The College of Art & Design at Louisiana State University (LSU) houses the School of Art, which has a Graphic Design Program with BFA and MFA pathways. Students in all School of Art programs have access to the Arts, Visualization, Advanced Technologies and Research (AVATAR) Initiative and the Art Building, which houses classrooms, studio spaces, the Design Shop, Fabrication Factory, IDEA Hub, and teaching labs. Students may also join the Digital Art and Design Association (DADA), participate in design competitions and join the Graphic Design Student Organization (GDSA), which hosts field trips to local design firms and lectures.
The curriculums for both programs explore graphic design, packaging design, branding, print and editorial design, information design, environmental design, motion graphics, typography, illustration/digital imaging, and identity design. Specific course examples for the 120 credit hour BFA include Letter Forms, Graphic Design I-III, Color Design, Graphic Abstraction, Prepress Production Techniques, Interactive Multimedia Design, Applied Typography, and Digital Imaging Techniques.
The LSU Graphic Design MFA is a 60 credit hour program that combines workshops and lectures by visiting artists with graduate studio courses, studio art electives, and art history. A Teaching Seminar is part of the program as well as two Thesis Research courses worth six credits. The Graphic Design MFA culminates with the MFA Thesis Report and Exhibition.
LSU graduates have been hired at companies such as Disney, Pixar Animation Studios, Travel + Leisure, The Washington Post, DreamWorks, Lucasfilm, Sony Picture Entertainment, Leftfield Entertainment, New Orleans Tourism Marketing Corporation, Hunter Museum of American Art, Nissan North America, Halliburton, Modern Art Museum (Fort Worth, Texas), Bluebonnet, Baltimore Museum of Art, SVAD-NYC, KPMG LLP., Modern Media, and Trace Labs.
Louisiana State University is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC). The three areas of concentration in the School of Art are accredited by the National Association of Schools of Art and Design (NASAD). Louisiana State University was founded in 1860 as the Louisiana State Seminary of Learning and Military Academy. The flagship institution of the Louisiana State University System, LSU serves nearly 36,000 students enrolled in more than 330 programs across 18 colleges, schools, and centers, and LSU Online.