Real Change Movement
Read MoreA real-world outreach to create long-term, self-sustaining design solutions to harness the community’s compassion and reduce homelessness in Pasadena.
A real-world outreach to create long-term, self-sustaining design solutions to harness the community’s compassion and reduce homelessness in Pasadena.

In the Open Ocean studio, Designmatters students created a public awareness campaign for the Aquarium of the Pacific centered on the topic of ocean exploration.



“The problem the students were trying to solve, in essence, was how to visualize data. These teams figured out ways to understand, digest and make data real. That’s a difficult task, but bringing together transdisciplinary students seemed to facilitate and accelerate the process. Each of them – product designers, graphic designers, advertising, etc. – was oriented to view and contribute in a unique way that added depth to the concepts.”
Petrula Vrontikis, Instructor



Students were given the challenge of designing and installing a large scale mural on the topic of youth unemployment.

A challenge to create a visually appealing, scientifically based and entertaining motion graphics film to disseminate tsunami early warning messages in Southern California.

"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
Creative repurposing of parking meters was one solution to support the homeless community and mitigate panhandling.


After field research in India, students built furniture prototypes for use in the high quality, low cost housing championed by the social entrepreneurship nonprofit Ashoka.
