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provide students the opportunity to
develop and refine their design process,
design voice, and creative skills leading to
professional competence and leadership.
M.F.A. in
Communications Design
Design plays a central and formative role
in shaping communities, technology,
and business. Never have designers been
expected to cultivate such a diverse set
of skills and knowledge. The M.F.A.
in Communications Design prepares
individuals to pursue design with passion
and cultural relevance. In our distinctive
program, we explore design as a means
for communicating meaningful messages,
organizing information, and creating
compelling experiences.
We believe the most intriguing
and successful designers are cultural
innovators who use media to inform,
persuade, and entertain. Our graduates
develop a voice as authors engaged in
seeking and solving problems within
cross-disciplinary environments. We
approach design as an agent of change—
a strategy for transforming behaviors of
individuals in desirable and sustainable
ways. The program provides a framework
for both professional practice and
academic careers.
A 60-credit program administered
over two years leads to a Master of Fine
Arts terminal degree; the program
emphasizes full-time studio practice
in Communications Design (print and
digital media, artifacts, information,
environments, and systems). The
components of the M.F.A. program
include an emphasis on studio practice,
research and scholarship, design teaching
methodologies, and academic studies
of visual media such as history, theory,
critical analysis, aesthetics, and related
humanities and social sciences.
The M.F.A. program is intended for
highly motivated individuals who hold an
undergraduate degree in graphic design or
related design fields such as industrial or
interior design, architecture, fine arts, or
media arts. Exceptional individuals from
disparate disciplines may be admitted
provisionally and required to take design
foundation courses. A residency of two
academic years attending full time is
required (one or two additional semesters
for provisional admits).
There are seven M.F.A. Studios—
courses that investigate current
practice and the future direction of
communications design. Courses
emphasize research, critical thinking,
and design strategy, coupled with
entrepreneurship and an iterative design
process. Students are encouraged to
synthesize theory with practice. These
are intense studios taught by resident
and visiting faculty, sharing a common
foundation with the other studios
offered in a given semester. Students are
encouraged to search for connections
and relationships between the studio
projects and the thesis, with an emphasis
on discovering his/her own design voice.
A significant proportion of the work
will be self-directed and independent,
with collaborative and community-
based projects as well. Studios will
consist of group discussions, critiques,
student presentations, individual faculty
meetings, and visits with guest designers.
Seminars are offered as a forum
for critical analysis and discussions of
theoretical, historical, and contemporary
issues in communications design. Design
Writing will focus on core writing skills
and effective methods for researching,
analyzing, evaluating, and chronicling
design issues. A Teaching Practicum is
available for those who desire to enter
post-secondary teaching.
M.F.A. candidates in Communications
Design will be required to present a thesis
and final body of work demonstrating
professional competence, which must
be approved by a three-faculty thesis
committee and the department chair in
order to be eligible for degree conferral.
The department will support students in
frequent opportunities to present their
work both publicly and in circumstances
that develop connections with the
communication design profession.
Right: Vivi Weng