BA in Studio Art: Visual Communication

Loyola University of Chicago

Visual Communication means the communication of information and ideas through a combination of text and image. Graphic designers use these elements to organize complex information in order to persuade, to entertain, and to educate a diverse audience. They work collaboratively with professionals in other fields to help meet these goals, building careers wherever communication is important. The visual communication program in the Fine Arts Division at Loyola University Chicago prepares students to enter the workforce as design professionals, with graduates employed in graphic design studios, internal design teams, branding firms, cultural institutions, and other creative agencies. Students learn graphic design history, theory, and practice, in a rigorous program that covers the essentials needed by professionals. Graduates of the program have career opportunities in branding and corporate identity, advertising, web design, motion graphics, interface design, package design, mobile interactive design, digital product design, exhibit design, print and publication design, and more. The history of graphic design is closely interwoven with the history of art, from the development of writing and record-keeping, to the invention of printing processes that were used by fine artists who also designed advertising posters, through the Bauhaus School and up to the present day when the computer has become a common tool for art and design. Allied studio art and art history programming provides opportunities for the development of an interdisciplinary approach, and a required internship gives students hands-on experience in the field.

College of Arts and Sciences