Visual Communication Design
The B.F.A. in Visual Communication Design is a professional undergraduate degree for students desiring theoretical and studio experience with an emphasis in design. Students in the program develop critical thinking skills, refine their intellectual and creative processes, and learn contemporary aspects of design and design thinking. Degree programs in the Department of Visual Communication Design prepare design leaders to proactively manage change and innovation processes toward improving the civic, cultural, and commercial experiences that people encounter in their daily lives. The programs focus on a collaborative design process for identifying root problems and facilitating meaningful solutions to complex issues. This approach is intended to harness the power of design to clarify, humanize, and energize the issues that are central to life in a pluralistic society.
As members of a professional art and design school on the IUPUI campus, Visual Communication Design majors prepare for a design career by integrating learning in visual studies with coursework in the liberal arts and sciences. The learning experience is structured to equip students with the knowledge and skills necessary to compete in a field that requires both highly specialized skills and the ability to make intellectual connections within a broad range of general knowledge. Successful students achieve all the learning outcomes that have been defined by the National Association of School of Art and Design and AIGA (the professional association for design) as essential competencies for design professionals. These include: the ability to not only solve problems, but to frame and contextualize design problems through consideration of practical and social values; an historical perspective on communication theories, principles and processes; research and information gathering, analysis, generation of alternative solutions, prototyping and user testing, and evaluation of outcomes; the ability to describe and respond to the audiences and contexts which communication solutions must address, including recognition of the physical, cognitive, cultural, and social human factors that shape design decisions; the ability to create and develop visual form in response to communication problems, including an understanding of principles of visual organization/composition, information hierarchy, symbolic representation, typography, aesthetics, and the construction of meaningful messages; knowing how to learn ever evolving tools and technology, including their roles in the creation, reproduction, and distribution of visual messages.
Relevant tools and technologies include, but are not limited to, drawing, offset printing, photography, and time-based and interactive media (film, video, computer multimedia); the ability to perform basic business practices, including organizing design projects and working productively as a member of teams.
Degree requirements
General Education30 credits corresponding to IUPUI's Statewide Transferrable General Education Core, distributed as follows:
Foundational Intellectual Skills
- Analytical Reasoning (6 cr. of which 3 must be Quantitative Reasoning)
- Core Communication (6 cr.)
- Cultural Understanding (3 cr.)
Intellectual Breadth and Adaptiveness
- Arts/Humanities and Social Sciences (9 cr. total, with at least 3 cr. in each area)
- Life and Physical Sciences (6 cr.)
20 credits distributed as follows:
- HER-D101 Drawing 1 (3 cr.)
- HER-D102 Drawing 2 (3 cr.)
- HER-F121 Two-Dimensional Design (3 cr.)
- HER-F122 Color Concepts (3 cr.)
- HER-F123 Three-Dimensional Design (3 cr.)
- HER-F100 Creative Processes (3 cr.)
- HER-X101 Foundation Resources (3 cr.)
- HER-X102 Foundation Capstone (3 cr.)
9 credits distributed as follows:
- HER-H101 History of Art I (3 cr.) (may be used to fill Arts/Humanities General Education requirement)
- HER-H102 History of Art 2 (3 cr.) (may be used to fill Arts/Humanities General Education requirement)
- HER-V214 History of Design (3 cr)
Students must select two areas of concentration, designated here as "major studio" areas. Students divide their major studio courses between the two areas, typically enrolling in one course in each area each semester. Students must complete 6 credits of 400-level coursework in each of the two major studio areas, with all prerequisites for those courses.
39 credits distributed as follows
- HER-V 210 VC 1: Elements & Principles (4 cr.)
- HER-V201 Making Meaning (2 cr.)
- HER-V220 VC 2 (6 cr.)
- HER-V211 Typography (3 cr.)
- HER-A341 Production for Design (3 cr.)
- HER-V310 VC 3: Identifying Problems (6 cr.)
- HER-V311 Type & Image (3 cr.)
- HER-V320 VC 4: Facilitating Solutions (6 cr.)
- HER-V453 Internship (3 cr.)
- HER-V410 VC 5: Designing for Innovation (6 cr.)
- HER-V421 or other VCD Studio elective in declared track (3 cr.)
- HER-V420 VC 6 Portfolio (3 cr.)
- HER-V422 or other VCD studio class (6 cr.)
18 credits
Academic elective (3 cr.)Total: 125 credits
Recommended Associated Subjects for Academic Electives:- Anthropology and cultural studies
- Business
- Communication and rhetoric
- Engineering
- History
- Psychology and human factors
Recommended Associated Subjects for Studio Electives:
- Book Arts
- Design for the web
- Illustration
- Painting and drawing
- Photography
- Printmaking
Last updated: December 2013