Mark Dziersk (1959 – January 31, 2020) was an American industrial designer based in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

.Mark Dziersk, FIDSA (1959–2020)
/ref>

Biography

Mark Dziersk was born in

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

and graduated from the

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

in 1981 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in

Industrial Design Industrial design is a process of design applied to physical Product (business), products that are to be manufactured by mass production. It is the creative act of determining and defining a product's form and features, which takes place in adva ...

. He started his career at GenRad (formerly

General Radio General Radio Company (later, GenRad) was a broad-line manufacturer of electronic test equipment in Massachusetts, U.S. from 1915 to 2001. During the middle of 20th century, they were a major competitor to Hewlett-Packard and Tektronix. Hist ...

) in

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

. Later he moved to his current home in Illinois where he lived with his wife, Elizabeth, and daughters. Dziersk finished his career as Managing Director of

LUNAR Lunar most commonly means "of or relating to the Moon". Lunar may also refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Lunar'' (series), a series of video games * "Lunar" (song), by David Guetta * "Lunar", a song by Priestess from the 2009 album ''Prior t ...

, in Chicago, and an adjunct professor for the Master of Product Design and Development Management Program (MPD²) at

Northwestern University Northwestern University (NU) is a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1851 to serve the historic Northwest Territory, it is the oldest University charter, chartered university in ...

Evanston, Illinois Evanston is a city in Cook County, Illinois, United States, situated on the North Shore (Chicago), North Shore along Lake Michigan. A suburb of Chicago, Evanston is north of Chicago Loop, downtown Chicago, bordered by Chicago to the south, Skok ...

. Previously, he was Vice President of Industrial Design at BrandImage-Laga/DesGrippes in the Chicago area. Prior to joining BrandImage-Laga/DesGrippes in 2007, he was an Executive Vice President of Design at Herbst LaZar Bell, Inc. (HLB) for 13 years. While working full-time, he also served as the President of the

Industrial Designers Society of America The Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA) is a membership-based not-for-profit organization that promotes the practice and education of industrial design. The organization was formally established in 1965 by the collaborative merger of t ...

during 1997-2004. Prior to HLB, Dziersk was a Design Manager at Group Four for 5 years. Throughout his career he has been active in the

design A design is the concept or proposal for an object, process, or system. The word ''design'' refers to something that is or has been intentionally created by a thinking agent, and is sometimes used to refer to the inherent nature of something ...

community A community is a social unit (a group of people) with a shared socially-significant characteristic, such as place, set of norms, culture, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given g ...

. He has taught as adjunct professor at the

Rhode Island School of Design The Rhode Island School of Design (RISD , pronounced "Riz-D") is a private art and design school in Providence, Rhode Island. The school was founded as a coeducational institution in 1877 by Helen Adelia Rowe Metcalf, who sought to increase th ...

Providence, Rhode Island Providence () is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Rhode Island, most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. The county seat of Providence County, Rhode Island, Providence County, it is o ...

, and the

New England New England is a region consisting of six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the ...

School of Art & Design in

Boston, Massachusetts Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

in addition to his role as an

adjunct professor An adjunct professor is a type of academic appointment in higher education who does not work at the establishment full-time. The terms of this appointment and the job security of the tenure vary in different parts of the world, but the term is gen ...

Awards

Dziersk received numerous awards for design innovations throughout his career, including a Gold Industrial Design Excellence Award (IDEA) for instrumentation; Gold IDEA for concept explorations; several Silver and Bronze IDEAsIDEA Awards
for consumer products; Best of Category and Design Distinction awards from ID Magazine's Annual Design Review. Other awards have included the Appliance Manufacturers Excellence in Design Award and numerous Good Design Awards
from the Chicago Athenaeum Museum of Architecture and Design. Dziersk holds over 50 U.S. product design and engineering

patents A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an sufficiency of disclosure, enabling discl ...

In the media

Dziersk was considered an

expert An expert is somebody who has a broad and deep understanding and competence in terms of knowledge, skill and experience through practice and education in a particular field or area of study. Informally, an expert is someone widely recognized ...

in design. He was published and quoted extensively in trade magazines and the business press, including Innovation JournalIDSA’s Innovation Journal
/ref> and ID Magazine;

Time Magazine ''Time'' (stylized in all caps as ''TIME'') is an American news magazine based in New York City. It was published weekly for nearly a century. Starting in March 2020, it transitioned to every other week. It was first published in New York Cit ...

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...

USA Today ''USA Today'' (often stylized in all caps) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth in 1980 and launched on September 14, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headq ...

Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe,'' also known locally as ''the Globe'', is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes. ''The Boston Globe'' is the oldest and largest daily new ...

, the

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is an American daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1847, it was formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper", a slogan from which its once integrated WGN (AM), WGN radio and ...

, Crain's Chicago Business,

L.A. Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

, the

Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

, and many others. Dziersk lectured extensively around the world, including events at Northwestern University

Kellogg School of Management The Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management (branded as Northwestern Kellogg) is the graduate business school of Northwestern University, a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois. History Early ...

, The University of Michigan, The

MIT Sloan School of Management The MIT Sloan School of Management (branded as MIT Sloan) is the business school of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT Sloan offers bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degree progra ...

, The

Columbus College of Art and Design Columbus College of Art & Design (CCAD) is a Private college, private art school in Columbus, Ohio. It was founded in 1879 as the Columbus Art School and is one of the oldest private art and design colleges in the United States. Located in dow ...

, The Rhode Island School of Design,

Southern Illinois University Southern Illinois University is a system of public universities in the southern region of the U.S. state of Illinois. Its headquarters is in Carbondale, Illinois. Board of trustees The university is governed by the nine member SIU Board of T ...

, and others. He was a regular contributor to

Fast Company (magazine) ''Fast Company'' is an American business magazine published monthly in print and online, focusing on technology, business, and design. It releases six print issues annually. History ''Fast Company'' was founded in November 1995 by Alan Webb ...

.Design Finds You blog
In addition to broad press coverage of Dziersk's career, he was involved in numerous international design competitions,
ID Magazine Jury 2004
/ref> including serving as a juror in the 1999

LG Electronics LG Electronics Inc. () is a South Korean Multinational corporation, multinational major appliance and consumer electronics corporation headquartered in Yeouido-dong, Seoul, South Korea. LG Electronics is a part of LG, LG Corporation, the fourth ...

Design competition, and the 1999

Samsung Samsung Group (; stylised as SΛMSUNG) is a South Korean Multinational corporation, multinational manufacturing Conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered in the Samsung Town office complex in Seoul. The group consists of numerous a ...

Prometheus Camera Corporation.

Industrial Designers Society of America Involvement

Dziersk served the industry in many capacities throughout his career. He was involved in the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA) for nearly two decades, including positions such as National Design Management Committee Chairman, National Conference Chairman, National Secretary Treasurer, Executive Vice President, President National IDSA, and Board Chairman. He also served the Association of Professional Design Firms (APDF) in various Council & Board positions. Dziersk was nominated for the 2000

Cooper-Hewitt Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum is a design museum at the Andrew Carnegie Mansion in Manhattan, New York City, along the Upper East Side's Museum Mile. It is one of 19 Smithsonian Institution museums and one of three Smithsonian facili ...

National Design Award, and in 2001, received the distinction of Fellow of IDSA (FIDSA). He also led the IDSA voting delegation to the 1999

International Council of Societies of Industrial Design The World Design Organization (WDO) was founded in 1957 from a group of international organizations focused on industrial design. Formerly known as the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design, the WDO is a worldwide society that ...

(ICSID) Congress in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

References

Publications

*Lockwood, Thomas (editor); Walton, Thomas (editor), 2008. Building Design Strategy: Using Design to Achieve Key Business Objectives, Allworth Press, * Cagan, Jonathan; Vogel, Craig M. (editor), 2001. Creating Breakthrough Products: Innovation from Product Planning to Program Approval, FT Press, * Postrel, Virginia, 2004. The Substance of Style: How the Rise of Aesthetic Value Is Remaking Commerce, Culture, and Consciousness, Harper Perennial, * Hannah, Bruce, 2003. Becoming a Product Designer: A Guide to Careers in Design, Wiley, * Skov Holt, Steven; Holt Skov, Mara, 2005. Blobjects and Beyond: The New Fluidity in Design, Chronicle Books, *Armac, Allen, 2005. Mass Society and Mass Culture: Reinventing the Nobleman, BookSurge Publishing,

External links

Brand Image - Desgrippes+Laga site

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dziersk, Mark American industrial designers Penny W. Stamps School of Art & Design alumni Date of birth missing 1959 births 2020 deaths