Category Archives: Product Design

Safe Agua Wins Top Spark Award

The following post was written by Product Design alumnus Will Tang, Product Design student KC Cho and Environmental Design student Stephanie Stalker for the Designmatters blog.

Last October, our class of 12 students was still busily refining concepts, building mockups, and preparing for midterm presentations for Safe Agua, a sponsored project focused on addressing water issues in the campamentos, or slums, of Santiago, Chile.

Since then, six projects were developed including a shower solution, dishwashing station and community laundromat being field-tested by Un Techo para Chile.

A year later, on October 17, KC Cho made the long drive from Los Angeles to San Francisco to submit Safe Agua for the 2010 Spark Awards, an International Design Competition.

With guidance from Mariana Amatullo, Karen Hofmann, and David Mocarski, Liliana and KC worked diligently to complete the application process. Along with the oversized poster, the Safe Agua documentary by Elizabeth Bayne, Harry Gota by the Ming Tai’s motion team and the Safe Agua book by Lisa Wagner’s graphic team were delivered the next morning to the site of the Spark Awards at the Autodesk office on One Market Street.

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Students Discuss Future of Design at Summit

Johanna Björk of Goodlifer has written a very nice recap of Art Center’s involvement in the Opportunity Green Business Conference and the Art Center Summit, Projects and Partnerships in Sustainable Design, held September 22 through 24 at L.A. Center Studios in downtown Los Angeles.

Björk says that the most popular panel at the conference appeared to be Sustainability by Design, featuring a panel of five Art Center students who described their work featured in the Taschen book Product Design in the Sustainable Era. The work, also on display as part of an exhibit at the event, was produced in the Design for Sustainability 2 studio led by instructors Heidrun Mumper-Drumm and Fridolin Beisert.

Writes Björk: “The future, seen through the eyes of these students, is certainly bright and filled with innovation. The thing that strikes me about their designs is that they are simply well-done. The sustainability of the products is inherent, not something that was forced into the picture later. Could it be that all truly good ideas are inherently sustainable?”

Enjoy this new set of photos from the event, and read the rest of the article: Green Can, Should and Has to Be Profitable

Safe Agua Update

More Designmatters news: Change Observer has a nice write-up on Designmatters’ Safe Agua project, which we’ve written about here before, and which was the focus of an Art Center exhibition at the Cumulus conference held in conjunction with the Shanghai World Expo last month.

A woman in the campamento tests the Relava kitchen workstation prototype.

From the article: “For the teachers and students in the Environmental and Product Design departments at Art Center College of Design who signed up for the Safe Agua project in Chile, the first engagement with the problem was very close to home. An ‘empathy exercise’ at Art Center’s Pasadena, California, campus, before a two-week field trip to Chile, forced the 15-member team to experience what it’s like to limit their daily water intake to one 5-gallon bucket, and laid the groundwork for understanding the challenges faced by the slum families.”

Three of the projects from this studio—the Ducha Halo portable shower, ReLava kitchen workstation and Mila community laundry facility—have already entered the implementation and testing stages.

Alumnus Fridolin Beisert Talks Art Center

Product Design alum and Associate Professor Fridolin Beisert is a practicing design professional who also conducts workshops and lectures for global corporations and executive education institutions. His classes at Art Center focus on creative problem solving, design thinking methodologies, cross-disciplinary team projects and sustainable design strategies. Previously, he developed games in Tokyo for Sony, formed an international concept design consultancy, played worldwide as an underground DJ, authored a book on learning design using 3D software and studied traditional papermaking in Japan. Suffice it to say that Beisert is a pretty interesting (and busy!) guy.

In the video below, Beisert discusses his time at Art Center and some of the lessons he learned here:

Schureman Posthumously Awarded Honorary Degree

Beloved Art Center alumnus and faculty member Norman Schureman will be posthumously awarded an honorary degree at Saturday’s Graduation ceremony.

Schureman earned his degree in Industrial Design from Art Center in 1985, going on to teach at the College for more than 20 years until his tragic death in March. He was a beloved instructor, colleague, mentor and friend to hundreds of Art Center students, faculty, staff, alumni and friends.

“The presentation of an honorary doctorate is a fitting tribute to Norm for his immeasurable contributions to the College,” said College President Lorne Buchman. Giving the address in Schureman’s honor will be alumnus Joshua Nakaya PROD ’09 and C. Martin Smith, industrial design chair and professor at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University and former Chair of product design at Art Center.

Schureman’s relationship with Art Center began almost 40 years ago when his father, Bob, taught Industrial Design classes and a young Norm would tag along to campus. Years later, Norm returned to Art Center as a student, graduating in 1985 with a bachelor’s degree in Product Design. Schureman began teaching at Art Center in 1992, first at the College’s European campus and then in Pasadena.

Following his death, the College established the Norman Schureman Memorial Scholarship. The scholarship will be available to incoming Product Design students.

Karen Hofmann, Chair of Product Design at Art Center College of Design, said, “Norm was a friend and mentor and a source of inspiration both inside and outside of the classroom. He made students feel that they could change the world and this scholarship is a way to ensure his legacy continues.”

Individuals interested in making donations to the Scholarship can donate online or contact Senior Development Officer Palencia Turner at 626.396.2366.

Art Center Student Work Featured in New Book

Product Design in the Sustainable Era, a new book published by Taschen, features more than 100 projects by industry leaders including IBM, frog design, IDEO, fuseproject, GE, Electrolux—as well as the work of seven Art Center students, individually featured on double-page spreads!

Congratulations to these students for this recognition of their outstanding work:

Leslie Evans, Vespera blow dryer
Daniel Huang, Environ iron (pictured)
Mark Huang, Vespera cycling helmet
Sharon Levy, Moietea water/tea kettle
Magdalena Paluch, Spirit car seat
John Phillips, Ecodeck skimboard
Jason Pi, Leena table fan

The work was produced in the Design for Sustainability 2 studio, led by instructors Heidrun Mumper-Drumm and Fridolin Beisert. In addition, project sketches from Huang and Paluch were used as section dividers. Great work, everyone!

Art Center Tops IDEA Awards List of College Wins

The Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA) has unveiled the winners of the 2010 International Design Excellence Awards (IDEA) competition—and Art Center topped this year’s list of college wins with five awards!

A celebration of the year’s most inventive and creative product and product concept designs, this year’s competition received the most entries since its beginnings 30 years ago.

The 2010 IDEA jury, made up of 18 world-renowned designers and design thinkers, spent weeks previewing entries online and two-and-a-half days of face-to-face evaluation and debate. Judging criteria focused on eight areas of industrial design excellence: innovation; benefit to the user; benefit to society and natural ecology; benefit to the client; visual appeal and appropriate aesthetics; usability testing, rigor and reliability for the design research category; and internal factors, methods and implementation for the design strategy category.

Our winners:

Silver IDEA:
1881 “American Red Cross Fashion” Branding Strategy
Koo Ho Shin, GradID
Faculty: Andy Ogden, Steve Montgomery, Katherine Bennett

Bronze IDEA:
Spirit: New-Generation Sustainable Automotive Seat
Magdalena Paluch, GradID
Faculty: Heidrun Mumper-Drumm, Fridolin Beisert

Remax Snowboard Boot
James Yoo, Product Design
Faculty: Fridolin Beisert

Luxy Vespa Helmet
Daniel Shih-Tung Chang, Product Design
Faculty: Fridolin Beisert

Latrine Design
Juan-David Quiñones, Product Design

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In Case You Missed It

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

Linkin Park 8-Bit Rebellion!, a new game for iPad, iPod Touch and iPhone, pits players against an evil company planning to ruin gaming with HD graphics. Illustration alum and band member Mike Shinoda designed avatars for each of his bandmates and oversaw the new app’s writing, story and gameplay. Wired Game Life
The home is a castle for some, but for artist and Product Design alum Roy Mercer, it’s a live-in art gallery. Victoria Times Colonist
Illustration alum Mark Ryden’s latest show, The Gay 90′s: Old Tyme Art Show, features works inspired by the 1890s. Paul Kasmin Gallery
MFA alum T. J. Wilcox introduces three new films for his May 2010 exhibition at Metro Pictures. artdaily.org
Photography alumna Livia Corona documents an interesting twist on the wild world of Mexican bullfighters. Vanguard
Pasadena Weeky illustrator and Illustration alumna Ching Ching Cheng will have two paintings displayed at the Louvre in June. Pasadena Weekly
Art Center will will host a gathering of leaders and innovators in imaging, technology, media and education at the first-ever Imaging DNA conference in July. Art Center Press Release
Call to artists: Pasadena ARTWalk is taking applications for its October event. ArtWalk 2010
Illustration alumna Cecilie Starin uses her fine art background in both fashion design and her recently launched interior design business. San Francisco Gate

Frank Nuovo’s Luxury “Communication Devices”

The New York Times visits with Product Design alum and Art Center 2008 Lifetime Achievement Alumni Award recipient Frank Nuovo. Formerly the chief of design at Nokia, Nuovo now creates luxury phones for Vertu.

From the article: “‘The watch is disappearing. And everybody in the world is walking around with these,’ [Nuovo] says on a recent afternoon, spreading an assortment of cellphones—all of them Nokias or Vertus of his own making—on a table at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, Calif., where he was once a student.”

Norman Schureman Memorial Scholarship Announced

Following the tragic death of Art Center alumnus and faculty member Norm Schureman, the College has established the Norman Schureman Memorial Scholarship. The scholarship will be available to incoming Product Design students.

“Norm inspired hundreds of students—not only those that he taught, but those considering whether or not they even had the gumption to apply to Art Center,” President Lorne Buchman said. “One of the ways the College can be true to his memory is to make sure young creatives have access to pursue a first-rate design education.”

Schureman graduated from Art Center in 1985 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Product Design. He began teaching at the College in 1992.

“Norm loved being a teacher and truly believed an Art Center education was something special,” Schureman’s widow, Fati, said. “Our family is humbled that the College has come together to honor Norm with a scholarship in his name.”

Schureman’s father Bob is an Art Center faculty member. “Art Center has been such a big part of my life, and the life of my son,” he said. “I’ve been overwhelmed by the amount of support the Art Center community has given our family.”