MFA Communications Design
A 60-credit program leading 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 MFA 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 MFA 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 MFA 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 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, evaluation and chronicling design issues. A Teaching Practicum is available for those who desire to enter post-secondary teaching.
MFA 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 3-faculty thesis committee and the department chairperson 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.
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