Mission
Mission
The Department of Graphic Design is committed to providing students with a design education in accordance with the highest professional standards. Our aim is to inspire graphic designers who can analyze communication problems, articulate ideas in visual form, and produce effective design solutions by developing their individual talents, potential, and personal voices.
We prepare innovative graduates via mastery of the analytical, conceptual, creative, and technical skills required to advance the practice of graphic design and contribute responsibly in a global community.
Additional Learning Opportunities
It is the philosophy of the Graphic Design Department that students be exposed to both theoretical and professional aspects of the discipline. Students will become acquainted with current designers and design movements and have the opportunity to experience international approaches to design during their education. Additionally, they are exposed to the operations of professional practice via networking with industry practitioners and membership in professional design organizations.
Internship/Career Experience
Prior to graduation, students must complete 120 hours of internship or career experience at a local design studio, advertising agency, entertainment studio, or publishing or marketing company. The internship or career experience must be accomplished in the junior or senior year and approved by the department chair. Woodbury’s Career Development Office offers a variety of programs, services, and resources to assist students in exploring careers and securing internships. The staff works with students one-on-one to develop successful internship search strategies in order to help students connect with employers through internship postings, résumé collections, on- and off-campus interview opportunities, alumni connections, and employer outreach in the United States.
Design Symposia
As an exploration and study of current art and design events in the Los Angeles area, this experience requires students to attend lectures, museums, galleries, and other exhibitions exploring a variety of topics, including social and cultural issues. Through analysis and discussion of their experiences, students use this course to inform their studio work and as a springboard for conceptual development of their degree projects.
Lecture Series
Students are required to attend lectures by professional graphic designers each term. Industry professionals from both national and international arenas have spoken at Woodbury on various design topics including typography, logo development, entertainment media, motion graphics, information graphics, environmental graphics, and print.
Professional Affiliations
The Woodbury University Graphic Design program is affiliated with AIGA, the professional association for design, whose mission is to advance design as a professional craft, strategic tool, and vital cultural force. Students, with a faculty sponsor, run the Woodbury University AIGA student group. Officers are elected from the student body each year to plan local networking and fundraising events for the group. Students participate in the local Los Angeles chapter events, including studio tours, guest speakers, scholarship competitions, exhibitions, conferences, and portfolio review events. They also network with industry professionals and students from other AIGA- affiliated schools and participate in special projects sponsored by local design studios.
Student Work
The University reserves the right to retain student work for archival, exhibition, and promotional purposes, including print and web formats.
Technology and Computer Requirements
The Graphic Design Department requires its graduates to be literate in the current media of representation and communication as demonstrated by the following:
- Proficiency in computer systems operations, including communications, upgrades, and management
- Proficiency in internet research through completion of LSCI 105, Information Theory and Practice or appropriate equivalent. Bibliographic documentation of database use and citation of web-based sources is required in all Graphic Design courses
- Proficiency in word processing, document formatting, and file management for both print and digital distribution
- Proficiency in computer-based design programs for page layout, interactive and motion design, and image creation
Media literacy is embedded in the curriculum at all levels and Graphic Design students are expected to demonstrate these proficiencies through successful completion of their coursework.
Computer Requirements
Students are responsible for email and ISP accounts; student-owned computers used on campus should have a network and/or wireless card for access to the University’s Wi-Fi network. The Department of Graphic Design requires a laptop computer, the use of which is mandatory beginning with the course GDES 216, Typography II. However, it is strongly recommended for first-semester studio courses as well. The system must be compatible with existing on-campus computer labs. Specific hardware and software requirements are listed on the Graphic Design website.
Program Learning Outcomes
Program Learning Outcomes
History and Theory
Students will demonstrate understanding of how communication theories, principles, and processes have evolved through history, and use this knowledge to address various types of contemporary problems. They will demonstrate fluency in the use of formal vocabulary and concepts of design and critical theory—including content, elements, structure, style, and technology—in response to visual communication problems.
Research and Inquiry
Students will cultivate research capabilities and skills, such as using databases, asking questions, observing users, and developing prototypes. They will use analytical tools to construct appropriate visual representations in the execution of research activities. They will interpret research findings practically and apply them in design development. They will support design decisions with quantitative and qualitative research findings at various stages of project development and presentation. They will demonstrate the ability to frame and conduct investigations in terms of people, activities, and their settings— including determining people’s wants, needs, and patterns of behavior—and develop design responses that respect the social and cultural differences among users of design in local and global contexts.
Strategy and Planning
Students will demonstrate an ability to understand and develop strategies for planning, producing, and disseminating visual communications. They will demonstrate functional knowledge of creative approaches, and the analytical ability to utilize such approaches to identify communication opportunities and generate alternative solutions. They will exhibit the ability to plan the design process and construct narratives and scenarios for describing user experiences
Design Communication
Students will demonstrate the ability to develop informed considerations of the spatial, temporal, and kinesthetic relationships among form, meaning, and behavior, and apply them to the development of various types of visual communication design projects. They will demonstrate the ability to use typography, images, diagrams, motion, sequencing, color, and other such elements effectively in the contexts of specific design projects. They will demonstrate understanding of design at different scales, ranging from components to systems and from artifacts to experiences.
Technology
Students will demonstrate the ability to conduct critical evaluations of different technologies in specific design-problem contexts, including the placement of technical issues in the service of human- centered priorities and matching relationships between technologies and the people expected to use them. They will exhibit the ability to recognize and analyze social, cultural, and economic implications of technology on message creation and production, as well as human behavior, and to incorporate solutions into design decisions.
Professional Practice
Students will demonstrate functional knowledge of professional design practices and processes, including professional and ethical behaviors and intellectual property issues, such as patents, trademarks, and copyrights. They will demonstrate design criticism through analysis of their own and others’ work. They will work productively as team members. They will demonstrate proficiency in both verbal and visual presentation.
Assessment Process
Portfolio Requirements: Freshman Students
Applicants are encouraged to submit a portfolio that demonstrates their artistic perspective and range of skills to help their Woodbury University professors better understand how to assist them in reaching both their academic and professional goals. The portfolio should include a minimum of seven pieces including drawings or sketches, paintings, photographs, collages, typographic layouts, or any color studies or general design projects. Combinations of finished pieces and sketches are acceptable.
Portfolio Requirements: Transfer Students
Transfer students are required to submit a digital portfolio conveying the range of work completed in earlier programs. Submissions should demonstrate the applicant’s artistic perspective and range of technical and digital skills. Transfer credits for Graphic Design courses that were not part of an articulation agreement with your previous institution will be awarded based on a portfolio evaluation.
Required for evaluation of non-articulation agreement courses:
- All major art and design projects from each studio course you wish to transfer (2–3 minimum)
- Description of each project, including project specifications and/or requirements
- Course title and number
- Name of institution where course was taken
- Semester and year when course was completed
Formative Assessment Experiences
Progress Portfolio Review—At the end of the sophomore year, students are required to submit a comprehensive portfolio of their work from each major design studio. The portfolio should demonstrate sufficient development of the knowledge and skills of graphic design and the ability to integrate that cumulative knowledge and skill into original, creative, and meaningful visual communication. Portfolios are reviewed by a panel comprised of design faculty members and the department chair. GDES 289, Progress Portfolio, is a pre-requisite for GDES 310, Information Design. Students who do not pass GDES 289, Progress Portfolio must remediate according to the review committee’s recommendations and resubmit their portfolio for review.
Pre-requisite Requirements—GDES 310, Information Design is an intermediate studio in Graphic Design exploring the fundamental theories and methodologies of visual communication. Students develop creative design solutions involving research, information analysis, and problem solving in consideration of context, concept, audience, and process. An additional pre-requisite is GDES 491, Degree Project Research in which students develop a proposal for their degree project. The course is broken into four modules that deal with the components of the graphic design project: topic development, research and information analysis, conceptual thesis, and contextual framework.
Summative Assessment Experiences
Capstone Courses—In order to illustrate required professional and design competencies before graduation, students must successfully pass GDES 491, Degree Project Research; GDES 492, Degree Project; and GDES 485, Portfolio Presentation. GDES 492 is the program’s capstone project. Capstone projects provide students with the experience of developing and completing a design project that illustrates their ability to address knowledge gained in the previous years of study. Students must demonstrate the application of theoretical research to a self-initiated graphic design project through a rigorous, clearly resolved level of work representative of a high degree of critical thinking, skill, and craft.
Results of Learning—Both studio and lecture courses require production of various graphic design projects specific to the learning outcomes of each course. Projects may include logos, stationery applications, brochures, posters, publications, photography, pack- aging, websites, motion graphics, advertising, collateral material, environmental designs, exhibit design, information design, and research papers. At the end of each term, student work is reviewed by industry professionals and department faculty. Additionally, evidence of learning is assessed through GDES 289, Progress Portfolio at the end of the second year of study. These portfolios must include project samples from all studios completed. In their senior year, students develop their professional portfolios, which are also reviewed by industry professionals and assessed by faculty members and the Graphic Design Advisory Board. Student self- assessment is required in both the Progress and Senior Portfolio processes, as well as the internship experience.
Program Specific Academic Standards
Below-average work is not acceptable for a professional degree. A minimum grade of “C” is required for the design studios in order to continue in the studio sequence. A student receiving a grade below a “C” must successfully repeat that studio prior to enrollment in the succeeding studio. Students are not permitted to enroll in more than 12 studio units in a single semester.
Curriculum Summary
Program Major Curriculum
| Unit Type (UT) |
Number of Units (U) |
| Major (MA) |
72 |
| General Education (GE) |
49 |
| Unrestricted Electives (UE) |
5 |
| Work Experience (WE) |
0 |
| Minimum Total Units Required |
126 |
Suggested Sequence of Courses
First Year
Fall Semester
| FOUN 101 | Beginning Drawing | 3 |
| GDES 106 | Graphic Design 1 | 2 |
| GDES 107 | Digital Practice | 3 |
| WRIT 113 | First-Year Academic Writing | 3 |
| ____ ___ | Unrestricted Elective | 3 |
| Total Credit Hours: | 15 |
Spring Semester
| FOUN 102 | Design and Composition | 3 |
| GDES 116 | Typography 1 | 3 |
| GDES 220 | Advanced Digital Techniques | 3 |
| GDES 260 | History of Graphic Design | 3 |
| PSYC 150 | General Psychology | 3 |
| LSCI ___ | Information Sources | 1 |
| Total Credit Hours: | 16 |
Second Year
Fall Semester
Spring Semester
| GDES 356 | Interaction Design 2 | 3 |
| GDES 285 | Logo and Identity Design | 3 |
| GDES 288 | Graphic Design 2 | 3 |
| GDES 289 | Progress Portfolio | 0 |
| WRIT 313 | Advanced Academic Writing | 3 |
| ____ 2__ | Mathematics Elective | 3 |
| Total Credit Hours: | 15 |
Third Year
Fall Semester
| GDES 310 | Information Design | 3 |
| GDES 315 | Package Design | 3 |
| GDES 391 | Design Symposia 1 | 1 |
| ENVT 220 | Environmental Studies | 3 |
| INDS ___ | Interdisciplinary Core Elective | 3 |
| ____ ___ | Art History Elective | 3 |
| Total Credit Hours: | 16 |
Spring Semester
| GDES 396 | User Experience Design | 3 |
| GDES 388 | Graphic Design 3 | 3 |
| GDES 491 | Degree Project Research | 3 |
| ____ ___ | Natural Science with Lab Elective | 3 |
| ____ ___ | Humanities Elective | 3 |
| ____ 3__ | Upper Division Interdisciplinary Elective | 3 |
| ____ ___ | Career Experience | 0 |
| Total Credit Hours: | 18 |
Type:
GDES 396, GDES 388, and GDES 491: MA.
Natural Science with Lab Elective, Humanities Elective, and Upper Division Interdisciplinary Elective: GE.
Career Experience: WE.
Fourth Year
Fall Semester
| GDES 417 | Typography 3 | 3 |
| GDES 492 | Degree Project | 3 |
| GDES 4__ | Upper Division Major Elective | 3 |
| | | |
| PSYC 3__ | Upper Division Psychology Elective | 3 |
| | Or | |
| MDST 3__ | Upper Division Media Studies Elective | 3 |
| | | |
| ____ 3__ | Upper Division Interdisciplinary Elective | 3 |
| ____ ___ | Unrestricted Elective | 2 |
| Total Credit Hours: | 17 |
Type:
GDES 417, GDES 492, and GDES (Upper Division Major Elective): MA.
PSYC (Upper Division Psychology Elective), MDST (Upper Division Media Studies Elective), and Upper Division Interdisciplinary Elective: GE.
Unrestricted Elective: UE.
Spring Semester
| GDES 450 | Professional Practice | 2 |
| GDES 485 | Portfolio Presentation | 3 |
| GDES 4__ | Upper Division Major Elective | 3 |
| ____ ___ | Art History Elective | 3 |
| ____ ___ | Social Science Elective | 3 |
| Total Credit Hours: | 14 |
Type:
GDES 450, GDES 485, and GDES (Upper Division Major Elective): MA.
Art History Elective and Social Science Elective: GE.
Program Minor Curriculum
Program Minor Curriculum Graphic Design offers two minor options. One option is for Architecture and students in BFA programs. The other option is for students who are not majoring in design programs. Students in either minor track must complete 15 units from the courses listed below
Graphic Design Minor for Non-Architecture and Non-Design Majors Only
Graphic Design Minor for Architecture and Other Design Majors Only
GDES 116, GDES 216, GDES 285, GDES 288, and GDES 289: These are required courses.
GDES 207, GDES 240, GDES 256, GDES 310, GDES 315, GDES 414, GDES 430, GDES 446, and GDES 447: Students must take one of these courses.