Category Archives: Awards

Faculty member Uta Barth named 2012 MacArthur fellow

Photographer and Art Center College of Design faculty member Uta Barth is among the 23 recipients of the prestigious and lucrative “genius grant” from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

Each of the 2012 fellows will receive $500,000 over the next five years. Recipients range from a geochemist probing the earth’s crust to a pediatric neurosurgeon treating intra-cranial diseases.

Winners in the fields of art and design include documentary filmmaker Laura Poitras, whose work explores the consequences of military conflict; and social services innovator Maurice Lim Miller, whose design projects track and reward self-sufficiency in low-income neighborhoods.

Barth was born in Berlin in 1958 and now resides in Los Angeles. She’s been an adjunct faculty member at Art Center since 2001.

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Fast Company honors Designmatters students, staff

Giradora, designed by Alex Cabunoc and Ji A You, cuts the water and time needed for laundry.

Students and staff at Art Center’s Designmatters program will make their mark on Fast Company’s upcoming issue dedicated to design.

The magazine has named three students from Designmatters as finalists in its annual Innovation by Design competition in the Student Designs category for their designs dedicated to those in developing countries.

Kim Chow designed the clip-on faucet device, Balde A Balde, that turns any water basin into a source of flowing water for those who lack running water in their homes. And Alex Cabunoc and Ji A You created a $40 foot-powered washer, Giradora, which cuts the water and time needed for laundry.

Designmatters alum wins grant with ‘Where’s Daryl?’

"Where's Daryl?" includes YouTube videos, posters and Facebook pages

A faculty member and alumna from Art Center’s Designmatters program is among the 13 grant recipients in this year’s SAPPI Ideas that Matter, a program that helps designers create print projects for charitable causes.

Maria Moon developed the Where’s Daryl Teachers Guide, a series of curriculum tools to teach teens the realities of gun violence.

The concept and campaign was conceived by students Thomas Banuelos, Damon Casarez, Rhombie Sandoval and Alex Cheng in the Designmatters UNCOOL Studio, along with instructors Elena Salij, Advertising, and Allison Goodman, Graphic Design.

Instead of using images and statistics, which can be too abstract for pre-teens, “Where’s Daryl?” consists of YouTube videos, posters and Facebook pages showing Daryl missing basketball and his girlfriend while he deals with criminal charges.

The pilot program will be implemented this fall and spring in partnership with Los Angeles Unified School District.

The annual SAPPI  Ideas that Matter, now in its 13th year, focuses on using design to create social change by pairing designers with nonprofits from around the world to implement their ideas.

“[Ideas that Matter] is a rare platform that brings to the forefront outstanding talent and initiatives that speak loud and clear about the potency of design driven by purpose,” said Mariana Amatullo, vice president of the Designmatters department.

This year’s SAPPI judging panel included five designers from across the country recognized for their commitment to solving social problems.

Sappi Fine Paper North America launched Ideas that Matter in 1999, and since that time, has awarded more than $12 million in grants worldwide.

Related:

Art Center Students Rack Up Core77 Design Awards

Emmy Fever: Alum Talents Featured on Top Nominee “Mad Men”

Meet Product Design Graduate Jenn Kuca, Winner of the Summer 2012 Student Leadership Award

Summer 2012 Student Leadership Award winner Jenn Kuca. Photo: Chuck Spangler

Each term, Art Center presents the Student Leadership Award to a deserving student from the College. The award is a distinguished honor granted to a graduating student who exemplifies leadership qualities and accomplishments that stand out above their peers.

“This person has been nothing short of outstanding,” said Dean of Students Jeffrey Hoffman when presenting the award to Product Design graduate Jenn Kuca at Saturday’s Summer 2012 Graduation. “From her very first term, she chose to be involved and to lead us all to a better place.”

During her first year at Art Center, Kuca became an officer of the student chapter of Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA) (and later, its president), where she organized the first annual IDSA Clash, a mixer event that brought together design professionals and students from multiple Southern California colleges.

As president of EcoCouncil, she convinced the administration to formalize the College’s long-term commitment to an eco-friendly future by participating in the STARS/PALS sustainability programs. And as a student representative for the College’s Facility and Technology Committee, she helped strategize improvements to support Art Center’s long-term strategic plan and educational mission.

“And those are only the highlights,” said Hoffman, as he listed an impressive string of Kuca’s accomplishments as a student.

When Kuca took the stage, she shared with her peers some of the insight she gained about Art Center, design and life in general.

On the implicit challenge of Art Center:

“From my very first visit to Art Center, I’ve felt that the implicit challenge to do better and to rise above is what sets this school apart. When I became a student, I discovered the best part, which is that my fellow students had the same expectations of themselves and of me.”

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Summer 2012 Graduation Events

The creative energy around campus is kicking into high gear as the College prepares for its series of Summer graduation events.

Thursday, August 16
If you’re lucky enough to be on the invite list for Graduation Show Preview, you’ll get a sneak peak at the work of the next generation of artists and designers. Held from 6:00 to 9:30 p.m. at Hillside Campus, the preview gives potential employers, alumni, donors and industry professionals an opportunity to preview the Graduation Show and meet our graduating students.

Immediately following the preview, all guests are invited to a reception hosted by Alumni Relations to welcome our graduating students into the alumni family.

Saturday, August 18
Join us at Hillside Campus from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. as we celebrate the accomplishments of our newest graduating class and present the Art Center Student Leadership Award to Product Design student Jenn Kuca.

We will also be presenting the Great Teacher Award to: Product Design instructor Pascual Wawoe (New Teacher); Environmental Design and Humanities and Design Sciences instructors Penny Herscovitch and Dan Gottlieb (Part-Time Faculty); and Illustration and Entertainment Design instructor Will Weston (Full-Time Faculty), who will also deliver the graduating class commencement address.

Can’t join us for the graduation ceremony? Watch our live online webcast.

After the ceremony, Graduation Show opens to the public from 7:00 to 10:00 p.m. so everyone can enjoy the work of our newest Art Center graduates.

Let the celebration of our creative community begin!

Phas running shoes, designed by graduating Product Design student Jenn Kuca.

Emmy Fever: Alum Talents Featured on Top Nominee “Mad Men”

Congratulations to all the talented professionals who worked on Emmy-nominated shows including Alumna Ellen Freund for her work on “Mad Men”

Art Center Alumna Ellen Freund FILM 79 is prop master on the hit AMC show “Mad Men.”  The show tied with “American Horror Story” for the most Emmy nominations with 17 each.  Among the many accolades, the steamy period drama series about Madison Avenue was honored for outstanding art direction.

Freund’s credits include “Twilight,” “Night at the Museum” and “Vanilla Sky.” To learn more about her career, check out this profile that recently ran on Huffington Post.

In the story, she says “Mad Men” is definitely the biggest challenge of her career. “It is my first time on a television series and the combination of a compressed time frame, limited budget and relentless schedules are very demanding. ‘Mad Men’ requires massive amounts of research to attain the level of accuracy that creator Matthew Weiner seeks and the entire crew strives for every day. The period is fascinating and visually stimulating, making it a real pleasure to work on.”

Art Center Students Rack Up Core77 Design Awards

Core77 Award RibbonFollowing a week of rolling announcements, Art Center is happy to congratulate the teams behind six noteworthy projects selected as Student Winners in the 2012 Core77 Design Awards, which celebrate the richness of the design profession and the brilliance of its practitioners. Among the award winners, our Product Design students’ solutions for medical devices and uniforms are valued in the Equipment and Soft Goods categories, Designmatters’ Safe Agua projects were recognized for their Social Impact, and a collaboration between Grad ID and the Drucker School is noted in the area of Strategy & Research.

CATEGORY: Equipment
DESIGNER/TEAM NAME: Andrew Kim
PROJECT: Pal IV Pump System
JURY COMMENTS: Not only does this design pay attention to people’s physical need, but also their psychological needs in their most painful period.

CATEGORY: Equipment
DESIGNER/TEAM NAME: James Cha
PROJECT: Syncro – Post-surgical knee rehabilitation device
JURY COMMENTS: Unlike many professional medical devices with a cold, mechanical form, this design is very user friendly with its organic form and inviting user interface, which encourage patients to use it with joy.

Syncro

Core77 award winner "Syncro," a post-surgical knee rehabilitation device, was designed by Art Center student James Cha.

CATEGORY: Social Impact
DESIGNER/TEAM NAME: Kimberly Chow and Carlos Vides
PROJECT: Safe Agua: Balde a Balde
CLIENT: Innovation Center, Un Techo Para Mi Pais
JURY COMMENTS: This product shows that even relatively humble designs can make a big difference to people’s lives.

CATEGORY: Social Impact
DESIGNER/TEAM NAME: Alex Cabunoc and Ji A You
PROJECT: Safe Agua: GiraDora
CLIENT: Innovation Center, Un Techo Para Mi Pais
JURY COMMENTS: So much going for it – a great concept that works on all the required levels to be a success.

CATEGORY: Soft Goods
DESIGNER/TEAM NAME: Leonardo Ochoa
PROJECT: Allayant – A shirt with built-in back support for paramedics
JURY COMMENTS: We really loved how [far] the Allayant reached. This was a big undertaking. It is rare to see such an innovative solution that is so well aesthetically resolved in a student project.

CATEGORY: Strategy & Research
DESIGNER/TEAM NAME: Art Center College of Design Grad ID and the Drucker Graduate School of Management
PROJECT: KPCC+
CLIENT: Southern California Public Radio
JURY COMMENTS: The KPCC+ strategy is notable because of the breadth of analysis that was done to increase listenership. They did a good job of targeting, understanding and designing for a complex and changing market and technology. Excellent process and project!

In addition to winning an award for KPCC+, the video testimonial submitted to Core77 as part of the entry process was showcased on the award site for being particularly informative.

The winners of each category will receive the C77DA trophy, and all honorees will be published in the Awards Gallery, on Core77 and in the awards publication. The recognition will culminate with a special event in New York City this fall.

Launched in 1995, Core77 publishes articles, discussion forums, resources, book reviews and event calendars in service to a global audience of design professionals, corporations, students, enthusiasts and fans. They host hundreds of thousands of online portfolios, provide job listings through a distinguished network of leading design site partners and maintain a database of thousands of design firms, schools, vendors and services. And offline, Core77 produces myriad design competitions, lecture series, parties, portfolio reviews and exhibitions.