Graphic Design Pathway
You’re creative. You have an eye for detail, an understanding of color, an appreciation of spatial relationships.
If you are interested in creatively shaping the visual landscape, in inspiring and engaging an audience through your digital and physical designs, DePauw’s Graphic Design Pathway is for you.
When you embark
When you embark on the Graphic Design Pathway, you’ll be immersed in creative, challenging courses across disciplines. Through courses in studio art, art history, computer science and communication, you’ll gain the theoretical and practical foundation for careers in design. In these courses, you will learn the technical skills necessary to effectively communicate your ideas and, just as important, you will gain an understanding of the larger social and ethical considerations of representation.
The Graphic Design Pathway will enable you to forge a career in graphic design, marketing, social media, architecture, fashion, game design or illustration.
HOW DOES A DEPAUW EDUCATION RELATE?
Everything in the constructed world was made by a creative author. Designers developed and built the furniture we sit in, the image we see when we open our laptops, the special effects of our favorite movies, the houses we live in. If it’s not natural, it’s design.
To succeed in a graphic design-related industry, you must be able to adapt quickly to change, understand visual information from perspectives other than your own and have a broad range of knowledge and experience.
Designers must be great makers, but also great thinkers, so a liberal arts environment like that at DePauw is the ideal place for aspiring designers to study, learn technical design skills and understand the historical and contemporary issues relating to design.
WHAT DEPAUW COURSES COULD I EXPLORE?
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ARTS 152 - Drawing: Learning to See
A studio-based course to discover theories, techniques and skills to carry over into other visual practices.
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ARTD 120 - Introduction to Design
An introductory design studio course exploring theories, techniques, and foundational skills essential for diverse design disciplines and creative applications.
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ARTH 337 - Representation in Japanese Visual Culture
Study what lies at the heart of representation – subjectivity, political aims, societal concerns, emotional responses – in Japanese culture.
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MSST 110 - Contemporary Issues in Museum Studies
Investigate contemporary museum practices that will help you understand the ethics of representation and exhibition of cultural artifacts.
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CSC 121 - Computer Science
Study computer science topics such as computer graphics, graphical user interfaces, modeling and simulation, artificial intelligence and information management systems.
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ARTD 292 - Emerging Technologies
Exploring emerging technologies, the course investigates hardware, software, algorithms, cultivating skills in visual communication, entrepreneurship, branding, and ethical design.
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WGSS 290 - U.S. Women’s Autobiography
Explore how American women narrate and represent their lives across media, including literature, the graphic novel and fine art.
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ARTH 290 - Early Modern Transnational Art
Learn how the invasion of the Americas and the transatlantic slave trade steered art and visual culture.
Grants and Awards
On campus internships
- ITAP internship
Off campus internships
- New York Arts Program
- Philadelphia Center off-campus study program
WHO ARE ALUMNI ENGAGED IN CAREERS RELATED TO GRAPHIC DESIGN?
- A.J. Houk ’16, creative strategist, Snap Inc.
- Rhiley McIntire ’17, architectural designer, Arkos Design Inc.
- Alexis Freund ’16, manager of marketing and communications, NerdWallet
- Lauren Arnold ’15, line producer and studio production manager, Lex + Otis animation studio
- Kristopher Schmelzer ’12, senior account manager, Annalect
- Jessica Adele Kane ’12, photo division agent and producer, Judy Casey Inc.
- Erwin “Skip” Brea ’16, artist and freelance graphic designer
WHAT OTHER OFFICES AND PROGRAMS MIGHT I CONNECT TO?
- Art and Art History
- Communications and Theatre
- Computer Science
- Film Studies
- The Tenzer Technology Center
- The Pulliam Center for Contemporary Media
- The Justin and Darrianne Christian Center for Diversity and Inclusion
WHO ELSE CAN TELL ME MORE AND ANSWER MY QUESTIONS?
- Lori Miles
professor
art and art history - John Berry
associate professor
art and art history