BIO

Wendy Uhlman, Industrial Designer, Chicago, IL

Wendy Uhlman was a professional Photographer and Graphic Designer in Cincinnati, and is now finishing a degree in Industrial Design at the University of IL, Chicago. She is focusing on how thinking and acting more broadly and long term within design can not only change the way we make things, but how we use them and their inevitable after life. She believes that through a more focused and responsible process in the creation of objects, designers have the ability to make decisions and communicate ideas to people that are better for the environment, the person and the future.

She has worked on several projects recently including a stool that does everything, a practical rating system for products that would clearly communicate environmental impact to consumers, and floor tiles that harness human kinetic energy, turn it into electricity and then power a city.

She studied Corporate Social Responsibility and Recycling in Copenhagen and Sweden this summer, and has recently been focusing on the integration of design research and thinking into several projects including “Untangling Alzheimers” for Product Development Technologies and “Improving the Computing Experience” for Dell. The continued design of “Live Station” and it’s necessary systems will be her thesis project in 2010, focusing on alternative energy harvesting, waste management and other possibilities to live a more independent and efficient daily life.