Christina Lyons, professor and chairperson of the Graduate Exhibition & Experience Design program at the Fashion Institute of Technology (New York), will serve as Jury Chair for the 2018 SEGD Global Design Awards. Lyons will head a jury consisting of eight design professionals who practice in a variety of disciplines from typography and branding to creative technology and interactive experiences.
The SEGD Global Design Awards have set the standard of excellence for environmental graphic design and experiential graphic design for over thirty years. The awards honor design work that connects people to place by providing direction, content and compelling experiences in public spaces. Winning entries have ranged from media-rich themed experiences and branded environments to design research initiatives and sustainable public art projects.
The jurors participate in a exceptionally thorough 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 Awards jury process is an honor to be part of, seeing the rigor and debate that goes into judging each submission. The time and respect given to entries is wonderful and well deserved,” remarks Lyons of the process. “These projects are the best of the best from around the word. With seven major practices areas for entry, the variety of projects is vast.”
Lyons’ unique experience as a leader in the field of exhibition design over the last fifteen years is twofold; she has worked both in her current role as Professor and Chairperson of Graduate Exhibition & Experience Design and previously as the Director of the Graphics Department at Lee H. Skolnick Architecture + Design Partnership (New York). Lyons holds a master’s degree in Communication Design from Pratt Institute and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Vermont. She is currently serving on the SEGD Board of Directors.
Lyons is a dynamic instructor, guiding the next generation of designers toward excellence. Her experience in assessing projects and processes lends itself to the jury’s task. “Overall, it’s very encouraging to see so many inspired projects and the unexpected and exciting direction in which the field is going,” Lyons says. “Award winners are integrating technology with more grace than ever before; the novelty or spectacle it once was is being replaced more and more with meaningful experiences employing cutting edge technologies—to not just inform, but to be informed by the individual and the community.”
Lyons has composed a multitalented and internationally acclaimed jury:
- Brian Brindisi, Senior Associate, Firmwide Brand Design Practice Area Leader at Gensler (New York)
- Kathy Fry, Principal at Mayer/Reed (Portland, OR) and SEGD Board Member
- Jeff Grantz, Director of Creative Technologies at DCL (Boston)
- Allan Haley, Consulting Typographer & Writer (Georgetown, MA)
- Sasha Ichoonsigy, Graphic Designer at the Houston Zoo (Houston) and student winner in the 2017 SEGD Global Design Awards
- Joe Karadin, Executive Creative Director at TESSELLATE (New York)
- Valentin Spiess, Chairman, CEO and Member of the Executive Board of iart ag (Basel, Switzerland)
- Ellen Bean Spurlock, Brand Communication and Design at Little Diversified Architectural Consulting (Arlington, VA)
The deadline for submissions is January 31, 2018, via SEGD’s online design awards entry system. Submissions will be accepted with late fees through February 14, 2018. Submission guidelines are available for download on the 2018 SEGD Global Design Awards Entry page.
Winners will be honored during the 2018 SEGD Conference, June 7‑9 in Minneapolis, and announced on www.SEGD.org, in SEGD’s annual design awards print publication and via other media outlets.
3M is the Presenting Sponsor of the 2018 SEGD Global Design Awards.
