Top Graphic Design School Program in Vermont - 2020 College Rankings

Newbury Seminary (which is now Vermont College of Fine Arts), was founded in 1834. The campus, which moved to Montpelier in 1868, was purchased by Vermont College of Fine Arts (VCFA) in 2008. At the time, the Newbury had three MFA programs. Today, VCFA is the only college devoted exclusively to graduate fine arts education, with MA and MFAs in everything from Art & Design Education to Writing & Publishing.

Serving around 350 students, VCFA offers a Graphic Design MFA with two options. Established in 2011, the two-year program is designed for “self-motivated students with an academic background in visual art and culture, media arts, design, or communications and/or professional experience in the field of graphic design, especially aspiring and practicing design educators,” says the school. “Familiarity with design history and contemporary visual culture studies is beneficial.”

The three-year program “is designed for students with backgrounds in liberal arts, fine arts, and sciences.” The first year of the program is designed to “bolster students’ strengths and critical abilities in typography, image making, and design history, theory, and authorship.” After the first year of the program, “students will complete two more years of study at the level of their peers in the two-year program.”

The Graphic Design MFA at VCFA is a low-residency program. Weeklong residencies on campus are “packed with lectures, critiques, workshops, exhibitions, and discussions.” Students will leave the “very first residency with new friends, collaborators, and ideas.”

After each residency, students return to their homes and devote at least 25 hours a week to their studies. Between residencies, students remain in close contact with faculty advisors through email, phone, or video conference. This structure allows students “to develop their professional practices within their communities and integrate new research methods into their work.”