Graphic Design Program

Comprehensive arts education in a supportive environment

Pacific's broad-based professional art program is intended to provide you with options in the art ﬁeld and provides strong foundational and interdisciplinary education so you can develop a professional-level portfolio.

Our program helps you develop esthetic knowledge, perceptual awareness and creative problem solving skills. The goal is that when you graduate, you will be a practicing artist or designer who thinks critically and historically, communicates effectively and acts responsibly in our global society.

The Major

With a BFA with a Concentration in Graphic Design, you will develop your artistic talent to build a rewarding career in print, digital or a mix of both. Our program gives you many opportunities to gain hands-on experience doing real-world projects in business and nonprofit settings through Pacific's connections in northern California.

Event spotlight

Spring 2022 Junior/Senior Art Exhibit

In spring, graphic design and studio art students presented “Visual Voices,” the first in-person show after the COVID-19 shift to virtual exhibitions. Seniors and juniors from both concentrations showcased their multimedia projects at Pacific's Reynolds Gallery.

REAL-WORLD EXPERIENCE

Graphic design projects with global impact

Each year at Pacific, an international marketing class and a graphic design class team up to do a service-learning project for a global social entrepreneur. The project gives students the opportunity to gain real-world experience while simultaneously making a difference in disadvantaged communities around the world.

Learn more

Our Students at Work

Magazine Illustrations

Emilie Jenkins painting illustration for a magazine article titled, “Food Waste is a Huge Environmental Problem.”

Our Students at Work

Singing Hands

Professor Marie Lee and Singing Hands interns screen print on a backpack prototype made by the interns as part of product development efforts to support disadvantaged minority artisans in China.

Professor demonstrating silk screen process

Our Students at Work

Singing Hands

Singing Hands interns help disadvantaged minority artisans in China to design and market products based on indigenous techniques and aesthetics. Here, they finish notebooks made by the artisans.

Our Students at Work

Brand Work

Graphic design student Mackenzie Wieland prints a continuous motif she created on portfolio that will hold her work from our Introduction to 2D Design and Color class.

Solve communication problems, including the skills of problem identification, research and information gathering, analysis, generation of alternative solutions, prototyping and user testing, and evaluation of outcomes.

Describe and respond to the audiences and contexts, which communication solutions must address, including recognition of the physical, cognitive, cultural, and social human factors that shape design decisions.

Create and develop visual form in response to communication problems, including an understanding of principles of visual organization/ composition, information hierarchy, color theory and its applications, symbolic representation, typography, drawing, aesthetics, and the construction of meaningful messages in two and three dimensions.

Independently select and use appropriate art and design-related tools and technology to create, reproduce, and distribute coherent and meaningful visual messages. Relevant tools and technologies include, but are not limited to, drawing, illustration, photography, offset printing, time-based and interactive media (film, video, computer multimedia).

Independently, interactively as well as collaboratively engage in art/design professional practices to effectively organize and manage art/design projects in studio, entrepreneurial and corporate settings.

Form and defend value judgements about art and design including communicating key concepts, visual approaches and requirements to professionals and laypersons related to projects and practice.

Apply history, current issues, processes, and directions in the art and graphic design field to projects.

Apply ethical reasoning to create sustainable, and socially and environmentally responsible art and design solutions.

Outstanding Student

Emilie Jenkins

Graphic design major Emilie Jenkins spent part of her summer interning for a firm in Ireland. She describes her project and explains how Pacific helped her with this opportunity.

Degrees Offered

Bachelor of Fine Arts with a Concentration in Graphic Design

Minor in Graphic Design

Graphic Design Concentration Course List

Graphic Design Minor

The minor in graphic design gives you a solid foundation in the understanding and practice of the graphic design discipline. In addition, the minor enables you to enhance your personal creative vision and develop a solid portfolio of work. The graphic design minor pairs well with media arts and production, marketing, communication, and computer engineering majors.