Monthly Archives: December 2009

Happy Holidays From Art Center!

Happy Holidays from Art Center! We hope you have a happy and safe holiday season. Check out our beautiful holiday card, designed by 5th term Illustration student James Tseng. Its also been slightly animated online: artcenter.edu/newyear2010.

In 2010, Art Center celebrates 80 years of excellence in art and design education. We hope you’ll join us for the yearlong celebration, including the inauguration of our new president, Dr. Lorne M. Buchman on April 22.

Our campus and administrative offices will be closed Dec. 18 through Jan. 3. Happy Holidays!

Student Work: Seventh Generation Redesign

Check out this cool hypothetical redesign of Seventh Generation green cleaning and household products by Johana Tran, a 6th term Graphic Design student.

Says Johana: “Through a redesign that exudes a natural charm and confidence, Seventh Generation offers consumers a promise of liberation from the burdens associated with mundane household tasks. In addition, the package design utilizes sustainable materials, while maintaining a hygienic appeal, ensuring a product that users can trust to be safe for both the environment and the body.”

Good work, Johana!

Philip van Allen Podcast on the New Ecology of Things

The design mind On Air blog has a new podcast of an interview with Art Center’s Phil van Allen, Graduate Media Design professor and director of the New Ecology of Things Lab.

Chris Sallquist writes: “Van Allen suggests that innovation not only means meeting customer needs by cultivating ideas, but he translates the activity of innovating to actually inventing things and new medias. Van Allen also stresses that holding an actual tangible object inspires and enables designers to ‘re-think the whole communication process.’”

Check it out: The New Ecology of Things

Building Beautiful and Fast Cars That Keep Your Conscience Clear

A great article in the L.A. Times about alumnus Henrik Fisker, one of the world’s most highly regarded designers of luxury automobiles.

Fisker’s Karma is the first luxury plug-in hybrid electric vehicle, and the first vehicle released by Fisker Automotive. The Times says it can go from 0 to 60 mph in six seconds. Not bad for a gas-electric hybrid.

“Fisker is known for designs that are fresh as well as classic. “He can do something new and contemporary—but do it with an echo of the brand legacy,” said Stewart Reed, chairman of the transportation design department at the Art Center College of Design. “He understands the importance of proportion and architecture. But he also understands that design, at the end of the day, is a business tool.”

Read more: Henrik Fisker’s cars roar into the future

Meet Bryce Butcher

Product Design student Bryce Butcher says that she first set her sights on attending Art Center while in elementary school.

“After experiencing what other colleges were like, the professionalism and level of work done by the students at Art Center surpassed anything I could compare it to. I knew that if I wanted to be a successful professional in Product Design, I had to attend Art Center.”

Read more about Bryce’s experiences growing as a designer, favorite projects and visiting the student gallery as a child with her grandmother in this great interview.

Graduation Ceremony Webcast Tomorrow

Join us tomorrow for our Fall Term Graduation Ceremony to welcome our newest graduates into the Art Center family and to hear our honorary degree recipient issue the graduation address. Can’t join us in-person at Hillside Campus tomorrow? Luckily you can watch the ceremony at home in your pjs!
Just log on to our live webstream tomorrow at 10 am. Bookmark the link and come back tomorrow when it’s live: http://stream.artcenter.edu/fall2009.sdp

Art Center Receives Outstanding Recycler Award

Art Center was one of five recipients awarded the 2009 Outstanding Recycler Award by the City of Pasadena. The award was presented by Mayor Bill Bogard and Director of Public Works Martin Pastucha at Monday’s City Council Meeting. Art Center was recognized for “outstanding environmental stewardship and commitment to reducing waste and preserving natural resources.”

The award is due in large part to the ongoing efforts of EcoCouncil, a student led group that promotes awareness of and designs solutions related to issues of sustainability across campus. EcoCouncil is supported by Heidrun Mumper-Drumm, Director, Sustainability Initiatives; and Linda Estrada, Manager of Transportation and Sustainability, who work closely with EcoCouncil to help them achieve their goals.

Four other organizations were announced as Outstanding Recyclers with Art Center receiving the Overall Recycler of the Year for 2009. Congratulations also go to Sequoyah School, Saint Philip the Apostle School, Waste Less Living and Interior Removal Specialists, Inc.

The Pasadena Star-News has a nice write-up: Pasadena’s top recyclers recognized

Young’s NewNorth Center Sets Up Shop

 Art Center alumnus and former Chief Academic Officer Nate Young wants to bring together creative right brain thinkers and data-driven, left-brain thinkers to create better corporations.

His newest venture is the creation of NewNorth Center for Design in Business, a hybrid education and business-training center that will specialize in design and innovation courses along with research and executive education. The nonprofit will be headquartered in Holland, Mich., with additional training centers in Grand Rapids and possibly Detroit.

Michigan Live has a story on Nate and his exciting new venture. Check it out: Entrepreneur plans to headquarter nonprofit NewNorth Center in Holland

Almost Time for Grad Show!

We caught Illustration student Brian Wade Scott preparing for Friday’s Graduation Show. He’s not the only one—the halls are bustling with activity as graduating students from all disciplines prepare to show their work at Art Center’s Fall Term Graduation Show, this Friday from 7 to 10 pm.

Art Center’s Graduation Show is a wonderful opportunity to visit the College and be inspired by the talent and passion of our students. This free event is open to the public, and includes free parking at the Rose Bowl. Park at the Rose Bowl, Lot K. Free shuttle service from the Rose Bowl to Hillside Campus begins at 6:45 pm.

Won’t you join us? For more information, call 626.396.2356.

 

Designmatters at the Aspen Design Summit

Mariana Amatullo, vice president and director of Designmatters, is back from the Aspen Design Summit and has posted a report on the Designmatters blog.

All 64 Summit participants were divided into six groups that were challenged to develop strategies for dealing with diverse challenges.

Amatullo writes: “I was thrilled to be assigned to the UNICEF projects and to reunite with a previous Designmatters’s partner, Christopher Fabian (head of the Innovation unit at UNICEF), and to understand more about the logistics and needs behind UNICEF’s current deployment of resources to reach underserved children and young girls.”

Read more about her experiences at the Designmatters blog.