Read Time: 3.5 minutes
Kathy Fry, principal at Mayer/Reed (Portland, Ore.) leads a multidisciplinary jury of acclaimed professionals, which includes graphic design legend Lance Wyman.
WASHINGTON, DC—Kathy Fry, principal at Mayer/Reed, a sustainable landscape architecture, urban design, signage, wayfinding, environmental and experiential graphics studio will serve as Jury Chair for the 2019 SEGD Global Design Awards. Fry will head a jury consisting of eight design professionals who practice in a variety of disciplines from exhibition design and wayfinding to sports branding and high-tech interactive experiences.
Since 1987, the SEGD Global Design Awards have honored Experiential Graphic Design work that connects people to place by providing direction, content and compelling user experiences in the places where they work, play, learn, travel, shop and connect. It is the most highly regarded international design competition for experiential design in the built environment.
Past winners of the SEGD Global Design Awards have ranged from media-rich interactive installations to contemplative public art, complex wayfinding systems, retail environments, museum exhibitions, branded environments, design research and architectural signage.
“We have passed the days when including digital makes a project stand out—context and user experience were key to the award-winning projects last year,” Fry says when asked about digital design projects. “Conceptually strong, intuitive and aesthetically pleasing interface design along with information clarity are important aspects that designers should highlight in an award submission.”
Fry says that an increased awareness of and desire for employee wellbeing and loyalty has sparked a trend in submissions: “We have seen an increase in placemaking projects in the workplace. Graphic installations are the landmarks that connect and direct, and the line between placemaking and wayfinding was no more than a smudge in the submissions last year.”
Ms. Fry is a graduate of Portland State University where she earned a Bachelor of Science in Graphic Design with a minor in sociology. In 2012, she co-founded the SEGD Portland Chapter. She joined the SEGD Board in 2016 and continues to serve as Chair of the SEGD Achievement Awards. Her work has been recognized with awards from the Oregon Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects and SEGD. Her published work includes projects featured in Wayshowing>Wayfinding and Signage and Wayfinding Design: A Complete Guide to Creating Environmental Graphic Design Systems, 2nd Edition.
At award-winning Portland design firm Mayer/Reed, Fry directs visual communications services in the design of signage, wayfinding, interpretive and branded spaces for civic, recreation, transportation, cultural, healthcare, education, mixed-use and corporate settings. This wide-ranging experience in the field lends itself uniquely to the jury’s task.
The jurors participate in an exceptionally rigorous process to select winning projects in the seven categories, which represent the core of the experiential graphic design field: Digital Experience Content, Exhibition, Interactive Experiences, Placemaking and Identity, Public Installations, Strategy/Research/Planning and Wayfinding. Part of the project evaluations are based on how well a project connects people to place, creates a memorable user experience and solves the objective or design challenge.
“The investment by the jury is unique to the SEGD Global Design Awards process,” says Fry of the process. “I am so impressed by the caliber of conversation and consideration that takes place—that just doesn’t happen on other awards panels.”
Fry has composed a multitalented, award-winning and internationally acclaimed jury:
- Refik Anadol, media artist and director of Refik Anadol Studio (Los Angeles) and Best of Show winner in the 2018 SEGD Global Design Awards
- Daisy Corso, designer at ArtHouse Design (Denver) and student winner in the 2018 SEGD Global Design Awards
- Cynthia Damar-Schnobb, partner at Entro (Toronto)
- Joe Donovan, senior exhibit designer at Ideum (Corrales, N.M.)
- Lee Skolnick, FAIA, past SEGD Board of Directors Member and founding principal of Lee H. Skolnick Architecture + Design Partnership (New York)
- Cameron Smith, partner and creative director at Infinite Scale (Salt Lake City, Utah)
- Dardinelle Troen, founder and creative director at Ditroen (Portland, Ore.)
- Lance Wyman, FSEGD and past SEGD Board of Directors Member and founder of Lance Wyman Ltd. (New York)
The deadline for submissions is January 31, 2019, via SEGD’s online design awards entry system. Submissions will be accepted with late fees through February 14, 2019. Submission guidelines are available for download on the 2019 SEGD Global Design Awards Entry page.
Winners will be honored during the 2019 SEGD Conference, June 6–8 in Austin, Texas and announced on SEGD.org, in SEGD’s annual design awards print publication and via other media outlets.
3M is the Presenting Sponsor of the 2019 SEGD Global Design Awards.
