ArtCenter Wins Prestigious “School of the Year” Title Two Years in a Row

For the second year in a row, ArtCenter College of Design has been named “School of the Year” in The Young Ones competition, considered one of the most acclaimed advertising, interactive and design student competitions in the world.

“I’m so happy and proud that ArtCenter has been honored as the “School of the Year” once again,” said Karen Hofmann, ArtCenter College of Design’s president and chief executive officer. “It’s great to be recognized by industry professionals for the stellar work our students produce and I want to thank our distinguished faculty for their dedication to mentoring the next generation of design talent.”

The 2023 Young Ones Student Awards combines four separate competition categories:  

1. Young Ones Art Directors Club (ADC) awards offers students the chance to earn an ADC Cube. In total, there were 22 Gold Cubes, 29 Silver, 38 Bronze, 164 Merit awards earned by students and ArtCenter received three Golds, including two for a project titled “Bandai Gunpia.”
2. Young Ones One Show Brief competition tasks teams of students to create work for a specific client with the chance to earn a coveted One Show Pencil. This year there were a total of 9 Gold Pencils, 10 Silver, 16 Bronze, 94 Merit awards given. ArtCenter won Student Gold Pencils for “Walk The Talk” for Spotify in Experiential and “Pairless Parts” for Verizon in Experiential.
3. Young Ones Portfolio competition challenges students to submit six to 15 projects which are then judged as a representation of their entire body of work by industry professionals. There were 33 students from 14 schools who were winners including the ArtCenter students Cathy Xiao, Soyoung Kim, Sarah Oh, Yan Yan.
4. Young Ones Type Directors Club (TDC) jugdes student entries in typography, lettering and type design and honors students with a Certificate of Typographic Excellence from the Type Directors Club, part of The One Club for Creativity. This year, there were 52 winners of TDC Certificates from 21 schools for the Young Ones TDC competition. ArtCenter students topped the list with 14 wins.

Below are four exceptional ArtCenter student projects that won Gold:  

Pairless Parts
Award: Student Gold Pencil
Client: Verizon Category: Brief: Verizon / Experiential
Students: Nicolette Nakkashian, Joshua Steinmetz, Sally Kim, Soyoung Huh, Namu Kim, Juni Kweon
Faculty: Dennis Lee, Andrew Kim
Description: People spend more than $700 million a year replacing their AirPods, and in many of those cases, people are just losing one AirPod. Replacing a single pod is an arduous task that on average takes over a week to complete. Pairless Parts is a new program at Verizon to provide single AirPods to consumers, left or right, in redesigned Verizon stores nationwide. The goal is to position Verizon as top of mind as the prime accessory store for any situation.

Walk The Talk
Award: Student Gold Pencil
Client: Spotify Category: Spotify / Experimental
Students: Genie Chan, Rora Oh, Claudia Fung
Description: “Walk The Talk” is a Spotify Audiobook campaign that offers geolocated audiobook playlists to guide listeners through Black History.

Byte
Award: Student Gold Cube
Category: Typography / Motion / Dynamic
Student: Weiying Ma
Description: The swift development of the internet and related information and communication technologies has manifested an information explosion—a rapid increase in the amount of published information—into reality. The ongoing explosion requires people to have better skills in managing information more effectively. ‘Byte’ explores the possible form changes in information and language structure concurrent with the acceleration of social development. Viewers are invited to look to the future and consider new ways to read and manage information that have never existed before.

Bandai Gunpla
Award: Student Gold Cube
Category: Motion / Film Craft / Cinematography
Students: Jeffrey Xiyang Su, Michael Jiazhi Wang
Faculty: Miguel Lee
Description: Mobile Suit Gundam, the groundbreaking anime series that first premiered in 1979, has left an indelible mark on the world of entertainment. Its impact can be seen not only in the vast array of spin-off series and movies that have followed but also in the popularity of Gunpla or Gundam Plastic kit building. Less than a year after the premiere of Mobile Suit Gundam, the first Gunpla kit was released, giving fans the opportunity to bring their favorite mobile suits to life in the form of intricate, highly detailed models. For the past 40 years, Gunpla building has become a beloved hobby for people of all ages, as fans around the world continue to be captivated by the unique and intricate designs of the mobile suits featured in the series. As huge fans of the Gundam animated series and Gunpla building, this is an opportunity to create a logo/brand message motion piece as a tribute to the world’s love and passion for all things Gundam. The goal is for this tribute to not only showcase fan’s admiration for the series but also inspire others to discover and enjoy the wonderful world of Gunpla building.

View all of the projects from ArtCenter students here.

About The One Club for Creativity and Young Ones Student Awards?
For more than 30 years, The One Club for Creativity has been and continues to be passionate about encouraging students and young professionals to showcase their creativity. Through the acclaimed Young Ones Student Awards, we aim to identify the best young creative talent from around the world in a variety of creative disciplines. The Young Ones Brief competition tasks students with creating work for different types of clients for the chance to earn a One Show Pencil. The Young Ones ADC competition offers students the chance to earn an ADC Cube by competing in the same disciplines and categories as the ADC Annual Awards. The Young Ones Portfolio competition is an opportunity for students to showcase examples from their portfolio in a variety of creative disciplines.

To qualify for entry, national and international college students must be enrolled in an accredited undergraduate or graduate college program, or other program approved by The One Club’s Education Department. Submissions to the competitions are judged based on creativity and originality. Winners are awarded during the Young Ones Education Festival, held each May in New York City.