Communications Design, MFA
Our terminal MFA degree program sits at the intersection of visual language, cultural criticism, and media studies. We prepare creatives to be confident, independent practitioners who are strategic technology users, innovative researchers, writers, pedagogues, and ultimately leaders in the communication design professions. Our students gain interdisciplinary knowledge that supports critical discourse and the development of a significant body of work characterized by experimentation, creativity, resiliency and include non-dominant ways of knowing, thinking, and doing.
Overview
In our program, we understand design as the myriad ways we create meaningful communications making complex information accessible, producing compelling experiences, and enacting social change. We support students by exploring many of these possibilities to find a disciplinary space in which to excel and find deep satisfaction. During the program the students accomplish versatility and expert capabilities with communications tools and strategies across numerous technologies, demonstrated through critical responses that understand design as collective action that address socio-economical and environmental issues.
What we believe
We believe designers are cultural actors who use their expertise to inform, persuade, and entertain in order to create the world they imagine. In our classes, students apply socio-ecologically sustainable processes and research to design transformative strategies for communication and interactions between people and communities that promote a diverse, equitable and just society.
Our students develop their voices as both designers and authors by creating and engaging design challenges within the program’s cross-disciplinary framework. Students approach design as a process of learning, a communal experience, and a process to enact change. Our program integrates situated knowledge and perspectives with histories, principles, and practices of communications design to support the creation of speculative artifacts, modes of representation, platforms, and systems serving intersectional identities and abilities.
After graduation
This program lays the foundation for both professional practice and academic careers. Graduates enter the professional world with advanced critical skills and an articulate body of work, prepared to work in print and digital media, typography, identity systems and branding, design strategy, social media, interaction design, motion design, environmental design, data visualization, information design, and user experience design.
We welcome students with previous experience in design and adjacent disciplines, but also professionals from different backgrounds. Please see application guidelines in the “Apply to Pratt” section.
| Semester 1 | Credits | |
|---|---|---|
| DES-710A | Graduate Studio: Visual Language A | 3 |
| DES-720A | Graduate Studio: Technology A | 3 |
| DES-760A | Graduate Seminar A | 3 |
| HAD-641 | Origins of Contemporary Communication Design | 3 |
| Elective | 3 | |
| Credits | 15 | |
| Semester 2 | ||
| DES-741 | Cross-Disciplinary Studio | 3 |
| DES-751 | Design Writing | 3 |
| DES-791 | MFA Thesis Research | 3 |
| DES-730A | Graduate Studio:Transformation Design A | 3 |
| Electives | 3 | |
| Credits | 15 | |
| Semester 3 | ||
| DES-760B | Graduate Seminar B | 3 |
| DES-720B | Graduate Studio: Technology B | 3 |
| DES-730B | Graduate Studio: Transformation Design B | 3 |
| DES-796 | MFA Thesis I | 3 |
| DES-794A | MFA Thesis I Resource A | 1 |
| Elective | 3 | |
| Credits | 16 | |
| Semester 4 | ||
| DES-795A | MFA Thesis II Resource A | 1 |
| DES-797 | MFA Thesis Production & Exhibition | 1 |
| DES-799 | MFA Thesis II | 3 |
| DES-710B | Graduate Studio: Visual Language B | 3 |
| Electives | 6 | |
| Credits | 14 | |
| Total Credits | 60 | |
Prerequisite Courses
(only if required upon acceptance)
| Code | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| DES-601 | Design Process + Methodology | 3 |
| DES-602 | Design Technology | 3 |
Upon completion of their studies, students:
- Apply socio-ecologically sustainable processes and research to design transformative strategies for communication and interactions between people and communities that promote a diverse, equitable and just society.
- Integrate situated knowledge and perspectives with histories, principles, and practices of communications design to support the creation of speculative artifacts, modes of representation, platforms and systems serving intersectional identities and abilities.
- Attain interdisciplinary knowledge that supports critical discourse and the development of a significant body of work characterized by experimentation, creativity, and resiliency and include non-dominant ways of knowing, thinking, and doing.
- Accomplish versatility and expert capabilities with communications tools and strategies across numerous technologies, demonstrated through critical responses that recognize design as collective action that address socio-economical and environmental issues.