Communication Designers give visual form to information, ideas, and feelings. They inform, persuade, educate, and entertain using typography, photography, drawing, video/animation, audio, storytelling, interaction, and space. Communication designers increasingly collaborate with other fields to help meet human needs.
At the University of Cincinnati, Communication Design students receive a foundation in visual problem-solving. The core of the curriculum is a series of sequential design studios. These courses help students develop critical and visual thinking along with essential design processes. Students also have opportunities to further develop in specific areas of interest (including graphic design, interaction design, and motion design). Students reinforce their skills in the field through several co-ops.
Professional communication designers build careers wherever communication is important. Designers often work for design firms, internal design teams, or as independent freelancers. They have career opportunities in advertising, branding and corporate identity, digital product design, exhibit design, interface design, motion graphics and post-production design, package design, service design, user experience design, and web design. Today's designers may be found working in the healthcare system or for governments and NGOs impacting society. Established designers may create their own firms or pursue entrepreneurial activities. Regardless of their career, almost every designer works on behalf of an interested party (or client) and an audience, identifying specific problems and helping fulfill the needs of both groups.