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From Home Furnishing Business
Herman Miller Partners With Unbranded Designs
September 8,
2014 by in Industry 
"At Herman Miller we believe that there are talented designers all over the world capable of delivering inspiring solutions to challenging problems," said Herman Miller Vice President, Product Design and Exploration Gary Smith. "With Unbranded Designs' platform, we have an exciting and new way to connect with this talent and share our core values around design."
Using Unbranded Designs' online platform and process, Herman Miller will issue an open design challenge to Unbranded's global design community in mid-September. Submissions will go through a review process including open feedback from the broader design community as well as a juried panel of design experts. Designers will have an opportunity to make revisions based on the feedback, and then the panel will select the winner. Development at Herman Miller will begin shortly thereafter.
"What sets this partnership apart from typical design competitions is that Herman Miller is focused on finding the next great commercially viable product design," said Sameer Dohadwala, co-founder of Unbranded Designs. "This is not a 'fun competition' for ideas; it is a process and opportunity that focuses on the commercial potential of the best ideas, which in turn leads to fantastic opportunities for designers and innovative products for Herman Miller."
Winning designers will receive cash, royalties and their name publicly displayed in marketing and collateral, in association with any commercialized products based on their designs. 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 retain 100 percent ownership of their designs if Herman Miller chooses not to move forward with formal development of their work.
The challenge will be launched in mid-September on the Unbranded Designs Web site. At that time, further details will be released on the problem statement, legal terms and conditions, and other pertinent information. Participants can go here to sign up and be notified of launch details.