1,145 Best Design Degree Programs for 2025

ILLUSTRATION Much of the artwork produced worldwide is made for commercial purposes. This art is sometimes called commercial or applied art. Students learn the concepts and techniques of this type of art in the Visual Communications area of the Palomar College Art Department. Design and drawing classes in this area are tailored toward the practical and efficient production of imagery intended for commercial uses. Illustration courses prepare students to draw and paint images to be used for editorial and product illustration. Both Graphic Design and Illustration programs incorporate digital media in their courses of study. Software applications that are used include Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop and AfterEffects, Corel Painter, Autodesk Maya, and Pixologic ZBrush. Courses in digital arts are meant to supplement, not replace, hand fabrication concepts and skills, and the prerequisites and/or recommended preparations reflect the skills needed to succeed in the variety of digital courses offered in our programs. Course offerings in Illustration Please note that courses in Graphic Design and Illustration, which include our digital coursework, use a D or an I after their number to distinguish them from other Art courses. They are listed under Art-Design and Art-Illustration in the Class Schedule.

As a graphic designer, you create the face of businesses, media, advertising, and endless other fields that rely on their artistic talents. It's important work. As a graphic design major, you gain highly valuable skills and develop strategies for creative problem solving that relate to the numerous specialized fields of graphic design and beyond.

The Applied Graphic Communication major is for students seeking foundational skills appropriate for further study in the design field or for employment in areas of design support.

In SUVA’s Bachelor of Arts in Interior Design program, students learn how to use their imaginations to create distinctive private and commercial interiors. Space planning, furniture design and the study of textiles, lighting, colors and fabrics are essential studies in this program. Foundation courses in rendering, drafting and color theory prepare students for advanced practical projects in areas such as special needs, environmental and hospitality design, as well as designing a variety of residential and commercial spaces. Graduates at both campuses are prepared for positions at interior design and architectural firms or in residential and commercial design studios.

Studio Angelico is Siena Heights University’s nationally accredited art department, offering degrees in Graphic Design, Art History, and Fine Arts. As part of these degrees, you can explore art media such as animation, ceramics, drawing, graphic design, metalsmithing, painting, photography, printmaking, sculpture, video editing, and web design. In addition, opportunities are available for you to combine your art degree with various other majors, minors, and certifications in areas such as business, psychology, chemistry, museum studies, and teacher education, which will help you prepare for careers in such fields as advertising, art therapy, art conservation, museum work, and art education.

Whether you want to exhibit and lecture about your work, teach, write a book, or create an artist-run collective, MECA’s Master of Fine Arts Program encourages each student to think across traditional academic boundaries and challenge their art practice and intellectual curiosity.

The Color & Materials Design MFA Program prepares students for a career in Color, Materials, and Finish (CMF) Design. The curriculum invites students to discover new and innovative color and material research to create meaning between products and experiences and their user or audience. Graduates of the College’s MFA program in Color & Materials Design program work in both physical and digital spaces to advance ideas through color and materials innovation, technology, and storytelling. In the CCS Color & Materials Design program, students explore the latest advances in materials, and their color and finish applications, through hands-on experimentation and use of state-of-the-art prototyping facilities. Using this knowledge to solve design problems, students collaborate within the design team structure to develop narratives that offer creative concepts and design executions. As they learn how to look for patterns—in markets, cultures, and geographic regions—they gain insight into consumer behaviors.

Your future is in your hands. Make the most of it with a Master of Architecture from Wentworth. Our NAAB-accredited. IPAL-approved and STEM-designated program will introduce you to the contemporary challenges of the built environment and give you the skills you need to be a leader in a rapidly evolving profession. Learn by Making, Thinking & Doing Hands-on, experiential learning opportunities, and advanced technical resources will help harness your creativity and apply critical thinking to design projects. Engage with diverse cultures and building traditions—both historical and contemporary—through travel-based learning around the country and across the globe as well as in co-ops with leading firms.

The Master of Interior Architecture is the highest degree offered by the Institute. The curriculum is an advanced learning level, promoting a higher standard of academia than the Bachelor of Arts in Interior Design Degree. It is consistent with the goals, objectives, and mission of the college.

By majoring in Art at Hastings College, you’ll be ready for a career that weaves your passion for art with other interests. The result? Opportunities as diverse as graphic design, education, glassblowing, owning your own studio, scientific illustration, sculpture and more.

The MFA Graphic Design Program is a year-long, LA-based student, faculty, and research collective of designers investigating the issues of our day. We blend design exploration, critical inquiry, and applied projects to interrogate and better our world. We partner with organizations to foster deep impact beyond the classroom. Usually, students convene for four consecutive semesters completing all required credits in fourteen months; this accelerated program serves the needs of working professionals and traditional students, alike. During the course of studies, students learn to work across media and platforms through a series of studio projects, visiting workshops, courses in design theory and history, and round table discussions. The coursework engages research, discourse, critical thinking, and iterative process with the goal of discovering many possible design outcomes. In doing so, the program supports students in taking on the challenges and opportunities in contemporary graphic design practice.

Our MFA program in Drawing provides you with a supportive environment in which you may address contemporary subject matter via historical drawing traditions. The core of Laguna College of Art + Design’s MFA program in Drawing is built on the values of time-honored skills informed by contemporary theory and designed to help you realize the ideas possible through representational modes of painting and drawing. Our curriculum recognizes that there are particularly technical, ideational, and formal issues related to representation that require you to undergo specialized study at the graduate level, and we strive to meet these demands with a faculty and a curriculum tailored to your needs.

The Master of Interior Design (MID) program provides an education in interior environments that elevates and reinvents the discipline of interior architecture by mining and re-imagining the range of our human experiences. In doing so, this graduate program cultivates scholars, academics and critics, while generating emergent and alternative approaches to the profession, specifically in the Southern California region.

The UNLV School of Architecture Master of Architecture Degree Program is a NAAB accredited program that offers prospective students two paths of study to the Master of Architecture (M. Arch.) professional degree; a two-year course of study for students possessing a pre-professional undergraduate degree in architecture and a three to a four-year course of study for students whose academic background is outside of architecture. Master of Architecture Program studies emphasizes the opportunities that the University and Southern Nevada settings have to inform and enrich the study of architecture and prepare students for meaningful careers and lifelong success. Whether through a research-based interdisciplinary study involving academic units across the UNLV campus or design inquiry exploring the unique qualities of Las Vegas, students that enroll in the program will be rewarded with an educational experience that is as unique and dynamic as this place. Centering on critical opportunities for architecture to serve society, the M. Arch. the degree program is organized into three distinct courses of study or concentrations: Building Systems and Sustainability, Hospitality and Entertainment Design, and Education Facilities Research & Design. Each concentration is composed of an interdisciplinary curriculum involving academic programs across the University of Nevada Las Vegas as well as the participation of internationally significant practitioners and researchers. The M. Arch. the degree program is thematically structured to emphasize comprehensive building design during the first year of study and concentration-focused research and design during the second year of study. Concurrent to both years, students enroll in concentration-related electives that inform and give breadth to students’ individual efforts in the final year of the program. The School of Architecture is fortunate to offer students a range of research labs and centers that enhance the graduate experience. These include the Downtown Design Center located in downtown Las Vegas, the SimLab emphasizing modes of fabrication, LIME emphasizing virtual realizations, the NEET Lab emphasizing renewable resources, and the Design-Build program which in its inaugural year competed in the 2013 Solar Decathlon.

Rice Architecture is the meeting point of design and discourse; of theory and practice; of past and future; of Rice and the world; and of our two inseparable aims: to educate architects and to position our graduates as leaders in a rapidly changing world.

FIT's Master of Professional Studies (MPS) in Global Fashion Management prepares emerging fashion executives for top managerial and leadership positions in the international fashion industry. Offered by FIT in collaboration with Institut Français de la Mode in Paris, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, and Centro in Mexico City, the program provides a global faculty and access to facilities and industry affiliates of four major institutions on three continents. The international faculty and student body constitute a global network

The Master of Architecture graduate program brings together the foundations and professional issues of architecture in a challenging, rigorous, and collaborative environment. With opportunities to design both collaboratively and independently, you’ll achieve an understanding of yourself as an emerging professional. In the Master of Architecture program at UL Lafayette, we have an intense focus on community outreach and topic-based studios. Our faculty are devoted to your professional preparation, and that means bringing great design to the Acadiana community and beyond. In our Master of Architecture studios, you’ll have the option to: • gain hands-on experience helping cities, small towns, and neighborhoods visualize their potential as communities; • design and build sustainable, market-rate homes; and • work in the Louisiana coastal territory to reduce environmental vulnerability, enhance ecosystem resilience, and promote cultural sustainability.

Tyler’s Fibers & Material Studies program embraces a bold, interdisciplinary approach to one of the world’s oldest and most accessible traditions: working with fibers. Students are pushed to refine their aesthetic, collaborate, embrace a broad definition of material exploration and contribute to vital discussions on history, identity, current social issues and more. Through dynamic events and projects such as the annual Wearable Art Show and the Natural Dye Garden (the source of the marigolds above), Tyler Fibers & Material Studies students create exciting conversations with artists and students throughout the school, Temple University and Philadelphia, home to a vibrant fibers community and DIY scene.

The curriculum supports students in developing strategies that account for the importance of social and environmental responsibility, while expanding upon the architect’s understanding of reuse as a product of both practice and theory. The MA program begins with a seven-week summer program in Denmark taught by faculty in RISD’s Interior Architecture department and from our partner institution, Denmark Institute for Study Abroad in Copenhagen.

The Master of Design program is a post-professional degree that provides a cross-disciplinary, innovation-focused, and research driven educational experience that is responsive to current and projected modes within the professional design practices. The focus on Health and Wellbeing is explored within environments for children, adults, professional, and senior populations. Student education is enhanced by collaborations with clinical healthcare and social science practitioners, and the ability work with real-life users of the designed environment.