ArtCenter recognizes the power of design to change the world. Through research, advocacy and action, the College’s social innovation department, Designmatters, engages, empowers and leads an ongoing exploration of art and design as a positive force in society. Designmatters courses vary from term to term, but include academic, discipline-specific and studio-based offerings that engage students across all majors, taught with a dynamic, entrepreneurial and experiential approach to design education.
Through Designmatters’ programming, students tackle local, national and global issues head-on, from preventing homelessness and youth gun violence in the U.S., to empowering adolescent girls living in poverty and developing clean water solutions internationally.
The values of sustainable development, global health, public policy and social entrepreneurship are core to the curriculum, programs and projects, with the outcomes of students’ work widely disseminated beyond the studio’s walls.
The College offers a minor in social innovation through Designmatters, providing a specialization for 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 impact. Offered in six disciplines, the minor is comprised of 18-21 units of study and can be completed concurrently with a student’s major degree program. Additionally, Designmatters is a key partner of ArtCenter’s Media Design Practices, offering graduate students the chance to design for social innovation in a real-world context where social issues, media infrastructure and communication technology intersect.
The Designmatters Fellowship Program embeds the most talented ArtCenter students in social enterprises, government, international development and non-profit organizations for one full 14-week academic term to work on strategic projects that enhance the design capability of the and explore the mission, model and meaning of the host organization’s work.
The Fellowships are a highly competitive form of scholarship, awarded on the basis of merit and typically funded by host organizations.
Los Angeles is set to host the 2028 Olympics. In this Designmatters course, students examine how resources and spaces are impacted when a city invites the Olympic Games into its community.
Learn more about Designmatters.
In Designing for Green Justice, students have the opportunity to connect with this land and its First Peoples, the Tongva community.
In Birthing Barriers, students design awareness campaigns around Black midwifery and improving health outcomes of Black birthing people and Black babies.