The Graphic Design area offers a distinctive and forward-thinking program that embraces both the art and practice of print and digitally-based graphic design. From letterpress printing to artist books, interactive digital installations to virtual reality projects, by incorporating both historical and the latest trends in graphic design, we prepare our students for the evolving landscape of visual communication. As of Fall 2025, students have the option of choosing to concentrate in Illustration.
Design is the language of communication, and its power has never been more vital. Mastering visual communication is essential for today’s interconnected world.
Our program approaches graphic design as a dynamic and vital field of professional practice shaping culture and society through a diverse array of media, including:
Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) applications
Data visualization and information design
Exhibition design
Motion graphics and animation
Packaging
Print and digital books, magazines, brochures, posters, and billboards
Type design, including variable fonts and advanced typography
Web, interactive, and responsive design
Recognizing the power of design to influence social change, our curriculum emphasizes social responsibility and ecological awareness. The program challenges students to consider the role of the artist/designer not only as a creative collaborator but also as an originator of project ideas and as a responsible global citizen.
We encourage critical thinking, curiosity, and innovation, fostering an environment where students can experiment with new forms of media and technology while developing an ethical and socially conscious practice.
To prepare students for the broad range of opportunities in the graphic design field, our program provides a hands-on studio environment that emphasizes the integration of formal and conceptual skills.
After foundational studies in the first year, students embark on a three-year course sequence that begins with training in fundamental principles, skills, theory, and history, progressing toward more advanced and applied applications. Our experienced and professional faculty members guide students in discovering their unique voice and approach to design within facilities that encompass a broad array of print and digital technologies.
The Graphic Design major is both rigorous and flexible, fostering curiosity and deep exploration of visual language. Students are encouraged to engage in semiotic investigations and collaborate across disciplines, embracing inclusive design principles and interdisciplinary learning throughout the college.
In collaboration with the New Media department, we offer interdisciplinary courses that explore the intersection of graphic design with emerging technologies.
Updated 12.6.24
Requirements:
In addition to fulfilling General Education requirements and other degree requirements, undergraduate students majoring in graphic design must complete the following requirements (85–87 credits):
Please Note: All students are expected to maintain a minimum GPA of 2.0 to remain in good academic standing. All required studio arts classes must be completed with a grade of C or higher in order to advance within the degree. Any required studio arts grade of C- or below must be repeated.
Foundation Courses: 16-17 credits
VIS 1050/ComX: 2 credits or VIS 2150/Key Class: 1 credit VIS 1060/Foundation Drawing: 3 credits VIS 1070/Extended Media: 3 credits VIS 1080/Visual Language: 3 credits VIS 1260/3-D Processes: 3 credits VIS 1330/Lens and Time: 3 credits
Art History Courses: 12 credits
ARH 1020/History of Art Survey II: 3 credits ARH 1021/History of Art Survey II Discussion: 1 credit ARH —/One course in the history of art before 1800 (lower-level) ARH 3405/Design History and Theory: 1750–Today: 4 credits or DES 3300/History of Graphic Design Survey: 4 credits
Graphic Design Studio Courses: 27 credits
DES 2450/Digital Media for Designers I: 3 credits DES 2460/Digital Media for Designers II: 3 credits DES 2500/Word and Image I: 3 credits DES 2600/Word and Image II: 3 credits DES 3200/Advanced Typography: 3 credits DES 3510/Word and Image III: 3 credits DES 3610/Word and Image IV: 3 credits DES 4100/Community Design: 3 credits *Note: As of Fall 2025, new students entering the curriculum will be required to take DES3500/Junior Seminar and DES3610/Word and Image IV as pre-requisites. DES —/Graphic design elective: 3 credits
Visual Arts Studio Electives: 18 credits
Graphic Design Theory Elective: 3–4 credits
One of the following courses: ARH 3285/Design and Culture: 4 credits DES 3240/Design Issues: 3 credits NME 3265/Social Design: 3 credits NME3050/Information Aesthetics: 3 credits
Synthesis Courses: 9 credits
DES 3550/Junior Seminar: 3 credits DES 4990/Senior Project I: 3 credits DES 4991/Senior Project II: 3 credits
Mid-Program Review
Students who choose to major in graphic design are required to complete a mid-program review. Students will be notified by the department with specific guidelines on the review process and timeline. Students who do not successfully pass the review are encouraged to work with the School of Art+Design administration and faculty to find another major that will better fit their educational goals.
Internship Credits
Students majoring in graphic design may count a maximum of 4 hours of internship credit toward graduation.
Students are also expected to abide by the policies and procedures laid out in the A+D Student Handbook.
Doris and Carl Kempner Distinguished Professor 2023-2025
BS, MS, Middle East Technical University (Turkey)
MA, PhD, New School for Social Research
Courses
Explores how graphic representation can enhance or transform the meaning of a subject. Students will investigate observed and abstract subject matter; develop a visual vocabulary of mark, gesture, and spatial organization; examine the impact of these on figure and field for storytelling; and use drawing as a method of research and invention to control the conceptual content of an image.
Credits: 3
PREREQ: VIS1060
Students become familiar with hot-type technology and relief printing, together with their contemporary aesthetic possibilities in both the applied and fine arts. Hands-on experience with handset, moveable type is provided, and traditional and experimental techniques are explored. No previous typographic experience is required.
Credits: 3
Focuses on developing technical and practical skills in digital typesetting, image making, composition, and layout. Students are introduced to software applications (InDesign, Photoshop, and Illustrator), digital fonts, and techniques for creating print output. Topics include digital literacy and the influence of digital tools on contemporary graphic design. Required for graphic design majors.
Credits: 3
Students are introduced to the myriad of possibilities for work made in digitally delivered, time-based, and interactive media. Participants expand on basic skills in web development (via CSS and HTML, and Adobe XD) and are introduced to motion graphics (Adobe After Effects). DES2460 is a continuation of DES 2450 and is required for graphic design majors.
Credits: 3
COREQ: DES2600
PREREQ: DES2450
An introduction to the professional program in graphic design and visual communications. Emphasis is on skill development in controlling the performance of elements within a field; generation, refinement, and analysis of graphic forms and representations through a variety of drawing techniques; development of symbols and icons; and composition, variation, and discovery of word/image relationships through experimentation and play. Historical typographic distinctions are also explored. Required for graphic design majors.
Credits: 3
COREQ: DES2450
This continuation of DES 2500 examines the representation of ideas through typography and images, with intensive explorations of typographic and type/image hierarchy (through placement, scale, weight, juxtaposition), theme and variation, and problem-solving techniques. Students also explore a range of image-making techniques as a means of expressing ideas. Projects evolve from theory-based exercises to applied campaigns (brochures, posters, on-screen messaging). Required for graphic design majors.
Credits: 3
COREQ: DES2460
PREREQ: DES2500
As a counterpart to Word and Image I, Visual Storytelling delivers some related investigation in sign and symbol; but, as a continuation of Drawing as Narrative Process, this course begins focused training in illustration-specific concepts and considerations such as mise en scène, i.e. framing and staging and their relationship to storytelling. Investigates narrative and sequential structures as well as analog and digital media/processes.
Credits: 3
PREREQ: VIS1060
Directs understanding of conceptual approaches to depiction encountered in Visual Storytelling toward visualization of specific topics (e.g., fashion, medicine, finance, lifestyle) while cultivating individual formal and stylistic approaches to visualization. Students engage notions of stylistic convention, communicative considerations relevant to focused areas of practice, and advanced analog and digital (software-based) drawing techniques.
Credits: 3
PREREQ: DES2700
Approaches drawing as a language with which you'll learn to see and translate the visual world with greater clarity, insight, and intent. Focus lies in the thinking, seeing, and hand skills needed in design and graphic translation of subject matter, rather than realistic representation. Course includes observational studio and en plein air drawing using digital and analog tools, lectures, critiques, and readings.
Credits: 3
PREREQ: VIS1060
This hands-on intensive bookbinding workshop investigates the relationship between content and book structures. Students follow the development of the book from scrolls to case-bound sewn books from the perspective that the way a book is made structures what it communicates.
Credits: 3
A focused inquiry into the nature of interaction for entertainment, persuasion, recreation, or human enrichment. Discussions and readings include sociology, anthropology, game theory and urgent topics such as developments in artificial intelligence. Students gain an understanding their role as creator, participant, viewer, and user. Adafruit’s Circuit Playground Express and Python are introduced as the technological substrate for their investigative work.
Credits: 3
PREREQ: (DES2460 And DES3510 ) And DES3200
Builds on the principles and skills of time-based and interactive design introduced in DES 2460. Technique, theory, and practice are further explored through projects using time, on-screen spatiality, transition, kinetic typography, narrative, and sound. Projects address linear and nonlinear environments such as film and television titling, DVD menus, web splash pages, and graphics for mobile devices.
Credits: 3
PREREQ: DES2460
Students are encouraged to further explore and develop individualized approaches to typographic problems, with emphasis on experimentation, communication, and advanced application of typography. Projects focus on letterforms as image, typographic metaphor, and text typography. Areas of investigation include the shape, texture, and division of text; typographic grid, layout, and systems; book design and advanced problems of word/image relationships. Required for graphic design majors.
Credits: 3
PREREQ: DES2600
Current issues of theory, methodology, and practice confronting graphic designers are explored through readings, discussions, and designed responses. Topics include modernist and postmodernist manifestos; semiotics, deconstructionism, and feminism; the role of the graphic designer in society; branding and visualizing data; copyright law; sustainability; and designing for a digital world and local and global economies. Students produce a final research project. Open to students interested in design; highly recommended for graphic design majors.
Credits: 3
A combined lecture/studio course that examines ethical and social issues in contemporary artistic production and design. The goal is to develop active research about such urgent issues as ecology, body politics and gender, race and urban justice, and human rights, with respect to new futures. Projects incorporate art installations, visualizations, websites, performances, and public campaigns by focusing on creative public engagement.
Credits: 3
PREREQ: NME2100 Or (DES2600 And DES2460 )
Focuses on print communication, primarily graphic design, in the Western world from the late 19th century to the present. A brief summary of important historical precedents launches a chronological series of lectures on significant movements and individuals and the economic, political, and technological developments that have influenced modern and contemporary print communication.
Credits: 4
Students are introduced to considerations and practice of designing type. Techniques taught include emerging technologies like variable type, and perennial skills such as calligraphy. Participants learn critical decision-making skills and sensitivities inherent to developing typefaces for print and screen. Topics include legibility, critical theory, systems, and information design. Software includes Glyphs (Mac) and FontForge (PC). Materials include pen and ink.
Credits: 3
PREREQ: DES3200
Emphasizes the development and evaluation of word and image through advanced studies and pragmatic applications. Development of an identity system, applied printed and electronic matter, issues of imagery, relationship to audience, ethics, information theory, and research methods are explored. Students are encouraged to explore the balance between individualized approaches, vision, and appropriateness. Required for graphic design majors.
Credits: 3
PREREQ: DES2600
Explores the possibilities and realities of design practice. Students develop a portfolio and a personalized identity package, including a website, modular digital portfolio, letterhead, cover letter, and résumé. Discussions revolve around current issues in the field, professional options, the business of design, and freelancing. Includes guest speakers and field trips to design studios, museums, and related events. Required for graphic design majors.
Credits: 3
COREQ: DES3610
PREREQ: DES3510 And DES3200
Focusing on applications of 3-D visual communications (e.g., packaging, exhibition, signage design), students explore problems of human and environmental scale, display typography, interactivity, object containment and reflection, visual systems, and color through a variety of applied projects. Construction techniques, model making, and familiarity with materials are balanced with concerns for relationship of form, function, and idea. Required for graphic design majors.
Credits: 3
PREREQ: DES3510
An introduction to the considerations surrounding screen-mediated design spaces. This course includes industry standard research methodologies, as well as an introduction to the conceptual and technical issues involved in the design and production of dynamic documents and environments. This course focuses on how to research, map, visualize, share, and play with self-generated content, while investigating how current technology, software, and hardware can assist (and hinder) the way in which this self-generated content is communicated.
Credits: 3
PREREQ: DES2460 And DES3510 And DES3200
Students gain technical professional experience by helping provide a safe and well-functioning studio environment for their fellow students. Studio assistants are expected to have advanced standing in their media area and a thorough understanding of current professional practices. Duties include basic maintenance and demonstrations of equipment, independent or group tutorials and workshops, weekly meetings, and other responsibilities assigned by the sponsoring instructional technician. A maximum of 4 credits in DES 3950 (or a combined maximum of 6 credits in VIS 3998 and DES 3950) may be applied toward the BFA.
Credits: 2
Brings senior graphic design students together in a collaborative design studio, simulating a “real world” professional studio situation. Students work directly with on-campus and nonprofit off-campus clients. Under the supervision of the faculty member, the students assume complete responsibility for the concept and development of multiple design solutions, production, printing, scheduling, maintaining client relationships, billing, etc. Required for graphic design majors.
Credits: 3
PREREQ: DES3550 And DES3610
Students are encouraged to reconsider what a book is and expand the boundaries of the traditional codex book through workshops in experimental formats, integration of word and image, form and content, sequencing, and physical structure. This may include a variety of projects and the study of video and film structure, historical and contemporary artists’ books, and innovative trade books.
Credits: 3
The ideas and skills inherent in visual arts and literature are combined toward an integrated expression in this interdisciplinary course. Students confront issues of physical format, word and image relationships, sequence, storytelling, semiotics, visual/experimental literature and publishing as an artistic practice. Skills are developed through examining the workings of narrative and story, modes of writing (continuous, automatic, multiple points of view); titling objects; building a visual narrative; graphic and compositional story development; typographic settings of original and found text; and writing and designing for the visual book, performance, and other time-based media. Students choose the medium for their final projects; collaborations are encouraged.
Credits: 3
Information Aesthetics is a hands-on exploration of data visualization, information design, and visual storytelling. This course empowers students to develop visual narratives using publicly available data sets, addressing contemporary social, political, and economic issues. It focuses on creating meaningful and aesthetically engaging representations, fostering a deep understanding of how data plays an essential role in our society.
Credits: 4
PREREQ: NME1160 Or DES2500
Juxtaposes art and science as inquiring and creative pursuits. Exchanging knowledge of the materials and processes used in their creative endeavors, students collaborate on three innovative projects that focus on perceived relationships between science and art. Visiting professionals, at work in studios and labs, provide insight into thinking and doing through and across the disciplines of art and science.
Credits: 3
Juxtaposes art and science as inquiring and creative pursuits. Exchanging knowledge of the materials and processes used in their creative endeavors, students collaborate on three innovative projects that focus on perceived relationships between science and art. Visiting professionals, at work in studios and labs, provide insight into thinking and doing through and across the disciplines of art and science.
Since actual course offerings vary from semester to semester, students should consult the myHeliotropecourse schedule to determine whether a particular course is offered in a given semester.
Information Changes
In preparing the College Catalog, every effort is made to provide pertinent and accurate information. However, information contained in the catalog is subject to change, and Purchase College assumes no liability for catalog errors or omissions. Updates and new academic policies or programs will appear in the college’s information notices and will be noted in the online catalog.
It is the responsibility of each student to ascertain current information (particularly degree and major requirements) through frequent reference to current materials and consultation with the student’s faculty advisor, chair or director, and related offices (e.g., enrollment services, advising center).
Notwithstanding anything contained in the catalog, Purchase College expressly reserves the right, whenever it deems advisable, to change or modify its schedule of tuition and fees; withdraw, cancel, reschedule, or modify any course, program of study, degree, or any requirement or policy in connection with the foregoing; and to change or modify any academic or other policy.
