Graduate ProGrams

2009/10

art broadcast cinema industrial design media design

thank you for your interest in art center college of designs graduate media design Program (mdP). We prepare designers for a world in which anythingfrom sensor networks to interactive surfaces to entire citiescan be a medium for communication. We invented the name media design when our students work no longer fit in the established categories. in the process, we created an entirely new discipline.
anne burdicK Chair, Graduate Media Design Program

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our program
prior to the media design program, i was taught to think of designers as problem solvers. the mdp philosophy is much more about doing provocative work and finding and illuminating new problems.
Jonathan Jarvis 09

our curriculum
The Media Design Program offers a Master of on campus visiting researchers on experimental faculty and student liFe Fine Arts curriculum that prepares graduates for design research projects. the design of future communication technologies and practices. Thesis Year The Thesis Year is spent creating an individual curriculum overview Masters project with the support of a team of advisors. Coursework consists of classes that support the development of the thesis. Course Each student takes a combination of required offerings include: Design Research Practices 2; and elective courses based upon their research Histories of the Future, Thesis Workshop; and interests, course offerings and degree path or Knowledge-Sharing Workshop. concentration. The two-year and three-year paths three-Year path are designed to meet the educational needs of both aspiring and experienced designers. Please visit our Web site for more in-depth information: Foundation Year artcenter.edu/mdp. Students on the three-year path must complete two-Year path the Foundation Year prior to entering the Concept Year. The Foundation Year is designed for students who come from a non-design background and/ Concept Year or designers who wish to expand or refine their In the Concept Year, students complete a comskills. Students take a combination of MDP core bination of core classes and topic studios. The courses and undergraduate design courses fall term exposes students to concepts in media customized to each applicants specific needs. design in a structured way. In the spring term, Foundation Year courses may include: Design students choose among a variety of topic studios History; Information Design; Transmedia Design; in which students have greater freedom to define and Visual Narrative. project outcomes. Course offerings include: Media top, left + riGht History and Theory; Authoring Critical Media; the mdp studio is housed within The New Ecology of Things; The Ubiquitous a 14,000-square-foot former supersonic wind tunnel on art centers Moving Image; and New Modes of Reading and south campus. Writing. Summer X-Term In the summer between the Concept and Thesis Year, students enroll half-time, completing one of the following options: Specialized Study allows students to take courses within another Art Center department to develop deeper knowledge of a secondary discipline; Off-campus Internships with MDP partners, such as the United Nations, T-Mobile, Intel Research and others, provides students with valuable experience in the field; and On-campus Research Internships give students the opportunity to work side-by-side with MDP
middle

Art Centers Media Design Program (MDP) helps ambitious makers from a variety of backgrounds become design leaders and researchers. We challenge our students to push design in new directions by following their curiosity, refining their expertise and inventing new practices within a context of cultural and technological change. guiding principles

By following their own interests, MDP students learn to identify new methods, lay claim to emerging genres or repurpose existing practices to their own ends. Our graduates are prepared for a lifetime of reinvention. Discovery We believe the act of designing is a unique way of knowing about the world. As designers, we create communications (objects, systems, environments) that inform, influence and alter everyday life. In the process of making, we visualize, iterate and critique. Through these activities, we believe designers can gain unique insights and generate new ideas and artifacts. adaptive tools and methods

Three key concepts help us navigate a design field that is in constant flux: hybridity, emergence and discovery. Hybridity While communication is no longer a strictly graphic affair, our roots are in graphic design. Our students learn to integrate aspects of architecture, film, computation, interaction and industrial design into their work. They are exposed to theory, history and methods from both the humanities and the sciences. We believe designers with broad exposure and mixed expertise have the agility to work through issues from multiple perspectives. This provides excellent preparation for work in interdisciplinary contexts. Emergence Within our graduate studios, new practices, forms and ideas emerge out of the process of designing. We foster this activity by challenging experienced and burgeoning designers to identify their own unique place within the rapidly changing landscape.

Our design methods call upon both established and novel strategies. Our sketching and prototyping tools include paper, video, software and hardware. Our program develops critical media forms intended to rework how knowledge is produced and shared. We expand and test new research approaches to people, technology and ideas. In addition to the established modes of interaction and communication design, MDP students explore transmedia typography, massiveand micro-scale displays, distributed narratives, dynamic information, tangible and virtual interfaces, graphic visualizations, fictional scenarios for both the near- and far-future and computationally enabled objects and spaces.

mdp students Yuin chien and chris lauritzen don glasses, headphones and an interactive device that remaps their sensory input, forcing them to find their way through a field using only sound.
Bottom

students christopher Ward and parker Kuncl work on an installation as part of a two-day charette following the mdps annual dialectical Bus tour which went to the port of los angeles in 2007.

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our Program
student liFe oFF camPus

our curriculum
The Media Design Program offers a Master of Fine Arts curriculum that prepares graduates for the design of future communication technologies and practices. curriculum overvieW faculty and visiting researchers on experimental design research projects. Thesis Year The Thesis Year is spent creating an individual Masters project with the support of a team of advisors. Coursework consists of classes that support the development of the thesis. Course offerings include: Design Research Practices 2; Histories of the Future, Thesis Workshop; and Knowledge-Sharing Workshop. three-Year Path

Art Centers Media Design Program (MDP) helps ambitious makers from a variety of backgrounds become design leaders and researchers. We challenge our students to push design in new directions by following their curiosity, refining their expertise and inventing new practices within a context of cultural and technological change. guiding PrinciPles

By following their own interests, MDP students learn to identify new methods, lay claim to emerging genres or repurpose existing practices to their own ends. Our graduates are prepared for a lifetime of reinvention. Discovery We believe the act of designing is a unique way of knowing about the world. As designers, we create communications (objects, systems, environments) that inform, influence and alter everyday life. In the process of making, we visualize, iterate and critique. Through these activities, we believe toP, left + riGht designers can gain unique insights and generate slides from a presentation by mdP new ideas and artifacts. Jonathan Jarvis documentstudent
ing his designmatters fellowship with unicefs innovation adaPtive tools and methods team at the u.n. in new York. Jarvis worked on the our stories project, which began as a sponsored research project in the both established Our design methods call uponmdP and went on to include one laptop Per child, and novel strategies. Our sketching and protoGoogle, and storycorps.

Each student takes a combination of required and elective courses based upon their research interests, course offerings and degree path or concentration. The two-year and three-year paths are designed to meet the educational needs of both aspiring and experienced designers. Please visit our Web site for more in-depth information: artcenter.edu/mdp. tWo-Year Path

Three key concepts help us navigate a design field that is in constant flux: hybridity, emergence and discovery. Hybridity While communication is no longer a strictly graphic affair, our roots are in graphic design. Our students learn to integrate aspects of architecture, film, computation, interaction and industrial design into their work. They are exposed to theory, history and methods from both the humanities and the sciences. We believe designers with broad exposure and mixed expertise have the agility to work through issues from multiple perspectives. This provides excellent preparation for work in interdisciplinary contexts. Emergence Within our graduate studios, new practices, forms and ideas emerge out of the process of designing. We foster this activity by challenging experienced and burgeoning designers to identify their own unique place within the rapidly changing landscape.

Concept Year In the Concept Year, students complete a combination of core classes and topic studios. The fall term exposes students to concepts in media design in a structured way. In the spring term, students choose among a variety of topic studios in which students have greater freedom to define project outcomes. Course offerings include: Media History and Theory; Authoring Critical Media; The New Ecology of Things; The Ubiquitous Moving Image; and New Modes of Reading and Writing. Summer X-Term In the summer between the Concept and Thesis Year, students enroll half-time, completing one of the following options: Specialized Study allows students to take courses within another Art Center department to develop deeper knowledge of a secondary discipline; Off-campus Internships with MDP partners, such as the United Nations, T-Mobile, Intel Research and others, provides students with valuable experience in the field; and On-campus Research Internships give students the opportunity to work side-by-side with MDP

Foundation Year Students on the three-year path must complete the Foundation Year prior to entering the Concept Year. The Foundation Year is designed for students who come from a non-design background and/ or designers who wish to expand or refine their skills. Students take a combination of MDP core courses and undergraduate design courses customized to each applicants specific needs. Foundation Year courses may include: Design History; Information Design; Transmedia Design; and Visual Narrative.

typing tools include paper, video, software and hardware. Our program develops critical media middle forms intended to rework howgrant funds supported mdP student knowledge is profive students to attend and present duced and shared. We expand and test new at the social studies: educating research approaches to people, technology designers in a connected World and ideas. In addition to the established modes 2008 conference at the maryland of interaction and communication design, MDP institute college of art in Baltimore. students explore transmedia typography, massiveBottom and micro-scale displays, distributed narratives, mdP students Yuseung Kim and dynamic information, tangible and virtual interfaces, mari nakano on the road to the graphic visualizations, fictional scenarios for both social studies conference where the near- and far-future and computationally they ran a workshop titled Probes: enabled objects a designerly Way of researching. and spaces.

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our FacultY
Our students are guided by a diverse faculty of design visionaries and thought leaders who bring knowledge, experience and rigor to their critiques. Anne Burdick Department Chair Anne Burdick is a regular participant in the international dialogue regarding the future of graduate education and research in design. In addition, she designs experimental text projects in diverse media, for which she has garnered recognition, from the prestigious Leipzig Award for book design to I.D. Magazines Interactive Design Review for her work with interactive texts. Burdick has designed books of literary/media criticism by authors such as Marshall McLuhan and N. Katherine Hayles and she is currently developing electronic corpora with the Austrian Academy of Sciences. Burdicks writing and design can be found in the Los Angeles Times, Eye Magazine and Electronic Book Review, among others, and her work is held in the permanent collections of both SFMOMA and MoMA. Burdick studied graphic design at both Art Center College of Design and San Diego State University prior to receiving a B.F.A. and M.F.A. in graphic design at California Institute of the Arts. Tim durfee Core Faculty An architect and partner of Los Angeles-based Durfee | Regn, Tim Durfees work includes exhibitions, urban sign systems and interfaces. Durfee has created exhibitions for The Hammer and The Huntington and a permanent gallery for Targets corporate headquarters. He has collaborated with artistsDoug Aitkens installation Ultraworld and developed an award-winning Web site for LACMA. He taught at Woodbury University and at SCI-Arc, where he was director of Visual Studies from 2001 to 2005. Prior to receiving a masters degree in architecture from Yale University, he studied literature and history at the University of Rochester. Ben Hooker Core Faculty Although artist and designer Ben Hookers background is in screen-based multimedia design, lately he finds himself collaborating with architects, industrial designers and computer scientists working in the field of human-computer interaction. Before joining Art Center, Hooker was visiting faculty at Intel Research in Berkeley. Previously, he taught at Central Saint Martins College and at the Royal College of Art, London. He continues to realize many creative projects in partnership with designer Shona Kitchen, including an electronic artwork installation at San Jose International Airport. Ben has a B.S. in electronic imaging and media communications from the University of Bradford and an M.A. in computer related design from the Royal College of Art, London. PHil vAn Allen Core Faculty, Director, N.E.T. Lab Philip van Allen is an interaction designer, educator, researcher and technologist with 30 years experience at the intersection of technology and the creative arts. He founded interactive production company Commotion in 1993 and has worked with a range of clients including Philips, Nestl, U2, Yoko Ono, Infiniti and Acura. Van Allen is also the lead author of the transmedia publication (book, Web site, mobile phone content and a poster) The New Ecology of Things. As part of van Allens ongoing research, the publication explores the emerging world of ubiquitous networks, smart objects and spaces and approaches to design practice that embrace mythology, meaning-making and embodiment. kevin WingATe Director An artist and educator, Kevin Wingate cares about cultural fetishes, geometric abstractions and the physical limits of materials. He exhibits his paintings at Acuna-Hansen Gallery in Los Angeles. While exhibiting nationally, he has been a part of Pillow Lavs, a collaborative group that intersects lifestyle, culture and social interaction. In 2004, the group

the media design Program took my thought processes and concepts to the next level. the faculty brought so many unique perspectives to my work that they completely changed the way i think about design.
niKolai cornell 04

was part of the Class: C gallery for the Orange County Biennial of Art. Kevin holds an M.F.A. from the University of California, San Diego and an M.A. and B.F.A. from Webster University in St. Louis. BrAd BArTleTT Brad Bartlett earned his masters degree in design from the Cranbrook Academy of Art in 1998, and holds a bachelors degree in graphic design from North Carolina State University. His work at Cranbrook, which explored the relationship between media and culture, was presented at MIT and Fabrica of Benetton in Italy. In 1999, Print magazine selected him as New Visual Artist. That same year he established a design studio whose clients have included UCLA Live, MOCA and the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising. JoHn Brumfield John Brumfield received his B.A. from UC Berkeley, his M.A. from California Institute of the Arts and his M.F.A. from CSU Los Angeles. John has received an NEA Grant and his work has been seen in Afterimage, Art Issues, Artweek, Artforum, Graphis, LAICA Journal, Camera Obscura and SF Camerawork. elise co Elise Co is a media artist and founding partner of Aeolab, a design and technology consulting firm in Los Angeles. Co holds an M.S. in media arts and sciences and a B.S. in architecture from MIT.

Previously, she taught courses in interaction design and physical computing at the Hochschule fr Gestaltung und Kunst in Basel, Switzerland. Her work has been shown internationally, including at MoMA, SIGGRAPH and IMRF Tokyo. seAn donAHue Sean Donahue is principal of Research CenteredDesign, a Los Angeles-based design practice that explores how design can be utilized to make significant contributions to society. Donahue has lectured and published internationally on the practice of media design and design research and has led studios at RISD; Royal College of Art, London; and North Carolina State University, where he was the 2004 Designer-in-Residence. Recent research has been published by the University of Cambridge, Princeton Architectural Press, MIT Press and ID Magazine. sHonA kiTcHen Shona Kitchen is an internationally renowned multidisciplinary artist/designer with a passion for technological advancement. Her work explores the intersections between the physical and virtual and the ways in which they manifest themselves as new spatial experiences. Kitchen uses technology to enhance and enrich, rather than distract from, the culture and aesthetics of its surroundings and she considers its subsequent social, political and environmental consequences.

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Yes, you can learn how to wire circuits, but the most important thing a designer needs to learn is the vocabulary of your collaborators. the future of design is going to depend on collaborative relationships with engineers, interactive designers and product designers.
sYuzi pakhchYan 07

LIARS, selected visiting lecturers student work musicians Greg Lynn, Visionary architect; ted fellow Mark Allen, founder, machine project Rebecca Allen, Visionary artist Stuart Bailey, designer/artist and publisher, dexter sinister and dot dot dot magazine Julian Bleecker, artist and technologist, near future laboratory David Bowen, sculptor John Seely Brown, former chief scientist and parc director, Xerox; Visiting scholar, annenberg school for communication, usc Chris Chafe, composer; cellist; music researcher, center for computer research in music and acoustics, stanford university Lev Manovich, author; professor, visual arts, ucsd; director, software studies initiative, calit2 Geoff McFetridge, designer; principal, champion Graphics Jane McGonigal, Game designer/researcher, avantGame Josette Melchor, executive director, Gray area foundation for the arts Julia Meltzer, artist; director, clockshop Sally Menke, film editor, a.c.e. Mike Mills, filmmaker; graphic designer; artist; co-founder, the directors Bureau Michael Naimark, media artist; research associate professor, interactive media division, usc school of cinematic arts Eric Nakumura, co-founder, Giant robot Gaston Nogues, architect; principal, Ball-nogues studio Fiona Raby, principal, dunne & raby C.E.B. Reas, professor, ucla design | media arts; co-founder, processing.org Alexis Rochas, architect; founder, i/o Alexander Rose, executive director, the long now foundation Seth Ruffins Ph.D., scientist, Biological imaging center, caltech; mouse Birn project manager, laboratory of neuro imaging, ucla Stephanie Smith, designer; entrepreneur; ecoshack; Wecommune.com Dmitri Siegel, designer; writer; managing director, urban outfitters Jennifer Steinkamp, artist Bruce Sterling, design futurist, science fiction writer Alexei Tylevich and Ben Conrad, designers, logan Martin Venezky, designer, appetite engineers Jonathan Wells, co-founder, res magazine, resfest David Wilson, macarthur fellow; founder, the museum of Jurassic technology

normAn klein Norman Klein is a cultural critic, media historian and novelist. He is the author of The Vatican to Vegas: The History of Special Effects; The History of Forgetting: Los Angeles and the Erasure of Memory; and The Imaginary Twentieth Century, a science-fiction database novel and exhibition which ran at ZKM in Karlsruhe, Germany. Klein is a professor at CalArts, has taught as adjunct faculty at Art Center since 1982 and is now also a thesis advisor for the Media Design Program. lisA kroHn Lisa Krohn is the creative director and lead designer at Krohn Design, a brand and design practice whose clients have included Herman Miller, Walt Disney Imagineering and the San Diego Childrens Museum. Krohn studied art and art history at Brown University, trained at the Cranbrook Academy of Art and worked with renowned designer Mario Bellini. A winner of the prestigious Rome Prize, Krohns work can be found in the collections of SFMOMA, MoMA and the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum. THeA PeTcHler Thea Petchler is Art Centers Director of Writing. She teaches courses on postwar U.S. history, creative nonfiction and visual studies and her research focuses on the democratization and

professionalization of creativity in American business and education. Petchler has served as a visiting scholar at Princeton Universitys Center for Arts and Cultural Policy and as a program officer at the Center for Arts and Culture in Washington, D.C. She holds a B.A. from Yale University and an M.F.A. from the University of Iowa. Holly Willis Holly Willis is an Associate Director at USCs Institute for Multimedia Literacy. She is also the editor of The New Ecology of Things and the author of New Digital Cinema: Reinventing the Moving Image. The former editor of RES magazine, Willis has written extensively on experimental media practices for a variety of publications. She holds a Ph.D. in critical studies in cinematelevision from USC.

Kenyatta Cheese, media activist, unmediated.org Matthew Coolidge, founder/director, center for land use interpretation (clui) David J. Delgado, co-lead, imagine mars project, Jet propulsion laboratory Ned Kahn, artist; macarthur fellow Jenna Didier, founder and co-director, materials and applications (m&a) Sean Dockray, co-founder, telic arts exchange, aaaarg.org Paul Dourish, department of informatics, uc irvine Henry Newton-Dunn, designer, sony consumer electronics Marc Fornes, architect and founder, theverymany.net Tracy Fullerton, associate professor and director, electronic arts Game innovation lab, interactive media division, usc school of cinematic arts Jens Gehlhaar, creative director, Brand new school Mieke Gerritzen, designer; former chair, sandberg institute, Gerrit rietveld academie, amsterdam; ceo, the Graphic design museum, amsterdam Dan Goods, Visual strategist, Jet propulsion laboratory April Greiman, designer, made in space Justin Hall, pioneer blogger

Oliver Hess, technology artist; co-director, materials and applications (m&a); ted fellow Sebastian Bettencourt Garnet Hertz, founder/director, dorkbot socal, Beyond the fold, 2007 uc irvine Video stills demonstrate director, Brand integration Somi Kim, former creativeBettencourts concept for an interactive news reading device. the reader applies traditional newspaper gestures such as folding, shaking and turning the simple two-sided Group, ogilvy & mather e-paper to move through live content.

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STUDENT WORk

STUDENT WORk

Jinmi Choi the next Illusion, 2008 Based on a study of the uses of optical illusions, choi created site-specific installations that combine video projections and sculptural objects. the next Illusion manipulates our perceptions of both cinematic and real time and space, pointing toward new opportunities for the filmic experience.

Maria Moon neurographica, 2008 moons thesis project investigates how design can be used to explore and analyze neurological data. typically, design is used to encapsulate or document scientific activity, but moon collaborated with scientists from the university of tokyo and caltech during the discovery phase. the result: visual symbols and systems that allowed the data to reveal meaningful information.

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STUDENT WORk

STUDENT WORk

Parker Kuncl right at Hand, 2009

Jiyeon Song one day poem pavilion, 2008 the perforated surface of the one day poem pavilion allows light to pass through and create shifting patterns which, during specific times of the year, transform into the legible text of a poem. the precise arrangement of the holes reveals different shadow-poems according to the solar calendar.

right at Hand is a series of tangible interfaces for digital collections. the videos above show working prototypes that combine the physical and the digital. Kuncls project attempts to restore the materiality that is lost with digital archives, which are primarily accessed via point-and-click Web browsers.

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STUDENT WORk

STUDENT WORk

Yu-Ming Cho transbehavior, 2008 In a world of ubiquitous computing, chos thesis explored the role of biology and culture in our understanding of the things that surround us. cho designed a set of interactive objects that adopted the behaviors of pets, embodied cultural rituals and extended the users senses in unexpected ways.

Jackson Wang peace of mind, 2008 What happens when target partners with the department of Homeland security? Wangs peace of mind imagines a line of products and a distribution system that illuminates the politics of fear following 9/11 and explores the intersection of consumer culture and civil liberties.

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student WorK

selected visiting lecturers

Mark Allen, founder, machine Project Rebecca Allen, Visionary artist Stuart Bailey, designer/artist and publisher, dexter sinister and dot dot dot magazine Julian Bleecker, artist and technologist, near future laboratory David Bowen, sculptor John Seely Brown, former chief scientist and Parc director, Xerox; Visiting scholar, annenberg school for communication, usc Chris Chafe, composer; cellist; music researcher, center for computer research in music and acoustics, stanford university

LIARS, musicians Greg Lynn, Visionary architect; ted fellow Lev Manovich, author; professor, visual arts, ucsd; director, software studies initiative, calit2 Geoff McFetridge, designer; principal, champion Graphics Jane McGonigal, Game designer/researcher, avantGame Josette Melchor, executive director, Gray area foundation for the arts Julia Meltzer, artist; director, clockshop Sally Menke, film editor, a.c.e. Mike Mills, filmmaker; graphic designer; artist; co-founder, the directors Bureau Michael Naimark, media artist; research associate professor, interactive media division, usc school of cinematic arts Eric Nakumura, co-founder, Giant robot Gaston Nogues, architect; principal, Ball-nogues studio Fiona Raby, Principal, dunne & raby C.E.B. Reas, Professor, ucla design | media arts; co-founder, Processing.org Alexis Rochas, architect; founder, i/o Alexander Rose, executive director, the long now foundation Seth Ruffins Ph.D., scientist, Biological imaging center, caltech; mouse Birn project manager, laboratory of neuro imaging, ucla Stephanie Smith, designer; entrepreneur; ecoshack; Wecommune.com Dmitri Siegel, designer; writer; managing director, urban outfitters Jennifer Steinkamp, artist Bruce Sterling, design futurist, science fiction writer Alexei Tylevich and Ben Conrad, designers, logan Martin Venezky, designer, appetite engineers Jonathan Wells, co-founder, res magazine, resfest David Wilson, macarthur fellow; founder, the museum of Jurassic technology

normAn klein Norman Klein is a cultural critic, media historian and novelist. He is the author of The Vatican to Vegas: The History of Special Effects; The History of Forgetting: Los Angeles and the Erasure of Memory; and The Imaginary Twentieth Century, a science-fiction database novel and exhibition which ran at ZKM in Karlsruhe, Germany. Klein is a professor at CalArts, has taught as adjunct faculty at Art Center since 1982 and is now also a thesis advisor for the Media Design Program. lisA kroHn Lisa Krohn is the creative director and lead designer at Krohn Design, a brand and design practice whose clients have included Herman Miller, Walt Disney Imagineering and the San Diego Childrens Museum. Krohn studied art and art history at Brown University, trained at the Cranbrook Academy of Art and worked with renowned designer Mario Bellini. A winner of the prestigious Rome Prize, Krohns work can be found in the collections of SFMOMA, MoMA and the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum.

professionalization of creativity in American business and education. Petchler has served as a visiting scholar at Princeton Universitys Center for Arts and Cultural Policy and as a program officer at the Center for Arts and Culture in Washington, D.C. She holds a B.A. from Yale University and an M.F.A. from the University of Iowa. Holly Willis Holly Willis is an Associate Director at USCs Institute for Multimedia Literacy. She is also the editor of The New Ecology of Things and the author of New Digital Cinema: Reinventing the Moving Image. The former editor of RES magazine, Willis has written extensively on experimental media practices for a variety of publications. She holds a Ph.D. in critical studies in cinematelevision from USC.

Kenyatta Cheese, media activist, unmediated.org Matthew Coolidge, founder/director, center for land use interpretation (clui) David J. Delgado, co-lead, imagine mars Project, Jet Propulsion laboratory Ned Kahn, artist; macarthur fellow Jenna Didier, founder and co-director, materials and applications (m&a) Sean Dockray, co-founder, telic arts exchange, aaaarg.org Paul Dourish, department of informatics, uc irvine Henry Newton-Dunn, designer, sony consumer electronics Marc Fornes, architect and founder, theverymany.net Tracy Fullerton, associate professor and director, electronic arts Game innovation lab, interactive media division, usc school of cinematic arts Jens Gehlhaar, creative director, Brand new school Mieke Gerritzen, designer; former chair, sandberg institute, Gerrit rietveld academie, amsterdam; ceo, the Graphic design museum, amsterdam Dan Goods, Visual strategist, Jet Propulsion laboratory April Greiman, designer, made in space Justin Hall, Pioneer blogger Oliver Hess, technology artist; co-director, materials and applications (m&a); ted fellow Garnet Hertz, founder/director, dorkbot socal, uc irvine Somi Kim, former creative director, Brand integration Group, ogilvy & mather

Jonathan Jarvis THeA PeTcHler crisis of credit Visualized, 2009 Thea Petchler is Art Centers Director of Writing. an courses visual story U.S. history, She teaches 11-minute on postwar that uses graphic symbols and diagrams to clearly communicate the origins of creative nonfiction the recent economic and her and visual studies crisis, Jarvis crisis of credit Visualized went viral, appearing on a variety of sites from motionographer to forbes.com. the spread of the video supported Jarvis research focuses on the democratization and communicate the complexity of todays world. argument that designers are needed to

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our communitY
The MDP student experience is shaped by coursework, classmates, studio life, the extended community and our surroundings. mdP culture our camPus In June 2009, our program moved into a 14,000square-foot former supersonic wind tunnel at Art Centers South Campus in downtown Pasadena. A dramatic setting conducive to inspiration and experimentation, this dedicated space is where students spend the bulk of their time. The Wind Tunnel, as its called, houses our students workstations; faculty offices; a gallery space; the Making Lab, a resource that includes scheduled workshops on a range of construction tools, materials and techniques; and the New Ecology of Things Lab, a state-of-the-art space for electronics work, programming and building and testing prototypes. A stunning example of adaptive reuse, Art Centers South Campus was redesigned by architect Kevin Daly and opened in 2004. Among the first buildings in Pasadena to be LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified, this award-winning structure also houses Art Centers Graduate Art program, Art Centers Public Programs and the Archetype Press, a one-of-akind letterpress printing facility. Our students also have access to the extensive resources available at the Colleges Hillside Campus, located just five miles away in the San Raphael Hills, above the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. our surroundings areas, the greater Los Angeles region offers an abundance of opportunities and advantages. Southern California is an international center of innovation and entrepreneurship. The regions unique culture, talent and year-round sunny climate have drawn major media companies (Sony, Disney, Electronic Arts) and design studios (Stuart Karten Design, Continuum, Lum Design Associates) and automobile manufacturers (BMW, Honda, Volkswagen) to set up key design facilities in the area. Our industry partnersrecent relationships include T-Mobiles Innovation Center, Intel Research, George P. Johnson and AutoDesk visit our campus, host internships and sponsor research projects. The Los Angeles region is also home to a thriving art scene with some 350 art galleries and several world-class museums, including the Getty Center, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA). Our students and faculty regularly participate in events and exhibitions region-wide through both the cultural establishment as well as do-it-yourself communities (e.g., Machine Project, Make Magazine, Dorkbot). Situated just 10 miles from downtown Los Angeles, Pasadena is a lively and sophisticated city in its own right. Known as a City of Learning, Pasadena contains the second-highest concentration of art, cultural and educational institutions in the United Statesa notable achievement considering the citys population hovers around 150,000. Pasadena has long been a center for scientific and aerospace innovation, and is home to both Caltech and NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The city has a rich architectural and design history that includes works by Frank Lloyd Wright, the Greene brothers, Wallace Neff and artisans of the Arroyo Craftsman style. It also hosts an impressive collection of cultural institutions including the Norton Simon Museum; The Huntington Library, Art Collection & Botanical Gardens; the Armory Center for the Arts and the Pacific Asia Museum. Many Art Center students and alumni choose to live and launch their businesses here, and companies like Honda Design Studio have moved to the area to be closer to Art Center and benefit from our wealth of resources as a leader in design research. about art center

Our students and full-time faculty come from all over the world and bring with them backgrounds and degrees from a variety of fields. Our part-time faculty, advisors and critics are drawn from the vibrant art, design, architecture, entertainment and technology-related fields of Southern California. Our community also includes faculty from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech); the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCIArc); UCLA; USC; UC Irvine; UC Santa Barbara; Otis College of Art and Design; and the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts). From time to time, students share space with a visionary-in-residence. Design futurist and science fiction author Bruce Sterling finished his influential book Shaping Things in the MDP studio. As visionaries, Mieke Gerritzen and Koert van Mensvoort brought their Biggest Visual Power Show to L.A. During the summer X-term, students intern with guest researchers-in-residence. We also host a variety of symposia, lecture series and exhibitions. Design Dialogues, hosted each term by a guest curator, brings luminaries from across the spectrum into the studio for an intimate extended conversation and individual student meetings. Through Designmatters, Art Centers educational department that focuses on design education with a social impact agenda, MDP students regularly intern with the United Nations including UNICEF, UNESCO, UNFPA and Doctors Without Borders. Additionally, our students are encouraged to attend and speak at conferences around the world, and are supported to do so with student grants.

Founded in 1930, Art Center College of Design has long been at the forefront of cultivating leaders in the fields of art and design. From its seminal role in the founding of the first advanced-design concept studio for the automotive industry in the 1950s, to being the first design school to receive the United Nations non-governmental organization (NGO) status, to its commitment to expanding the role of art and design in addressing key sustainability issues, Art Center has a history of anticipating societal changes and trends. Art Center offers undergraduate programs in Advertising, Entertainment Design, Environmental Design, Film, Fine Art, Graphic Design, Illustration, Photography and Imaging, Product Design and Transportation Design and graduate programs in Art, Broadcast Cinema, Industrial Design and Media Design. Art Center also offers a wealth of public programming for the larger community including seminars, lectures, exhibitions and conferences, as well as enriching classes for adults and children.

Our neighboring city of Los Angeles plays an important role in how we think about the future of media. As both a major exporter of cultural products worldwide and the main U.S. port of entry for Chinese manufacturing, Los Angeles is a metropolis inextricably tied to the global circulation of goods and symbols. Home to 18 million residents and one of the worlds most dynamic and diverse metropolitan

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our alumni
my career is completely different now than it was prior to grad school. it is becoming global. since graduation i have worked in design and branding in two other countries besides my own. the media design program prepared me to navigate through different working cultures, which has given me a broader picture of the world that seems more realistic, more complete, more complex and much more exciting.
adriana parcero 03 alumni work

alumni work
Left Page
(top)

Previous Page
(top)

David Schwarz 04 co-founder and creative director, hush, new York Still from a promotional video for Sony Ericssons new Big Screen phone shows one piece of a campaign that included video ring tones, demo movies, wallpapers and more.
(middle, left)

Nikolai Cornell 04 director of interactive media, obscura digital, san francisco The CueLight Pool Table, featured at the Paradise Tower Penthouse, Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas, uses Obscura Digitals projection, sensor and tracking system to reveal images and animations that follow the movements of pool balls as they are hit around the table.
(middle and Bottom)

Companies have created new positions with new titlesfor our graduates. Because they bring expertise geared toward the future of communications of all kinds, the range of options available to them is found in amazingly diverse contexts. Our graduates find positions as media designers, interaction designers, graphic designers, design researchers, experience designers, broadcast designers, information designers, futurists, entrepreneurs, inventors, educators and more. Below are some of the positions currently held by our alumni:
Eric Boisvert 04 founder and creative director, push offices, los angeles; former digital creative director, motorola Laura Crawford 05 designer and co-founder, Balsara + crawford inc., los angeles Jennifer Darmour 05 user experience designer, artefact, seattle; former design researcher, microsoft Laura Janisse 07 human-centered design research/human factors, ideo, san fancisco

Jonathan Jarvis 09, designer, Google creative lab, new York Qusai Kathawala 07 interaction designer, intel research, portland Jean Ku 08, uX designer, microsoft, seattle Matthew McBride 05 user experience designer, schematic, inc., los angeles Scott Nazarian 04 associate creative director, frog design, seattle Prathana Panchal 05 senior interaction and visual designer, t-mobile creation center, seattle Hannah Regier 07 design analyst, frog design, san francisco Amy Sheppard 07 design director, Johnson & Johnson Global strategic design, new York Jin Hyun Park 03 multimedia design professor, Kaywon school of art and design, seoul

Syuzi Pakhchyan 05 designer; author; entrepreneur; blogger, fashioningtech.com, los angeles Fashioning Technology: A DIY Intro to Smart Crafting, published in 2008, includes primers and DIY projects that blend sewing and electronics. The projects, photography, book design, and writing were done entirely by Pakhchyan herself.
(middle, riGht) 04,

David Schwarz 04, hush, with Nikolai Cornell obscura digital An interactive installation to promote Nokias Supernova phone series installed in Nokias flagship retail stores premiered worldwide in 2009.

Jed Berk 06 artist; designer; inventor, alaVs.com, los angeles ALAVsAutonomous Light Air Vesselsare networked blimps that respond to one another, their surroundings and people through the use of microcontrollers and mobile technology. Blubber Bots are the DIY offspring of the ALAVs sold in kits. Once built, the autonomous robotic inflatables can roam the landscape in search of light and cellphone signals.
(middle, left)

(Bottom)

Blubber Bots shown at the Museum der Moderne, Salzburg, Austria, in December 2007.
(middle, riGht)

Adriana Parcero 03 head and senior manager, brand identity strategy, nokia, london Annual Trends 2010 is a future forecasting document designed, co-edited and co-written by Parcero in 2007 for Nokias internal use.

Blubber Bots featured on the cover of Make Magazine Vol.12, 2008.

(Bottom, left)

Jed Berk sitting amongst a flock of feeding ALAVs 2.0 shown at The Museum of Contemporary Art ( MOCA ) Taipei as part of the Third Digital Art Festival Taipei 2008.

10

Graduate ProGrams 2009/10

artcenter.edu/mdP

11

our alumni
alumni WorK
alumni WorK Previous Page
(toP)

Left Page
(toP)

David Schwarz 04 co-founder and creative director, hush, new York Still from a promotional video for Sony Ericssons new Big Screen phone shows one piece of a campaign that included video ring tones, demo movies, wallpapers and more.
(middle, left)

Nikolai Cornell 04 director of interactive media, obscura digital, san francisco The CueLight Pool Table, featured at the Paradise Tower Penthouse, Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas, uses Obscura Digitals projection, sensor and tracking system to reveal images and animations that follow the movements of pool balls as they are hit around the table.
(middle and Bottom)

Companies have created new positions with new titlesfor our graduates. Because they bring expertise geared toward the future of communications of all kinds, the range of options available to them is found in amazingly diverse contexts. Our graduates find positions as media designers, interaction designers, graphic designers, design researchers, experience designers, broadcast designers, information designers, futurists, entrepreneurs, inventors, educators and more. Below are some of the positions currently held by our alumni:
Eric Boisvert 04 founder and creative director, Push offices, los angeles; former digital creative director, motorola Laura Crawford 05 designer and co-founder, Balsara + crawford inc., los angeles Jennifer Darmour 05 user experience designer, artefact, seattle; former design researcher, microsoft Laura Janisse 07 human-centered design research/human factors, ideo, san fancisco

Jonathan Jarvis 09, designer, Google creative lab, new York Qusai Kathawala 07 interaction designer, intel research, Portland Jean Ku 08, uX designer, microsoft, seattle Matthew McBride 05 user experience designer, schematic, inc., los angeles Scott Nazarian 04 associate creative director, frog design, seattle Prathana Panchal 05 senior interaction and visual designer, t-mobile creation center, seattle Hannah Regier 07 design analyst, frog design, san francisco Amy Sheppard 07 design director, Johnson & Johnson Global strategic design, new York Jin Hyun Park 03 multimedia design professor, Kaywon school of art and design, seoul

Syuzi Pakhchyan 05 designer; author; entrepreneur; blogger, fashioningtech.com, los angeles Fashioning Technology: A DIY Intro to Smart Crafting, published in 2008, includes primers and DIY projects that blend sewing and electronics. The projects, photography, book design, and writing were done entirely by Pakhchyan herself.
(middle, riGht) 04,

David Schwarz 04, hush, with Nikolai Cornell obscura digital An interactive installation to promote Nokias Supernova phone series installed in Nokias flagship retail stores premiered worldwide in 2009.

Jed Berk 06 artist; designer; inventor, alaVs.com, los angeles ALAVsAutonomous Light Air Vesselsare networked blimps that respond to one another, their surroundings and people through the use of microcontrollers and mobile technology. Blubber Bots are the DIY offspring of the ALAVs sold in kits. Once built, the autonomous robotic inflatables can roam the landscape in search of light and cellphone signals.
(middle, left)

(Bottom)

Blubber Bots shown at the Museum der Moderne, Salzburg, Austria, in December 2007.
(middle, riGht)

Adriana Parcero 03 head and senior manager, brand identity strategy, nokia, london Annual Trends 2010 is a future forecasting document designed, co-edited and co-written by Parcero in 2007 for Nokias internal use.

Blubber Bots featured on the cover of Make Magazine Vol.12, 2008.

(Bottom, left)

Jed Berk sitting amongst a flock of feeding ALAVs 2.0 shown at The Museum of Contemporary Art ( MOCA ) Taipei as part of the Third Digital Art Festival Taipei 2008.

12

Graduate ProGrams 2009/10

aPPlication / PortFolio
aPPlicant ProFile mdP at-a-glance The MDP seeks risk-takers and self-starters who believe critical investigation leads to innovative design, and who want to use the power of design to become stakeholders, inventors, entrepreneurs, cultural interventionists and visionaries. Applicants must hold a bachelors degree. The MDP offers two- and three-year paths appropriate to applicants with different backgrounds and goals. For the two-year path, we look for applicants with exceptional training and experience in the visual, spatial, interactive and graphic design fields who can realize high-level concepts. For the three-year path, we accept both accomplished and burgeoning designers from a range of backgrounds. Applicants with degrees in fields such as information technology, philosophy or biology (to name just a few) bring valuable perspectives to the practice of design. See the Our Curriculum section of this brochure for more information. submissions Year established 2000 (as media design Program) degree offered master of Fine arts total number of students 45 number of core faculty and thesis advisors 11 total units required 2-Year Path: 66; 3-Year Path: 95 contact

Kevin Wingate

Director kevin.wingate@artcenter.edu 626.396.2469 artcenter.edu/mdp admissions 626.396.2373 admissions@artcenter.edu artcenter.edu

mdP supplemental application (download from the MDP Web site) rsum design portfolio Personal statement letters of recommendation (one to three)

Art Center College of Design | 3302_04 | 25M | 1009

Please see our Web site and contact the department directly prior to preparing your application materials. In addition to the application forms, fees, transcripts and TOEFL test scores outlined in the Graduate Admissions section of Art Centers main Web site, applicants to the Media Design Program must submit the following:

media desiGn

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