing platform we use for this blog, is part of the mix.

As I see it, the ballot always becomes this neat, crowd-sourced catalog of the interests and priorities of today’s consumers. And, in its light, we consumers look quite good—fun, eco-friendly, socially-conscious and artistic!

Voting continues until 6 p.m. EST on October 17, and the winner will be announced October 20 at the National Design Awards gala at Pier Sixty in New York City. The Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum will offer free admission and public programs during National Design Week, which runs October 15-23.

A selection of the stamps featuring American inventions. Image courtesy of the museum.

Last week, the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum hosted a dedication ceremony for the U.S. Postal Service’s new set of stamps honoring 12 pioneers in American industrial design.

Each stamp features a sleek product, be it a camera, flatware or typewriter, on a white backdrop, and the name of the design and its designer. The designers chosen include Peter Müller-Munk, Frederick Hurten Rhead, Raymond Loewy, Donald Deskey, Walter Dorwin Teague, Henry Dreyfuss, Norman Bel Geddes, Dave Chapman, Greta von Nessen, Eliot Noyes, Russel Wright and Gilbert Rohde.

“They were very important in getting the profession of industrial design off of the ground,” says Gail Davidson, head curator of Drawings, Prints and Graphic Design at the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum. “A number of these people were immigrants to the United States. These were men who were in the right place at the right time. Many of them were artists. They could not make a career in the fine arts, and they turned to industrial design as a way of making a living. Many of them entered the profession through set design and costume design. People like Norman Bel Geddes and Henry Dreyfuss would be included in that group. Other people entered the profession through advertising or window display. Raymond Loewy is an example of that group and also Donald Deskey.”

The field of industrial design emerged in the United States in the 1920s and ’30s, when manufacturers turned to designers to create products with a modern look. What resulted were products that were simple, functional and more aesthetically clean than their ornate predecessors. After World War II, products were mass produced and designers experimented with new materials, such as plastic, vinyl, chrome, aluminum and plywood, which made the products more reasonably priced. “Industry turned to designers directly as a way of distinguishing their products from those of another company,” says Davidson.

The 12 designers whose work is featured on the stamps heavily influenced the look of everyday life in the 20th century. Some of the more familiar designs on the stamps are boldly colored Fiesta dinnerware from 1936 by Frederick Hurten Rhead and the 1961 IBM “Selectric” typewriter by Eliot Noyes. Davidson hopes that the stamps will make people aware of design and how it impacts their lives.

If you like the stamps, there are related artifacts within the Cooper-Hewitt’s collection. For instance, the museum has a pitcher and other examples of Rhead’s Fiesta line; cameras designed by Walter Dorwin Teague, who collaborated with the Eastman Kodak Company; dinnerware designed by Raymond Loewy for the 1976 Concorde airliner; drawings and examples of flatware designed by Russel Wright; and drawings for John Deere tractors and models of Bell telephones by Henry Dreyfuss. The Cooper-Hewitt also holds the archives of both Henry Dreyfuss and Donald Deskey.

The Pioneers of American Industrial Design stamps are on sale now at local post offices and online at usps.com.

The Smithsonian’s Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum recently announced the winners of a contest intended to challenge students to integrate innovation into their communities. Thirteen teachers from seven schools submitted plans for products that would solve a local problem identified and chosen by the students.

“We are always impressed with what kids come up with,” said Kim Robledo-Diga, professional development manager at the Cooper-Hewitt. “Kids have a unique perspective on their community, and usually pick up on challenges that adults don’t see.”

A carry-all design by Henry Ford Academy students won top honors in a design competition. Image courtesy of Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum.

That perspective resulted in three winning designs from schools across the country. The first-place prize of $5,000 went to the 9th-grade students of the Henry Ford Academy: Alameda School of Art + Design in San Antonio, Texas. The high school freshmen class toured a homeless shelter just around the block from their school for inspiration, and after talking with shelter volunteers and residents, came up with the idea for a carry-all bag.

The bag was designed specially for the homeless, most of whom must carry all of their possessions with them on a daily basis, said school principal Jeffrey Flores. Features of the bag included separate pockets for clean and dirty laundry, a detachable pillow and a hidden pockets for storage.

“Winning the competition gives our community, our families and our students a reassurance that there’s a bigger picture when it comes to design,” Flores said. “It’s not just drawing or designing a video game—everything around us is involved in design. And our kids are realizing this, that it’s more than just a backpack, and it’s more than just making a backpack pretty.”

Flores said the prize money will go toward manufacturing a prototype of the design, and he would love for his students to be able to return to the shelter and present the residents with a bag for their use.

A jury composed of experts ranging from retired industrial designers to professors of design, as well as representatives from competition sponsor Ford Motor Co. Fund, also selected second- and third-place winners.

The second-place prize of $3,000 was awarded to four 8th-grade students at the Shenandoah Middle School Museums Magnet School in Miami, Florida. They proposed a Pet Waste Station complete with disposal bins, signs and informational brochures intended to solve a dog waste problem on the sidewalks around their school.

A memorial design by Andrew Jackson Language Academy students honored one of the school's teachers. Image courtesy of Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum.

The third-place winner was the Andrew Jackson Language Academy in Chicago, Ill. The entire school submitted a plan for a memorial to honor a kindergarten teacher who passed away. The design featured a garden with mosaic tiles illustrating the life cycle of a butterfly, a concept taught in kindergarten classes at the school. The academy received a $1,000 prize.

Robledo-Diga said the goal of the competition was to get kids to see that they have the ability to impact their communities through design, and that allowing them to take the lead on projects such as this usually produces results that surpass expectations.

“Everything around you is designed,” Robledo-Diga said. “Signage, the flow of street traffic, architecture and so on, are all designed by somebody. Most communities look to their local government to address local issues. This design competition shows that kids of all ages can make real change in their neighborhood using the design process.”

The Set in Style app.

I started work as an intern at Smithsonian magazine last week. My first assignment was to write a blog post on ballooning. My second was to dress myself up in designer jewelry. I think, so far, that I like this job.

The only downside is that the jewelry was of the digital variety. A new Facebook application from Smithsonian’s Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum in New York City was created in honor of the museum’s exhibition, “Set in Style: The Jewelry of Van Cleef & Arpels,” which explores 20th century jewelry design. It features about 350 breathtaking pieces of Van Cleef & Arpels jewelry, ranging from watches to tiaras. The app allows users to choose photos from their profiles and virtually add a little (or a lot) of sparkle.

The first order of business was to try the app out for myself. Now, I’m normally not a big jewelry person. I don’t like shiny. I prefer woven bracelets to diamonds and I would choose a wooden charm over one of those Tiffany & Co. hearts any day. But I’m not going to say no when someone offers to let me try on a tiara.

So I did. I (virtually) tried on the tiara (formerly of the Princess Grace of Monaco, now of Intern Julie of Smithsonian.com), a gold necklace, some diamond earrings, a ruby brooch. Let’s be honest—I tried on almost every one of the 28 pieces of jewelry offered in my digital jewelry box. (They paid me to do this!)  I didn’t take an official picture wearing any of it because I suspected the app would then post it to my wall and I would have died of embarrassment.

I did, however, consider subjecting some of my friends to such ridicule, since the app allowed me to adorn their photos with some pretty ostentatious bling. I resisted, but just barely.

My second task (even though that first one was so exhausting) was to call up the Cooper-Hewitt and interview the people who came up with the idea for the app.

“There are a lot of people nationwide who have been blogging about this show. and reading the press about it, and wanting to know more, but have not been able to visit,” said Caroline Baumann, associate director of the museum. “So this is a wonderful opportunity for those people to experience the show and have a little bit of play as well.”

Jennifer Northrop, director of communications and marketing at Cooper-Hewitt, was actually the one who came up with the idea for the app. She said that as you walk through the exhibition, you immediately want to try on every piece, and she wanted to somehow find a way to allow people to do that.

“Of course there’s no way we’re going to let people try on a Van Cleef & Arpels tiara,” Northrop said. “So the next step was really, how can we do this virtually? How can we have this experience shared by tons of people?”

Me with my tiara.

By the way, Northrop said the tiara was her favorite piece too, match only by her affection for a gold and ruby necklace that resembles a very glamorous and very expensive zipper.

So although my vanity is denying you what I’m sure would be a very amusing official photo of me decked out in Van Cleef & Arpels, I will leave you with an awkward screenshot, with my poor younger brother in it because I couldn’t crop him out. Do you think the tiara’s too big? I’m not worried. I’m sure I’ll grow into it.

The “Set in Style: the Jewelry of Van Cleef & Arpels” exhibition is currently open and will be at the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum through July 4.

Continuum, the 2011 National Design Award winner in the Product Design category, designed the air bladder fit control system for the Reebok Pump sneaker in the late 1980s, among other successful products. Photo by Mike Brzoza.

Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum Director Bill Moggridge announced the winners and finalists in the 12th annual National Design Awards competition yesterday. “As the nation’s design museum, Cooper-Hewitt raises awareness that design is everywhere,” says Moggridge (a former award winner himself), in a press release. With this in mind, awards are given in ten categories: Lifetime Achievement, Design Mind, Corporate and Institutional Achievement, Architecture, Communication, Fashion, Interaction, Interior Design, Landscape Architecture and Product Design.

“The work of this year’s National Design Awards winners represents extraordinary solutions to the design problems central to the landscape of daily life, from how we dress, shape our personal and private spaces, frame communication and interact with the world at large,” adds Moggridge. Lifetime Achievement winner Matthew Carter has spent 50 years designing typefaces, including the familiar Verdana and Georgia. The New York-based Architecture Research Office, selected as the Architecture Design winner, has taken on many innovative projects, such as a prototype for a low-income yet sustainable house. And Continuum, which takes the award for Product Design, is the studio behind Reebok’s Pump line of shoes and the now ubiquitous Swiffer.

This year, National Design Week will be held October 15-23, with the winners receiving their awards at a gala dinner at Pier Sixty in New York on October 20. Polls will be open for the People’s Design Award, which calls design enthusiasts to nominate and vote on products that constitute good design, from September 19 to October 18.

In the meantime, here is a roundup of our coverage of past winners:

Bill Moggridge, a 2009 winner in Lifetime Achievement, discusses the future of computing and design.

Tom Kundig, 2008 winner in architecture, designs little cabins on stilts.

David Rockwell, 2008 winner in interior design, talks about his design process.

Charles Harrison, 2008 Lifetime Achievement winner, designed some 600 household items in his 32-year career as an industrial designer at Sears.

Chip Kidd, 2007 winner in communications design, talks about book cover design.

(Also, former intern Jess Righthand gives us a first-hand account of last year’s awards gala.)