Graphic Design
Design is everywhere. It connects people, exchanges ideas, and facilitates change. At KCAI you’ll explore digital and hand skills to get your message across through print, web, and motion design. You’ll become a creative problem solver and influence the world through design.
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Graphic Design
Designing your future
There’s more than one way to get your message across.
Learn print, interactive, motion, and environment design. Dig deep with typography, collaboration, communication, research and theory, and problem-solving. Explore branding, information, entertainment, education, and advocacy.
Hone your skills and become a confident, creative designer … one with a strong work ethic and ready for any rapid change to come.
And develop a portfolio, collaborate with companies, work on community projects, and critique and get critiqued.
Get ready to inspire the world with your designs.
Graphic Design program students receive valuable real-world experience by collaborating on projects with Kansas City companies and not-for-profits.
Classes + Course Requirements
Visual Inquiry, Type and Image, Graphic Design Histories, Research and Process, Professional Practices, Branding and Identity, Interaction, Social Innovation, Information and Data Visualization, and Self-Directed Inquiry
1st year
Your journey starts in the Foundation program where you will explore new techniques and find passions that you never knew you had.
2nd year
- Visual Inquiry
- Type & Image 1 and 2
- Graphic Design Histories
- Communication Inquiry
- Media Inquiry
3rd year
- Research & Process
- Professional Practices
- Interdisciplinary Inquiry
- Information & Data Visualization Inquiry
4th year
- Branding & Identity Inquiry
- Interaction Inquiry
- Social Innovation Inquiry
- Type Inquiry or Image Inquiry
- Self-Directed Inquiry
Student Work
“Whether it’s through the communication of a message that sparks a new idea, or whether it’s helping make people’s dreams come true, it’s inspiring to see the ways design can truly empower people.”
Graphic Design Faculty
KCAI faculty are artists, designers and scholars in their fields.
Lecturers
Julie Cortés
David Set
Junius B. Irving Building
Each student will have their own desk/studio space within an open studio environment that is theirs alone.
- Adobe Creative Suite, including InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator and more
- Analog studio encourages non-digital making (bookmaking materials, letterpress studio, professional photography equipment, typewriters, stencils, spray booth, light table)
- Four iMac workstations with large-format scanners and font design software to complement student laptops
- Group studios that encourage close interaction and camaraderie between under and upperclassmen
- Laptop required upon entering the program (MacBook Pro)
- Color and black and white printers, letter and tabloid size
- Campus-wide print output center for large format printing, risograph printing, vinyl and sticker output, and more.
- Department-specific technology check-outs include DSLR cameras and lenses, projectors, VR headsets, iPads, and more.
- Color and black and white printers, letter and tabloid size
Career Paths + Career Outcomes
Graphic Design School graduates work as Art Directors, Brand Identity Designers, Web Designers, Creative Directors, Exhibition Designers, UX Designers, Motion-Graphic Designers, Advertising Directors, Illustrators, and Designers for PR and Marketing Firms. KCAI alumni are employed by TikTok, IBM, Facebook, Slack, Nickelodeon, Airbnb, Apple, YouTube, Salesforce, R/GA, Garmin, the Getty, Populous, VMLY&R, DMH, Barkley, Radius, Hyperakt, Design Army, Hint, Pentagram, Fossil, Hallmark Cards and a host of boutique agencies across the U.S.
KCAI's Professional Practice Center will help you prepare for your career.
Internships
Aspiring Graphic Design majors benefit from early professional experiences and many of our students freelance or work as graphic designers through the college's work-study program. Faculty strongly encourage each student in the Graphic Design school to complete an internship while in school.
