News and blog posts from our students and faculty

Please join me in congratulating Austin Center for Design’s graduating class. These students have completed thirty-two weeks of intense training, reflection, and creative production. The results of their effort are five companies, each founded around principles of social entrepreneurship: these companies generate revenue, and simultaneously drive social impact, pursuing a humanitarian theory of change. The companies, and their founders, are presented below: Ad@pt, founded by Melissa Chapman and Willy Morgan Ad@pt provides illustrated adoption timelines, which are designed to give…
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Just about every news outlet has written about the importance of Science, Technology Engineering and Math (STEM) education recently. Businesses report that they cannot find enough engineers domestically and advocate for greater STEM education in middle and high schools. Many believe that the US is losing its competitive edge and cite the lack of skilled engineers and scientists. Even President Obama has said that improving STEM education is one of his top priorities. Beginning a half century ago, scientists and…
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Austin Center for Design was featured in Day In The Lab in interactions magazine, the popular journal send to members of ACM’s SIGCHI. The feature describes AC4D’s space and students, and is in both the printed and online version of the magazine. You can read it online here.

“What’s your schedule look like this week?” I ask Jesse this question as least once a week as we build Kites & Ladders, a business to amplify the voices of people with autism through tools that support self-expression and communication. Why do I constantly pester Jesse about his availability? (And spend too much time in Google calendar?) Our first Kites & Ladders product is the Harmony wristband, which uses biofeedback to help people on the autism spectrum become aware of…
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“When a male ballet dancer lifts and carries his partner around the stage in a pas de deux, he looks as strong as Atlas, but any ballerina will tell you there is a good deal in knowing how to be lifted.” Wallace Stegner, Crossing to Safety “How can I help” isn’t necessarily a simple question, and there isn’t always an easy answer. For much of my life, I’ve been observing a little something out there in the world. There are…
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When you ask an 8 year old “What did you do in school today?” They will invariably answer with “Nothing.” Ask Will Mederski and me what we did in school, and our answer is “A lot!” We’ve designed a service to combat “Nothing” and help parents discuss school at home with their kids. Our goal is to extend the classroom experience into the home by giving parents the necessary information to have insightful conversations with their children. Our service, BringUp…
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Willy and I are developing an app that simplifies the paperwork side of adoption for families and agencies: Adapt Solutions. Ask anyone who has adopted: paperwork is a headache and amplifies the vulnerability, frustration and emotional turmoil that comes with the territory. Currently, adoption paperwork is agency-specific, analog and a complete pain. Documents are scanned, mailed, faxed, lost, forgotten and never in the right place. Adoptive parents are burdened by lugging heavy stacks of paperwork to places like the DMV, airports,…
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If you haven’t checked it out, please stop over and Chuck and I’s site – www.wecallitboost.com.  We are designing an app to help families coordinating caregiving tasks.  A large part of caregiving is staying on top of everything that needs to happen, both for the care receiver and the care giver.  In a typically stressful environment, family caregivers may tend to become isolated and retract from getting the help they need and deserve.  We’re here to help them get the…
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Austin Center for Design alumni Christina Tran recently presented at SXSWedu on the topic of Designing for Peer Learning. Her talk covered stories that illustrate many of HourSchool’s core beliefs. Christina has a great retrospective up, with audio and slides of the talk, here.

On Wednesday, March 6th, Austin Center for Design co-hosted a SXSWedu party with MyEdu and Stubbs. The event – the Design Movement in Education – highlighted three themes, represented in student work: DESIGN RESEARCH: FINDING INNOVATION Market research attempts to understand purchasing behavior of a small sample, in order to predict purchasing behavior of a big sample. Design research attempts to empathize with a small group, in order to identify opportunities for design-led innovation. It’s a strategic driver for new product and service…
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