Category Archives: Designmatters

Thinking Beyond Boundaries: Art Center’s Designmatters Program


Alla Kazovsky has a nice piece about the College’s Designmatters program today in the Huffington Post.

From the posting:

Art Center College of Design prepares students for “an ongoing exploration of design as a positive force for change in society.” That’s the premise of Mariana Amatullo’s talk. Mariana opens her remarks by stating: “It is an interesting moment in time, a moment of change, when creative community — designers and architects — are engaging in social innovation.”

Mariana cofounded Designmatters and has led the program since its inception in 2001. In her capacity, Amatullo does compelling work. Let me tell you a little bit about it. Designmatters is an educational department that horizontally cuts across all of the design disciplines at undergraduate as well as graduate levels—product designers, fine artists and graphic designers work together on the same challenge.

It functions at three levels within the institution. It is a magnet and research division that infuses the curricula with content-based challenges, a consultancy that facilitates real world implementation of the projects with partner organizations and a hub for external relationships that advocates the role of design as a catalyst for social change. In fact, through Mariana’s leadership, Art Center is the first design institution to be formally affiliated with the Department of Public Information at the United Nations as a non-governmental organization (NGO).

Read more: Thinking Beyond Boundaries: Art Center’s Designmatters Program

Students Examine Graying of AIDS

Scientific advances in recent decades have meant that HIV and AIDS are no longer a death sentence. People with AIDS are living longer today than ever before, and by 2015 half the people in the U.S. with HIV or AIDS will be 50 or older.

© 2011 Art Center College of Design/Dlugolecki Photography (“The Greying of AIDS Exhibition”)

A current Illustration Department/Designmatters student project is underway examining the graying of AIDS. It is being conducted as a corollary to the current Williamson exhibition, Graphic Intervention, and is on display through Sunday.

The Pasadena Weekly has a wonderful article today on the topic. Carl Kozlowski writes:

In an attempt to educate the public about this increasingly important issue for the nation’s senior community, Pasadena’s Art Center College of Design presents “The Graying of AIDS Exhibition: Off the Wall,” part of the larger “Graphic Intervention: 25 Years of International AIDS Awareness Posters” exhibit at the college’s Alyce de Roulet Williamson Gallery through Sunday.

“Our project tries to address ageism and living with HIV/AIDS among older adults,” says Brian Rea, an instructor with the Art Center’s illustration department who teaches the school’s Off the Wall installation-art course. “Often they’re seen as statistics, so the students really took it upon themselves to address that, and take the most powerful things being said and make them the most accessible for those who might view the piece.”

Rea first learned of the project after being approached by Art Center’s Educational Department, which aligns students and faculty with outside organizations to produce art and design that can affect social change. Rea’s Off the Wall course, housed in the Illustration Department, teaches experimental image-making and installation work as they apply to illustration and design.

Read more: The Graying of AIDS: Art Center exhibit focuses on America’s largest group of people living with HIV/AIDS

Ducha Halo at the 2011 NCIIA Open Minds Conference

The following post is reprinted  from the Designmatters blog.

Bright and brilliant minds gathered at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History on Saturday, March 26, for Open Minds 2011, the student exhibition organized by the National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance (NCIIA) in conjunction with the organization’s 15th Annual Conference, Open: Catalyzing Innovation. The conference was attended by more than 380 faculty and students throughout the country who share NCIIA’s vision and benefit each year from its mission: “to support technology innovation and entrepreneurship in universities and colleges to create experiential learning opportunities for students, and successful, socially beneficial businesses.”

NCIIA was established in 1995 with the support of The Lemelson Foundation, legacy of prolific inventor Jerome Lemelson. NCIIA provides student start-ups with early stage funding, business strategy development training, mentoring, and investment, as well as provides staff and faculty with funding for courses and programs, opportunities for recognition, and entrepreneurship education training and networking.  Since its founding, NCIIA has funded 325 experiential courses and new programs throughout hundreds of universities around the country and has leveraged more than 140 million dollars in additional funding, helping propel projects that have resulted in more than 100 new businesses.

Jessica and Narbeh at the NCIIA Open Minds event.

The Safe Agua “Ducha Halo” team, Jessica Yeh (ENV) and Narbeh Dereghishian (PROD) were selected among the innovator teams of the Open Minds exhibition and were one of 3 teams whose video of their social innovation was chosen as a top finalist by public vote as part of the  2011 Open Minds video competition.

The weekend also served as a valuable opportunity for  students to network and seek out potential investors and collaborators who can help advance their ideas.  “I can’t believe we had the opportunity to meet these wonderful people that are just as passionate about their projects as much as we are about ours. I have never met so many social impact innovators and bright minds in one setting. I learned so much and gained a different perspective about the whole business side of the project. I am still in the process of trying to soak all of it in! It was a really great experience and we did get some business cards and good questions that definitely challenge us to push the Ducha Halo forward,” reflects Yeh.

For the Art Center faculty engaged in 2 distinct NCIIA -funded projects through Designmatters, NCIIA was an important opportunity to be part of panel discussions and paper presentations.  Safe Agua lead faculty Dan Gottlieb, Penny Herschovitch (ENV) and Liliana Becerra (PROD) attended as well Steve Montgomery (GRAD ID), who along with Becerra (PROD) taught the  Creating Social Value through Design TDS in 2010.

Continue reading →

Graphic Intervention Closing Party April 14

Don’t miss the closing party for Graphic Intervention: 25 Years of International AIDS Awareness Posters 1985—2010 on April 14. The exhibit will remain on display at the Williamson Gallery through April 24.

Graphic Intervention is a traveling exhibition of more than 150 international AIDS awareness posters. This collection presents a compelling overview of the artists working within their personal cultural and national perspectives on the subject of AIDS. Starting next week, an Illustration Department/Designmatters student project, The Graying of AIDS Exhibition: Off The Wall, will be on display as a corollary to the exhibition examining the graying of AIDS.

Graphic Intervention Closing Party
 Thursday April 14, 7 to 9 p.m.
Alyce de Roulet Williamson Gallery
RSVP: natalie.montoya@artcenter.edu

Designmatters Presentation at TOMS

Designmatters will host an engaging program at the TOMS Give Shop and Gallery in Los Angeles on Thursday, March 31. The presentation will feature a short lecture and panel of colleagues and star students to discuss the ongoing exploration of art and design as a positive force in society.

Speakers include:

  • Mariana Amatullo, Co-Founder and Vice President, Designmatters
  • Elisa Ruffino, Producer, Designmatters
  • Dan Gottlieb, Environmental Design faculty
  • Penny Herscovitch, Environmental Design faculty
  • Narbeh Dereghishian, Product Design student
  • Jessica Yeh, Environmental Design student

The workshop is free and open to the public. For more information, visit designmattersatartcenter.org.

Designmatters - Where Art and Design meets Social Impact
Thursday, March 31, 7:30-9 p.m.
TOMS Give Shop and Gallery
1520 N. Cahuenga Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90028
space15twenty.com

Graphic Design Student Exhibits Photos of Sudan

Graphic Design student Tyler Paulson currently has an exhibition of photographs on display at the South Campus Gallery.

Teed ["in waiting"]: Portraits of South Sudan highlights portraits and images captured while Paulson served local missionaries in the region from 2008 and 2010.

“Taken after a ceasefire, these portraits capture a people experiencing their first taste of peace in decades while awaiting the hope of becoming a new nation,” Paulson says. “ I met a people of great beauty, but with deep scars—and I sought out to know and serve them, and to share their story.”

The exhibition is the culmination of a Designmatters-facilitated independent study led by faculty member Gloria Kondrup.

The exhibit is on display through April 1, with an artist reception held on Saturday, March 26 at 6 p.m.

More information about Paulson’s powerful journey, and to view his work, visit teedsudan.com.

Also, be sure to check out the brand-new Designmatters website at designmattersatartcenter.org.

Ducha Halo Up for Open Minds Award

Last month we told you that Ducha Halo, a low-cost, portable shower designed by Art Center students Narbeh Dereghishian and Jessica Yeh in 2009’s Designmatters Safe Agua studio, was in the running for the National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance (NCIIA)’s Open Minds video competition.

The top three teams have been chose by a judging panel and the general public—and Ducha Halo has placed in the top three!

They will travel to Washington, D.C., where the winners will be announced March 26 at the Open Minds event, held at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History.

Congrats, Narbeh and Jessica, and good luck!

On Display: 25 Years of AIDS Awareness

When the AIDS epidemic first struck, the need to educate the world about this devastating disease became critical. Despite the existence of more advanced communication technologies, the poster played a critical role in humanity’s battle against the spread of AIDS.

Graphic Intervention: 25 Years of International AIDS Awareness Posters 1985—2010, now on display at the Williamson Gallery, is a traveling exhibition of more than 150 international AIDS awareness posters. This collection presents a compelling overview of the artists working within their personal cultural and national perspectives on the subject of AIDS.

The exhibition is on display at the Williamson through April 24, with a closing reception April 14. In April, an Illustration Department/Designmatters student project will be on display as a corollary to the exhibition examining the graying of AIDS.

More coverage:

Ducha Halo Up for Award: Vote Today!

The National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance (NCIIA)’s Open Minds video competition is now underway—and Art Center students Narbeh Dereghishian and Jessica Yeh need your vote!

The annual Open Minds contest features cutting-edge innovation by students from around the country.

This year, 15 teams have been selected to participate in the high-profile event, which involves an exhibition and video competition held in partnership with Inventors Digest.

Product Design student Dereghishian and Environmental Design student Yeh have been nominated for their Ducha Halo, a low-cost, portable shower designed in 2009’s Designmatters Safe Agua studio.

Check out their video, and vote for it, at the Inventors Digest site. Voting lasts through March 14. Winners will be announced March 26 at the Open Minds event, held at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C.

Good luck, Narbeh and Jessica!

Happy Valentine’s Day from Art Center


In honor of Valentine’s Day, we’re featuring this lovely poster from the Designmatters Human Rights Exhibition studio. A partnership with the United Nations Department of Public Information, the studio challenged students to interpret and represent the Universal Declaration of Human Rights visually through a series of posters.

This poster, Everybody, was designed by Graphic Design student Christopher Kosek. (Kosek graduated in 2009.)

Everybody addresses Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Kosek writes:

“All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood. I wanted to talk about the realization that once you get past nationality, race, gender and the external human things, we are all the same inside.”

From November 2009 through March 2010, the Images for Human Rights: Student Voices exhibition were on view at the Skirball Cultural Center. The exhibition is now in the permanent installation at the Holocaust Memorial Center in Farmington Hills, Mich.

See the rest of the posters (in PDF form) and read more about this studio at the Designmatters site.