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
"I learned how to work with and for others and how to put the client’s needs above my own. I had to know everything about my target user and create with them in mind."
Jie Gu, Student, Interaction Design
"As designers we need to remain accountable, with measureable outcomes and ways of making small moves to create big impacts."
Stephanie Dhillon, Environmental Design, Student
"The students confronted important issues from personal vantage points, ultimately ensuring that others would care about them, too."
Sherry Hoffman, Humanities & Sciences, Faculty
“It is one thing to know and design for an ‘end user’, but it’s another to sit across from someone in their own living room and hear their personal story. It humanizes the work we do and gives it meaning and value.”
Narbeh Dereghishian, Product Design '10,
Created by - Yuki Nori and Grant Higa
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
Video created by Ricardo Imperial Jr. & Isaac Ruiz.
A short film documenting a studio challenge to imagine design in the 2025 product year for lifestyle brand Vans.
"Design can capture and integrate the best of science, technology and art to provide a clear, compelling roadmap to a more sustainable future."
Jerry Schubel Ph.D. President and CEO, Aquarium of the Pacific
“Innovation emerges out of a deep partnership between design students and community members.”
Penny Herscovitch and Dan Gottlieb, Associate Professors, Environmental Design
A behind the scenes of the Fall 2014, Vans sponsored trans-disciplinary studio and the design challenge of consumer-driven customizations.
"It’s not just about the product, it’s about the person, it’s about making real impact.”
Margaux Reynolds, Student, Product Design
This book documents the third iteration—in Altos del Pino, Bogotá—of the award-winning Safe Agua project addressing water poverty.
"The students confronted important issues from personal vantage points, ultimately ensuring that others would care about them, too."
Sherry Hoffman, Humanities & Sciences, Faculty
“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
A short film detailing the innovative Designmatters-led anti-gun violence curricular program, Where’s Daryl, and its pilot rollout in the Los Angeles Unified School District in spring 2013. A short film detailing the innovative anti-gun violence curricular program and its rollout in the Los Angeles Unified School District. Written and Directed by Benjamin Weiss, Shot and Edited by H.R. McDonald
A witty PSA produced in partnership with the United States Geological Society to raise awareness about tsunami dangers and safety measures.
“We do not design in a vacuum; we design for the world, in the world.”
David Mocarski, Chair, Environmental Design
A documentary short about the creation of “Mark & the Jellybean Monster,” part of the Uncool Children’s Book Library Series.
A documentary short about the creation of “Amos' New Life,” part of the Uncool Children’s Book Library Series.
A brochure developed in a design-led studio, Project Coastal Crisis, focusing on public education and action strategies to address rising sea levels.
"I learned how to work with and for others and how to put the client’s needs above my own. I had to know everything about my target user and create with them in mind."
Jie Gu, Student, Interaction Design
"Art can create awareness and open a dialogue about topics that people wouldn’t otherwise talk about."
Sharon Levy, Product Design, Student
Safe Agua Peru Documentary directed by Erik Anderson
"It’s not about me saying, 'Here’s what to do.' It’s about all of us deciding, 'What can we do together?'."
Guillaume Wolf, Graphic Design, Faculty
This multiple award-winning film (Cannes, Art Directors Club) celebrates the 50th anniversary of the aid organization Project Concern International.
A moving PSA highlighting the work of the Organization of American States as part of their 100th anniversary celebration.
Short film profiling the unique social impact design methodologies and project solutions behind the 2010 Safe Agua Chile studio.
“It is one thing to know and design for an ‘end user’, but it’s another to sit across from someone in their own living room and hear their personal story. It humanizes the work we do and gives it meaning and value.”
Narbeh Dereghishian, Product Design '10,
“Innovation emerges out of a deep partnership between design students and community members.”
Penny Herscovitch and Dan Gottlieb, Associate Professors, Environmental Design
An animated short calling for the empowerment of girls and women, in support of the United Nations Population Fund.
"This class strengthened my work by helping me express my personal voice through content with meaningful impact."
Ashley Pinnick Illustration, Designmatters Concentration, Student
A touching short in support of young people the world over and the United Nations Population Fund.
A humorous but cutting look at the way Americans use water, highlighting the need to conserve.
A heart-wrenching look at the need to conserve, and how we might set our water-use priorities.
"As designers we need to remain accountable, with measureable outcomes and ways of making small moves to create big impacts."
Stephanie Dhillon, Environmental Design, Student
"A designer’s desire to change the world can be incompatible with empathy, which necessitates relinquishing the impulse to remake the world as it should be in favor of grasping the world as it is for others."
Arden Stern, Faculty, Humanities & Sciences
A multiple award-winning PSA (ADDY, Telly, Cannes) asking us all to take our share of responsibility for climate change.
A chronicle of the Mpala Integrated Health Mobile Clinic for Remote Communities in Kenya project.
"Socially conscious designers can inject new ways of thinking into the world to help deal with pervasive social and environmental problems (such as inequity and the hyper-production of wasteful and harmful things)."
Mari Nakano, Grad Media Design '09, Visual Design Lead, UNICEF Innovation Unit
One of a series of PSAs for the UNFPA calling attention to the somber global statistics and consequences of maternal fatalities in childbirth.
One of a series of PSAs for the UNFPA calling attention to the somber global statistics and consequences of maternal fatalities in childbirth.
This PSA is one of a series taking a pointed approach to earthquake preparedness in Southern California.
"This class strengthened my work by helping me express my personal voice through content with meaningful impact."
Ashley Pinnick Illustration, Designmatters Concentration, Student
“Each student brings individual life experiences, diverse cultural upbringings, varied interests and perspectives to the subject displaying the many ways see and converse about a problem.”
Krystina Castella, Faculty, Product Design
A humorous, multiple award-winning PSA (ADDY, Cannes) on the subject of family obesity.
An animated short for the AIDS Institute promoting safe sex in the Caribbean through a combination of sensible lifestyle choices and condom use.
"One of the best ways to change public perception is to combine art with science.”
Dr. Jerry Schubel, President & CEO, Aquarium of the Pacific
An animated short for the AIDS Institute promoting safe sex in the Caribbean through a combination of sensible lifestyle choices and condom use.
An animated short for the AIDS Institute promoting safe sex in the Caribbean through a combination of sensible lifestyle choices and condom use.
A PSA raising awareness of progress toward realization of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals.
“We do not design in a vacuum; we design for the world, in the world.”
David Mocarski, Chair, Environmental Design
"It’s not just about the product, it’s about the person, it’s about making real impact.”
Margaux Reynolds, Student, Product Design
This book documents a project to explore digital story-sharing in the developing world, with field projects in the Philippines and the Caribbean.
This book documents concepts in enhanced mobility design as developed in the Johnson Controls-sponsored “Driven Environment in 2015” studio.
"All of a sudden, I wasn’t a student working in a classroom in Pasadena, but a person with responsibility and potential to change the world."
Jonathan Goldman Advertising, Student
One of an eye-opening series of PSAs about alcohol marketing, on behalf of the Pan American Health Organization.
A PSA commissioned by the United Nations Development Fund for Women addressing domestic violence.
A PSA warning of the impact of domestic violence on children, distributed by the Pan American Health Organization.
"One of the best ways to change public perception is to combine art with science.”
Dr. Jerry Schubel, President & CEO, Aquarium of the Pacific
“Sustainability remains the most important idea of the 21st century: that is, that a regenerative and reciprocal relationship with the planet (and its inhabitants) is possible and will ensure our survival.”
Heidrun Mumper-Drumm, Product Design, H&S and Graphic Design Faculty & Director of Sustainability Initiatives
A pointed PSA in support of gender equality, on behalf of the UNFPA.
The Nyumbani Village Concept Cards were developed to document research, findings and outcomes of the Nyumbani Village: Kenya project.
"It’s not about me saying, 'Here’s what to do.' It’s about all of us deciding, 'What can we do together?'."
Guillaume Wolf, Graphic Design, Faculty
A parable addressing the topic and tragic consequences of drunk driving among youth.