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The Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Graphic Design integrates art and design based on studio practice and a comprehensive examination of the history and theories of visual studies.

The creative capacity of students pursuing the BFA degree leads them to express themselves visually. The degree curriculum enables these students to determine their artistic identity and their expressive voice, providing them with the tools and means to communicate their ideas, thereby participating within their community through their chosen emphasis. The intellectually rigorous program focuses on the communicative power of art — it demands of students a high level of commitment, introspection, and consideration. While still situated within a university that offers various opportunities for exploration outside the field of art, BFA students focus in greater depth in their graphic design practice. The extra art or design credits taken allow for further investigation into a chosen emphasis, ultimately producing a final body of work in that emphasis to be shown in a final professional gallery exhibition and explained in a final thesis or portfolio project.

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Graphic Design

The BFA in Graphic Design degree familiarizes students with the rich tradition of the visual arts, provides them with an understanding of the tools and materials available to the artist as a means of personal expression, shows students that there are fundamental concepts which unify all art yet which allow for infinite variation, and introduces to them alternative ways of looking, seeing, finding, and discovering. Graphic Design students explore a wide variety of media, gaining extensive studio experience and learning the techniques and expressive opportunities unique to each. A primary focus of the program is on students finding their own creative and conceptual voice and discovering ways to visually communicate their thoughts and ideas.

Students at this level learn within a more professional framework, where the relationship between student and teacher becomes that of apprentice and master. Through this unique teaching relationship, students develop a high level of achievement in an area of expertise, while further developing personal creative abilities. In this manner, they establish a sound basis for significant professional accomplishments in art.

Course Catalog Description for BFA in Graphic Design

Sample Curriculum

The following curriculum for a BFA in Graphic Design major is an example only. It represents the department’s concern that a BFA Design graduate balance an exposure to various materials and techniques of art practice with a heavy concentration in graphic design practice and theory, while remaining exposed to other fields of thought, and the encouragement of study abroad to broaden one’s global vision.

Fall
DESN 1500 Digital Visualization 3
ART 1010 Creative Strategies 3
ART 1300 Materials and Making 3
ARHS 2200 Current Art 3
GLBC 1200 Global Cornerstone Seminar 3
Spring
DESN 2200 Design Play 3
ART 1150 Observational Drawing 3
ARHS 2210 Intercultural Art History 3
ART 2715 Fine Art Photography 3
GCP course 3

Fall
DESN 2300 Type Dialogues 3
ARHS 3210 Nineteenth-Century Art 3
ART 2315 Sculpture I 3
GCP course 3
Elective 3
INTM 3150 Special Topics: Wordpress for Website 1
Spring
DESN 2500 Design for Digital Portfolios 3
DESN 3050 Topics in Design 3
ARHS 2820 Sound and Noise Art 3
ART 2900 DADAH Critique 0
GCP course 3
Elective 3

Fall
DESN 3200 Design Thoery and Methods 3
DESN 3050 Topics in Design 3
ARHS 3110 Early Renaissance Art 3
GCP course 3
Elective 3
Spring
DESN 3050 Tpoics in Design 3
ART 3900 BFA review 0
Keystone Seminar 3
Elective 3
Elective 3
Elective 3
Summer
ARHS 2000 Short-Term Study Abroad Venice or Florence 3

Fall
DESN 3800 Professional Practice for Graphic Design 3
ART 4800 Practicum 3
ART 2610 Printmaking Concepts and Techniques 3
Elective 3
Elective 3
Spring
DESN 4200 Design for Good 3
ART 4910 DADAH BA and BFA exhibition 1
ART 4010 Senior Critique 3
Elective 3
Elective 3
Elective 3

DADAH BA & BFA Exhibition

In order to graduate with a BA in Art or BFA in Art or Graphic Design from DADAH, students must participate in the senior exhibition held at the end of the spring semester in the Arcade Contemporary Art Projects gallery (or, if not available, suitable alternative space). Students learn how to design, manage, and execute a successful group art exhibition by organizing a professional art exhibition from beginning to end, experiencing the work behind the scenes that makes viewing artwork in public possible.  Students will be involved in all aspects of putting on an exhibition, from designing a show card and posters, to internet advertising, choosing themes and a title, installing and de-installing work, getting donations for food and beverages for the reception, etc.

Additional Information

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