designmatters | Where art & design education meets social change.

Designmatters

Welcome to Designmatters at ArtCenter College of Design

Where art & design education meets social change.
More About Us
Digital Synergy: Empowering L.A. Arts Organizations

In partnership with The Mary Pickford Foundation and Mary Pickford Arts Alliance, this Designmatters studio challenged ArtCenter students to investigate the local landscape of non-profit arts organizations to understand their unique challenges. Students developed digital platform concepts for how these nonprofits can virtually collaborate to share resources, attract new volunteers and garner funds for future and ongoing programs – fostering networking opportunities and creating a support system for organizations to grow and innovate.
View Project
CITY ANIMALS

In collaboration with the Arroyos and Foothills Conservancy (AFC), a local nonprofit dedicated to conserving and protecting natural open spaces to combat climate change and support wildlife habitats, this Designmatters Transdisciplinary studio engaged students in exploring the challenges of habitat fragmentation through the medium of data visualization.
View Project
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 in Spring 2024 empowered high school and early college students to use their creativity to advocate for arts education in public schools since only 11% of California public schools meet the state’s standards-based art education mandate.
View Project
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.
View Project
Igniting Local Change: LGBTQ+ Advocacy for Health Justice

In the Fall of 2023, with the partnership of Cedars-Sinai Research Center for Health Equality, and a grant from the California Department of Public Health, this Designmatters studio challenged ArtCenter students to create a campaign that would encourage LGBTQ+ communities in LA’s South Bay to become advocates for health justice, with a focus on tobacco use.
View Project
Mobile Detection: California’s First Lung Cancer Screening Van

In partnership with Cedars-Sinai Research Center for Health Equality, this Designmatters studio challenged transdisciplinary ArtCenter students to co-create a comprehensive community-based campaign and brand identity for California’s first lung cancer screening van, to be rolled out in Los Angeles and Orange Counties in 2025.
View Project
Electrifying Equality TDS

The State of California will ban the sale of new gasoline vehicles by 2035. With the new mandate in-mind, this Fall 2023 Designmatters studio challenged transdisciplinary ArtCenter students to imagine how our increasingly electrified future can serve all residents equitably, especially when it comes to owning electric vehicles (EVs) and accessibility to charging facilities.
View Project
It Is That Deep: Thoughts on Teaching

This Designmatters studio supported ArtCenter students who were interested to understand the methodology of designing effective curriculum as it relates to a particular art-related field/topic. Students were challenged to craft their own teaching statements along with developing their own pedagogy, philosophy and curriculum.
View Project
Never Again 9066: Artists and Designers Against Asian Violence

This Designmatters studio in the Spring of 2023, invited transdisciplinary students to study the unconstitutional incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II, known as Executive Order 9066.
View Project
Safe Niños: Holistic Healing Environments at Concepcíon Campus

Designmatters Students were challenged to design holistic environments for a rehabilitation campus in Concepcíon, Chile - transforming the space into a place of learning, empowerment, and healing.
View Project
A GOOD STOPPING POINT: SMOKING CESSATION CAMPAIGNS FOR LGBTQIA+

With a grant from the LA County Department of Health Services, the Cedars-Sinai Research Center for Health Equity joined forces with Designmatters and the Graphic Design Department to challenge ArtCenter transdisciplinary students to develop a campaign advocating tobacco cessation for the LGBTQIA+ communities, which have some of the highest tobacco rates in the United States.
View Project
Designing Advocacy: Arts Education + Graphic Design Implementation

With support from the California Arts Council and in partnership with Create CA, 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.
View Project
The (Re)Search for Inclusive Healthcare

Partnered with Cedars-Sinai Research Center for Health Equity, ArtCenter students were challenged to explore a lack of diverse representation in clinical trials. By designing an awareness campaign, the hope is to encourage clinical trial participation with Los Angeles Latino and Korean communities - as well as inform healthcare providers about their own biases.
View Project
Designmatters Project Archive

List of all Designmatters Case Studies in Chronological order.
View Page
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
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.
Read more
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
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.
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.

Digital Synergy: Empowering L.A. Arts Organizations

CITY ANIMALS

Designing Advocacy: Arts Education + Graphic Design Implementation

"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

Mobile Detection: California’s First Lung Cancer Screening Van

It Is That Deep: Thoughts on Teaching

Electrifying Equality TDS

"It is very empowering for designers to see how their projects can actually make an impact in people’s lives."
Liliana Becerra, Product Design, Faculty

Safe Niños: Holistic Healing Environments at Concepcíon Campus

A GOOD STOPPING POINT: SMOKING CESSATION CAMPAIGNS FOR LGBTQIA+

Safe Niños: Games, Stories, and Animations to prevent Childhood Burns

View all projects

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

“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