Herman Miller Open-Source Design Challenge Enters Public Feedback Period

Fifteen Semi-finalists in the “Designing for the New Office Nomads” Challenge Posted for Feedback from the Broader Design Community

Herman Miller today announced the fifteen semi-finalists in the “Designing for the New Office Nomads” challenge. These entries are posted online for the broader design community to offer targeted feedback and critique. This open feedback period will close at 11:59 p.m. CST, November 3, 2014.

Dave Simon, Herman Miller’s Director of Product Design and Exploration, said, “We were delighted by the level of participation, the breadth of ideas and insights shared, and the geographic diversity of the designers who participated. The solutions ranged from the expected to the unexpected and from highly functional and practical to playful and emotive. Going forward, we'll be looking for designers to further compel us with their point of view, clarify how their ideas solve the problems of the office nomad, and refine the visual and formal details of their designs. Based on the volume of submissions, narrowing the field and picking our winner will be an energized and challenging process.”

Last month, Herman Miller partnered with Unbranded Designs to issue an open design brief titled “Designing for the New Office Nomads” which highlights the emerging problem of enabling individual productivity in an increasingly shared work environment. Designers were asked to create a research-based design that both visually and technically addressed the proposed problem.

Last week, the judging panel reviewed more than 100 entries and selected fifteen semi-finalists to move onto the public feedback period. After the public feedback period closes, designers will have the opportunity to incorporate feedback and make revisions before the judging panel ultimately selects the winner.

The winning designer receives $10,000 cash, and Herman Miller will evaluate the design’s potential for development and scalable manufacturing.  If the winning product goes to market, the designer will receive royalties on net sales, consistent with Herman Miller’s typical royalty arrangements.

Non-winning finalists will receive prizes, recognition throughout the process, and feedback from a world-class juried panel of design experts, to ensure that they still find value in the opportunity.

Designers will maintain complete ownership and rights to their design upon submission to this challenge. In the event that a design is selected as a finalist, the designer will have the opportunity to enter into a separate agreement directly with Herman Miller, which addresses intellectual property ownership and royalty compensation.

About Herman Miller, Inc.

Herman Miller’s inspiring designs, inventive technologies and strategic services help people do great things and organizations to perform at their best. The company’s award-winning products and services generated approximately $1.9 billion in revenue in fiscal 2014. A past recipient of the Smithsonian Institution's Cooper-Hewitt National Design Award, Herman Miller designs can be found in the permanent collections of museums worldwide. Innovative business practices and a commitment to social responsibility have also helped establish Herman Miller as a recognized global leader. In 2013, Herman Miller again received the Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s top rating in its annual Corporate Equality Index and was named among the 50 Best U.S. Manufacturers by Industry Week. Herman Miller is included in the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index and trades on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the symbol MLHR.

About Unbranded Designs

Based in Chicago, Unbranded Designs is a company dedicated to engaging the global design community to create innovative, purposeful products that empower people where they work and live. Through Unbranded Designs’ proprietary open-source platform, designers everywhere have the opportunity to respond to design challenges from leading product manufacturers and be a part of a global design community whose mission is to discover, develop and deliver the most innovative furniture products.