Graphic Design
The goal of undergraduate design education in the School of Design is to provide a foundation that will allow graduates to deal with diverse professional challenges appropriately and to master tools and media of the future. This foundation has three components:
- an integrated twelve quarter curriculum, rather than a collection of courses, concentrating on the design process rather than product
- one and one-half years of supervised experience in the design field through the professional practice (co-op) program
- a structured liberal-arts education
About the Program
Graphic designers analyze communication needs in order to conceive of and to create effective and socially responsible visual solutions. This work blends artistic creativity with problem diagnosis, strategizing and various skills. The results may inform, persuade, improve, identify, clarify, and/or entertain.
Graphic design is a five-year program that includes cooperative work experience and leads to a professional Bachelor of Science degree in Design.
Students spend their first year in Foundation Studies, which provides a concentrated study of rudiments related to optical and tactile sensations that intensify perception. The focus of these studies concerns formal and fundamental concepts of two- and three-dimensional organization. Emphasis is placed on the ingredients of process: inquiry, analysis, comparison, evaluation, and language. The studies are an introduction to tools, methods, and materials, including development of basic technical ability. The chronological order of courses provides a continual linear experience through a carefully planned analytical sequence of interlocking components.
The concentration on design process continues as students move into the graphic design curriculum. Each assignment and course, each quarter and year, grows from the previous, supports parallel course work and anticipates the next stage. Each assignment attempts an integrated intellectual, visual and manual methodology. Faculty members maintain close contact with students and a careful supervision of curriculum. Our process involves critical analysis, research, experimentation, visualization, testing, refinement and the eventual message transmittal to an intended audience. This requires knowledge concerning conceptualization and aesthetics as well as the employment of form, drawn imagery, typography, symbology, photography, composition, legibility, production, and digital technology.