The College of Arts and Sciences at Bowling Green State University (BGSU) was founded as the College of Liberal Arts in 1929. With 20+ departments and four schools providing more than 100 areas of study, 25 master’s degree programs, and 12 doctoral options, the College of Arts and Sciences is BGSU’s largest college. Within the college is also one of the largest and oldest state art schools in Ohio—the BGSU School of Art.
Established more than 75 years ago and accredited by the National Association of Schools of Art and Design (NASAD) since 1984, the BGSU School of Art houses five divisions including Graphic Design; Art History; Studio; Digital Arts; and Art Education. Across divisions, students have opportunities to complete an internship at places such as Pixar, American Greetings, PBS, Disney, and Procter & Gamble; and study abroad in places such as France, Italy, China, and Japan.
Students in all divisions also have access to the BGSU Graphic Design facilities. Housed in the Fine Arts Center and Wolfe Center for the Arts, facilities include: the CAVE (Center for Advanced Visualization and Education) Lab; 20 state-of-the-art workstations equipped with the Adobe Creative Cloud and the Adobe Typeface Library; and an additional lab with access to the collaborative space—the Digital Arts Classroom.
The Graphic Design Division in the School of Art has two paths to study graphic design: the Graphic Design BFA and the Integrative Design MDes.
The MDes is a low-residency, hybrid program that requires just three campus visits each semester and a one-week visit during the summer. Consisting of 60 credit hours, the MDes has flexible two-year, three-year, and four-year options. All students will have opportunities to engage in interdisciplinary activities with corporate and non-profit partners in Ohio and across the U.S.
Students in this terminal degree program will complete courses, seminars, and studios such as Graphic Design History + Integrative Models; Collaborative Design Studio I and II: Design for Social Impact; Design Studio III and IV: Integrative Strategies, Theory and Implementation; and Design Research and Methods.
MDes students may focus in an area or interest through elective such as Special Audience Research; Topics in Digital Arts; Perspectives in Visual Arts Education; Techniques in Demographic Analysis; Collaborative Multimedia Development; and Exhibit Project and Oral Defense. This capstone course leads to a public exhibition and review.
The Graphic Design BFA at Bowling Green State University is a 120 credit hour program that consists of art foundations, the graphic design studio core, studio area, art history, and other support courses. Examples include Media Studio: Space and Time; Survey of world Art; Information Design; Typography; User Experience/User Interface Design; Drawing Studio: Perception, Practice, Process; Systems-Based Graphic Design; Three Dimensional Graphic Design; Time Based Graphic Design; Graphic Design History and Integrative Models; Design for Social Impact; and Western Art.
Students in this professional degree program will also complete the Graphic Design Studio Capstone across four courses including Graphic Design Senior Thesis (three courses) and Senior Studio in Graphic Design. Student's final projects will be presented at the end-of-semester Senior Graphic Design Portfolio Show.
Graduates of the Design and Graphic Design programs at Bowling Green State University are prepared to pursue creative roles in industries such as advertising, marketing, publishing, consulting, web design, media, technology, manufacturing, food and beverage, education, insurance, government, healthcare, finance, IT, telecommunications, military, and ecommerce. MDes graduates are prepared to pursue leadership roles in these industries and many others.
Program alumni have been hired at places such as Nike, United Health Group, F+W Media, Abercrombie & Fitch, Hobby Lobby, American Greetings, J. Crew, Progressive, Uber, Cleveland Institute of Art, Owens Corning, Toledo Museum of Art, Cooper-Smith Advertising, JP Morgan Chase, Landor Associates, Noir Marketing + PR, Root Inc., 10 Red Design, and Toledo Museum of Art.
Bowling Green State University was established in 1910 as a teacher-training institution. Today, the school provides more than 200 programs to a population of 19,600 students. Programs at BGSU are housed across six academic colleges and two campuses. Bowling Green State University is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission (HLC).