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Design and Applied Arts is a degree category that consists of the following common degrees:
- Read more about Graphic Design
During the course of your degree, you’ll develop an understanding of effective graphic communication and build a good mix of subject-specific and technical skills. These include design skills and methods such as:
- Drawing and sketching
- Printmaking
- Photography
- Typography
- Moving image
- Digital media
- Studio art
- Principles of design
- Computerized design
- Commercial graphics production
- Printing techniques
- Website design
- Read more about Interior Design
Education in interior design is available at the certificate level and various degree levels. Students who intend to study the discipline should, first and foremost, understand the difference between interior decorating and interior design.
Interior decorating is the furnishing and appointing of an interior space. It is just one facet of interior design. So, while interior designers may decorate, decorators do not design. Design degree programs teach students how to apply both technical/scientific and creative/artistic solutions to produce functional and attractive spaces within a building.
- Read more about Fashion Design
A degree in fashion design teaches up and coming fashion designers how to develop artistic ideas and concepts and transform them into wearable clothing and accessories. The typical curriculum is built around the four basic elements of fashion design:
- Color – the color lifecycle in fashion
- Silhouette – the shape and form of a garment
- Line – vertical, horizontal, and asymmetrical seam lines
- Texture – how the weave and texture of a fabric affect how it hangs or ‘drapes’ and how it looks when worn
Students learn that each of these elements can create identity and meaning; they can convey certain emotions; they can be flattering or unflattering; and they can trick the eye.
Classes in fashion design programs cover the history of design, fashion sketching, pattern drafting, and computer-aided fashion design.
- Read more about Illustration
Illustration degree programs teach students how to tell stories and communicate ideas visually. They cover traditional manual drawing, digital art technologies, and art and illustration history. Some programs may include painting classes or offer concentrations in a specific kind of illustration, such as book illustration, fashion illustration, exhibit drawing, or animation and cartoon drawing.
The goal of every curriculum, from those that award an illustration degree online to graduate programs that award a Master’s Degree in Illustration, is to develop both technical skills and a visual philosophy that graduates can apply in a variety of illustration careers.
- Read more about Industrial Design
In essence, industrial designers design the way that we live our lives, by creating, innovating, and styling the common mass-produced items that we buy, use, and consume.
They are the professionals who research, build, and test prototypes to maximize the functionality and desirability of products, from cars to food packaging to consumer electronics. In their work, they consider characteristics like materials, size, shape, weight, color, functionality, and safety.
Students of industrial design learn in the classroom, in the computer lab, and in the design studio. They study the history of industrial design, design conceptualization, drawing, dimensional and computer-aided design, materials and processes, and model making.
In the simplest of terms, this is a degree for the person who loves art and loves to make things. It is a degree found at the intersection of science and art.
- Read more about Visual Communication
Visual communication is about visual storytelling. Degree programs in the field teach students how to tell stories using words, symbols, and images, how to communicate ideas and information to targeted audiences in all kinds of media, from electronic and printed magazines and books to branding packages and logos, signage and billboards, apps, websites, maps, and museum displays.
The visual communication curriculum prepares students to work in a rapidly evolving, technologically advanced profession. It explores typography, image generation, visual structure, color and composition, and motion design. Simply stated, it fosters an understanding of medium and message, of form and function.
- Read more about Commercial Art
Commercial art brings art to commerce. This is the distinction between it and fine art. Fine art – a painting or a sculpture, for example – exists for its own sake and appeals to the wide spectrum of human emotions. The primary purpose of commercial art – or advertising art, as it is sometimes called – is more practical than aesthetic.
Its focus is the promotion and sale of products and services. Its objective is to appeal to consumer emotions that drive customers to buy. The best commercial art is an engaging combination of message and medium, of information and inspiration.
Degree programs in the field prepare students to work as commercial artists – artists who appreciate business as much as art, who use their talents to create art for branding, marketing, advertising, and selling. Components of the curriculum include drawing, photography, color theory, design composition and layout, and typography.