designmatters | Where art & design education meets social change.

Welcome to Designmatters at ArtCenter College of Design
Where art & design education meets social change.
More About Us
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!
View Project
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 that would celebrate and connect the Boyle Heights community with its cultural and natural surroundings through projects that explore self-expression and ideas of environmental justice.
View Project
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.
View Project
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.
Read more
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.
Read more
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.
View Project
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.
View Project
Design Smarter: Reimagining Electronics for Repair & Recycle
The Fall 2018 Design for Sustainability 2: Design Smarter: Reimagining Electronics for Repair & Recycle studio in partnership with Homeboy Electronics Recycling challenged students to 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.
View Project
Designmatters Project Archive
List of all Designmatters Case Studies in Chronological order.
View Page
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.
View Project
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.
View Project

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

A Future Vision for the Aquarium of the Pacific

WORKSHOP: Self-Innovation for Social Innovation

"Art can create awareness and open a dialogue about topics that people wouldn’t otherwise talk about."
Sharon Levy, Product Design, Student

The Es Tiempo Campaign

Summer 2009 - Host Department: Advertising

ENGAGING + REFRAMING THE ‘REFUGEE’ CRISIS

Social Design Insights / May 2019

Socially Engaged Art: Art in Urban Community Green Spaces

"Because this was not just an academic exercise, I learned so much about messaging, keeping things consistent, and understanding the psychology of a real campaign."
Liz Levin, Advertising, Student

Big Lessons from the Big Apple: The LA i-team reflects on the NYC’s Service Design Studio

“Where’s Daryl?” Interaction Design Studio

COANIQUEM: Safe Niños Designing Innovative Interactive Environments for Pediatric Healing

View all projects

The students were engaged in very sophisticated research, debate and discussion in this studio, but what really impressed me, in the final production push, was that they were intelligently talking through the options, weighing each decision carefully. The final push was a very mature and professional working team. They worked like a real studio.
Todd Masilko, Associate Professor, Interaction Design