B.A. Applied Graphic Design

Completing your Bachelor of Arts in Applied Graphic Design will prepare you to pursue a variety of careers in visual communication. Through hands-on experiences in and out of the classroom, you will develop your skills in photography, illustration, animation and the integration of image and text in many different media.

The Art and Design Department is uniquely located in the Visual Arts Center, a one-time church that has been transformed into a complex of studios where students have complete access to tools, space and collaborators. The Visual Arts Center studios are custom built for both traditional artmaking and modern digital production. This includes drawing, painting, printmaking, ceramics and woodworking studios as well as a computer lab, flexible spaces for photography, video and audio production and space for gaming. Studios are equipped with the necessary tools and materials to make work, from paint, paintbrushes, printing presses, saws and potters wheels to computers, iPads, digital photo and cinema cameras, lighting, varieties of gaming consoles, and laser and 3D printers.

The faculty, staff and students in the Art and Design Department are dedicated to creating a safe, fun, creative environment in which everyone encourages everyone else to succeed.

• Faculty stay late and often make their art in the same studios as the students, demonstrating our lifelong approach to creative development.
• Due to the friendly, collaborative nature of our programs, student's form quick bonds with classmates and faculty, starting in the first semester.
• Art and design clubs, on-campus student exhibitions and museum/gallery trips downtown provide multiple opportunities to form lifelong friendships and to immerse yourself in diverse cultures.

• Technical and tool skills: You will explore a wide range of image-making techniques, using a variety of tools from cameras to lasers, and a large variety of software and hardware for presentation in print or on the screen.
• Composition skills: You will explore the fundamental elements and principles of two- and three-dimensional design, including color, line, shape, texture and space.
• Create compelling messages: You will develop your visual communication skills and link them with text layout strategies to send clear, concise messages to a chosen audience.
• Creative problem solving skills: You will learn a variety of ways to translate complex ideas into successful images. By developing an understanding of creative workflow, you will find new ways to approach creative challenges.
• Research Skills: You will learn how to synthesize references from art and design history with your skill development to expand our world's visual language.

• The ever-expanding digital marketplace and increasingly visual culture ensure that a student dedicated to expanding their graphic design skills will find a place to enter the workforce.
• Chicago is a major hub for commerce including commercial design.
• Students from our Art and Design programs are operating in a wide range of industries across Chicago and the nation.
• Due to multimedia nature of our program, our alumni design graphics for print, web and animation.