Oklahoma State University (OSU) was established on Christmas Day 1890. The school serves more than 36,000 students from all 50 states and 118 nations across its five-campus system The school offers more than 320 programs across six academic colleges, plus a veterinary school and an osteopathic medical school. The College of Arts and Sciences houses the Department of Art, Graphic Design and Art History, which offers a BFA in Art with a Graphic Design Option. An MFA in Graphic Design is also available.
The BFA program begins with a foundation in visual communication, which allows students to develop skills in a variety of areas and media. The schools says “these skills are developed during instruction in traditional media, printing processes, and the use of industry-standard software; then applied to more difficult media such as in motion and interaction.” Course highlights include Digital Design, Drawing, Graphic Design, Interaction Design, Motion Design, Photography, Printmaking, Studio Art, Typography, Visual Thinking: Form & Space, and Visual Thinking: Image & Surface. Students will also take Graphic Design, Interaction Design, and Motion Design Studios. An internship is also part of the program.
The students graduating portfolio work will include “a variety of media from graphic design, motion design, and interaction design, such as posters, billboards, branding, logo and symbol design, website design, app design, television and film graphics.” With a “vast range of design work,” the program prepares students to pursue careers in Graphic Design and Advertising, or continue their education in Fine Arts MFA programs across the nation. Recent graduates have been hired at Matchfire, Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition, Masterwork Artistry, the Museum of East Texas, and many others.
The OSU MFA is “the only graduate program specializing in a unique combination of Interaction Design, Motion Design and Visual Communication in Oklahoma and in any other Higher Education Institution in the region.” The program is a three-year, sixty credit hour, and terminal degree that the school says, “will develop students’ expertise as graphic designers in Interaction Design and Motion Design, while developing their research, presentation and writing skills.” Sample courses include Graphic Design, Motion Design, and Interaction Design Graduate Studio, Teaching Practicum, and Graduate Seminar. A thesis and off-campus summer internship are also part of the program.
MFA graduates will be able to “respond to both the creative demands of the graphic design profession and the research and teaching requirements of academia.”