California College of the Arts
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Graphic Design

"Universal clarity of communication is the crux of graphic design," notes Michael Vanderbyl, a longtime Graphic Design Program faculty member. In keeping with this spirit, the program is both conceptual and skill based, emphasizing interdisciplinary thinking, theory, and rigor.

Guided by a professionally active and accomplished faculty, students are encouraged to develop their personal voices as they seek a universal message in their work. Courses in typography and digital media complement the conceptual aspects of the program. Graphic Design students have access to a broad range of facilities and can take courses in photography, film, video, bookbinding, screenprinting, and letterpress printing, among other disciplines.

The San Francisco campus offers a complete wireless network and computer labs equipped to handle print, web, and motion production. In addition, the Media Center offers digital audio and video equipment for use on and off campus.

Students have the opportunity to work in a variety of off-site environments, including design firms, museums, publishing and printing houses, technology companies, and nonprofit organizations. Through the required internship and professional practice courses, they gain work experience, make contacts, and refine their portfolios. Students may also work for Sputnik, CCA's award-winning design studio that creates collateral specifically for the college.

Graphic Design Program alumni work for some of the country's leading firms and in many cases have established notable practices of their own. Numerous students have won national recognition in the Adobe Design Achievement Awards and in competitions sponsored by the Western Art Directors Club and the Type Directors Club; they have been cited in the Graphis New Talent Design Annual and I.D. magazine's Annual Design Review.