COMMUNICATION DESIGN |
Communication designers are interdisciplinary by nature. We make things that you see, read, touch, and experience every day. Our visual messages can live on a static page, a dynamic screen, or a user interface.
Noah Watson
Alexandra Porter
Our Communication Design curriculum is graphic design made dynamic. Our projects start with research that helps students make informed choices with the end-user in mind. We dig deep to find the answers and sometimes we end up with better questions.
Things here can get messy, but in the end, we get it right because we have the ability to make books, packaging, brand identities, magazines, way-finding systems, websites, mobile apps, UxD, movie title sequences and exhibition spaces. Many of our projects connect with collaborative partnerships in the areas of architectural interior spaces, urban planning, mobility and social practice.
 From research projects, students move into ideation, where we play with the ideas, messaging and meaning, in order to get the concept just right. Now the fun begins, we visualize our ideas in a variety of ways, iterating in order to try, test, fail, and eventually succeed.
CCS/CD students are in high demand here and abroad because they are leaders and they can think, make, & play – which is innovation at its core.
We are different. In the best possible way.
Graduates work for global brands, including Adidas, Adobe, And/Or, Apple, Artifact, Buzzfeed, Carhartt, Converse, Czarnowski, Facebook, Ford Motor Co., General Motors, Good Done Daily, Google, Grand Army, Hobbes, Hook, L/A, Lego, Microsoft, Moosejaw, One Design Studio, Pentagram, Rivian, Schema, Shinola, Sonos, SPAN, Stiletto, UM, @Walsh and 2 x 4. The department has many professional options.
Our CD Alumni are entrepreneurs. After years of honing their professional careers, many go on to opening their own design studios across the country and the globe, including Los Angeles, New York City, UK and right here in Detroit.
2021 Communication Design Placement Rate (Employment and Graduate School)
Number of Graduates = 26
Number Employed = 23
Number Employed in Their Major Field = 23
Number Attending Graduate School = 1
Total Number Placed = 24
Placement Rate = 92.31%
CAREER CHOICES
App Designer
Branding/Identity Designer
Brand Manager
Creative Director
Design Director
Design Strategist
Digital Content Manager
Digital Designer
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Editorial Designer
Environment Designer
Exhibit Designer
Graphic Designer
Interaction Designer
Interactive Art Director
Mobile Media Designer
Motion Graphic Designer
Multimedia Graphic Designer
Social Media Digital Designer
Social Media Director
User Experience Designer
User Interface Designer
Visual Designer
Web Designer
Web/Mobile Media Designer
Featured Alumni
Emily Cowdrey
Senior Designer
Steelcase
Chuck Gibson
Senior UX Designer
Google
Meg Jannott
Head of Design
Lafayette American
Kelli Miller
Co-Founder & Creative Director
And/Or
Samantha Peacock
Senior Designer
IDEO
Brett Renfer
Experience Designer
BlueCadet
Will Ruby
Senior Experience Designer
Adobe Design
Megan Schellenbarger
Senior Creative Manager
Lego
Alumni Network
East Coast
BASE
And/Or
Gretel
Trollback
Buck TV
2 x 4
Collin
Midwest
VSA Partners
Thirst
Otherwise
Punchkick
Razorfish
Nokia
Pivot Design
Studio Blue
People’s Liberty
West Coast
Adobe Ex
Microsoft
Artefact
Adidas
Nike
Wieden + Kennedy
Google
eBay
Foc Media
IDEO
Capacity TV
Bemis Balkind
Big Tomorrow
Michigan
Herman Miller
People’s Design
Whirlpool
Digitas
Enlighten
O2
Group Ex
Shinola
Commonwealth
Octane
Organic
Quicken Loans
Mercedes Benz Financial Services
Latch + Associates
George P. Johnson
Czarnowski
DittoDitto
Lunar North
The Works Department
Good Done Daily
Who’s That?