Visual Arts & Design

The Communication Design program is part of the Design Department in the College of Visual Arts and Design at the University of North Texas.  Our program produces effective conceptual thinkers and creative problem solvers in art direction and graphic design. You will gain the ability to generate original, creative messages and ideas as well as have a professional portfolio to submit to potential employers.

Our B.F.A. in Communication Design seeks as its primary objective (aside from teaching the basic principles of design, image making, color theory and typography) to help students learn to be effective conceptual thinkers and, most importantly, creative problem solvers in the disciplines of advertising and of graphic design. Ours is not a program designed for the student who is merely interested in learning the most advanced technology.

The M.A. and M.F.A. in Design programs exist to teach students from design and a diverse array of other disciplinary backgrounds how to utilize design-driven knowledge and skills within select theoretical frameworks to identify and solve complex social, technological, economic, and environmental issues. The 36 credit-hour Master of Arts in Design and the 60 credit-hour Master of Fine Arts in Design are both taught as concentrations in Design Research. The curriculums of both programs have been designed to place students in interdisciplinary teams so they can master core theoretical and problem-solving competencies rooted in collaborative innovation, including: imaginative and adaptive thinking, visual argumentation supported by select types of reasoning, iterative prototyping, project based workflow development and fostering ethically rooted empathy for others.

The communication design area is housed in the Art Building, which include studio classrooms, a dedicated computer lab/classroom, a general access computer lab, and faculty offices. Additionally, the communication design area maintains valuable resources consisting of over 1,000 reference books, magazines and paper/print samples of photography, illustration, typography, graphic design and advertising for its majors.