Art Center College of Design

Art Center College of Design was founded in 1930 in downtown Los Angeles with a single purpose—to educate students for careers of achievement in the visual arts professions. The founder, Tink Adams, vowed to work closely with the leaders of industry to prepare professionals for meaningful careers. This tradition of close industry relationships continues today at the Pasadena campus.

Art Center attracts attention from firms throughout the world. Companies, such as Nike, Honda, Sony, The Gap, Nokia, and Universal Studios, have decided to sponsor special student research projects at the College. Students have the opportunity to work with real clients on futuristic and conceptual projects. Of special interest are projects concerning sustainability, the environment, and global and humanitarian issues.

In addition to visiting artists and representatives from industry, the College features a faculty of practicing professionals who reinforce this tradition of real-world influence. Most are part-time faculty members who maintain their own distinctive practices.

Fine arts students have an opportunity to work with some of the most provocative artists and painters working today, such as Mike Kelley, Liz Larner, and Jeremy Gilbert-Rolfe.

Art Center acknowledges and encourages the dissolution of boundaries between disciplines, and, although students apply to and study within specific majors, there are opportunities for new kinds of art making, based on digital and other technologies. The College’s mission is to lead the way for the industry in exploring new roles for design, photography, and film.

The average freshman at Art Center is 23 years old. All students must declare a major before entering the College, and this has resulted in a mature and focused student body. Campus life, too, is influenced by the maturity of the students. There is currently no on-campus housing. Students choose from an abundance of housing within the Pasadena and Los Angeles area.

Art Center’s graduates have made significant marks in the world of art and design, and alumni return to the campus to recruit for their own employment needs. The high demand for Art Center graduates is attributable to the degree of specialization and professionalism required of the students. In excess of 200 firms visit the College to interview graduating students each year, and job listings are printed regularly for the use of students and alumni. Some of the firms that have recruited on campus are Harcourt Brace & Co., Capitol Records, The Walt Disney Company, Ford Motor Company, Daimler Chrysler, Pentagram, Virgin Records, Landor Associates, Honda, Nike, MCA-Universal Studios, Neiman Marcus Direct, TBWA/Chiat/Day, Daimler-Chrysler, Industrial Light and Magic, DreamWorks SKG, and Mattel Toys.

With two campuses in suburban Pasadena, Art Center offers a physically beautiful environment juxtaposed with the internationalism of Los Angeles and the Pacific Rim. Art Center encourages a diverse population of students and faculty members. The goal in bringing together a community of students from throughout the United States and the world is to develop new solutions to design issues and to promote the importance of design within the world communities. It is within this context that students receive highly individualized and rigorous programs of study. Critical thinking, as well as development of technical skills, is emphasized.

Facilities

Art Center is an acknowledged leader in providing new technologies and state-of-the-art facilities to its students. Features include a distinctive contemporary campus in the hills overlooking Pasadena’s Rose Bowl; a 215,000-square-foot glass and steel building designed by Craig Ellwood; an 11,000-square-foot computer graphics lab with 122 Apple Mac Pro stations, forty-two high-end HP workstations, forty Apple MacBook Pro laptops, and one of the world’s largest computer-aided industrial design (CAID) networks as well as a vast array of software to introduce students to the newest digital technologies; a professional recording studio; photography areas that include a black-and-white lab with seventy-five enlargers, a color lab with a 20-inch fully automated E-6 processor, and a fully automated C-41 processor; a digital-imaging lab with Mac workstations, drum and flatbed scanners, and Canon and Epson printers; two 4,600-square-foot shooting stages that provide twenty-six shooting bays equipped with seamless backgrounds, including one 15 × 30 flying flat; and digital-imaging facilities, including Kodak XL 7700 thermal printer, RFS 2035 film scanners, H-P Paint Jet printer, 840 AV workstation, a Microtech 4 × 5 film scanner, and an Agfa flatbed transparency scanner. A second campus, also in Pasadena, houses graduate and public education programs.

Special Programs

The College encourages a global and international approach to design education. Art Center facilitates a wide variety of internship opportunities with major corporations and firms, such as Ford, Toyota Motor Corporation, Electronic Arts, Nike, and Wieden & Kennedy. Students may also accept paid mentorship positions or enroll in a mentorship class to assist local Pasadena high school students.

Application Procedures

Deadline--freshmen and transfers: continuous. Notification date--freshmen and transfers: continuous. Required: essay, high school transcript, college transcript(s) for transfer students, portfolio, SAT or ACT test scores, minimum TOEFL score of 550 for international students. Recommended: minimum 3.0 high school GPA, interview. Auditions held 1 time. Portfolio reviews held continuously on campus.

Art Center College of Design

Facilities

Special Programs

Application Procedures

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