Top 10 Graphic Design School Programs in New York - 2021 College Rankings

The School of Visual Arts (SVA) opened in 1947 with just three teachers and 35 students (mostly World War II veterans). Known as the Cartoonists and Illustrators school, the school employed New York City-based professionals working in the arts as faculty—a practice that continues today.

SVA currently serves 7,000 students enrolled in 31 programs. Offerings for aspiring graphic designers include a BFA in Design and a Design/Designer as Entrepreneur MFA. The BFA Program “is a multidisciplinary educational system in itself, offering separate majors that include Graphic Design, Motion Graphics, Interaction Design and 3D Design,” says the school.

The program can be further divided into package design, editorial design, information graphics, corporate identity, publication design, CD packaging, book jacket design, environmental design and website design. Other program highlights include intensive one-week workshops, exhibitions that are routinely covered by NBC, CBS. ABC, and CNN, competitions, enrollment in the AIGA (American Institute of Graphic Artists) and the Art Directors Club—two of the most prestigious design organizations in the country, industry review, and internships.

The Design/Designer as Entrepreneur MFA “inspires” students to conceive, produce, brand and market their own innovative content. Interaction, motion graphics, branding, and user experience are covered as well as typography as a visual language, video and new media directing, and art book and digital publishing. Students will also take classes in business, marketing, ethnography, strategy, research, advertising, promotion, intellectual property and networking.

The MFA program includes “advanced instruction in a variety of authoring skills, such as writing, editing, criticism, typography as a visual language, Film and new media directing, visual journalism and book and magazine publishing,” during the first year. Students will also take courses in marketing, research, advertising, promotion, publicity, intellectual property and networking. In the second year of the program, students will design and write a proposal for a product that will be presented to a panel of "guest faculty" who will decide whether it has enough merit to progress to the developmental stage. In this stage, “students will produce a prototype for backers, publishers, producers or distributors. Working individually, this final proposal, dummy or prototype will be professionally produced for presentation purposes.”

Graduate students will have access to the SVA MFA studios, open 24 hours a day and “designed to simulate an operational design/media firm with spacious workstations that allow for individual and collaborative work.”

Graduates of the SVA Graphic Design Programs have gone on to work for commercial and not-for-profit corporations, institutions and businesses. Many founded their own start-ups, design firms and studios. Some have become partners in businesses and individual projects. Graduates have started over 50 design studios around the globe.

Founded in 1887, Pratt Institute is situated in the historic Clinton Hill section of Brooklyn, New York. The school, which prepares its nearly 5,000 students for careers in architecture, art, design, information science and liberal arts, and liberal arts and sciences, offers more than 25 undergraduate degree programs and concentrations along with more than 26 graduate degree programs. In addition to the Brooklyn campus, programs are offered at campuses in Manhattan and Utica, New York.

At the main campus in Brooklyn, students are enrolled in programs in the schools of Architecture, Art, Design, and Liberal Arts and Sciences. Founded in 2014, The School of Design offers “up to four of Pratt’s oldest and most esteemed disciplines,” says the school, including Communications Design (BFA, MFA), Fashion Design, Industrial Design, and Interior Design. The School of Art offers an Associate of Occupational Studies (AOS) in Graphic Design and an AAS in Graphic Design/Illustration. All programs offer the opportunity to complete an internship.

The AOS is an intensive 69 credit hour program integrates “the best of new media and technologies with a strong commitment to a traditional art and design curriculum.” This career track option takes just two years to complete. The AAS program is also 69 credit hours. Students in the program” follow an exciting art and design curriculum that includes a liberal arts component.” This positions students to transfer to Pratt’s Fine Arts Department or the BFA in Communications Design.

In the Communication Design Program, “students learn to engage audiences, explore technologies, develop visual languages, challenge preconceptions, redefine problems, and identify opportunities through the lens of communication design.” Students in the BFA program have the opportunity to choose a focus area. Options include Graphic Design, Illustration, and Advertising Art Direction.

Graphic Design students will “explore topics and modes of practice, such as typographic and identity systems, visual rhetoric, interactivity, experience design, sustainability, and inclusivity.” Projects in the program “encourage critical inquiry, collaborative processes, and experimentation with multiple technologies and platforms.” Through electives students can explore a “wide spectrum of specializations in graphic design, including user experience, motion graphics, type design, independent publishing, data visualization, and post-artifact books.”

The 60 credit hour MFA in Communications Design emphasizes studio practice in graphic design—communications, identities, objects, environments, and systems. Graduates are prepared to enter careers in print and digital media, typography, identity systems and branding, design strategy, social media and interaction design, motion design, environmental design, data visualization, information design, and user experience design.

For aspiring graphic designers seeking an advanced degree with a specific focus, the School of Design-Communications Design Program offers a MS in Package Design. First offered in 1966, this 48 credit hour program is an initial master’s degree that offers students structured courses on the decision-making process for new product and package development, featuring direction in package design, typography, brand development, marketing, structural packaging, packaging technology, fragrance packaging, and the business aspects of the package industry. This is a full-time program, which culminates in a capstone thesis project.

For students who are not yet ready to commit to a degree program, the School of Continuing and Professional Studies (SCPS) offers Certificate Programs in Digital Design including Graphic Design, Digital Product Design, Human-Centered Design, Motion Graphics, and many others. These programs may be taken individually or “stacked,” producing an “accelerated path to completion.” Like the undergraduate and graduate Communication Design/Graphic Design programs, Certificate programs offer the opportunity to complete an internship. 

Students in all programs will have the opportunity to enroll in one of more than 20 study abroad programs and international exchange programs in over a dozen locations such as Florence, Milan, Copenhagen, London, and Tokyo.

Graduates of the Graphic Design and Communication Design Programs at Pratt are “equipped to pursue a spectrum of exciting career paths as creative professionals.” Pratt alumni “continue to distinguish themselves in design studios, cultural institutions, branding agencies, and independent enterprises making significant contributions to the fields of art and design, publishing, education, film, gaming, advertising, and many more.”

Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) opened in 1944 with just 100 students on the top two floors of the High School of Needles Trades. Today, as part of the State University of New York (SUNY) system, FIT spans an entire city block and serves more than 10,000 students enrolled in a variety of programs. Just a few include Cosmetics and Fragrance Marketing, and Menswear, which are unique to the college, and Fashion Business Management, Visual Presentation and Exhibition Design, and Toy Design, the first of their kind in the country.

Programs are offered in five academic divisions including the Schools of Art and Design, Liberal Arts, and Graduate Studies, Jay and Patty Baker School of Business and Technology, and the Center for Continuing and Professional Studies.

The School of Art and Design offers 17 programs that provide “a practical, hands-on, real world based education,” says the school. Programs for aspiring graphic designers include an AAS in Communication Design Foundation and a BFA in Graphic Design.

The Communication Design AAS “focuses on computer technology, typography, color theory, layout design, and conceptual problem solving. Students develop their own styles while studying design principles, theory, and communication skills.” Other program highlights include field trips to top design firms in New York City, guest lectures, and internship opportunities. Graduates of the program will be prepared for entry-level design positions or for further study in a related BFA program at FIT. Options include Advertising and Digital Design, Graphic Design, Packaging Design, and Visual Presentation and Exhibition Design.

The curriculum for the Graphic Design BFA includes “the study and design of products such as magazines, posters, websites, annual reports, books, and signage.” The program covers advanced typography, corporate identity systems, art history, and more. Besides versatile design skills “that can be applied to magazine and newspaper publishing, catalog production, and promotional publication design,” students will develop “critical thinking, research, analysis, and presentation skills.”

Other program highlights the opportunity to study with practicing professionals and to gain first-hand experience through internships at major institutions and design firms such as MoMA, Pentagram, the Art Directors Club, and many others. Students also have the opportunity to study abroad in England at Chelsea College of Art & Design, the London College of Communication, or Nottingham Trent University.

The Graphic Design BFA Program concludes with a senior thesis project and a juried design exhibition. Students will graduate with “a strong portfolio to present to potential employers.” 

Syracuse University (SU) established some of the nation’s earliest architecture and fine arts programs. Founded in 1870, the school serves approximately 22,322 students enrolled in more than 200 majors and minors, and 200 advanced degree programs across 13 academic units. Programs are offered at SU’s main campus in Syracuse and at locations in New York City, Los Angeles, and Washington D.C.

SU houses the College of Visual and Performing Arts’ (VPA) School of Design and the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications. Both offer programs for aspiring graphic designers. Options include a BFA in Communications Design in the VPA School of Design and a Bachelor’s in Graphic Design offered in the Newhouse School.  

Coursework for the BFA in Communications Design explores “the creative process, communications theory, design history, and project management,” says the school “in addition to illustration, photography, typography, and production processes.” Students in the program will have the opportunity to work on group or solo projects that incorporate advertising, marketing, packaging, publication, web and social media, and best business practices. Study abroad experiences in London, England, are also part of the program.

The Communications Design BFA culminates in VPA’s annual two-day senior portfolio show in New York City, open to design professionals in the tristate area. Graduates of the program work as designers and creative directors at many of the top firms in the country.

The Newhouse School’s Graphic Design program covers print, digital, web and video. Students in the program will learn “how to express ideas visually in every medium, using the latest technology, all while getting a well-rounded liberal arts education that prepares them for creative careers in a variety of digital, print, motion, immersive and emerging fields.

Program highlights include courses such as Introduction to Graphic Design, Typographic Design, and User Interface and User Experience (UI/UX) Design and the Fall Workshop, which “brings creative professionals in from around the world to serve as mentors for student projects.”

Newhouse Graphic Design graduates have landed positions at places such as Amazon, Google, and The Washington Post, and some have even started their own creative agencies. 

Russell Sage College (Sage College) was founded in Troy, New York, in 1916. The school granted its first baccalaureate degree in 1918 and graduated its first class in 1920. Today, Russell Sage College, Sage College of Albany and Sage Graduate Schools are united under a single name: Russell Sage College, one college with two co-educational campuses in Albany and Troy, New York.

Sage College serves nearly 2,400 students enrolled in more than 50 bachelor’s, master’s and doctorates  in the schools of Arts & Sciences, Health Sciences, Management, and Esteves School of Education. The School of Arts & Sciences houses the Graphic + Media Design (GMD) Program, which leads to a BFA.

Program highlight include frequent speaker events, internship opportunities in places such as Boston, NYC, London, and Germany, portfolio reviews by professional organizations such as the Art Director’s Club and AIGA, and the opportunity to work on design projects at places such as the Albany Institute of History & Art, Albany Public Library, and the Museum Association of New York.

The GMD Program includes a COLAB course, which is an interdisciplinary experience that provides the opportunity for students from Graphic + Media Design, Art + Extended Media and Interior + Spatial Design to work in teams to develop a concept and design for various companies and organizations. Recently, students worked on a project for a boutique hotel.

Other course highlights for the program include 2D Studio Techniques, Animation, Digital Studio Techniques, Graphic Design, Imaging, Innovate, Interactive Design, Intercultural, Photography, Spatial Design, Time Arts, and Type & Design. Students will also compete Professional Practices and two Senior Capstone courses.

Graduates of the GMD Program find jobs in a variety of settings, including boutique design firms, in-house marketing departments, and large communication agencies. Recent graduates are working as Graphic Designers at places such as Brawn Media, Jane Iredale Mineral Cosmetics, and Trampoline Design; as a Creative Director at Mohawk Fine Papers; and as a Designer for a 2020 presidential candidate.