COURSE CURRICULUM

The Graphic Design program at Fairleigh Dickinson University offers three specialized concentrations — Illustration, Print Design, and Web Design — allowing students to develop professional creative skills based on their career interests. The Illustration concentration focuses on personal artistic style and visual storytelling, helping students build strong conceptual-thinking and communication skills for careers in advertising, editorial illustration, branding, publishing, and digital media. Students learn traditional and digital illustration methods through courses such as CGD 3351 Illustration Design, CGD 1552 The Digital Children’s Book, Typography, Dynamic Design, and Package Design, while also developing portfolio-quality work and completing a thesis project. The Print Design concentration emphasizes visual communication specifically for printed media such as magazines, brochures, posters, packaging, labels, and publications. Students gain expertise in typography, editorial design, print layout, packaging, and branding while learning professional production techniques and print-based design systems. The Web Design concentration prepares students for careers in digital and interactive media by teaching front-end website design, interface development, user experience, navigation systems, WordPress development, mobile design, and interactive publishing. Students learn how websites function while developing visually engaging and technically effective web products. Across all concentrations, students complete foundational design courses including Intro to Graphic Design, Photoshop, Illustrator Graphics, Typography, Visual Principles, Thesis, and Portfolio Preparation. The program also provides numerous electives that allow students to expand into areas such as UI/UX design, branding, mobile app design, social media marketing, motion graphics, cartooning, fashion illustration, content marketing, and web animation. Internship opportunities can also count toward concentration electives, giving students practical industry experience before graduation. Required cognate courses such as Drawing I and Professional Practice in Graphic Design strengthen artistic foundations and career readiness. Graduates are prepared for careers as graphic designers, illustrators, web designers, UI/UX designers, branding specialists, digital content creators, motion graphics artists, creative directors, and multimedia communication professionals in today’s rapidly growing creative industries.