This story first appeared in Dot magazine.

Imagine taking a 16-foot rubber band, stretching it taut and then twisting it and stuffing it into a carbon tube or another contraption—with wheels attached—created to look like a foot-long race car. When the wound-up rubber band is released, the car is off! Either to surge for 25 seconds with a burst of power down a track, or swerve and crash (but not burn).

ArtCenter’s annual international competition Formula-E—yes, the “E” is for “elastic”—will showcase on Thursday, August 10 both corporate and student teams who have worked towards just this purpose: win a 136-foot drag race course, a 322-foot figure eight course and a 228-foot hill climb using innovatively designed and constructed rubber-band powered race cars. The event takes place on the paved sidewalks of the Hillside Campus Sculpture Garden.

“This is a classic example of people doing something difficult together as a team that’s also a bonding and fun experience,” says Andy Ogden, who jumpstarted Formula-E in 2005 when he became ArtCenter’s Graduate Industrial Design chair.

This year, four teams of Graduate Industrial Design students and four teams of undergraduate Product Design and Transportation Design students, along with Pasadena City College students on each of those teams, will participate in the competition. Four Chinese teams who had won a June race in China—using a track that exactly replicates the Sculpture Garden’s sidewalks—are traveling to the final. Corporate participants include Honda and Mattel Hot Wheels.

“This is a very hard project, and people don’t realize how hard it is until they get into it,” says Ogden. “Design school education usually ends with a conceptual proposal. This actually has to work, and work within the constraints of a schedule.”

For the past 12 years, third term Graduate Industrial Design students have spent 13 weeks preparing for the race as part of their Summer 3D Development course. This term, for the first time, undergraduate Product Design and Transportation Design students have been able to take a Formula-E elective course. Formula-E’s ArtCenter roots, it turns out, go back to the ‘80s.

“The students I know who took the Formula-E course in the ‘80s and went on to be successful design professionals at Honda and Toyota would reminisce about it,” Ogden says.

Grad Industrial Design faculty Stan Kong, who along with co-instructor Javier Palomares takes students down the zig-zagging road of conceptualizing and constructing their race cars, cites Formula-E’s ability to stimulate “competition, comradery and working in teams to solve a problem that’s challenging.” Students start by reviewing different vehicles created in the past year, Kong says. Then they use 3D modeling software to design, calculate costs and foresee structural issues in advance, says Palomares. They make working models through a high-tech 3D printer, test them, narrow down an idea and build and refine many versions. Students “push all boundaries not only structurally but also aesthetically and performance-wise, always within budget,” says Palomares. Adds Ogden, “It’s a process of learning through testing and failure.”

As for ArtCenter’s Formula-E gaining steam in China—Chinese teams have won final races in past years—Ogden celebrates the competition’s global appeal. “Chinese schools participating signifies the importance of relationships we’ve cultivated with Chinese ArtCenter graduates and with Chinese companies,” he says. “We welcome schools and companies all over the world to enter.”

In a year when IDSA has chosen Design IS Business as the theme of its International Design Conference 2017, the winner of the Gianninoto Graduate Scholarship says it was her passion for the intersection of design, business and technology that drew her to join the GradID program at ArtCenter College of Design. Xinyao Liu, S/IDSA, expects to earn her master’s degree in industrial design in fall 2017. This summer, she’s interning at Kohler, applying human-centered thinking, ideation and quick prototyping to create an experiential shower enclosure.

Liu earned a bachelor’s degree from East China University of Science and Technology and interned at TotalBrand 2, Bantum and Moma Design in Shanghai. She got hands-on experience in everything from branding a robotic vacuum cleaner, to designing an elevator panel, insulin injection pen and an oven range hood.

Liu’s passion and persistence in ideation and iteration was inspired by the advice of her frst supervisor at TotalBrand2: “Don’t stop developing your concepts, and you will surprise yourself!” Liu sees design as a vehicle to make the world a better place. She employs system design research to find meaningful insights and opportunities, create the product or service with effective design skills and develop the business model to make an innovation evolve strategically. “I put lots of effort in helping the aging population and in sustainability,” she says.

In a project called Primavarra, Liu aimed to inspire and empower seniors to lead joyful and healthful lives. In sustainability, she designed a shared bike system to promote ecofriendly commuting, and built apps to encourage carpooling and reduce food waste.

“It’s such an honor to receive this scholarship,” says Liu. “I’m very thankful that IDSA supports students in their education and development in various ways!”

This story was originally posted on IDSA’s website.

As we enter the final stretch of the summer term, please review the following Environmental, Health and Safety reminders.

Faculty, please take a few minutes to review the list with your students. ArtCenter is committed to providing you with a healthy and safe environment along with the tools and resources necessary for a successful end of term.

• First Aid: contact Campus Security to report all first aid or medical concerns/issues.
• Environmental Concerns:  Please contact Campus Security ext 2211 (campussecurity@artcenter.edu)  or Cynthia Quentin (ehs@artcenter.edu)  to report any environmental or air quality issues.
• Fire and Emergency Equipment: Do Not remove, cover, hang items from,  modify or relocate any fire or emergency response equipment such as strobes, alarms, extinguishers, maps, exit signage, first aid kits, fire pulls, etc. NO EXCEPTIONS.
• No Smoking: Please be mindful of ongoing hazardous and flammable chemical application.  NO Smoking in the proximity of flammable fumes, high hazard areas, or outdoor dry brush areas.  Please stay in designated smoking areas and be mindful of cigarette butt disposal.
• Emergency Exits and aisles: Keep a 36” clearance in front of or exiting from all doors.  Maintain 48” clean and clutter free aisle ways throughout all buildings.  Trash and debris will be removed and disposed of daily.
• Chemical Handling: Please read all labels and warning language prior to using any chemical.  Focus on precautionary language (i.e.: highly flammable, corrosive, apply in well ventilated area, etc.) and recommended personal protective equipment (i.e.: respiratory protection, gloves, eye protection, etc.)
• Chemical Application: Please use the designated shop spaces for mixing and/or application of hazardous chemicals.  Always wear the recommended personal protective equipment appropriate to the chemical being applied.
• Chemical Disposal: Please dispose of chemical saturated rags, napkins, paper or empty chemical containers in the red hazardous waste containers located in the shop areas.  If you need assistance or guidance, please speak to your instructor or shop representative.
• Respiratory Protection: Please wear your ½ mask respirator with cartridges when spraying or mixing chemicals; when applying chemicals or while sanding your projects. Keep your respirator clean and stored in a sealed bag when not in use.
• Shared Shop Spaces: Drying Room, Composite Room, Spray Booths, 3D Labs, Laser Labs – please be respectful and mindful of your fellow students by keeping the rooms clean, free of trash, clutter, debris and stored materials.
• Cutting Safety: Practice caution when using cutting tools, use appropriate table or desk location for cutting, dispose of all used or broken blades in appropriate receptacles located in the shop.
• Stay Focused: Stay alert, focused and calm during these last two weeks of the term.

If you have any questions or are in need of additional guidance or clarification, please do not hesitate to contact Cynthia Quentin, Director of Environmental Health and Safety at cynthia.quentin@artcenter.edu , mobile: 626-485-3207 or send an email to ehs@artcenter.edu .

Thank you in advance for your support and cooperation.

July is International Zine Month, and to celebrate, ArtCenter’s library is presenting a series of events promoting its circulating zine collection, which is very rare among libraries, and showcasing zines created by ArtCenter students and alumni. The library is hosting  pop-up zine libraries throughout the month, a zine reading party and an exhibition in the library featuring risograph zines by Never Press (a printing company run by ArtCenter alumni and featuring many alumni works). There will also be a button making workshop on Monday July 31^st from 12-2pm at the South Campus Library.

For designers, who often create structure out of chaos, it is critical to establish a common language across a variety of disciplines and have a strong point of view. Leaders, many who work in male dominated fields, reinforced those points at ArtCenter’s Women in Industrial Design Forum on July 15. Women designers from Nike, Airbnb, Sony, Mattel, MIT Media Lab, Google and Snap gathered on campus to share wisdom from the trenches.

“Being opinionated and having a point of view is even more important when working in a male dominated industry because you’ll get a lot of no’s and people talking over you but you have to push past that and not be personally offended by those obstacles,” said Angie Park (BS 2011), who is a hybrid UX researcher at Sony in San Francisco.

When asked “Why do you keep redesigning our product?” by a colleague, Sara Ortloff Khoury (MFA 1992), user experience design director at Google, responded by explaining the iterative process, reflecting a core principle of design thinking particularly relevant to the tech industry: everything can be upgraded into a new and improved product, app, service or device. Khoury lead the design on Google’s recently launched Hire, a new service that helps businesses more effectively manage their internal recruiting process.

“It’s a life long endeavor,” said Angie Park. “A large part of what we do is educate coworkers and clients, champion the idea of design thinking.”

“Engineers think of you as an afterthought,” said Kristina Marrero (BS 2014), colors, materials and finish (CMF) designer at Snap Inc., who makes it a point of educating more people about her field to make products more successful.

While it’s easy to obsess over whether or not you play up your femininity or play it down and what in the room is working against you, the consensus among attendees was that working in a male dominated field, it is important to find a support system, be strong, fight for your point of view and be yourself.

“Don’t be afraid to speak loudly,” said Jenn Kuca (BS 2012), senior strategic designer, BCG Digital Ventures. “When people are talking over you, speak louder.”

When asked if there is a way to approach the design research process that is enhanced by being a woman, panelists agreed women are better collaborators, more empathetic especially in awkward situations, and more detail oriented in their observations, generally speaking, than men.

Some projects are male driven and it’s obvious based on the output, said Angie Park. “You can’t design well if the team is not diversified, it can’t be only female driven either.” Diversity among voices represented by gender and ethnicity, they agreed, is most important.

“I was inspired to pursue a leadership position at Nike when I realized there were no women in senior positions at the organization,” said Marni Gerber (BS 1985), ArtCenter faculty and senior design director at Nike. She created a group within the footwear leader to focus on constructive changes to the corporate culture and be a safe place for women with the purpose of helping senior leaders become more supportive of women. She urged audience members to have many mentors, not just one.

Khoury said while it’s hard to bear witness to gender bias, we must stop thinking about the fairness issue because effort doesn’t know gender. “At the end of the day, I’m judged by my effort.” She encouraged the audience to read Angela Lee Duckworth’s writing about the power of passion and perseverance.

Panelists encouraged women to approach job qualifications as wish lists not check lists because, they said research shows women tend to only seek jobs they’re 100 percent prepared for and men pursue positions they’re only 60 percent prepared for.

Mariana Prieto (BS 2012), a design innovation consultant, summed up the day by saying you’re never too young or too old to be a mentor or a mentee, there’s always someone on either side to learn from and when you help others, you learn a ton. Follow your intuition she urged, because once you take the first step the next will follow.

Photo courtesy of Maribel Barcena, from her summer travels

Maribel Barcena is a fourth-term student who took the study away course Berlin: A City as Portrait in the Spring term. Wanting to take advantage of her time in Europe after the class ended, Barcena had asked around to see what opportunities were available.

She got an assist from Ken Marchionno, one of our instructors and her Fine Art Photography teacher. Marchionno connected Barcena with the director of ArtMill, a non-profit near Prague, and Barcena is now starting her internship there, where she is setting up a darkroom for the mill and helping install a show about migration.

Because she had some time to kill between the Berlin class and starting at ArtMill, Barcenaasked the director if she knew of other opportunities, and as it turned out, they knew of two. The director helped Maribel land internships at ArtMap and Fotograf Gallery, a bookstore and gallery, respectively, both located in Prague. Her jobs varied from photographing books and events, to shooting some still life for the new issue of the magazine.

It looks like Barcena’s love for travel and eagerness to gain work experience have helped her land a pretty awesome summer.

The Hoffmitz Milken Center for Typography announced the recipients of the 2017 HMCT Educator Grants today. The HMCT Educator Grants invest in the professional and personal enrichment of ArtCenter faculty members to support research, workshops, seminars, conferences and other activities which augment their knowledge and benefit their teaching. Grant recipients are asked to investigate new opportunities and ideas in the area of language and typography, and to grow as creative artists, designers and educators. In turn, faculty members bring new and refreshed knowledge and experiences back into ArtCenter’s academic community, which enhances the quality of their teaching.

Educator Grants were awarded to the following faculty members:

• Christina Aumann (Graphic Design): to produce letterpress printed specimen broadsides and a PDF booklet of the Archetype Press wood type collection
• River Jukes-Hudson & Dante Carlos (Graphic Design): to produce a website and annotated digital image collection for Design Atlas, an online educational tool for teachers, students, and designers
• Eva Forgacs (Humanities and Sciences): to present an academic research paper at the international conference on Russian Western Art at the University of Venice, Italy
• Greg Lindy (Graphic Design): to attend the 2017 ATypI conference in Montreal, Quebec; and to develop the transitional serif family typeface, currently called “Burlington”
• John David O’Brien (Integrated Studies): to create an artist book prototype with the poetry of Laura Mullen

Antoinette Adams is the first to admit she’s not your typical art student. Just before her 50^th birthday, she made a life-changing decision to go back to school as soon as her youngest child was old enough to drive. The bold choice to enroll at ArtCenter seemed an impossible dream after a long career as an attorney.

With trepidation based on the 20-year plus age gap between her and fellow Fine Art majors, she persevered and happily established lasting bonds with a close-knit family of artists.

Forever moved by the thrill of stepping onto campus and the encouraging, yet brutally honest, community of artists she’s now firmly a part of, Adams is giving back to the college that changed her life forever. She recently donated $50,000 to fund scholarships and Study Away travel expenses for an annual art sojourn to Berlin, Germany.

“We’re grateful to Antoinette for this generous gift to help our talented current students cover their educational expenses as well as provide vital support to recent alumni with the launch of their careers as working artists,” said Tom Knechtel, chair of the undergraduate Fine Art department at ArtCenter College of Design.

The gift from Adams, who graduated with her degree in Fine Art in 2015, is set to fund two new programs that will benefit enrolled students and recent alumni of the Fine Art department. Adams is a resident of downtown Los Angeles and also has a home in Berlin.

Kicking off this fall (2017), the Antoinette Adams Alumni Award will provide a recipient with studio space in ArtCenter’s 35,000 square foot building at 870 South Raymond Avenue, a thriving collaborative nucleus for the visual arts. The alumnus, to be selected by faculty, will receive a $2,000 stipend for two 14-week terms. Additionally, the chosen individual, who will have been out of college for at least two years and no longer than 10, will curate an exhibition of student work, help seniors prepare solo shows and present a talk about their own work.

“We anticipate that when alumni with life experience come to work in our studios alongside current students, they’ll engage in useful conversations about life after ArtCenter,” said Knechtel.

The gift is also set to provide travel stipends to make a Berlin trip possible for several students and alumni through the College’s robust Study Away program. During the excursion, students and alumni will have the opportunity to experience the depth and excitement of the museums, galleries and cultural life of Berlin. Covering expenses such as airfare and museum passes will be a tremendous relief for ten artists in the Fine Arts community. Adams plans to host both “welcome” and “farewell” dinners for the group at her home in Berlin.

The Spring 2017 issue of Dot magazine is now available. You can find copies at various locations around campus including the Library, CSE, the DCO, the Faculty Lounge, the President’s office and the Provost’s office. Magazines are also available at the security desk of each building. Dot magazine is published by ArtCenter’s Department of Marketing and Communications. Stories are published online throughout the year, and a print edition comes out twice a year. 

ArtCenter is a community of bold imagination and innovative spirit, and the creative contributions of our alumni faculty and students inspire pride and energize our growth. As the College’s flagship publication, Dot magazine explores and celebrates their far-reaching influence within professional disciplines and on culture and society as a whole. The magazine’s wide readership includes alumni and donors; corporate and foundation supporters; industry, educational and cultural partner; and local officials.

What follows is President Lorne Buchman’s introduction to this issue.

“Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.” That bit of dialogue from Casablanca, spoken by Humphrey Bogart’s Rick Blaine to Claude Rains’ Captain Renault, is perhaps the most famous final line in cinematic history.

As you peruse this issue, you’ll encounter similarly recognizable works by ArtCenter alumni that have become part of our national, if not international, cultural fabric—from the silhouetted surfers of John Van Hamersveld’s Endless Summer poster, to the brightly hued world Kendal Cronkhite created for last year’s animated Trolls, to Ignacio Gomez’s striking poster for Zoot Suit, featuring El Pachuco looming large over Los Angeles.

Looking through this issue you’ll also discover work by several alums that have recently reached out to us. For example, the mesmerizing photomontage featured on the cover was sent to us by Wing Chan via Untold Stories, our website where all our alumni friends can share, in their own words, their stories and latest projects.

Additionally, much of the work highlighted in the 4 x 4 gallery—from Ranee Henderson’s highly textured painted portraits to Nora Shields’ mind-bending, site-specific sculptures—first appeared on our website’s Alumni Now page, a digital destination featuring timely updates from our graduates.

We couldn’t be happier with all the stories you’ve been sending our way, and it’s truly an honor to share them with both our community and to a wider audience.

Another collaborative project we’re proud to share with you in this issue is Create Change 2.0, ArtCenter’s strategic plan for the next five years. The plan was unanimously and enthusiastically approved by the Board of Trustees this past October and officially adopted earlier this year.

A natural extension of Create Change 1.0, the new plan focuses on how the College creates value for its students while realizing its mission. The plan was a major undertaking—assembling thoughtful input from multiple voices across ArtCenter over a period of 18 months—but the results are compelling and promise to have positive ramifications well into the future.

So sit back, enjoy this issue, and keep those submissions coming! Because, as Rick Blaine might put it, without your stories this crazy world wouldn’t amount to a hill of beans.