Design for Discovery:
The Media Design Program’s Approach to Research

Art Center has been educating designers at the highest level for seventy-five years. Building on that foundation, the research faculty of the Media Design Program embrace the idea that the act of designing is a unique way of knowing about the world. As designers, we create objects and communications that inform, influence, and alter everyday life. In the process of making, we visualize, iterate, and critique, and we believe that it is through these activities that designers can gain unique insights and generate new ideas and artifacts. This theme is built into both the curriculum and faculty research activities.

We take a discovery-led approach to research. We believe that design-driven investigations can generate new ways of thinking about design, new insights into people and their daily practices, and new approaches or methods for invention. At the same time we value applied research that brings new knowledge to life. The output of our research activities takes the form of not only conference papers and publications, but also new design practices, new technologies, new communication formats and uses, new models and methods for collaboration, and new products and services.

The Media Design Program is active in a strategic initiative of Art Center: to grow graduate level research and education. We are committed to growing a research culture not only within Art Center but within the international design community at large. We believe in the pursuit of new knowledge–or discovery–as a driver for creative output.