Program Overview

Computer technology, video, art, and graphic design were once separate academic and professional areas. Today, these areas of visual communication are integrated, and this integration is the focus of our Visual Communication Design program. As a VCD major, you will study the many aspects of design, and from the first year, you will gain experience on the computer. The curriculum aims to refine your sense of design through a combination of courses stressing manual skills and applications of evolving technologies. This program offers four years of progressive development in art, through cooperation with professionals, artists/designers, and, in the final years, outside firms. Students can select a Visual Communication Design Degree with a Graphic Design, Photography, or Motion Graphic track. A minor is also available in Art.

Students use industry-current software in all their design courses.

Students must earn a minimum GPA of 3.00 in the major, and the lowest acceptable grade is a “C” in ART, IS, MOGR, PHOTO, and VCD courses. Visual Communication Design is a limited enrollment major. To remain in the major, students must demonstrate a sustained level of satisfactory performance, as determined by periodic evaluations outlined in the Art Standard. The Art Standard is distributed to all freshmen during the Art and Design seminar.

Program Outcomes:

Upon completion of the Visual Communication Design program, graduates will be able to:

1. Formulate an advanced level of art literacy.
   • Recognize periods and styles
   • Select and organize related ideas
   • Exhibit knowledge of art and design
   • Demonstrate innovation and sophistication in applications
   • Apply conceptual thinking through articulation of those ideas visually, verbally and in writing
   • Realize their design ideas in comprehensive form
2. Demonstrate career preparedness.
   • Exhibit a professional work ethic
   • Produce a portfolio of work
   • Interact in groups through active participation— a desire and confidence to be independent and to work in teams
   • Practice professional communications and behaviors
3. Incorporate historical references into visual communication design.
   • Interpret major themes and movements
   • Reference themes in work, presentations, and critiques
   • Express conception of self as a part of a larger art and design culture
   • Demonstrate knowledge of technological advances that have influenced art and design processes
4. Demonstrate an aesthetic.
   • Investigate aesthetic traditions for creative and political relevance
   • Identify formal and substantive aesthetic principles that guide the intent of a work
   • Analyze a work to explore its formal and conceptual aesthetic elements
   • Interpret formal and conceptual aesthetic elements
   • Apply formal and substantive aesthetic principles to a work
5. Demonstrate self-motivation.
   • Evaluate one’s work and practice
   • Challenge self and others
   • Create work that is researched, complete, explores variations, and shows attention to detail
   • Perform learning activities outside the classroom
6. Produce projects with effective use of technical skills.
   • Investigate available technologies
   • Recognize distinct characteristics of media (traditional and digital)
   • Manipulate technology and media
   • Employ skills effectively and efficiently towards the objective