Tag Archives: Awards

February 2015 Art Center alumni notes

Illustration by Kim Ryu for the February 2, 2015 edition of the New York Times Sunday Book Review

Illustration by Kim Ryu for the February 2, 2015 edition of the New York Times Sunday Book Review

It’s been a fruitful awards season—and not just for the creative team behind Birdman. Art Center alums have amassed an impressive array of accolades, from the Caldecott Medal (the Oscars of children’s literature) to the Oscars themselves. So in lieu of glitzy after party, we’ve done the next (or perhaps next, next) best thing and compiled highlights from our alumni community’s recent accomplishments below. Enjoy!

Continue reading

A celebration of dedication: Art Center employees recognized for years of service

Hillside Campus in 1978. Image courtesy of College Archives.

Hillside Campus in 1978. Image courtesy of College Archives.

Martina Navratilova defeated Chrissie Evert for the “ladies” championship at Wimbledon, Sony introduced the Walkman and Midnight Express was playing in theaters. The year was 1978, when Hillside Campus had been occupied for about two years, South Campus didn’t exist and three people started their careers at Art Center.

One of those people is Stephen Nowlin, vice president of the Williamson Gallery. “I’ve been pretty fortunate to have watched Art Center from up close through the years—first as a high school student visiting the little hallway gallery on 3rd street; then as a graduate student at the Pasadena campus; and as an Admissions counselor, teacher, web producer and, for most of that time, as the Williamson Gallery’s director. The most impressive thing for me through all those years and roles, I must say, has been the consistency of high quality in the work produced by Art Center’s students. It never ceases to amaze me.”

Every year Art Center celebrates employees who have reached significant milestones in their careers. On September 23, 2014, almost 60 individuals were recognized for having 2013 work anniversaries of 10 or more years. The occasion was commemorated with a formal luncheon and presentation of the service awards hosted by the Human Resources Department. Earlier this year a luncheon was held to commemorate those having work anniversaries in 2012.

“Art Center students are supported by dedicated staff and faculty who do everything they can, directly in the classroom or indirectly behind the scenes, to help students achieve their goals to become professional artists and designers,” said Nancy Duggan, Executive Director, Human Resources. “It is our pleasure to honor these individuals.”

Art Center President Lorne M. Buchman kicked off the presentations with a word of thanks, which was followed by the awards ceremony.

Continue reading

Advertising adds to its deep bench of heavy hitting faculty

Jason Nitti

Jason Nitti

Let’s start the fall by congratulating all of our 2014 award winners. We had a stated mission to win in the major award shows this year, and we did.  Most importantly, we’re beginning to do better work overall. And that, in the long run, will only lead to more awards, better internships, first jobs and more successful careers.

Below is a link to a full list of all of our winners and the awards they’ve won. And again congratulations. It’s a great start. But I’m a greedy guy. And I won’t be happy until we run the table.  That will require more and better entries in more shows, which will lead to more finalists and, ultimately, more hardware.

Here’s to next year.

To that end, we’re adding even more new instructors. They have not only been there and done that; but they’re still doing it every day. They’ve all done plenty of award-winning work at great agencies, and for the clients we admire most: Apple, Nike, Converse, Pepsi, Lexus, Target, Levi’s and more.

Combined with the strong group of teachers we already have, I think it’s safe to say that we have the finest staff the department has ever had, and one that is unmatched at the schools with which we compete.

Continue reading

How to win at advertising…by really winning

one-show-gold-pencil

The importance of winning awards in our business can’t be underestimated.
It’s essential.

As a student, it can be a big factor in separating you from the hundreds of other grads with great books who are fighting for a rare spot at one of the few top places to work. As a junior, it can elevate your status in an agency and set you up for better assignments and promotions, as well as bring your work to the attention of every other agency looking to hire a star to upgrade their own work. As an agency leader, it can help you gain credibility with clients, potential clients and the media, all of which will lead to building your business.

Continue reading

Student designs the Air Jordans of high performance sailing shoes

Nina Viggi's high performance Dinghy shoe

IDEA gold medalist Nina Viggi’s One Degree High Performance Dinghy Shoe.

Since its inception in 1965, the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA) has recognized “positive impact” in design. In 22 years of competition, Art Center students have taken 70 medals in IDSA’s highly competitive International Design Excellence Awards (IDEA).

When IDSA announced the most recent IDEA winners, they included—among Art Center’s eight finalists in the 2013 competition—three medal winners. Graduate Industrial Design student Nina Viggi took home a gold medal for her One Degree High Performance Dinghy Shoe, designed for competitive sailing. Continue reading

Adobe Achievement Award Winners Announced

We’re pleased to announce that Art Center students were named finalists and semifinalists in the 2011 Adobe Achievement Awards. This is one of the most prestigious award programs for graphic design students worldwide. Congrats to all on these well-deserved honors!


FINALIST:
Paul Hoppe for Exploratorium – Generative Identity
(Application Development category)
Instructor: Brad Bartlett
Class: Type 4: Transmedia


SEMIFINALISTS:
Joseph Won and Lamson To for Abominable

(Motion category)
Class: Digital Motion Compositing
Instructors: Ming Tai, Charles Rose, Paul Saskas

Betsy Tsai for Xacto
(Print Communications category)

Continue reading

Great Teacher Award Recipients Announced

Earlier this year, the Art Center Student Government, together with Student Affairs and the Provost’s Office, together reinstated an annual Great Teacher Award.

The relaunched and revised awards will be presented annually at Summer Term graduation to one full-time, one part-time and one new faculty member, beginning at next week’s ceremony. The recipients are determined through a nomination process open to all enrolled students and a confidential selection committee of students.

The awards are sponsored by the Provost’s Office and Art Center Student Government, and coordinated by Student Affairs. We’re pleased to announce the Great Teacher Award recipients for 2011:

New Teacher:
AFFONSO BEATO

Undergraduate Film Department

Part-Time Faculty:
ERROL GERSON
Humanities and Design Sciences Department

Full-Time Faculty:
HEIDRUN MUMPER-DRUMM
Graphic Design Department
Product Design Department
Humanities & Design Sciences Department

Student Government has requested that Heidrun Mumper-Drumm deliver the Summer 2011 Graduating Class Commencement Address on August 20. The ceremony will begin at 5 p.m. and will be immediately followed by Graduation Show.

Congratulations Affonso, Errol and Heidrun!

Art Center is also taking nominations for the 2011 Art Center Alumni Awards, presented annually at Fall Term Graduation. The Alumni Awards provide Art Center an opportunity to publicly recognize the talent, service and design influence of our alumni.

Nomination categories are: Lifetime Achievement, Outstanding Service and Young Alumni Innovator. Please send all nominations to the Alumni Relations office, alumni@artcenter.edu by Oct. 15.

The Changing Face of the Art Center Catalog

Guest post by Art Center Archivist Robert Dirig

Art Center’s most recent Viewbook has received rave reviews, winning an Art Directors Club Silver Award and now a Gold Award in the 2011 CASE (Council for Advancement and Support of Education) Circle of Excellence Award. Congrats to the Design Office and Marketing and Communications team for these well-deserved honors!

Here in the College Archives, we recently began a project scanning all Art Center catalogs and viewbooks, starting back to the first one published in 1937.

Enjoy this slideshow of images, and let us know if you have any that aren’t included here. We seem to have a gap between 1965-67 and 1972-74. Stay tuned for an announcement for when they are available online!

To visit the Archives, or to donate materials, contact Art Center Archivist Robert Dirig at 626.396.2208 or robert.dirig@artcenter.edu.

Art Center Tops IDSA College Wins with Six Awards

Cadence by Seth Astle

Today the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA) unveiled the winners of the 2011 International Design Excellence Awards (IDEA) program—a celebration of design excellence in products, sustainability, interaction design, packaging, strategy, research and concepts.

We’re excited and honored to report that Art Center topped this year’s list of college wins with six student and professional awards. In total, Art Center has won 59 IDEAs since 1991—more than any other school, and in the top 10 of any other institution, corporate or educational.

This year’s winners:

Product Design

Grad ID

Design Strategy & Management (professional category)

  • BRONZE: Mariana Amatullo, Elisa Ruffino, David Mocarski, Karen Hofmann, Liliana Becerra, Penny Herscovitch, Dan Gottlieb, Safe Agua project

Art Center also had many finalists:

  • German Aguirre, Centaur High Performance Quad Rugby Wheelchair
  • KC Cho and Jackie Black, SAFE AGUA: ReLava Kitchen Workstation
  • Jessica Yeh & Narbeh Dereghishian, SAFE AGUA: Ducha Halo Portable Shower
  • Stéphane Angoulvant, Dexter Work Sled
  • Joel Greenspan, Oplei Transitional Running Shoe
  • Jin Kim, Flameingo Sustainable Fire Extinguisher
  • Joey Wang, Lien Sustainable Funerary Ritual for Taiwan
  • Mark Huang, Orbital modular sport performance eyewear for POC
  • Mike Wang, STACK Traffic Control Products
  • Matthew Lim, Sennheiser Eco-Vinyl Turntable
  • Pengtao Yu, U-Haul Emergency Response Conversion Kit for the American Red Cross

Congratulations to all the students, faculty, and staff for your hard work and for a job well done! Co.Design has a nice gallery of the winners on their site.