Category Archives: General Interest

We’re a Webby Honoree!

Great news: Art Center’s website has been selected as an Official Honoree for the 2010 Webby Awards in the School/University category!

Out of the nearly 10,000 entries submitted to the 14th Annual Webby Awards, less than 15% are awarded the status of Official Honorees.

Established in 1996 during the Web’s infancy, the Webbys are presented by The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, which includes an executive 750-member body of leading Web experts, business figures, luminaries, visionaries and creative celebrities, and Associate Members who are former Webby Award Winners and Nominees and other Internet professionals.

We’re so excited about this huge honor. Thanks to all students, staff and faculty who helped create our new site—we couldn’t have done this without you!

Envisioning the Next 80 Years

The Pasadena Star-News ran a nice piece on Art Center and our upcoming 80th anniversary over the weekend. Art Center President Lorne Buchman and Chairman of the Board of Trustees Bob Davidson discussed their vision and plans for Art Center’s future in the article, which ran Saturday.

Janette Williams writes: “President Lorne M. Buchman, who will be inaugurated April 22, and Robert C. Davidson Jr., the first African-American chairman of the college’s board of trustees, agree: There will be a renewed focus on students, faculty, curriculum and scholarships, and on building diversity at every level as the college looks toward the next 80 years.”

Read more: Everything old new again as Art Center College marks its 80th anniversary

Norm Schureman Memorial Service Sunday

Join us for a memorial service for alumnus and faculty member Norm Schureman on Sunday, March 28, at 10 am at Hillside Campus. The service is open to friends, family, members of the Art Center community and the general public.

In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to The Norman Schureman Memorial Scholarship. 

Please be aware that on-campus parking will be limited. We encourage you to carpool to ensure that parking is available for all.

For those unable to attend, the College will webcast the service on our website.

For more information, contact the Office of Public Relations at 626.396.2338.

Norman Schureman Memorial
Sunday, March 29, 10 am PST
Hillside Campus Sculpture Garden
1700 Lida Street
Pasadena, CA 91103

San Marino League Art Walk Friday and Saturday

Take advantage of this warm spring weather and tour outstanding area homes, their art collections and gardens as part of the San Marino League’s Art Walk XXVI. Held Friday and Saturday in Pasadena, tickets to the event are $35, with proceeds going to Art Center scholarships as well as the Japanese Garden at the Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens. You will not want to miss this special opportunity to view these private homes and their exquisite art collections and gardens.

San Marino League Art Walk XXVI
Friday, March 19 and Saturday, March 20, 10 am-4 pm
Ticket Information

Mapping the Growth of the Web

Remember those days before the Internet? We hardly can.

GOOD points us to a super-cool interactive map by the BBC that shows how Web use has expanded across the globe in the last 12 years.

From GOOD: “In the beginning, it was just the States, Canada, Australia, and (what?) Scandinavia with lots of people online. Today, Africa stands out as the one continent that isn’t wired.”

Check out the graphic: SuperPower: Visualising the internet

Together at Last: Design Thinking and Comedy

Bet you haven’t heard of this one before. Professor Peter Robbie’s design thinking class at Dartmouth is using a novel approach to teaching design thinking: improv comedy.

Robbie tells the Dartmouth Engineer: “This class on improv is a tool for brainstorming. I’ve always thought that the quickest and smartest folks at the brainstorming phase of design have been those who do standup and improv. They never say no. They never miss a beat. Improv requires players to accept what they are given, build on the ideas of others, and encourage wild ideas.”

Check out the entire article, it’s a great read.

[Via Core 77]

Visit Art Center Archives on Facebook

This year marks the 80th anniversary of Art Center. What was Art Center like in the 1930s? Art Center’s Archives gives us a glimpse into the past with images from a 1931 College catalog.

Check out the photos at the Archives Facebook page, and become a fan while you’re there. There’s already a ton of interesting information there—you don’t want to miss any of it! (And of course, if you haven’t found us on Facebook already, be sure to become a fan of our page as well.)

And the Winner for Best Film About Design Is…

Can great design films educate as they entertain? Writer Alissa Walker highlights five films from the last year that she thinks told the best design story in 2009.

Walker writes: “The last few years have seen the issues of winning documentaries tie directly into the issues of the day: When An Inconvenient Truth won in 2006 or The Fog of War won in 2003, it almost seemed like the Academy was voting against climate change or yet another Middle Eastern military engagement. This year, it seems that our gastronomical zeitgeist is behind Food, Inc., which is nominated for best documentary. It’s a pretty compelling and well-executed film that I think should probably win. But it makes me think about what an issues-oriented design film would look like—how could a documentary help convey the value and meaning of great design (designing!) to a wider audience?”

Read more, and see clips, at GOOD.

INSEAD Week at Art Center

For the past six years Art Center and INSEAD, a top-tier business school with campuses in Singapore and Fontainebleau, France, have participated in an annual study abroad program. Each year, a group of Art Center Product Design students travel to one of INSEAD’s two campuses to collaborate on a creative project with MBA candidates. They also attend graduate-level business courses in finance, marketing, entrepreneurship and various other business subjects.

Every March, INSEAD students and leadership visit Pasadena as part of INSEAD Week at Art Center. To help the visitors better understand the role of design and the design process, they are taken on a five-day tour of Southern California that includes workshops, presentations and visits to corporate studios. The latest batch of participants arrived in Pasadena Thursday, and will be here through Tuesday. They will tour Belkin, Stuart Karten Design, Idea!Lab, RTT and Disney Consumer Products, among many more fun activities. Be sure to welcome them to campus!