Visual Communication Design BA

The Visual Communication Design BA provides students with a deep understanding and working knowledge of the theories, skills, techniques, and practices rooted in the visual communication discipline. Common themes in the major's coursework include human-centered design, critical and systems thinking, user experience, innovation, speculative and applied futures, and storytelling. The study of Visual Communication Design, particularly in a liberal arts context, means students are challenged to understand the world around them, to continuously self-reflect on "meaning" and "purpose" because they design, identify and solve problems, and create for others.

Foundational courses in the Visual Communication Design major challenge students to draw parallels between general education course knowledge (history, theory, sociology, psychology, ethics, and environmental studies, etc.) and visual communication studies. Concurrently, in their maker-based courses, students understand the importance and necessity of commitment to socially and ethically responsible practices in the discipline. Higher-level courses develop and nurture critical thinking skills while seamlessly building on and expanding students' intellectual, practical, and technical skills as they identify and solve community-based design problems through human-centered design problems. These exercises provide students with practical experience, while forming connections between the college and local non-profit organizations, furthering the development and sustained relationship with the community.

The major is able to offer students a more robust program, with a diverse, interconnected and interdisciplinary program – consistent with the mission and vision of the College and The School of Arts, Humanities, and Education – that builds on Visual Communication Design foundational skills, allowing students to receive direct instruction, mentorship, and support for research and production in purpose-built spaces using resources that are tailored to the needs of contemporary design. These curricular resources, along with use of existing physical resources, allow better exploration of important facets of contemporary design, including the ethics of product design, the creation, and distribution of human-centered design products.

It is often said that "good design is invisible." Most are unaware that everything – from the most mundane to the most innovative products, interfaces, and objects – people interact with is designed. Successful design requires an understanding, not only of the tools and technology of design, but with the theories and concepts that make a design successful and potentially socially meaningful. The Visual Communication Design program does just that and teaches students how to function successfully in a rapidly evolving landscape and economy.

A program is also offered.

1. Utilize design thinking principles to solve human-centered problems.

2. Utilize design principles in the ideation, development, and production of visual messages within a liberal arts context.

3. Apply historical and contemporary design concepts, principles, theories, and terminology used in the visual communication design discipline.

4. Master the professional tools and technologies used in the visual communication design discipline.

5. Apply ethnographic data to shape and define design problems.

6. Maintain a professional body of work that reflects the visual communicator's ethical, cultural, and social responsibilities.

7. Recognize and interpret diverse points of view.

8. Validate competencies in the development, analysis, and research of ideas that are reflective of an awareness/perception of societal complexities with historical, cultural, political, global, economic and social insights.