The winner of the 2010 People’s Design Award from the Smithsonian’s Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum is a former UNT student. Leslie Ligon, designer of At First Sight Braille Jewelry, won for her Braille Alphabet Bracelet, which features the alphabet in Braille on the front and print on the back. The award, voted on by the public, was presented at the museum’s 11th annual National Design Awards gala in New York this fall.

Ligon, who created the line of functional Braille jewelry to increase awareness of Braille literacy, donates a percentage of the company’s net profits to Braille literacy organizations. She and her husband, Eric Ligon, associate professor of communication design, have a son who is blind.