Graphic Dsgn/Visual Experience (GDVX)

Typographic excellence is paramount to graphic design and visual experience. Students explore a wide range of advanced and sophisticated typographic experiences, reviewing the rules and aesthetics of typography as both a message and a means of visual expression in communication. Emphasis is placed on clear and effective communication, style, trends, current events and historical references.

Adaptive thinkers translate solutions across a variety of current and emerging media, including print, social media and interactive experiences. Students advance their understanding of the application of media through creative problem-solving. Resulting visual solutions unify a variety of compositional elements and engage users in new, innovative ways.

Design is influenced by its context, including social, cultural and political factors. Through an exploration of the role of the designer as a visual communicator within historical and contemporary contexts, students situate their own work within the framework of contemporary culture. Students apply an understanding of semiotics to research and analyze various topics, and develop ideational, analytical, rhetorical and writing skills.

To support the creation of their own visual communication methodologies, students research, analyze and critique communication models, the nature of representation and dimensions of context. Students examine visual communication theories and models from 1900 to the present with a specific focus on semiotics, modernism, post-modernism and contemporary paradigms.

Curiosity and discovery are key components to developing unique and successful visual experiences. Students build creative resilience and learn to manage the uncertainty of the creative process through multiple concept iterations. A variety of ideation methodologies are introduced to inspire curiosity and exploration resulting in innovative design solutions.

This course addresses the presentation of information to multicultural and multi-generational audiences, and explores issues of readability, orientation, navigation, interaction, accessibility and user profiles as they apply to the design of information architecture and wayfinding for screen-based devices.

Through a synthesis of typographic knowledge, students employ advanced methodologies in the development of transmedia visual experiences. Students explore alternative methods and execution strategies to develop form and define a unique aesthetic. Letterform anatomy and design, proportion systems and layout are employed to deliver contextually appropriate visual narratives.

Students explore the role data serves within a specific context, and the necessity for clarity and transparency in presentation to enable informed decision-making for the advancement and/or evaluation of an idea. Students analyze and present content through print, digital and augmented media solutions in a variety of formats such as scorecards, reports or alternative visualization methods.

Through self-assessment and reflection, students identify opportunities for career development unique to their individual professional goals. Students refine and document a career strategy as well as develop and professionally present a body of work relevant to emerging needs of the practice.

Live data and social media have sparked the development of today's information-driven culture. Students explore this phenomenon to identify opportunities to use live data as a design element in visual communication. By harnessing the power of dynamically changing content, students craft persuasive, experiential narratives.

Students transform human engagement through an exploration of theoretical and practical applications of experience design, addressing form, physical space and sensory response. Following a contextual analysis of existing visual systems, such as those found in healthcare facilities, retail spaces, museums and entertainment attractions, students create immersive visual experiences for the built environment. Projects evolve from conceptual explorations to high-fidelity prototypes.

Within the exploration of the history and methods of publication design, students examine the processes involved in coordinating images and typography through both verbal and visual content across multiple and emerging media. The role of the designer throughout the publication industry is examined through projects, lectures and class discussions.

Students explore the specific skills necessary to design posters as a unique means of communication. Working with large formats, advanced students develop skills in critical thinking, research, development of concepts and content, analysis and editing, and technical execution.

Students engage in research and a range of iterative processes to refine their understanding of users’ emotional relationships to the content and function of digital systems and services. Through an immersive exploration of user experience, students develop written specifications for innovative, research-driven digital systems and services.

Students in this course undertake a field assignment under the supervision of a faculty member.

Students in this course undertake a teaching assignment under the supervision of a faculty member.

Students create visually sophisticated user-centered design solutions for a range of digital systems, appropriate in a global context. By applying user-centered design processes for creating and testing interactive scenarios and referencing written specifications, students move from wireframe through high-fidelity prototypes and style guides.

Students consider current trends, controversies and discourse in the field of graphic design and visual experience, finding topics that fuel their curiosity and allow them to identify, develop and justify a working direction for their M.F.A. thesis. Students select research methodology, identify key resources and complete a comprehensive thesis proposal. Through peer critique and knowledge sharing, students advance their thesis argument.

Working within a culture of appreciative inquiry, students develop their approved thesis proposal through multiple drafts, demonstrating thorough research, clear organization and effective writing skills.

Informed by their thesis research, M.F.A. candidates create a substantial body of work that advances the practice of graphic design and visual experience. Students unify their visual and written thesis for presentation to their committee and peers.