Portfolio Center is stepping outside of the traditional classroom setting this Spring, with Design Ignites Change, to help tackle some challenging problems in the city of Atlanta. This semester, two classes, Jonvenes Con Voz (Youth with Voice) and Branding the Future, are participating in the nationwide initiative.

“At Portfolio Center, we are always excited about opportunities like this one. Design Ignites Change teaches our students they can use their passion and gifts to change the world and improve the future landscape. That’s powerful stuff!” exclaims the school’s president Hank Richardson. The innovative branding school started by partnering with area non-profits to identify meaningful ways for the students to use design thinking to serve the community at large. The projects afford Portfolio Center students a chance to work towards improving the quality of life in their city by developing design solutions to real-life problems.

In Branding the Future, Designer and educator, Eric Golev-Miller leads a team of students through a rebranding project for Atlanta-based non-profit, Future Foundation. Founded by Sacramento Kings Forward, Shareef Abdur-Rahim, Future Foundation is committed to shaping today’s youth into productive and responsible citizens. The students are creating a primary identity system that communicates the Foundation’s involvement in the lives of at-risk youth.

Jonvenes Con Voz, led by instructor Melissa Kuperminc, offers students an opportunity to mentor high school students in design. For this project, Portfolio Center students partner with high school students involved in a Georgia-based, domestic violence intervention program for Latino families, Caminar Latino, to develop a series of informational posters targeting Latino youth, that will hang in nearby middle schools.

Learn more about these and other projects, in the Projects section.