Click here to see the best design work in nine categories for 2010. — A.M.

Meyerhoffer surfboard

New banknotes designed by Dowling Duncan

The Dollar ReDesign Project wants to rebrand the U.S. dollar, rebuild financial confidence, and revive our failing economy.

The project is the brainchild of Richard Smith, a creative strategy consultant (and, ironically, a British transplant). Smith believes that new currency could do a better job of telling the story of America and what it represents, acting as a catalyst to restart the stuttering economy. Might be worth a try. There aren’t many problems good design can’t solve… — P.M.K.

The Carry Me! competition celebrates 75 years of the iconic Lucite brand that has helped shape the 21st century, and was inspired by a recent exhibition of more than 175 Lucite vintage bags from the collection of Caryn Scheidt. — A.M.

Projects ranging from a bicycle path in Lisbon to an airplane factory in Seattle and a police memorial in Los Angeles were recognized in the 2010 SEGD Design Awards Program.

All 43 winning projects are featured in the latest issue of segdDESIGN magazine. The print edition is on the streets and the digital edition is available on the SEGD website. While you’re there, enjoy the archive of past winners.  – P.M.K.

Who says the infrastructure that brings us necessities like electricity and water have to be mundane?  Choi+Shine Architects found a way to make electrical pylons both functional and beautiful.

The American firm recently received the 2010 Boston Society of Architects’ UnBuilt Architecture Award for its project ”The Land of Giants,” which transforms the landscape by making only slight changes to the existing pylon design. Modular parts can be used to create a series of anthropomorphized landmark towers. The giants were originally designed for a 2008 Icelandic high voltage electrical pylon competition.  – P.M.K.

Submissions are now open for Mother Tongue, an online exhibition that seeks to capture the power of language. Participants are invited to submit responses to the brief in their chosen form — a poster, a photograph, a poem, a product, or a piece of architecture — that interprets the spirit of Mother Tongue.

Developed by INDIGO, the International Indigenous Design Network, Mother Tongue is open to designers of all disciplines, students of design, poets and writers, and anyone interested in the essence of languages. Participants may submit more than one entry; however, each entry must consist of a single piece. Submissions will be accepted in image, video, and audio formats.

Intended to stimulate creative dialogue, Mother Tongue offers designers a forum to respond to the position that indigenous language iconography, process, and design knowledge can and should play an integral role in contemporary design. This cross-cultural platform will honour languages at risk and encourage collaborative projects that deepen our understanding of people’s culture in our visual 21st century world.

Submissions will be accepted July 12 through December 1, 2010.  You can download the call for submissions from the Indigo Design Network website. For more information, contact Diala Lada, Project Manager, by phone at +1 514-448-4949 x 230 or by email at info@indigodesignnetwork.org . — P.M.K.

SEGD Design Awards

Projects that invite users to broadcast their faces on Times Square, steal coins from a three-dimensional mural, or sit on museum exhibits prove that the most successful environmental graphics are those that inspire people to actively engage with them.

Many of the winning projects in the 2010 SEGD Design Awards Program — announced Thursday at the 2010 SEGD Conference + Expo being held through Saturday in Washington, D.C. — were designed to spur interaction, says Henry Beer, co-founder of CommArts (Boulder, Colo.) and chair of the 2010 Design Awards jury.

“We’re not just a read-only culture anymore. We’re a read/write culture. The more people feel engaged, the more emotionally connected they are with a place,” says Beer. “Environmental graphics can be an incredibly effective way to promote that connection.”

SEGD Merit Award: American Eagle Outfitters Flagship Spectacular, Times Square, NYC (The Barnycz Group/Barco)

The 2010 jury also noticed a rise in the number of dynamic and technology-based projects submitted to the competition, says Beer. “Environmental graphics is migrating closer and closer to interaction design in its need to engage users and solicit their responses. There’s no question the two are heading for convergence as technology allows it and the demographics of designers and users change.”

SEGD Honor Award: Legible London (The Applied Information Group, Lacock Gullam)

This year’s winners were chosen from a field of 430 entries, including a higher-than-ever number of international entries. For the first time this year, Design Awards entries were submitted online.

Ten Honor awards, 22 Merit awards, six Jury awards, and five projects cited for Doing a Lot with a Little were recognized at a Thursday luncheon during the SEGD conference.

For more detailed information on the award-winning projects, including photos, project descriptions, jury comments, and an archive of past years’ winners, visit the SEGD website.

The 2010 SEGD Design Awards were juried by a multidisciplinary team representing architecture, environmental and experience design, exhibition design, interaction design, and retail and healthcare environment planning and design.

SEGD Merit Award: Obsessions Make My Life Worse and My Work Better (Sagmeister Inc.)

In addition to Beer, the jurors included Min Wang, dean of the School of Design at China Central Academy of Fine Arts (Beijing); Vaughn Davies, director of urban design and principal at EDAW (Los Angeles); Graham Hanson, principal of Graham Hanson Design (New York); Mitchell Mauk, principal of Mauk Design (San Francisco); Michael McBride, manager of public art and environmental graphic design for the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority; Caroline Oh, graphic/interaction designer with Potion (New York); Robin Perkins, co-found of Selbert Perkins Design (Playa del Rey, Calif.); and Leslie Smolan, principal of Carbone Smolan Agency (New York).

The 2010 SEGD Design Awards Program was sponsored by ADCON. –P.M.K.