The Bachelor of Fine Arts in Graphic Design is a professional degree that prepares students for careers in communication (graphic) design and related fields. Graphic design is highly contextual, inherently interdisciplinary, and shapes our everyday experience and identity. The intention of the program is to train emerging designers to research, conceptualize, strategize, create, disseminate, and assess affect and efficacy of their varied deliverables in context.
The program offers general education in graphic design to provide fundamental skill sets and build a range of design and related capacities. At the upper division, more in-depth study and practice allows students to hone their skill sets towards their specific interests. Working together in the studio allows students to design better, foster collaboration skills that support their development as designers and leaders. Students collaborate in their designated design studio/collaborative coworking space.
Graphic design is not neutral. Specifically, the graphic design curriculum centers on preparing designers to design for people in context and consider issues of access, equity, and inclusion. Students are encouraged to bring their full selves to the program and hold opinions and perspectives on the individual and collective roles and responsibilities of designers, and design as a discipline.
Graduates of the program begin their careers in a range of disciplines and industries. These include UI/UX, art/creative direction, information design, editorial design, design strategy, and work in design agencies, in-house corporate design offices, and design consultancies. Many alumni also start their own design studios. In addition, alumni are in leadership roles nationally and internationally in design and beyond.
The degree program in graphic design prepares students for professional work in an expanded communication design field. The curriculum emphasizes design process, concept development strategies, visual systems, technologies, professional development, working with people in context and results in a working portfolio for entry level careers in design.
