Richard was a judge for this year's IDEA (Industrial Design Excellence Awards) in Washington D.C., jointly sponsored by the IDSA and BusinessWeek magazine.

The international jury of design experts, chaired by Chris Conley, included Donald Norman, Carl Magnusson, John Thackera and Jeremy Myserson among others. The judges were sequestered in a conference room for two intense days of discussion, debate and even disagreement about the nature of good design. The vetting (and bloodletting) reduced a pool of over 1500 hopefuls down to 108 worthy winners. The judges' final selections were revealed in BusinessWeek's design awards cover story of 30 June.