Design

A team of students representing UC Davis took the Biodesign Challenge for the first time and came away with the Outstanding Science Award and was runner up for the top prize at the event. Team Sorbit from UC Davis, which included design and economics double major Julie Xu, created a diaper of bacterial cellulose with enhanced absorbency and biodegradability.

Design and Art History double major Jennifer Place has received national attention for winning the LEDvance Student Design, an annual competition in which students are tasked with designing, developing and producing a lighting fixture prototype.

This year’s “Arts and Humanities Graduate Exhibition at UC Davis” showcases the work and research of graduate students across seven disciplines — art studio, design, art history, music, theatre, creative writing and French — at the Manetti Shrem Museum.

Design’s Jennifer Cadieux, Alice Decker, Justin Goldwater, Emily Harris, Lauren Kelly, Christine Knobel, Rachel Max, [george slavik], Lanwei Su, Daria Taback, Sheena Tu and Corey Wolffs will be featured in this interdisciplinary show.

WHEN: May 30-June 17

Join Jennifer for the installation event of her MFA thesis project: LUMENroute! For one night only the Walnut Park Tunnel in South Davis will come alive as a series of motion-activated light fixtures surround participants with color and light. Then take a moment to enjoy a beautiful evening in the park at the LUMENroute seating area, glowing with light, color, music, and laughs! This project has been created with the support of the City of Davis Arts and Culture Affairs Fund Award and the CITRIS Connected Communities Initiative Mini-Grant.

Based on a yearlong reporting project by Capital Public Radio and developed in collaboration with the California Museum in Sacramento, ”Passion and Perseverance: A Year at Encina” explores how the school reflects California’s shifting demographics, education policies, and residential segregation. Through photographs, videos, Instagram posts, and school artifacts, the exhibition challenges the narrative of low-income schools by highlighting the work of tireless teachers and staff who create a safe and supportive campus culture.

Two graduates of UC Davis Design, Kat Fukuii and Maggie Yee, visited DES 157-001, Intermediate Interactive, to talk about their lives and work post college. Kat, a designer at Github in San Francisco, inspired students with her talk about design empowerment through code and teamwork. Maggie, a designer at Open Table in San Francisco, summarized her experiences with successful job hunting using projects started in DES 157.

Beth Ferguson, assistant professor of design, has won an Austin Green Award for the creation of a solar charging station in the city of Austin. Ferguson’s firm Sol Design Lab was the driving force of the project. 

The completed project, Electric Drive: The Future of Renewable Energy Mobility, is located on West 2nd Street in Austin.  

DES 225 Students Installed “Exit Through the Bathroom” at the Mondavi and met with Campus Community Book Project Author, Janet Mock!

Learn more about the Campus Community Book Project here. 

Each February The Red Dress Collection uses fashion to raising awareness of heart disease as the leading killer of women. Students from the UC Davis Department of Design are at the forefront of this awareness campaign. 

A UC Davis design student team was selected as one of six national finalists in the SOFA Chicago CONNECT Competition in November 2017. UC Davis was the only California school among the prestigious design program finalists.

The UC Davis design team consisted of Victoria Chau, Sierra Kennedy, Jessica Jade Lam and Sandra Bae.

Here are some samples of work by Professor Susan Taber Avila which are includes in the “Artistry in Fiber” series. The images are courtesy of Schiffer Publishing. 

Susan Taber Avila, professor of design, has made invaluable contributions to a new book series on fiber art. “Artistry in Fiber” by Anna Lee and E. Ashley Rooney is a three-book series which includes a volume titled “Wearable Art” featuring a foreward by Avila. In addition, examples of Avila’s work appear in all three books.

Brett Snyder, associate professor of design, and Beth Ferguson, assistant professor of design, are part of a group selected for a year-long project bringing together local residents, public officials and experts to develop projects to strengthen resilience to sea level rise, severe storms, flooding and earthquakes.

For a detailed feature on their project, read the feature on the College of Letters and Science site. 

In their new book Metagaming, Stephanie Boluk and Patrick LeMieux argue that “the greatest trick the videogame industry ever pulled was convincing the world that videogames were games rather than a medium for making metagames.” Elegantly defined as “games about games,” metagames implicate a diverse range of practices that stray outside the boundaries and bend the rules: from technical glitches and forbidden strategies to Renaissance painting, algorithmic trading, professional sports, and the War on Terror.

While at UC Davis, Christina Johnson learned the university’s commitment to innovation and sustainability. As a proud Aggie, Johnson has developed a business Upcycle It Now, which has encompasses that theory.

While majoring in Design it was at UC Davis that Christina took her first class in sustainability with Ann Savageau. From then on she knew sustainable design was her calling, so she is proud to circle back and be able to upcycle a piece of her campus she holds in such high regard.