Colleges with good Graphics Design programs

[eRay]

You say you wouldn't hire me? Did I ask you to? Was this an interview? I was showing my portfolio to show what can be done. The fact that your not impressed, well, doesn't impress me. Art is subjective and what one person likes another doesn't, so I could really care less if you'd hire me. I could really care less. You talk about talent, and yet you started on the bottom and you learned things. Stop with you're "holier than thou" attitude because you're not doing production work. You started on the bottom when someone thought you had something and gave you a break, and learned the ropes just like everyone else. And for people who talk, where's your supposed "great" work that we should bow down to and revere? You're one designer and that's all you are and there are thousands if not millions out there just as good if not better than you!

You had 4 options here:

1. Ask why he disliked your work, so maybe you could learn from it.

2. Don't respond to it, keep your ego out of it, and keep stepping.

3. Respond like an adult saying that you understand what he is saying, but disagree.

4. Flip out and attack him.

I think you chose the wrong one.

[fiasco!]

You put your portfolio out there to show how good your school's program is. I wasn't impressed. That is all.

[Cola]

For what it is worth, I have quite a few friends who live in Savannah and either attend SCAD now or have attended it in the past...and not one of them was in graphic design. Most of them were in fashion design, furniture design, jewelry design, interior design, and production (dancing, performing arts, etc) design. Maybe that was just a coincidence, but just wanted to throw that out there.

I didn't go to school for graphic design- everything I know has been self-taught. I'm happy making the money I make with the career I have now...and then doing graphic design on the side for a bit of extra happiness.

I would never choose a school based on what they are known for...it is just the wrong way to go about it. College is supposed to be a great time and it should be. As long as they offer a wide variety of majors to give you some room for changing (should you feel the need), then find somewhere that is located in a place you'd like to live for at least 4 years, a city the size you'd like to be in, and other things that YOU might feel will be important those 4 years: how great their football tradition is, other sports programs, rivers/trails for outdoor stuff, how many bars are in walking distance, stereotypes of the people there...etc.

That is just me. I can't name a single person that I know who has told me that when they got hired, the interviewer made a comment on where they went to school as if it made a difference. They want a degree attached to your name and hope that YOU can exceed their own expectations in a real job.

[dgnmrwrw]

NC State's College of Design.

I finished there in '05. It's good.

[RedEye]

Iowa State is an excellent school... hired a designer from there and was very impressed.

University of Nebraska-Kearney has a tremendous program that has grown by leaps and bounds.

Seems 90% of the students I see come out of there have portfolios many would kill for.

[andrewharrington]

You say you wouldn't hire me? Did I ask you to? Was this an interview? I was showing my portfolio to show what can be done. The fact that your not impressed, well, doesn't impress me. Art is subjective and what one person likes another doesn't, so I could really care less if you'd hire me. I could really care less. You talk about talent, and yet you started on the bottom and you learned things. Stop with you're "holier than thou" attitude because you're not doing production work. You started on the bottom when someone thought you had something and gave you a break, and learned the ropes just like everyone else. And for people who talk, where's your supposed "great" work that we should bow down to and revere? You're one designer and that's all you are and there are thousands if not millions out there just as good if not better than you!

You had 4 options here:

1. Ask why he disliked your work, so maybe you could learn from it.

2. Don't respond to it, keep your ego out of it, and keep stepping.

3. Respond like an adult saying that you understand what he is saying, but disagree.

4. Flip out and attack him.

I think you chose the wrong one.

Guess they don't teach you the real world benefits of having a thick skin at Westwood. I wouldn't even invite you in for an interview with that portfolio. Not meaning to offend, but you need to significantly improve your portfolio and your attitude if you'd like to be taken seriously, oddball.

On a more serious note, I went to Ohio University. The faculty is excellent and quite diverse. You get a great design history education, see amazing design artifacts and get quality experience and a great conceptually-driven education. Really great stuff and a unique experience, to say the least. They just added a graduate program, too. The best part is the regular faculty members are often gone on sabbatical or visiting other universities, allowing the department to invite visiting professors to teach classes so you get a different person's perspective each quarter, of which I am a huge fan. Someone mentioned that at UIUC students must take a year of art foundations before becoming a graphic design major. At OU, you will take two years of foundations before you apply to be a graphic design major, and you must be admitted after a portfolio review and live interview (weeds out the pretenders). It's very rigorous and echoes the kind of situations you encounter at a design job. There's study abroad in Mexico (and elsewhere) and trips to New York and Chicago to visit the big design firms. Bottom line is I would recommend it to anyone as long as they are committed to working hard at graphic design. The School of Art is also home to an excellent ceramics department if you like that sort of thing as an elective.

[STL FANATIC]

Just to follow up since Andrew mentioned it about Ohio, UIUC's application to the GD major after the year of Foundation also requires a portfolio review (which does not necessarily mean they wanna see computer work--at all--though good work is a plus) and a live interview.

Ohio's Foundation's sound all the more rigorous.

As annoyed as I was by just one year of Foundations, I'd still recommend not being turned off by it. Ultimately it's helpful, and it sounds like Ohio does it well from what Andrew says (and has shown in his work). Patience and hard work is a big key.

[leggman01]

NC State's College of Design.

I finished there in '05. It's good.

understatement...it's VERY good...but it's also pretty tough to get in

there are a number of schools in NC with graphic design, if anyone is looking to head (or stay) south

the aforementioned NCSU, which i think offers a BGD degree

BFA programs:

Methodist University ...building brand new $2.2 million visual arts facility to be opened w/in 2 years

Appalachian State

Barton College

East Carolina University

Western Carolina

(AIGA (American Institute of Graphic Arts) and NASAD (National Association of Schools of Art and Design) both promote the Bachelor of Fine Arts as the preferred degree for students who want to enter professional arts fields.)

BA programs:

Campbell University

Chowan University

Lenoir-Rhyne University

Meredith College (women's school)

there may be others, but these are the ones i am aware of

[andrewharrington]

I second that. Most likely, you'll want to go somewhere that offers a BFA in Graphic Design rather than a BA. At OU, one was able to earn a BFA in Graphic Design from the School of Art or a BA in Visual Communication from the Scripps School of Journalism. The two programs looked and sounded similar on the surface, but they were totally different. The School of Art taught graphic design as a conceptual, principle-driven discipline and helped students to apply those learned concepts and principles in practical situations. By contrast, the School of Journalism taught students a very structured curriculum that more or less showed them how to mimic 'successful' techniques in very specified niches like page layout, publication design, infographics, et al. In this program, there was more emphasis on knowing the software than knowing the principles of design, and the faculty were not nearly as talented or knowledgeable as the School of Art professors, in my opinion. It always seemed like the Journalism professors were were forced to teach design courses against their will and as a result appeared to have little interest or passion in what they were doing as teachers. They acted as if they drew straws every quarter to see who would have to teach the design courses. It was the total opposite in the School of Art's Graphic Design program. The instructors were very adamant that each student who graduated the program (or even entered it) were passionate about graphic design and displayed some amount of innate talent/mastery of applied principles. I could go on here...

Long story short, make sure you're looking at a real graphic design program: get a BFA.

[lbr218]

Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts

Also known as VCUarts. My mom graduated from there with a degree in Art Education in 1983. While an Art Ed. degree is very different from a Graphic Design degree, my mom said that even back then they had an incredible GD program (before Photoshop and Illustrator! Oh my!). Another advantage is that it's in a big state university (the largest by population in the state of Virginia). Also, your first year, you will have to take the ARTF (Art Foundation) program.

I'm also in the process of college-ing(?) I didn't apply to any art schools, as I am interested in more of the social sciences, but I know what you're going through. Good luck.