Communication Design Curriculum

Communication Design students enrolling at CCS will be required to own or purchase a laptop computer for their studies.

First Semester = 15-16 Credit Hours
Course #Course TitleCredits
SLP 007CCS First Year Experience1
DFN 135Image Concepts I3
DFN 1372D & 3D Integrated Design Studio3
DFN 139Color & Light Studies3
DGD 151Typography I3
DEN 101Composition I3
Second Semester = 18 Credit Hours
Course #Course TitleCredits
DFN 136Image Concepts II3
DFN 1384D Design Studio3
DFN 142Performative Spaces3
DGD 152Typography II3
DGD 124Motion Essentials3
DEN 102Composition II3

 

Third Semester = 15 Credit Hours
Course #Course TitleCredits
DGD 251Typography III3
DGD 263User Interface Design 3
DGD 211Introduction to Communication Design I3
DAH 200Western Art History/Visual Culture3
DEN239Survey of World Literature3
Fourth Semester = 15 Credit Hours
Course #Course TitleCredits
DGD 264User Experience Design3
DGD 212Introduction to Communication Design II3
DGD 224Motion Narratives
Choose OneDAH 201 Visual Narration: Asia3
DAH 201 Visual Narration: Africa/America
DLE ---General Education Elective3
Fifth Semester = 18 Credit Hours
Course #Course TitleCredits
DGD 311Intermediate Communication Design I3
DGD 317Professional Studio Practice I 3
DGD 365Immersive Spaces3
DVC 200Concepts & Methods/Visual Culture3
DAH 347History of Graphic Design 3
DLE ---General Education Elective 3
Sixth Semester = 15 Credit Hours
Course #Course TitleCredits
DGD 312Intermediate Communication II3
DGD - - -Communication Design Elective3
DLE ---General Education Elective3
DNS 300Natural Science 3
D- - - - -Elective3
Seventh Semester = 15 Credit Hours
Course #Course TitleCredits
DGD 411Advanced Communication Design I3
DGD - - -Communication Design Elective3
DGD - - -Communication Design Elective3
Choose OneDAH** ---Art History 3
DVC** ---Visual Culture Elective
DLE ---General Education Elective 3
Eighth Semester = 15 Credit Hours
Course #Course TitleCredits
DGD 412Advanced Communication Design II3
DGD 418Professional Studio Practice II 3
DGD - - -Communication Design Elective3
DLE ---General Education Elective 3
D-- ---Elective3

**DAH/DVC must be taken at the 200 level or higher

​Catalog Year 18/19 Total Credits 126-127
Total credits: 127: First Year Experience=1; Foundations=18; Major=60; Liberal Arts=42; General Elective=6 ​

Vision Statement

The Communication Design Department at CCS creates future-focused design leaders through our multi- disciplinary curricular approach. Our program facilitates systemic thinking while nurturing visual and verbal design competencies that can live in the dynamic and static media spaces.

Mission Statement

CCS Communication Design is a multi-disciplinary program that blends traditional graphic design, UxD, motion graphics, writing, and strategy to create design leaders. We embrace the reality that messages are increasingly dynamic, not static. We value creating design strategies that are empathetic to human values and audiences who are part of our diverse cultural condition. We develop solutions that take the complex and seek to make them accessible. Our goal is to inspire curiosity through inquiry, creating designers who lead.

Program Learning Outcomes (PLO)

Upon graduation, students in the BFA Communication Design program will be able to:

  1. Demonstrate an ability to use a variety of research methodologies including an awareness of sustainability in developing communications relevant to society, various audience groups and specific end users.
  1. Use code and other sources of dynamic media to achieve specific communication solutions relevant to audience and user experience.
  1. Use experimentation and play in the process of translating the obvious into the unique, to see the everyday in new ways and as a method of creating solutions that are unexpected.
  1. Demonstrate an ability to use informed critical judgment in selecting and utilizing components to achieve defined communication goals.
  1. Demonstrate an ability to use design and good organization in presenting clear project concepts and final outcomes.
  1. Demonstrate ethical leadership in interpreting and responding to communication need and opportunity.