Storyboard: Scott Yu Leaving the world brighter than you found it As far back as I can remember I always wanted to draw cars. Years later, that very same compulsion would turn into a full-on devotion to sustainable design thinking. I came from a typical immigrant family. My father was a dentist w...
Storyboard: Mari Nakano Two streams I was raised in a fairly traditional Asian-American family. As far as a career, I believed I had two options: become a doctor or a lawyer. A creative career was out of the question. I mean, where was the stability in that? Part of being a true creative means br...
Storyboard: Llia Yu Designing imaginary worlds As a concept artist, my job involves designing imaginary worlds. If youre playing a game and you find yourself blown away by the level of detail thats been paid to the environment and the characters, remember: that stuff doesnt happen by accident. In...
Storyboard: Zach Leazer How a life in the Air Force prepared me for a life making movies The first time I ever directed anything, I was still serving in the United States Air Force. I know thats a weird concept, but just hear me out for a second. I was an airplane mechanic doing my first tour of ...
Storyboard: Frank Lanza Making sense of the gifts Ive been given There werent many distractions when I was a kid. There was no television, no internet. At the most, my friends and I would listen to serials on the radio. Of course, we had plenty of time on our hands. Invariably, I would end up ask...
Storyboard: Stan Kong Mentorship has no expiration date One of the funny things about mentorship is that it doesnt end in the classroom. Really, it doesnt ever endthat is, if you remain curious and engaged throughout your life. Mentorship itself has no expiration date. Ive been a teacher for most...
Storyboard: Gary Meyer Frightening Blankness, Failure and the Larger Tapestry of History Nothing is more daunting to a designer than a blank canvas. Why does this image fill creatives with such dread? Because it represents the beginning. Whats more is that the blank canvas represents questions: q...
Storyboard: Jessica Muljadi The benefits of culture shock and keeping your finger on the pulse For me, growing up was like a never-ending series of culture shocks. My upbringing was not unique in the slightest, but I did do a lot of bouncing around between different habitats as a kid it often fe...
Storyboard: Sean Adams Design as Public Service Unlike many of my contemporaries, being creative was never part of my plan. Both sets of my grandparents came from a long line of politicians. They used to say, A life without service is not a life. It was expected by both of my parents that I would...
Storyboard: Richard Holbrook How I went from being practically unemployable to being my business I would be the first to tell you that my path to ArtCenter wasnt exactly well-considered. I grew up in a blue-collar family in Orange County. True to my SoCal roots, surfing, motorcycles and cars were...
Storyboard: Tom Cordner The Relentless Pursuit of Perfection It may seem strange for an ArtCenter grad to admit that they havent always been a great student. In my case, though, it would be true. As a kid growing up in Baltimore, I found it damn near impossible to sit still and focus in a classro...
Storyboard: Mark Fennimore Following in my dad's footsteps by not following in my dad's footsteps When I was a kid, my dad worked for NASA. He started in the Apollo program and after the first man landed on the moon, he transitioned to Skylab and then the Shuttle Program. He was a very pragmatic, ...
Storyboard: Al Van Noy How empathy and curiosity forged my path to design Ive always maintained that design isnt just a practice. Its a way of looking at the world. The designers mindset is one that will lead you down a singular path. Part of the journey is rooted in a kind of insatiable curiosit...
Merle Mullin Philanthropist and Director, Mullin Automotive Museum Merle Mullin enjoys showing, driving and racing Vintage cars along with her husband Peter. She is a co-founder/co-organizer of a biennial vintage car rally for women only. Its All About the Girls! is an exciting, much publicized ev...
Storyboard: David Cawley From the woodshop to the 3D lab: My journey as a maker My job as a creative is to keep up with technology as it changes. I always wanted to be ahead of the wave. The problems we face remain the same. Its our means of solving problems that have changed. Ive been a maker fo...
Degree: BS 15 Interaction Design Born and raised in Seoul, South Korea, Inae Song was drawn to the multidisciplinary Interaction Design program at ArtCenter as a field of possibility, a place to envision the future of design even beyond existing technologies and, she says, to apply without constrain...
The Earth From Space: Derek Posselt CuratorJay Belloli interviewsDerek Posselt,Atmospheric Physics and Weather Group, Earth Sciences Section, NASA, JPL, Caltech. Jay Belloli: How did you become interested in atmospheric science?Derek Posselt: Ive always been interested in science from a very young...
The Earth From Space: JT Reager CuratorJay Belloli interviewsJT Reager, Research Scientist, Surface Hydrology Group, Earth Sciences Section, NASA, JPL, Caltech. Jay Belloli: How you become interested in studying hydrology and the earth's water cycle?JT Reager: I was trained as an engineer, and I d...
The Earth From Space: Josh Willis CuratorJay Belloli interviews Josh Willis, Oceanographer, NASA, JPL, Caltech. Jay Belloli: Josh, how did you become interested in studying oceanography?Josh Willis: Well I failed out of physics. I was planning to get a Ph.D. in physics at the University of Califor...
Degrees:BFA 07 Photography and Imaging Taylor Peden and Jen Munkvold met as Photography and Imaging students at ArtCenter, fell in love and in 2006 teamed up creatively as Peden + Munk. This inspired partnership now counts among its credits photo essay-style editorial and commercial work — inc...
Storyboard: Gail Howland It takes a lot of work thats not creative to be a creative When I told my colleagues that I was considering getting my second degree at ArtCenter College of Design, some of them couldnt quite wrap their head around the concept. They were familiar with ArtCenter and were aw...
Meet honorary alum Wayne Hunt
Graphic Design alum Paul Hoppe works as an art director at Local Projects in New York City, where he specializes in interactive exhibition design for museums, educational institutions, and adventurous corporate clients.
Meet Environmental Design (Spatial Experience Design) alum Stella Hernandez-Salazar.
Alum James Paick (BFA 04) created Scribble Studios, an entertainment design firm specializing in character, creature and concept design for video games, TV and film.