Designmatters

Across the globe irreplaceable, high-biodiversity ecosystems across our world's oceans-such as coral reefs, seagrass meadows, mangroves, and coastal forests--are heavily threatened. These biodiversity hotspots are not only vital for their ecological significance but also for their role in carbon storage. The stakes are high, and the loss of these ecosystems is not an option. Conservation International works to restore and protect these vital areas, while ensuring that these precious environments-and the communities that rely on them-continue to thrive. In this Designmatters transdisciplinary studio, students will create concepts and projects that explore the ecological balance and connection between ocean biodiversity hotspots and humanity.

PPPSGV will be opening a new health center to serve Pasadena, Altadena and the surrounding neighborhoods in the Fall of 2025, with the vision of creating a space that reflects, serves and heals the community- a gathering space for care, connection and growth. How might the new health center use art and design to celebrate and reflect the communities served by PPPSGV? In this 14-week studio, students will work with healthcare workers, community leaders, architects and designers to understand the local community's history and culture. Students will generate concepts for murals and other artistic interventions for the new PPPSGV health center that will celebrate and reflect the surrounding community, while providing a sense of peace and well-being for patients, staff and volunteers. PPPSGV will select and fund the implementation of one or more student concepts.

Cedars-Sinai Cancer Research Center for Health Equity (CRCHE) brings together researchers and stakeholders to address and correct health inequities that impact communities in Southern California. CRCHE conducts research and gathers cancer-related data showing disparities in screening and mortality rates across different locations and demographics. It also offers a range of open-source, evidence-based solutions to help mitigate these disparities. In this Designmatters studio, students will explore how to help community organizations utilize CRCHE data to identify health equity issues, then bridge these insights to actionable, evidence-based solutions that address the specific needs of local communities. Through collaborative, interdisciplinary work, students will gain exposure to anti-racist frameworks, decolonial perspectives, and ethical research practices that honor community voices and knowledge toward connecting communities, data, and meaningful action.

In this studio course, students will develop concepts for static and interactive data visualizations using data from the Arroyos & Foothills Land Conservancy on wildlife living in and around Los Angeles county, bringing greater understanding to their habits, patterns, challenges and purpose in our shared urban environment.

In this Designmatters and Interaction Design studio course, Arts Consortium LA asks students to develop concepts for a digital platform that facilitates discovery, collaboration, innovation, and growth in emerging Southern California arts nonprofits, enabling them to more effectively fulfill their respective missions. Students will work with Arts Consortium LA members and other nonprofit arts organizations to understand the opportunities and challenges they face in their work, and how a digital platform might support them in connecting one another and serving their communities. Insights from this research will be integrated into concepts for a digital platform centering the experience of the arts organizations from onboarding to sustainable growth.

The Designmatters Topic Studio is a transdisciplinary course with a unique social innovation design challenge each term. Students will engage with subject matter experts and non-profit organizations on real-world social innovation design challenges, revolving around the themes of Sustainable Development, Public Policy, Health, Social Entrepreneurship, and Social Justice. Designmatters Topic Studios help develop a community of equity-minded designers, and these themes build on blending story-telling and skill-building, as well as exploring historical and cultural contexts and concrete actionable strategies for students to increase their capacity to create a positive impact through their design practices.

In continued partnership with Kindred Space Los Angeles, students will collaboratively further design established comprehensive multi-modal awareness campaigns with the goal of facilitating access to equitable child birthing experiences, increasing awareness around black midwifery and improving health outcomes while addressing the Black Maternal health crisis in America.

Prada pulls racist trinkets. Netflix airs transphobic special. Cannes awards gender-biased ads. What do these headlines tell us? Brands are every bit as social as they are commercial. Viewed through the lens of identity, brands hold the power to exploit, marginalize, and even create social identities. Similarly, brands play a vital-and sometimes violent-role in defining the "other," blurring the line between profit and politics. In this studio, students learn how to read brands as belief systems that inscribe social codes. Lecture content and course readings draw on the fields of psychology, political theory, brand strategy, and more to underscore how brands like Prada, Netflix, Cannes (and more) affect race, gender, and class relations, among myriad other sociopolitical categories. Student teams translate course learnings into a brand identity system of their making that resists negative social stereotypes. They may also find some new identities of their own in the process. This course is eligible for the Designmatters Minor in Social Innovation.

In Designmatters' first fully developed and scoped TDS by Illustration students Racheal Chan and Constant Pearson, this course reframes education as "a process of living and not a preparation for future living", as American philosopher John Dewey stated more than a century ago. How can we transform the traditional classroom into one of vibrant community, where the growth and flourishment of all in the classroom is of utmost importance? Here, we are concerned with respecting the full potential of everyone that enters the classroom withintentional and deliberate education.  In this studio, we will define what education means to us through developing pedagogy and curriculum that is uniquely informed by our individual practices. This course will make space for students to investigate how they might embody a pedagogy that supports diverse, inclusive and accessible educational experiences by way of designing their own unique process book and serve as a basis for future educational opportunities. intentional and deliberate education.   In this studio, we will define what education means to us through developing pedagogy and curriculum that is uniquely informed by our individual practices. This course will make space for students to investigate how they might embody a pedagogy that supports diverse, inclusive and accessible educational experiences by way of designing their own unique process book and serve as a basis for future educational opportunities.

In this Design Matters TDS, students will zero in on possible futures of DEAD MALLS. We start by asking two key questions. First: Should dead, unused suburban malls be resurrected or remain ancient commercial ruins of twentieth century spatial planning? Second: If they are to be resurrected, what if Dead Malls could be turned into Healthy Space - healthy for living, learning, working, healing and play? Given the urban and suburban complexity the topic, we will learn from guest speakers, panel discussions, field trips and workshops regarding how to transforming large scale "dead" and unused architecture into viable community-centers, such as, Equity housing, Community health centers, educational centers for Green Living or Entertainment Centers. Our focus will be on healthy options - healthy for people, planet and profit. This course is eligible for the Designmatters Minor in Social Innovation

What does it mean for design to be beautiful, or to be considered "good"? How do aesthetics fit into design for social change? While aesthetics are often associated with ideas of style or beauty, the study of aesthetics has expanded to include analyzing many forms of sensory experience in relation to values, taste, and power. The Aesthetics of Power will explore the social forces shaping design knowledge and practice while examining how knowledge and resources reproduce cultural, social, and ecological imbalances. This studio course will challenge students to apply what they learn in order to build more sophisticated design and research methods. This course is eligible for the Designmatters Minor in Social Innovation

As California prepares for a ban on gasoline vehicles by 2035, and the nation is funding and building toward an increasingly electrified future, how can we ensure the wave of changes to come serve all equally, rather than some more equally than others? From the paved over Red Car rail lines to glossed over Redlining, our city has a history of development that embodies the motivations and needs of some populations more than - and at times at the expense of - others. What can we learn from this history and the electrification efforts being made today locally, nationally, and globally? To be effective, this effort will need This transdisciplinary studio welcomes perspectives and skills from across ArtCenter disciplines to design a broad range of concepts: How might we devise a charging experience inclusive of a range of languages, heights, or disabilities? How might we design a campaign that sparks awareness and advocates for all communities to share in the benefits of electrification? or is shared far beyond the region? All with a willingness to help and contribute are welcome to Join us as we survey the ever changing landscape of the electrification movement and delve into the perspectives and challenges of communities, business owners, and the dynamics of government programs and corporate interests. We will leave with a clearer understanding from those at the forefront of the movement - and perhaps work that becomes a case study for informs best practices in directing funding resources more equally, equitably, and effectively throughout Los Angeles' fabric of ethnically rich and socioeconomically diverse residents in the coming years.

This Designmatters TDS will address the concept of "kinship" and what it means to rediscover our deep connections and belonging to a world of non-human others. In this studio, students will understand, debate, and explore varied conceptual frameworks of kinship concerning the greater-than-human world; Apply class content from a range of sources-including ecological philosophy, aboriginal knowledge-ways, animism, and more-toward designed outcomes and; Design an artifice that translates kinship concepts into an event, ritual, or system.

Data shows that Pasadena's vaccination efforts have been more successful than surrounding cities, but unevenly distributed. While overall 99.7% of Pasadena residents having received at least one dose of the vaccine, Black and Latinx populations, as well as children aged 5-11 and adults aged 18-44, have lower rates of vaccination. In addition, the vaccine will soon be approved for the final group of the youngest children, aged 0-4, with the decision power resting with their parents and guardians. What can be done to support vaccination rates for all of these populations? How can people be directed to trustworthy and reliable sources about health information? What can be done to help people navigate the healthcare system and get access to the vaccines? In this studio, students will work with the Pasadena Public Health Department and on-the-ground subject matter experts such as promotoras, lay health advocates who connect Spanish-speaking communities with the healthcare system, and community clinics to develop a community-based campaign to address these questions, using traditional and non-traditional media and methods.

Native Habitat Restoration and Greening Initiatives within urban ecosystems is a primary concern to environmental justice advocates, restoration ecologists, and communities facing the increasing impacts of climate change. This studio will work within a community located along the Los Angeles Basin on concepts to advocate for and envision green spaces and native habitat restoration. The class will focus on visualizing site-specific connections between the community, plant and animal life through mapping, awareness campaigns, educational tools and other design outcomes. We will brainstorm and prototype together with community stakeholders, environmentalists, and scientists. Both in design and restoration, instructors will bring students into frameworks that practice environmental equity and justice, including indigenous land practices.

How might LGBTQIA+ communities in LA's South Bay be well positioned to advocate for health justice at the local level? This is a key question for this Designmatters transdisciplinary studio in partnership with the Cedars-Sinai Research Center for Health Equity. Tobacco use in LGBTQIA+ communities, and related health effects, is on the rise. Why? Some say aggressive advertising by tobacco corporations. Some say stress from constant discrimination. Some say less access to healthcare. We say, like others, all of the above and more. Given the systemic and intersectional nature of these issues, this project will use smoke-free advocacy and policy building as a foundation for exacting healthy change in LA's South Bay neighborhoods. Students will work with researchers, policymakers, and LGBTQIA+ community leaders to develop relevant communications strategies that will provide practical and provocative guides for policymaking. Outcomes may include branded experiences, web design, printed and digital collateral, social media campaigns, among others. All students 5th term and above are welcome! This course is eligible for the Designmatters Minor in Social Innovation.

Social movements are not just about fighting against injustice but are also about imagining alternatives to current realities. What lessons can creatives learn from science fiction and social justice movements to help them build better futures? In this course, students will study the connection between futurism, science fiction, and social justice movements. Together we will look at how past moments from Black, Brown, Queer, and other social justice movements as examples of design and world-building. Students will meet with BIPOC artists, designers, and organizers, to practice hands-on methods of "critical making" and learn how to infuse beliefs and values into the spaces, objects, and systems we design. From examining the Netflix show Black Mirror to lessons from New York Ballroom culture, students will learn foundational language, frameworks, and tools to help them bring alternative futures closer to the present. Site visits will include the archive of award-winning science fiction writer Octavia E. Butler at The Huntington Library and Octavia's Bookshelf, Pasadena's first BIPOC author-focused independent bookstore. Open to all students, all Majors, 5th term and above. This course is eligible for the Designmatters Minor in Social Innovation. Outcomes will vary and can include print and digital work, sketching, painting, product design, advertisements, etc

(1-Week Trip to Santiago, Chile, followed by a 13-week studio course at ArtCenter) Seeking 2 to 3 upper-term Entertainment Design students to join the Safe Niños team! Every year, 6 million children across South and Latin America are burned from exposure to open flames, hot objects or fireworks. COANIQUEM, a nonprofit medical treatment center that provides free holistic treatment for burn survivors across South and Latin America, is challenging ArtCenter students to create new multi-media strategies for burn prevention messaging for children. In a Spring studio, students worked to build concepts for new worlds of burn prevention messaging, creating characters, environments, rules and stories across media applications. This Fall, the Safe Niños team will continue to develop the concepts to a more complete world, informed directly by the mission of COANIQUEM and aesthetics and culture of Chile.   Students will travel to Santiago, Chile from September 4 to 9 to visit COANIQUEM's campus, meet with Chilean production companies, and explore Santiago.     After returning to campus, the Development Seminar class will meet once a week from Weeks 1 to 13 to develop concepts for an animated series and related media and materials, with the goal of getting as close to a complete first episode as possible!