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About the Visual Communication Design (Graphic Design) Degree

Why Study Graphic Design at Cedarville?

Begin your journey towards an exciting career in graphic design with Cedarville's Bachelor of Arts in visual communication design (graphic design) degree. Through a distinctly Christian worldview, you'll learn to develop critical thinking and cutting-edge technical skills, equipping you to create innovate and compelling visual solutions for a range of challenging design projects. Beyond this, you will be equipped to engage with and impact our culture for the glory of Christ. Channel your creativity and heart for service into practical, impactful solutions across a variety of media and platforms!

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What Sets Cedarville Apart?

Program Overview

Program Highlights

Creativity — The graphic design major provides a creative and academic learning community that equips Christian designers to pursue a God-honoring life by creatively expressing, evaluating, developing, and communicating visual design.

Real-World Experiences — As part of your graphic design program, you will:

  • Experience real-life client projects that are integrated into your coursework.
  • Complete a relevant design internship, which prepares you to competitively and successfully pursue an entry-level position in your area of concentration.

Placement Success

We're proud of our successful graduates! 92.59% of recent art, design, and theatre graduates were employed or in graduate school within six months of graduation. Check out Cedarville's other placement rates.

Cedarville's Placement Rates

What Can I Do With a Visual Communication Design Degree?

What can you do with a graphic design degree? Career opportunities abound for students with backgrounds in graphic design. Visual communication designers are typically involved in any design that combines type and image. With this degree, you may create visual identities, brochures and print collateral, magazine and book publications, T-shirts, signage, film title sequences, or advertising.

Our graduates are working at places such as:

  • Crown Equipment
  • Disney
  • GSW Advertising
  • Real Art
  • Sparkbox
  • Time Warner Cable
  • Viget Daor Design

Graduate and professional programs and employers welcome Cedarville University graduates each year. It is important to note that most professional career fields you may pursue require additional education, experience, and/or licensure beyond the completion of your Cedarville University undergraduate degree.

Opportunities to Learn Outside the Classroom

Relevant Internships — You will complete a design internship before graduating, which prepares you to competitively and successfully pursue a position in your area of concentration. Among others, our students have interned at:

  • Fitch
  • Disney
  • Columbus Crew
  • NASA
  • Elevation Church
  • Sparkbox
  • Athletes in Action

The Miracle Yearbook — Join the yearbook staff and preserve Cedarville's campus memories for years to come! Whether you’re passionate about writing, design, photography, or editing, you’ll sharpen your creative skills and collaborate to create a timeless keepsake that celebrates your campus community.

Creative Community — You can join a student organization that brings students together from across the department — graphic artists, industrial designers, and theatre majors — to share experiences and knowledge.

  • The Studio, Society of Art + Design — The STUDIO is a student-led organization promoting community and mentoring among art and design students.
  • American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA) — Through AIGA, you will attend annual conferences, listen to multiple speakers in different areas of the country, and participate in various other events to advance your knowledge of design, its history, and its practice.

Student Galleries — You will have opportunity to display your work through on-campus events.

  • Student Center Activity Board “Art in the Open” Shows — Cedarville's Student Center Activity Board hosts several student art shows every year known as “Art in the Open.”
  • Annual Art & Design Student Exhibition — The Annual Art & Design Student Exhibition is a juried exhibition featuring work from both visual communication design and studio art students.

Gallery of Student Work

Virtual Tours

Visual Communication Design 360 — Take a virtual tour of Tyler Digital Communication Center's three state-of-the art MAC labs that support the Visual Communication Design (VCD) major.

Carnegie Center For Visual Arts 360 — Take a virtual tour of the Carnegie Center for Visual Arts and visit studios for upper-level art students and classrooms for drawing, painting, and 2D design.

Alford Annex 360 Facility Tour — Take a virtual tour of the 3D design space in Alford Annex, home to print-making, ceramic, and sculpture studios.

Program Curriculum

Building on your general education liberal arts and Bible minor courses, you will take core art courses as well as courses within the graphic design concentration.

Sample courses:

  • Graphic Design III
  • Production Design I

Program Format and Related Programs

Cedarville offers graduate and undergraduate programs with flexible completion options. You may also want to consider these related programs as you choose the degree or program that is the best fit for you.

Program Level and Format

  • Undergraduate
  • Residential
Person standing in front of painted color swatches.

From Our Students:

  • I would not trade my design degree from Cedarville for anything. It was the perfect preparation for where the Lord has me today: a healthy mix of technical skills, work ethic, project management, faith integration, creative thinking, and room for failure. I may never be an art director at the MOMA or win any awards for groundbreaking ideas, but I love what I do and feel more than equipped to do it.

    Xandra (French) Brettman '21
    Graphic Design
    Xandra French
  • In ways I never imagined possible, I have seen the Cedarville art and design program prepare me to make creative breakthroughs and cultivate artistic talent. What a blessing to be a part of a supportive, rewarding department that teaches art in a Christ-centered way and helps develop professional skills I will use for a lifetime.
    Joy Prichard
    Joy Prichard
Job and Grad School Placement

Program Faculty

Photo of Aaron Huffman

Aaron Huffman, MFA

Chair, Associate Professor of Graphic Design

Contact

Photo of Cam Davis

Cam Davis

Associate Professor of Visual Communication Design

Contact

Department of Art, Design, and Theatre
School of Arts and Humanities

Program News