“Design shapes our environment, our services and our products...”

Our Mission

Design West Michigan explores design as an economic building block for the region. It builds on the legacy of renowned West Michigan companies that grew through design innovations. Design West Michigan believes our region’s future depends on developing and promoting a ‘Creative Community’ and that ‘Design’ is West Michigan’s best kept secret today.

Design shapes our environment, our services and our products through architecture, interior design, industrial design, engineering, packaging, digital and landscape, fashion, exhibit and graphic design.

Our Evolution

In partnership with The Right Place and led by Zeeland’s Lakeshore Advantage, Design West Michigan is evolving with a regional advisory group of more than 50 design professionals representing the area’s major furniture companies, design firms, independent designers, colleges and other leading employers. A group of nationally recognized design luminaries ranging from curators to magazine editor-in-chiefs provide additional advice to the unprecedented organization.

The effort is being led by John Berry, a senior consultant with Greystone Global with more than 30 years of experience in design, internal and external communications, public relations and brand management.

“It’s time for the design disciplines to collectively help demonstrate the value of good design and bring new work and expansion to regional companies. This will involve the region gaining a shared understanding of design and comfort level with non-traditional ways of business planning and measurement,” says Berry. “Design is an integral part of the West Michigan economy. And, while there are good local examples of business success through design, there are many more opportunities to expand our regional economy through enhanced use of the full-range of design services.”

Our Objectives

As a collective, Design West Michigan aims to help educate non-designers on design thinking, advocate for design evaluation as part of business strategy and become a catalyst for creating a regional design network.

Design West Michigan intends to be the first to define “Design Centric” and become a national model of how a design focus can help stimulate economic growth.

Discover what Design West Michigan is doing to accomplish our objectives.