designmatters | Where art & design education meets social change.

Welcome to Designmatters at ArtCenter College of Design
Where art & design education meets social change.
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COANIQUEM: Safe Niños: Co-creating Innovative Healing Environments for Children
Student teams co-created playful and therapeutic environments that will welcome young burn patients and their families at COANIQUEM’s two satellite campuses spread far across the expansive country: Antofagasta (in the north) and Puerto Montt (south).
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Seeing the Unseen: Visualizing Flow Patterns of Mesopelagic Ocean Eddies
ArtCenter students design interactive data visualization projects based on the elusive underwater movement patterns of ocean eddies.
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The Designmatters Minor in Social Innovation
The Designmatters Minor in social innovation is a course of study for ArtCenter undergraduate students who want to master a toolkit of design skills and strategies to navigate the complex dynamics of working with communities and designing for social change.
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Fellowship Program
The Designmatters Fellowship Program embeds top ArtCenter students in host organizations for one full 14-week academic term to work on high-level projects and explore the mission, model and meaning of the host organization’s work.
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PACIFIC RIM: Eco Research Lab Costa Rica
ArtCenter students collaborated with Tama students and faculty for two weeks to study, explore and be inspired by the rich biodiversity of the Costa Rica ecological landscape to later design sustainable spaces, materials innovations, furnishings and experiences.
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Designing Democracy: The Future of Civic Engagement
In partnership with California Common Cause, ArtCenter students created campaigns, collateral and experiences aimed to increase voter participation and citizen empowerment.
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Design Smarter: Reimagining Electronics for Repair & Recycle
ArtCenter students explore the economics, systems and processes of e-waste to create an innovative product or system that efficiently utilizes materials, processes, manufacturing, packaging, distribution, repair, reuse, recycling and end-of-life.
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Designmatters Project Archive
List of all Designmatters Case Studies in Chronological order.
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Building Trust, Bridging Divides: Visual Communication/Branding Programming for the LBPD
This studio challenged transdisciplinary students to develop a visually compelling and technology-infused awareness campaign and branding program, to build understanding and empathy between the LBPD and the diverse communities of Long Beach.
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Smart Image/Social Impact: Myth vs. Reality in the Immigration Debate
Illustration students worked with United We Stay (UWS), a nonprofit immigrant advocacy organization, on their final projects to debunk the myths surrounding immigrants in America.
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A Future Vision for the Aquarium of the Pacific
Packard Fellowship invited ArtCenter students, faculty to develop concepts for a new wing at Aquarium of the Pacific!
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Socially Engaged Art: Art in Urban Community Green Spaces
Sponsored by the Mary Pickford Foundation, this Designmatters studio teamed ArtCenter students with high schoolers from the Ramona Gardens public housing development to create an art-filled event at Alvarez Park.
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Introduction

The Designmatters educational platform at ArtCenter College of Design joins collaboration with experimentation, experience with reflection, problem-solving with problem-discovery, and purpose with action.

Our Mission

Through research, advocacy and action, Designmatters engages, empowers and leads an ongoing exploration of art and design as a positive force in society.

Recent News

COANIQUEM: Safe Niños: Co-creating Innovative Healing Environments for Children

For the Future: Connecting Underserved Young Parents With Vital Resources

“Innovation is deliberate. It’s about solving problems without creating new ones. To innovate is to enable one to share our natural empathy and be able to allow others a new means for expression. Innovation is something humans and other creatures have been doing forever, be it by instinct or experimentation. We innovate to survive and to create positive solutions to simplify and better our lives.”
Mari Nakano, Grad Media Design '09, Visual Design Lead, UNICEF Innovation Unit

Jennifer May Appointed Executive Director of Designmatters

ArtCenter / August 2019

ALTOGETHER NOW! TRANSDISCIPLINARY STUDIO COURSES ALLOW STUDENTS TO COLLABORATE ACROSS DIFFERENT MAJORS

ArtCenter / October 2019

How Design Can SAVE THE WORLD / Alumni Mariana Prieto

TYT's The Conversation / October 2019

“Though the fields of design, art, social work, advertising and journalism use different languages to describe their process, when we're at our best we're all trying to accomplish something similar: with every creative act, we push people in a purposeful, positive direction. We leave the world better than we started.”
Wendy MacNaughton, Illustration Alum & Faculty

Socially Engaged Art: Art in Urban Community Green Spaces

Engage + Envision + Empower: Creating a Safe Sex Culture in the City of Long Beach

Building Trust, Bridging Divides: Visual Communication/Branding Programming for the City of Long Beach Police Department and Community

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"In a time when we are bombarded with imagery, it was an amazing experience to really understand the power of design as a vital communication tool."
Christina Nizar, Graphic Design, Student