Nobody is perfect. Even the most advanced design prodigy has room to improve a little bit. So how does a creative creature continue to grow? Well, the first step is admitting that you don’t know everything. The second step is going on an Italian vacation and checking out the four summer courses offered at Scuola Politecnica di Design in Milan, Italy. Starting on June 27th (but continuing through the rest of the summer) the prestigious design school will offer successive week long workshops with the likes of such industry luminaries as Ross Lovegrove, Fernando and Humberto Campana, Matali Crasset, and Marti Guixa. The individual programs will focus on corporate design collaboration and future innovation. If this sounds like something you want in on, buy an Italian dictionary, book a flight, and reserve your space right now.

What if you could go back to a summer camp where all you did was arts and crafts? Well, Firebelly Design is about to make you one happy camper. Camp Firebelly, a two week graphic arts program / sleepaway camp, is ready to accept applications for ten gifted design students to take part in a work-intensive project for a non-profit client. In lieu of tents, Firebelly is letting you camp out in their Chicago loft. And, if you really miss the swimming and canoing of your childhood…there’s always Lake Michigan. From the sound of it, the days will be long, and the nights may not be full of s’mores and ghost stories. But, it will look a heck of a lot better on your resume than that first place archery ribbon.

Are you from DC? Are you an undergraduate design student? Most importantly, are you sexy? We reported on some other AIGA sanctioned throwdowns in the Deep South. This year the DC chapter of the AIGA is taking on getting off, a provocative theme for their inaugural Show Off competition. Enter your print, Web, or massive viral marketing campaign starring d-list celebrities for the consideration of guys like Joe Foster of Fuszion or Leon Lawrence III, design director for USA Today Weekend. Get it on, kids.

Grace at D*S has gone a little contest crazy. Hot on the heels of yesterday's DIY update, it's time for the 2008 Design*Sponge Scholarship contest, where design's rising stars go to be discovered. Together with Domino, 2Modern, and The Paper Studio, d*s has collected $11,000 in prize money to divvy up amongst four lucky winners. This scholarship isn't available for just anybody though; those interested in picking up a sweet monetary prize must be presently enrolled in an undergrad program in the US or Canad, and studying art or design. So if you think you've got the portfolio to knock the socks of the some people who aren't easily impressed, we suggest you send in an application before the April 30th deadline. Who knows, by the time the winners are announced on May 5th, you could be on your way design superstardom.

Back in May, we told you about the stellar work being done by Collective Four for Dwell’s Building Green In Harlem project. Well those purveyors of design perfection from the Pratt Institute are at it again. Their latest piece utilizes lumber from an old factory ceiling beam (courtesy of Build It Green) to create a bench consisting of a series of “four ascending surfaces supported by slender bent steel legs.” The unique design of the bench allows for storage of footwear underneath the seat and the reclaimed steel reeds on the end allow one to hang one's umbrella or raincoat or whatever gear you use to protect your head from rain conveniently on the end. While the latest creation from Collective Four is certainly practical, it doesn't hurt that it's also quite the sight for sore eyes

Okay graphic design students – it's time to get your ass in gear and win the adoration of your peers and design-lovers far and wide. Plans at Mississippi State are heating up for the 3rd annual AIGA Student Invitational File Save As… Soirée and they want you to enter. Students from anywhere are eligible and you get unlimited entries for a paltry $15. That's right – for the price of two Starbucks you could be well on the road to global design superstardom.

Plus you get your work in front of heavy-hitting industry judges like pattern designer and Also Design co-founder Julia Rothman, and award-winning illustrator, comic book artist, and self-described “typographic thing-maker” (and Carmel Hagen lust-object) Ray Fenwick.

The deadline to enter is February 8th, so there's not time like right now. No, really. Right now – turn off Project Runway and enter already.

My first thought upon seeing the Eames hacks created by ID students from the University of the Arts, Philadelphia today was “OMG, sacrilege!” but then, after mulling it over, I was pretty amused. I mean, that high chair is totally hot (and would fit in with one’s set of Eames chairs purchased pre-breeding), and the toilet seat (although it may inspire lingering toilet-stays) is clean and dare I say, sophisticated. The project is “about breaking the status surrounding high design objects. Through physically invasive alterations, these once iconic, elite, forms are liberated from their old, restrained image. The project is not a critique of the Eames, but rather a fulfillment of their original ideals.” If you want to check them out for yourself, they’re at the Philadelphia Design Within Reach studio right now.