Message from the President

Welcome to a brand new Dot.

Following months of reflection and dialogue surrounding Art Center’s flagship publication, our editorial and design teams have inventively and thoughtfully reimagined Dot magazine from the ground up. The new Dot, which will be published twice a year, shares relevant and engaging stories about the Art Center community. We’ve created new sections (“Around the World,” “In the Studio”) that highlight the innovative work created by our alumni, faculty and students; social pages (“Spotted”); and a new home for campus news (“Dot News”). All of this comes to us through a new and fresh design.

As before, Dot continues to include features on noted alumni, programs and trends in the larger art and design fields. This issue arrives at a particularly exciting time in Art Center’s history. We recently announced the creation of several new degree programs to launch next fall, part of a larger strategy to advance Art Center’s educational mission as outlined in Create Change, our 2011–16 strategic plan. Two of these programs, Interaction Design and Graduate Environmental Design, are discussed in these pages. We profile alumnus Ian Sands, a leading interaction designer who charted his own path in the field while an Art Center student more than a decade ago. We also take a look at the future of Art Center’s Environmental Design program, which has grown tremendously in recent years and is launching a new graduate curriculum next year.

I hope you enjoy the new Dot and agree that it captures the spirit of our creative community.

Regards,

Lorne Buchman