Bachelor of Fine Art - Visual Communications
Visual Communications, known traditionally as graphic design, is an area of applied art. Designers find employment within advertising agencies, design studios, corporate in-house art departments, broadcast, public relation firms, marketing firms or as freelance artists. Visual Communications encompasses design for print, web and multimedia applications. Subsets of Visual Communications include illustration (digital and traditional) and product design. Upon completion of this degree, graduates begin their careers in the private sector or pursue advanced degrees for careers in higher education.
With the introduction and acceptance of the computer within the design field, Visual Communications has gone high-tech. Visual Communications demands from the design student the skills, outlook and sensitivity of a fine artist and the technical knowledge of a computer science major.
The program consists of courses that will allow students creative exploration within print design, web design and multimedia design. Brochures, books, posters, ads, packaging, corporate identity, websites, and multimedia presentations are projects that the Visual Communications students undertake.
WE DO NOT TRAIN STUDENTS IN 3-D MODELING OR ANIMATION FOR FILM SPECIAL EFFECTS, VIDEO GAME GRAPHICS, OR OTHER APPLICATIONS.
The Visual Communications lab is equipped with 25 G5 Macintosh computers, running industry standard software such as Adobe InDesign, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe PhotoShop, Adobe AfterEffects, Macromedia Flash, and Macromedia Dreamweaver. The lab is also equipped with color scanners, DVD and CD burner combo drives, laser color and black and white printers, and two large format inkjet color printers. Not to be overlooked are the skills associated with traditional media. Students are expected to become proficient with sketching, pencil and marker comps, traditional illustration methods and production art.
The goal of the program is to produce a designer capable of executing conceptually-creative visual solutions, regardless of the media, for a broad range of visual communication problems.
Instructors
- Associate Professor Rusty Nelson
- Assistant Professor Matt Derezinski
Visual Communications Website