Leap Party on the rooftop garden of the wind tunnel at the ArtCenter south Campus in Downtown Pasadena (Photos – Lucia Loiso).
“The clamoring of the world is for creative conversation.” These words, courtesy of president Lorne Buchman, floated down Thursday night from a rooftop garden atop the ArtCenter College of Design’s south campus in central Pasadena.
By Melanie Hooks
Thanks to Buchman’s staff and students, especially editor and Designmatters program co-founder Mariana Amatullo, such a conversation is beginning in book form, LEAP Dialogues, amongst eighty-four interviewed professionals about the present and future of socially innovative design.
Responding to real world needs
For many institutions, such lofty words might be worth only the air they inhabit. But the attendees amongst the book launch and celebration lent credence to Buchman’s claim. Debbie and Katie Aung Din Taylor of Proximity Designs won the prize for distance traveled. The alumni flew in from Myanmar, where they create affordable solutions for farmers. They reach out to one of the poorest regions on earth with easy, low-impact irrigation products, off-grid energy alternatives and even microloans. They consider their calling to be much broader and deeper than traditional, specialist design. They respond to real world needs and implement a range of fields to be organic to the solution.
ArtCenter president Lorne Buchman (Photo – Lucia Loiso).
Proud to be a generalist
According to fellow alum and former LEAP lecture and symposium designer Carlo Llacar, the Designmatters program emphasis on interdisciplinary studies led him to reconsider his career trajectory. “I’m proud now to be a generalist,” he says, instead of having a narrow focus on graphic design. Collaborating on the program’s projects grouped him together with environmental and industrial designers, film and transportation artists, all in the name of making a positive social impact.
LEAP Design Book (Photo – Lucia Loiso).
Making a difference
Big-picture thinking, says Mariana Amatullo, was the student mandate that started the program in 2001. Surveys showed that students wanted to make a difference in the world, starting in school. In addition to the school’s ongoing support, she credits past President Richard Koshalek and former Senior Vice President, International Initiatives, Erica Clark with early care of the symposiums and projects that brought together diverse thinkers in design fields. Many of those participants count among LEAP Dialogues’ authors. Representatives from UNICEF, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and numerous academic and industry leaders chime in, some in actual conversation format, others in essays, and quite a few with calendar/daily snapshots of their work. Designmatters Department Director Jennifer May as Managing Editor chased down the diverse group and brought them in on deadline within one year.
> The book releases this autumn, and several universities have already requested it as a text. Find sample pages and further information here.
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