Tag Archives: Project H

Can Good Design Truly Change a Community?

Last year, Emily Pilloton of Project H packed up and left San Francisco for Bertie Country, N.C., with a single mission: to improve life in one of the poorest places in the U.S. through better design.

With her partner Matthew Miller, Pilloton has already established a design-oriented vocational high school program, crafted graphics for an ad campaign promoting free broadband, and built a computer lab and four playgrounds that teach kids math, based on a version done in Uganda. Not bad for just one year.

Find out how what her next plans in Bertie County are in this new Forbes interview: Emily Pilloton on How Design Can Change The World

It’s All Good: Designmatters Brings Innovative Guests to Campus

A major component to the mission of Art Center’s Designmatters Department, which invites students from all disciplines to address humanitarian and social challenges, is to lead “an ongoing exploration of design as a positive force in society.”

Part of this exploration takes place in the field—Designmatters has organized dozens of projects, including the recent Safe Agua Chile, in which students developed systems for storing, transporting and conserving water in impoverished Chilean neighborhoods—but another part happens right here on campus.

Special events give students the chance to meet provocative and inspirational individuals who are using design to make a real difference.

Two recent Designmatters-sponsored events at Hillside Campus did just that.

On January 28, Designmatters and Acting Chief Academic Officer Nik Hafermaas presented “Leading Change for Social Impact: Perspectives from Prominent Innovators,” a forum moderated by Adlai Wertman, professor at the USC Marshall School of Business.

The panelists for the evening event in the Ahmanson Auditorium included Mariana Amatullo, vice president and director of Designmatters, who highlighted several recent departmental projects; Rhys Newman, head of strategic projects at Nokia Design, who explained how he uses his company’s extraordinary global reach to push environmental initiatives; and Jonathan Greenblatt, founder of Ethos Water and the open-source All for Good volunteering website, who discussed the business models behind his ventures and the power of the Web to effect social change.

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Design Revolution Road Show Recap

The Design Revolution Road Show was here! Featuring a biodiesel-powered truck and super-cool Airstream trailer filled with tangible examples of humanitarian industrial design, the show came to Hillside Campus on Monday. Check out their first-hand account of the visit, and view a video of the foot-powered WEZA pedal-treadle pump generator that powers the trailer, on the Design Revolution Road Show website. What an interesting day—thanks for the visit!

Design Revolution Road Show Rolls Onto Campus Monday

Monday promises to be quite an exciting day at Hillside Campus, thanks to the Design Revolution Road Show. The traveling exhibition, book tour, lecture and workshop series is bringing “product design that empowers” to more than 30 design universities and high schools across the nation. A Project H Design initiative, the road show features a biodiesel-powered truck and Airstream trailer filled with tangible examples of humanitarian industrial design solutions (also showcased in the book Design Revolution: 100 Products that Empower People).

The all-day exhibition, presented at Art Center in collaboration with Designmatters, Alumni Relations and GOOD, will feature a lecture by Emily Pilloton, founder and executive director of Project H Design. The airstream trailer will be parked in front of the main entrance at Hillside Campus, open for viewing from noon until 10 pm. An evening reception will be held starting at 6 pm. You don’t want to miss this!

Design Revolution Road Show
Monday, February 8
Art Center’s Hillside Campus

Open exhibition times: Noon-10 pm
Evening reception: 6-10 pm