MDP « Dotted Line | Official Blog of Art Center College of Design | Pasadena, CA

Archive for the ‘MDP’ Category

“Design for UNICEF” Showcase in New York

Wednesday, March 27th, 2013

Media Design Practices Grad Students present Uganda projects March 28

Art Center students and faculty at UNICEF in New York. Top row: Sean Donahue, Elizabeth Chin, Elizabeth Gin, Mariana Amatullo, Anne Burdick, Jeff Hall. Bottom row: Maria Lamadrid, An Mina, Jacob Brancasi, Betsy Kalven, Judy Toretti

Art Center Media Design Practices graduate students, in collaboration with the College’s Designmatters social impact department, are in New York this week, showcasing groundbreaking projects that feature insights from design research and prototypes created at the UNICEF Innovation Lab in Kampala, Uganda. The event is part of “Design for UNICEF” on Thurs., March 28, 2013 from 10 to 11:30 a.m. at the UNICEF House, located in the Danny Kaye Visitors Centre at the United Nations.

The seven students’ projects, aimed at addressing issues of sustainability, access and equity, grew out of a partnership between Art Center’s MDP/Field track graduate program and the UNICEF Innovation Lab. Faculty members Chris Csikszentmihalyi, Sean Donahue and anthropologist Elizabeth Chin head up the team. The student cohort — Jeff Hall, Maria Lamadrid, Judy Toretti, Betsy Kalven, Elizabeth Gin, Jacob Brancsi and An Mina — made multiple visits to Uganda and immersed itself in a broad range of issues challenging the country’s youth.

(more…)

Tags: Graduate Media Design, MDP, Media Design Practices, Uganda, UNICEF
Posted in Graduate Media Design, MDP | Comments Off

Explore ‘Spaces In-Between’ before Sunday

Saturday, February 9th, 2013

“Spaces In-Between,” an interactive exhibition organized by Media Design Practices faculty member Sean Donahue, will close Sunday.

The exhibition, on display at the Hollywood WUHO project space, is a series of apparatus, temporaries, places, spaces and conversations intended to advance broader participation in community discourse.

“It’s these in-between spaces that my practice aspires to intervene and explore different trajectories,” Donahue told KCET of the project.

(more…)

Posted in Faculty, MDP | Comments Off

Celebrate the Holidays with the Media Design Program

Monday, December 5th, 2011

Art Center’s Media Design Program is ringing in the season with Cheers, a student work-in-progress show featuring thesis projects, concept year individual projects and development year installations.

The show takes place next Friday, December 16, 4:30-6:30 p.m. in South Campus‘ Wind Tunnel Gallery. No RSVP is necessary; just be prepared to “see, eat, drink and be merry.”

Interested in learning more? Read previous stories on Art Center’s Media Design Program.

Posted in Graduate Media Design, MDP, Uncategorized | Comments Off

Media Design Student Reaches Into Another Dimension

Tuesday, November 29th, 2011

Media Design Program student Jayne Vidheecharoan working on her thesis project "Portals."

You’ve heard of Art Center students reaching across disciplines with their work. But how about reaching across space and time?

That’s what Media Design Program student Jayne Vidheecharoen has set out to do with Portals, her thesis project that combines chroma key compositing technology (aka “greenscreen”), Google Street Maps and a pair of “black magic boxes” to create a space where multiple users can interact with real and virtual objects across the Internet.

Vidheecharoen recently launched a Kickstarter campaign to “level up” her project, where she describes her inspiration for her project:

Lately, people have been getting pretty excited about the idea of interacting with computers by touching screens or gesturing in front of them. But I’ve been wondering, what if you could interact with them by getting under, inside, or behind the screen instead?

According to her project’s blog, Vidheecharoen is deep in the midst of writing the first draft of her thesis paper. We’ll give her some time to finish her paper, but you can be sure we’ll be reaching across space and time to follow up with her on this fascinating project.

Tags: Jayne Vidheecharoan
Posted in MDP | 1 Comment »

When Apple Talks iPhone, the World Listens

Tuesday, October 4th, 2011

Recent Graphic Design graduate Megan Potter presents her iPad magazine "Abyss."

Whether they’re augmenting reality, designing interactive magazines and newspapers, or creating apps that blur the distinction between games and art, many of Art Center’s students and alumni will be paying close attention to Apple’s iPhone announcement this morning.

What changes are in store for the ubiquitous smartphone? Rumors swirling around the Internet suggest Apple’s new CEO Tim Cook will unveil everything from a larger screen size to voice control software to compatibility with the latest LTE networks.

Regardless of what surprises emerge from Cupertino during today’s event, one things for certain: people will notice.

What are you hoping to see from Apple today?

And for those of you who can’t wait for today’s announcement, there’s a video after the break to keep you busy until 10 a.m. rolls around.

(more…)

Tags: Apple, Augmented Reality, iPad Editorial
Posted in Graduate Media Design, Graphic Design, MDP | Comments Off

In Case You Missed It

Thursday, September 1st, 2011

As you know, there’s always something going on when it comes to Art Center alumni, students and faculty.

Cardwell Jimmerson show of work by Art Center alum and former faculty member Vincent Robbins—on display through Sept. 3— is another of the gallery’s great exercises in expansionist art history. L.A. Times Culture Monster
Work by Vincent Robbins
Late Art Center alum and faculty member John Altoon will have works on display at Garboushian Gallery exhibit celebrating Armenian contemporary artists. Asbarez Post
Transportation Design alumnus Gabriel Wartofsky begins Kickstarter campaign for folding e-bike. Sustainable Business Oregon
Art Center partner, Bernhardt Design president Jerry Helling, talks about working with Art Center students to design furniture. New York Times
Alumna and faculty member Diana Thater’s Peonies, a nine-monitor videowall, now on view at the Wexner Center. Artdaily.org
Art Center’s “Visionary in Residence” Bruce Sterling creates his own augmented reality. Wired

Tags: Alumni, Alumni Work, Augmented Reality, Bernhardt Design, Bruce Sterling, Diana Thater, Faculty, Faculty Work, Gabriel Wartofsky, In Case You Missed It, Jerry Helling, John Altoon, Vincent Robbins
Posted in Fine Art, General Interest, MDP, Transportation Design | Comments Off

Grad Media Design Work on Display at MoMA

Thursday, July 28th, 2011

Beyond the Fold, by Sebastian Bettencourt

Two Graduate Media Design projects are included in Paola Antonelli’s most recent exhibition, Talk to Me, now at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. They are Sebastian Bettencourt’s thesis project, Beyond the Fold; and Dustin York, Ting-Yuin Chien, Scott Liao and Jae Kim’s class project, The Messenger.

Also, new Grad Media alum Hoon Oh and current student Jisu Choi just completed a project at Synn Lab based on Hoon’s thesis work of interactive hybrid digital/physical sports.

Great work, everyone!

Tags: Dustin York, Hoon Oh, Jae Kim, Jisu Choi, Scott Liao, Sebastian Bettencourt, Student Work, Students, Ting-Yuin Chien
Posted in General Interest, Graduate Media Design, MDP | Comments Off

MDP Showcased in Little Tokyo Design Week

Wednesday, July 13th, 2011

Art Center’s Graduate Media Design (MDP) program will be among the international designers, architects, filmmakers, corporations and other educational institutions exploring the “New Urban Lifestyle” as part of Little Tokyo Design Week: Future City (LTDW) this week. LTDW celebrates the power and energy of cutting-edge design and technology emerging from Japan and its relation to current trends materializing in Los Angeles.

“We look forward to participating alongside world class designers, artists and creative thinkers and engaging the public in an exciting dialogue about the future of our cities and the future of design,” says MDP Chair Ann Burdick.

Taking place July 14 through 17, the free, four-day public festival will span the geographic breadth of downtown Los Angeles’ Little Tokyo district with a series of museum exhibitions, student installations, public happenings and temporary galleries in the form of shipping containers placed throughout the public plazas of Little Tokyo. Under the auspices of the MDP program, the College will produce three separate projects for LTDW exploring how design and technology will shape lives in the cities of the future.

“Grad Media Design emphasizes an approach that responds to issues without the assumption of a particular type or mode of outcome and, similarly, to resist the adaptation of common assumptions for topics of technological or social concern,” says Tim Durfee, core faculty and director of amp: Projects in Media and Architecture within the MDP program. “This ethic is in evidence for both our PLAN C installation and Metropolis of Me symposium, in which we approach familiar topics from somewhat novel directions in order to reveal overlooked opportunities or implications.”

There are three projects being produced by Grad Media Design for LTDW.

(more…)

Tags: Ann Burdick, Arts Events, Faculty, Faculty Work, Little Tokyo Design Week, Student Work, Students, Tim Durfee
Posted in MDP | Comments Off

MDP Grads Help Define Future of Mobile

Monday, June 6th, 2011

Alex Braidwood's Synthetic Din

The L.A. Times Hero Complex blog has a great piece on the evolution of mobile apps, and even better—it features the thesis projects from recent Graduate Media Design grads Alex Braidwood and Scott Liao!

From the article:

Media artists such as Alex Braidwood, 32, are in fact harnessing smart devices as the means to a more aesthetically nuanced end. The Art Center College of Design graduate programmed the iPhone’s built-in camera to function as a sensor that detects blue, red and yellow tones. The Synesthetic Din program then translates the colors into an ever-shifting electronic composition that plays into a user’s ear buds as he or she walks down the street.

“To me the most interesting things about smart phones and iPads is that they have all these capabilities that are just waiting to be glued together in new ways,” says Braidwood. “I like turning these devices into little performance machines.”

Braidwood, who last month earned his master of fine arts in Media Design, notes, “Most apps are commodities that people get either because it helps them do something or it’s some kind of novelty game. But there’s this space in the middle where it’s not about guiding you to the best sushi restaurant in town but more about helping you wander around and discover something new that you did not see or hear before.”

Art Center graduate Scott Liao has similarly toyed with the innards of iPad tablets to create what he calls “enriched narrative.” His Anonymous Triangle piece allows viewers to aim a sensor-rigged iPad at projected short films to trigger back-story texts about the various characters. “With current tablet technologies,” says Liao, 27, “we have the chance to change our viewing behavior from passive to active.”

Tags: Alex Braidwood, Alumni, Apps, Scott Liao, Student Work, Students, Synthetic Din, Thesis
Posted in General Interest, MDP | Comments Off

4 Hours Solid: April 20

Monday, April 18th, 2011

Art Center’s newest tradition is back for its second year. Join us for 4 Hours Solid, an annual showcase of work and ideas from Art Center’s graduate programs in Art, Broadcast Cinema, Industrial Design and Media Design. Enjoy four jam-packed hours of exhibitions, screenings, installations, presentations, food trucks and more. The event will be held at South Campus. You won’t want to miss it!