Master of Fine Arts - Graphic Design

With its focused thesis development process, the School of Graphic Design’s MFA program emphasizes advanced study of the field and encourages students to extend their design skills into content creation, authorship, entrepreneurialism, and social innovation.

Graduate students will meet the following student performance criteria:

Critical & Creative Thinking

• Conduct appropriate research to identify problems and potential solutions
• Initiate appropriate level of audience involvement and participation
• Demonstrate the resourcefulness and flexibility necessary to conceive and execute design solutions

Conceptual Skills

• Create compelling and engaging visual communications that convey appropriate messages and ideas
• Address problems through a design process
• Develop design solutions that function effectively within a defined context (social, cultural, technological, economic, etc.)

Formal Skills

• Create visual communications demonstrating competent formal design skills which include: hierarchy, typography, aesthetics, composition and construction of meaningful images
• Demonstrate competence in media, materials, tools, technology, and techniques

Professional Readiness

• Demonstrate sound organization and design project management skills
• Effectively present and communicate ideas
• Demonstrate the skills necessary for chosen career path through the presentation of a competent body of work

MFA Thesis Project

• Produce a comprehensive graduate thesis project that successfully utilizes design to solve for an identified problem
• Propose a graduate thesis project that identifies a problem, and has the potential for successful development using design

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