Design Delaware College of Art and Design (DCAD) was established in 1997 through a partnership between Pratt Institute in NYC and the Corcoran College of Art and Design in DC. The state’s only art and design school, DCAD serves several hundred students enrolled in Animation, Fine Arts, Graphic Design, Illustration, and Photography programs leading to the Associate of Fine Arts Degree (AFA).
The AFA in Graphic Design “provides students with an understanding of visual design principles and technical skills as a means to successfully convey information to an audience and motivate a response,” says the school. The program curriculum is based on “sound typographic principles, provides a historical foundation of theory, explores relevant design problems, and introduces professional practice and audience awareness as it seeks to prepare students for further study as they begin to articulate their own reasoning vision and voice.”
During the first year of the program, students enroll in Foundation Year: a core group of courses designed to develop visual literacy and basic studio techniques and emphasize an understanding of the concepts and principles of the visual arts. Schedules are divided between 65% studio courses and 35% liberal arts courses that use materials, concepts and skills that students can apply to their chosen area of study in the second year.
Two Concentrations are available including Advertising Design and Communication Design. Advertising Design students will “develop visual messages with conceptual content and apply to advertising media such as ads, posters and marketing collateral. Typography and image as linked tools are key points of emphasis.” Communication Design students will “explore and create visual content applied to print and web media. Type as both communication and art define the basis of the graphic designer’s means of expression.” Course highlights for the programs include Advertising, Communication Design, Visual Communication, Typography, Illustration, Digital Photography, and Digital Dialogs.
Graduates of the DCAD Graphic Design AFA Program are prepared to enter the workforce or transfer into BFA degree programs at many distinguished art and design schools.