designmatters | Where art & design education meets social change.

Designmatters

Welcome to Designmatters at ArtCenter College of Design

Where art & design education meets social change.
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Branded: How Brands Shape Ideas, Identities and Society

This Designmatters studio in Fall 2022 invited students to decode ideological aspects of brand messaging and values to learn how brands shape personal and collective identities.
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Designing for Green Justice: Protecting the White Sage Campaign

In this Designmatters studio, students explored the connections between Los Angeles’ indigenous past, present, and future relationships with native plant life – and the opportunities for non-natives to learn about the land they live on. The recent cultural appropriate of white sage “cleansing” by non-natives – and the subsequent destructive poaching of the sacred plant to fulfill demand – offered students a doorway into more complex issues involving stewardship of native habitats, indigenous land rights, and settler colonialism.
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Designing Advocacy: Arts Education + Graphic Design Implementation

With support from the California Arts Council and in partnership with Create CA, a nonprofit that advocates for high-quality arts education for all students, this ArtCenter ACX studio invited high school and college students to learn organizing principles, case making and design process fundamentals as they translated concepts into powerful visual messaging. Meeting virtually, students from across California developed graphic posters that supported arts education, advocated for more arts options in California schools, and celebrated the benefits of studying the arts.
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The (Re)Search for Inclusive Healthcare

In partnership with Cedars-Sinai Research Center for Health Equity, this Fall 2022 Designmatters studio challenged ArtCenter students to explore the current lack of diverse representation in clinical trials. By designing an inviting digital and print awareness campaign, Los Angeles Latino and Korean community members would possibly consider participating in clinical trials; likewise healthcare providers, who often are subject to racial biases, would consider inviting members of these ethnic communities to become involved in potentially life-saving cancer treatments.
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Designing Democracy: The Future of Civic Engagement

In the Summer of 2022., this research-led transdisciplinary Designmatters studio challenged students to explore the past, present and future of democratic participation and civic engagement – and consider how design thinking can play an instrumental role in the election process along with building frameworks and strategies for the future.
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Designmatters Project Archive

List of all Designmatters Case Studies in Chronological order.
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VAX for All: Design to Overcome Vaccine Hesitancy and Achieve Equity

This Designmatters Transdiciplinary Studio, challenged ArtCenter students to design interventions and customizable solutions that would ensure all Angelenos have access to life-saving COVID-19 vaccines.
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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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Detectable Preventable: Promoting Colorectal Cancer Screenings Within the Filipino-American Community

In partnership with Cedars-Sinai Research Center for Health Equity (CRCHE), this Designmatters and Graphic Design studio challenged ArtCenter students to create a comprehensive multi-modal campaign targeted to the local Filipino-American community to encourage colorectal cancer screenings and bring awareness of the the increasing rate of cancer diagnoses within the population.
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Birthing Barriers: Designing for Black Birth Equity

This Designmatters Studio challenged transdisciplinary students to learn about the disparity and dangers facing pregnant Black birthing people in Los Angeles County who are four times more likely than white birthing people to die of complications related to pregnancy and childbirth.
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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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Mind Matters: Empowering Young People with Skills to Support Their Mental Wellbeing

In the Spring of 2021, Designmatters partnered with The Dibble Institute, a nonprofit publisher specializing in materials that helps young people build strong and healthy emotional connections.
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Symbiosis in Nature and Community

In partnership with the J. Craig Venter Institute, this Designmatters studio challenged ArtCenter students to explore, conceptualize and translate scientific research on symbiosis into compelling visuals that communicate scientific discoveries to a broad range of audiences. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. IOS 1926972.
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Bee Lab: Designing for Wild Bee Conservation & Biodiversity

Working with biologists, scientific researchers and community advocates, student teams conducted field research, interviewed experts and conceptualized conservation outreach efforts that would benefit bees and help humans better understand these insects as important ecological links.
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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.

Branded: How Brands Shape Ideas, Identities and Society

Designing for Green Justice: Protecting the White Sage Campaign

The (Re)Search for Inclusive Healthcare

“When I see really powerful student projects happen it’s because the students have genuinely become interested in and care about who will be using, seeing or encountering their design. It’s an exercise in empathy.”
Arden Stern, Humanities & Sciences, Faculty

Designing Advocacy: Arts Education + Graphic Design Implementation

Designing Democracy: The Future of Civic Engagement

FY21 Designmatters Goals

"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

ArtCenter Faculty Members Receive $200,000 Grant to Improve Online Archive Access for Those With Disabilities

Pasadena Now / January 2021

Birthing Barriers: Designing for Black Birth Equity

Detectable Preventable: Promoting Colorectal Cancer Screenings Within the Filipino-American Community

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DESIGNMATTERS MINOR IN SOCIAL INNOVATION

A transcripted course of study for ArtCenter undergraduate students in social innovation

FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM

ArtCenter students are embedded in host organizations for one full 14-week academic term to work on high-level projects.

Designmatters Faculty

The Designmatters Residency

"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