Communication Design (MFA)

Communication Design

The internationally recognized M.F.A. program provides students with advanced skills needed in the evolving world of communication design.

Texas State's revolutionary approach puts the needs of working designers on equal footing with full-time students. The program favors

next-generation technologies for remote learning over traditional methods to teach advanced problem-solving methodologies, updated technological advancement relating to communication design, and examination of historical events within the discipline and theoretical constructs.

Course Work

The degree requires a minimum of 60 credit hours. The formal thesis will represent the student's research, design, and documentation of an original research inquiry that contributes to the field of communication design. In addition to the required credit hours, the degree requires a Mid-Program Portfolio Review.

The majority of the program is offered online supplemented with an on-campus residency at the end of each semester. The residency is packed with

in-person workshops, critiques, and visiting designer lectures. Our program meets the requirements for an Fl visa for international students.

Program Details

Working professionals benefit from the program’s convenient course-delivery systems, which include online instruction, directed study, blended evening courses, weekend and international summer seminars.

Program Mission

The Master of Fine Arts in Communication Design is a pioneering low-residency program that emphasizes conceptual thinking, experimentation, and investigation. Students engage in a broad spectrum of visual communication practices, including typography, digital experience, socially engaged design, and design pedagogy, and emerge ready to contribute to the field of communication design as professional practitioners and educators.

Career Options

Students have a wide variety of potential career paths such as graphic designer, UI/UX designer, design researcher, typographer, and educator. Furthermore, the program equips students to move their careers beyond a traditional 9-5 job and use design to engage their communities. For students seeking a career as an educator in higher education, the program provides mentorship, the appropriate academic credential, and the terminal degree in the discipline of visual communication design: the M.F.A. degree.

Program Faculty

M.F.A./CD faculty demonstrate sustained activity in peer-reviewed forums, including commissions, invited talks, lectures, presentations, and internal and external grant awards. Recognition and publication of faculty design work are evident in published books. Examples of faculty research topics include socially engaged design, independent publishing, alphabetic systems, impacts of cultural imperialism, interactive storytelling, design justice, and queer-feminist archives.