Deadline: June 3
Instant House @ School Design Competition
The Competition invites entrants to submit projects for a Kindergarten for children aged 3 to 6. The location is Via Ugo Betti, Milan. The project may encompass a single building or several buildings, and the architecture should fit the surrounding area and ideally form a bridge between the neighbourhood and the children. The design should emphasise the relationship between architecture and nature, between indoors and outdoors, as a must for a nursery school that aims to create an organic link between the children, nature and the city.

The Competition also requires projects to include the area outside the property, i.e. for outdoor learning, using nature, the cityscape and the environment as drivers of the architectural proposal.

Deadline: June 30
Tex-Fab Skin Design Competition
SKIN asks designers and researchers to speculate, or if they so choose—to present existing research—on the role of the building envelope by exploring new methods to enable the performative and aesthetic qualities of a façade.

Design submissions may develop any context they choose, real or virtual, at any scale and on any building type so to present a complete thesis. Integrating structure, dynamical cladding or other system whether static and active may be submitted. We encourage the boldest visions and challenging technologies in the development of your proposal. The competition will select four of the most robust and intriguing projects, that best rethink the envelope, supporting those selections through prototypes developed to illustrate the potential of the competition submission.

Deadline: July 19
Sappi Ideas that Matter Grant
More than a decade ago Sappi Fine Paper North America - the maker of McCoy, Opus, Somerset and Flo - established the Ideas that Matter grant program to recognize and support designers who use their skills and expertise to solve communications problems for a wide range of charitable activities in North America.

All communication projects that support the needs of a nonprofit and meet the conditions and requirements of the Ideas that Matter program will be considered. Grant awards range from $5,000 to $50,000 per project. At least a portion of the project must be printed, though additional elements may include a variety of communication mediums such as outdoor signage, t-shirts, banner advertising, print advertising, websites, html campaigns, or other media. And, for the first time in 2013, proposal may include up to 10% of the total budget as an honorarium designer fees.

Applications are reviewed by an annually selected, independent committee comprised of leaders in the design industry. Evaluation of projects is based on creativity, potential benefit for the nonprofit, impact on the nonprofit's target community, and effectiveness of the implementation plan.

June 6–8
Above the Fog - 2013 SEGD Conference
—Fairmont Miramar Hotel, San Francisco, California
The annual SEGD Conference is the only international educational event focused on communication design for the built environment. It is the space where multiple design disciplines converge and where design professionals who create compelling and information-rich spaces go for inspiration, education, and networking.

June 9–11
Collider Digital Production Conference
—Hotel Pennsylvania, New York, New York
Join us at COLLIDER and discover the right tools and strategies to solve your most pressing production, creative and staffing issues. COLLIDER gathers 1,000+ attendees for a conference, job fair and master classes: three days of problem-solving talks, hard-hitting panels, top-level networking and serious job hunting.

June 17–19
Designing the Next Economy
—Fairmont Miramar Hotel, Santa Monica, California
In this time of change and challenge, the role of design thinking to drive innovation and change is on the increase. Join us for a global conversation on how design is changing the game for business, healthcare, education and the public sector. The conversation starts this spring at DMI.org/next and comes alive in Madrid from April 23–25 and in Los Angeles from June 17–19.

Discover the stories, solutions and tools creative thinkers are putting to work, from start ups to multinationals, from emerging economies to global leaders. You will learn how frugal innovation is changing emerging economies, start-ups, and multi-nationals alike. Find inspiration in open innovation and new methods to solve increasingly complex challenges in business and the public sector globally.

In Spain this spring we'll gather together inspirational practitioners and educators, business and government leaders to share stories of success, failures and solutions with real-world results that you can take away.

May 26 – June 9
SVA Masters Workshop Summer 2013: Design History, Theory and Practice in Italy
—Rome, Italy
Studying graphic design and typography this summer in Rome—the birthplace of Western typographic tradition—is a not-to-be-missed experience. The program, now in its fifth season, is a unique way to learn about type and typography, book and lettering design, as well as architecture, art, archeology, epigraphy, and even Italian cuisine. Study with the best typographers and designers in Italy. Visit the Trajan Column and partake in exclusive guided visits to the Roman and Imperial Forums, the harbor town of Ostia Antica an ancient site that best reflects the grandeur of Rome and "behind-the-stacks" tour of Biblioteca Angelica, the oldest library in Europe that houses original Bodoni type books. Examine the inscriptions on Roman structures that have long been accepted as a typographic ideal.

This intensive hands-on workshop enables participants to research and analyze the roots of typography, draw type and letters from the classic models while practicing contemporary design along with a faculty of Italian and American designers, historians and publishers. Taught by leading design professionals, this workshop emphasizes the multidisciplinary and entrepreneurial nature of contemporary design. In addition, collaborations with noted Italian design organizations and media businesses result in unique (and potentially publishable) print and web projects.

Classes are held Monday through Saturday and include time for critiques and personal exploration, as well as field trips to ancient sites, museums, design firms and ateliers. The opportunity to visit some of the most exciting sites in Italy and learn from masters of design, typography and archeology is guaranteed.

Projects include personal and journalistic guides to the type, popular culture, and design of Rome and will be presented to a panel of guest critics at the Palazzo delle Esposizioni. Participants have individual rooms in a three-star hotel in the historical center (Centro Storico) behind the Pantheon, and within walking distance to the major sites of Rome.

Invest in your design career. Join us this summer in Rome and be part of a select group of global designers.

June 23–29
DesignInquiry Presents Station: Pause, Ponder, Play
—Vinalhaven, Maine
What are the "stations" of our work, interactions, and play? When our networks are not only local but also regional, global, and frequently "virtual," where is activity situated? Do we yearn for both fixity of place and transitory freedom? What are the tensions, if any, between these extremes? The more that mobility is privileged, does place matter less? How might stations—their locations, design, histories, and potential—benefit and/or hamper relationships and professional practices?

DesignInquiry considers the "place" of life and work—the stops, or nodes, perhaps, within living networks that are sometimes fixed, but that are also, more and more, variable. We are served by work stations, train stations, radio stations, gas stations, and server stations. We occupy these places somewhere between the extremes of permanence and impermanence, between rootedness and nomadism.

Join DesignInquiry in Vinalhaven, Maine to consider the dimensions of STATION, as we spend a week in June making the island a hub of diverse creative networks and a productive junction of thinking and making.

July 6–13
Food Design in France
—L'Ecole Supérieure d'Art et de Design, Reims, France
This immersive workshop is a delicious foray into the growing field of food design. Taking place in the French capital of Champagne province, the program will be hosted in the kitchens of L'Ecole Supérieure d'Art et de Design de Reims (L'ESAD), home to one of the first culinary design program in the world. Emphasizing a maker-driven, cooking-centric approach, the program will reveal new perspectives unto the ways that we engage and identify with our food.

Under the direction of Marc Bretillot, founder of the food design program at L'ESAD, and Emilie Baltz, artist and food designer, the program is based on the understanding that food is our most fundamental form of consumption. In recent years, we have seen a growing awareness around the quality of the food we ingest and the industrial means surrounding our most basic foodstuffs. With the rapidly expanding reach of the design industry, designers are now uniquely situated to explore and affect these systems.

Using materials, gestures, forms and interactions, participants will investigate the role that ingredients, taste, shape and service play within food design. Throughout the workshop, critiques and performances will be held to emphasize the authentic development of personal taste. Students will likewise be challenged to consider the sensory experience of their work and its ethical, aesthetic, historical and political implications. A professional chef will assist participants with technical needs. Scheduled visits and tastings to neighboring distilleries, vineyards, local farms and food producers will be an essential component of revealing the complex, and delightful, space in which food design exists.

Various Sessions during June – August
Central Saint Martins Dual City Summer Courses
—London and various other cities
The Dual City Summer Sessions are a range of practical fashion, design and art courses that commence at Central Saint Martins in London and end in either: Barcelona, Istanbul, Milan or Paris and our New York Program which commences at Parsons School of Art and Design and finishes in London. Our partners in these programmes are all colleges with outstanding reputations based in cities famous for their culture and creativity. These unique courses are the perfect opportunity for you to develop your skills whilst exploring a new city.

Various Dates
Cooper U's Interaction Design Training
—Cooper, San Francisco, California
Learn about Personas and Goal-Directed design from the people who invented them! Our practicum is an intensive, hands-on workshop led by senior Cooper staff. First we'll show you how to practice Goal-Directed Design in more depth than you'll find anywhere else, then you and a small group of professionals from around the world will put it into practice to design an example product. Here's a taste of what you'll learn: how to conduct user research; translate research into personas, goals, and scenarios; develop and prioritize requirements based on user and business goals; turn requirements into a concrete product concept. This course also serves as the foundation for the rest of our Cooper U curriculum.

• July 16–19
• August 13–16
• October 8–11
• November 4–7
• December 3–6

Various Dates
Cooper U's Visual Interface Design Training
—Cooper, San Francisco, California
The application of type, color, icons, and other aspects of visual design are critical to the usability of your product or website. Visual design choices are also key to connecting emotionally with your customers (and to selling more products). Taught by senior Cooper designers, our Visual Interface Design course addresses the cross-section of detailed interaction design, screen layout, and branding. We'll show you how these elements should play together to ensure that a well-conceived, well-behaved product is also a usable and desirable one.

• April 15–16
• July 22–23
• November 12–13

Various Dates
Cooper U's Design Leadership Training
—Cooper, San Francisco, California
In this intensive, two-day course you will learn from Cooper experts who've been coaching companies to deliver better products and services for 20 years. Learn how to diagnose the unique challenges your team or organization is facing and get to the root of the communication roadblocks. Get hands-on experience with communications tools like storytelling to promote big ideas and get buy-in. Use collaborative techniques that help you create an environment that invites participation. Afterwards, you'll have the ability to guide the creation of products and services that are financially viable, technically feasible, and that your customers love. Most of all you'll have the skills to become a leader in your organization.

• April 17–18
• July 24–25
• November 14–15

Various Dates
The Design Community College
The Design Community College was established to promote cross-disciplinary international learning, discussion and collaboration between diverse fields of design and architecture. We provide a forum for designers to exchange ideas and address important global issues through professional social networks while enjoying participation in real-world local mixer events in their regions.

Through June 9
The Home Front 2013: After the Museum
—Museum of Art and Design, New York, New York
Transforming the physical and contextual environment of the museum into a focal point for the NYC design community, the Museum of Arts and Design's annual design program, The Home Front: American Design Now, expands into its first physical exhibition, After the Museum.

Gathering a variety of unique design voices from throughout NYC, After the Museum utilizes the institution as a platform for launching new, radical and unorthodox proposals for contemporary art and design museums in the 21st century.

June 13–16
Made in Brunel
—Bargehouse, Oxo Tower Wharf, London, United Kingdom
We believe what someone has to say, and how they express themselves is one of the most individual things about them. Made in Brunel is a student led brand that aims to do this by showcasing the best talent graduating from Brunel University across Design, Engineering and Digital Media. The show is packed with interesting individuals all with their own story to tell. Take some time to get to know them, and explore the work they have to offer, we guarantee you'll be inspired.

Through July 7
Adhocracy
—New Museum, New York, New York
The exhibition explores a new direction in contemporary design through twenty-five projects—presented through artifacts, objects, and films. In the place of standardized, industrialized perfection, the exhibition embraces imperfection as evidence of an emerging force of identity, individuality, and nonlinearity in design. As design welcomes the new technologies of the information age, the field itself is being reshaped. Some have built their practice around the collaborative ideology of the open source movement; others explore the opportunities opened up by new low-cost fabrication technologies. Some are exploring new economic models of production; others are challenging the established hierarchies between designers and end-users.

"Adhocracy" acknowledges that the world of people who make things is in upheaval. In the last two decades, exponential growth in various technologies——from global communications networks to fast, low-cost digital prototyping—have radically transformed everyday life, and many from the industry speak of a new industrial revolution. If the last industrial revolution was about making perfect objects—millions of them, absolutely identical, produced to exactingly consistent quality standards—this one is about making just one, or a few.

Through August 25
Playing with Fire: 50 Years of Contemporary Glass
—Museum of Art and Design, New York, New York
This year, MAD celebrates the 50th anniversary of the birth of the American Studio Glass movement with Playing with Fire: 50 Years of Contemporary Glass, which will feature more than 100 works of glass from the collection, as well as promised gifts, and additional contemporary works on loan. Ever since 1962, when a legendary workshop led by renowned glass artist Harvey Littleton demonstrated the potential of glassblowing as a medium available to individual artists, artists and designers have continually pushed the material in new directions and used the complex, fragile, and highly versatile nature of the material to create an astonishing diversity of works.

Through September 15
Against the Grain: Wood in Contemporary Art, Craft and Design
—Museum of Art and Design, New York, New York
Featuring nearly 90 installations, sculptures, furniture, and objects, Against the Grain: Wood in Contemporary Art, Craft and Design explores some of the most cutting-edge conceptual and technical trends in woodworking today. The exhibition emphasizes the way artists, designers, and craftspeople have incorporated postmodernist approaches and strategies into woodworking—deconstructing vessel shapes, playing on the relationship between function and form, and utilizing woodturning and furniture techniques in the creation of sculpture and demonstrating exciting possibilities through the use of technology.