UNDERGRADUATE

Graphic Design

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Program Snapshot
Program Type
B.A.
Minor
School
School of Arts and Humanities
Department
Visual Studies

Craft Your Impact as a Thinker and a Maker

Cultivate your creative voice and spark cultural change as you chart your own path in design.

Why earn your Graphic Design degree at St. Edward’s?

Study Graphic Design in a city where technology and art intersect. Use your creativity and artistic side to communicate information visually — in websites, publications and everyday objects.

Dedicated Faculty

Learn from thoughtful faculty who are mindful about your growth as an individual, and benefit from forming relationships with small cohorts of students.

An Innovative Curriculum

Dive into a diverse curriculum that spans image making, typography, publishing, design history, motion graphics, social impact and open experimentation. Coursework in the program leads to a senior thesis year where students define their own practice as designers and focus on an area of personal interest—everything from branding to digital product design and entrepreneurship.

Hands-On Experiences

Benefit from our shared interdisciplinary facilities, including a risograph publishing lab, Mac computer labs, a photo studio and traditional dark room, ceramics lab, animation studio, dedicated printing and production labs with high-end digital imaging equipment, as well as bookmaking and craft tools like heat presses and vinyl cutters.

On-Campus Projects

Learn how graphic design contributes to the formation and expression of complex societal ideas and values. Join the staff of Arete or the Sorin Oak Review, campus publications for academic and creative works, or lend your talents to Hilltop Views, the campus newspaper.

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Reap the Rewards of Austin

Forge relationships with Austin's creative community through our student organization, Command G, and our extensive alumni network. Gain insights, opportunities, and industry experience through a dedicated portfolio development course and internship requirement. Command G arranges workshops and roundtables and provides opportunities to explore careers in the field through studio visits.

What will you learn?

Focus on developing your own voice as a graphic designer, define your own trajectory in design.

A few examples of courses students take in the major:

  • In Interactive Design, explore design issues unique to user-centered interaction in digital media. Examine a range of formal and conceptual issues, including user interface, organization, narrative, motion, time and sound.
  • In Social Design, explores issues of responsibility and how designers participate, shape and criticize the world around us.

What skills will you gain?

  • Discover your style by studying image making, typography and experimentation.
  • Understand the evolution of art by focusing on design history and social impact.
  • Define your own practice as designers and focus on an area of personal interest—everything from branding to digital product design and entrepreneurship.

What do our graduates do?

Graphic Design majors go on to a variety of careers and graduate schools from St. Edward’s. Here’s a sample.

  • Designer at FODA Studio, an award-winning boutique design agency based in Austin.
  • UX/UI designer at USAA design office, an in-house agency creating digital products serving the military community.
  • Senior Product Designer at the New York Times.
  • Founder of GNDR SHREDR, a Portland-based screenprinting shop and design studio focusing on queer skating culture.
  • Digital creative designer at James Avery Artisan Jewelry, a Texas-based, family-owned company that specializes in designing hand-crafted jewelry.
  • Graphic Designer for Texas Senate.
  • Senior Interaction Designer at frog, a global design consultancy.
  • Founder of SeaLab, a digital product design agency.
  • Graphic Designer at Houston First Corporation, the official Destination Management Organization for Houston.
  • Art director at The Barbarian Group, a New York-based advertising agency working on global brands.

Explore Details About the BA in Graphic Design

Major Requirements: The BA in Graphic Design requires 49 hours of graphic design major courses, which include a combination of introductory coursework, visual studies, art, and graphic design.

General Education Requirements: The Graphic Design degree requires 57 hours of general education courses that students complete over four years in addition to their major courses and electives.

View and download the full degree plan for our Graphic Design major.