Designmatters is where art and design education meets social change.

Since 2001, Designmatters at Art Center College of Design has afforded the college's degree students meaningful opportunities to apply their creativity and skills to address some of the most pressing humanitarian and social challenges of our time with empathy, discipline, and unwavering optimism to effect change. Through the Designmatters Department, Art Center students, faculty and alumni participate in trans-disciplinary studio courses, special projects and international internships that are defined by aesthetic value, business acumen and an expansive agenda for social innovation. Designmatters projects are local, national and global in scope and focus on four key thematic areas of inquiry that intersect with art and design, these are: public policy, sustainable development, global healthcare and social entrepreneurship. The Designmatters portfolio engages all of the disciplines taught at Art Center with an educational approach that aspires for actionable and "real-world" outcomes. Today, Designmatters is at the helm of the Designmatters Concentration in Art and Design for Social Impact and partners with Art Center's Graduate Media Design Program in the Media Design Matters (MDM) track.