BFA Graphic Design and Interaction
New Program for Fall 2027!
Design for print, screen, and everything in between.
Starting in 2027, the Bachelor of Fine Arts in Graphic Design with a concentration in Graphic Design and Interaction (GDI) brings visual communication, interaction design, and systems thinking together in one program.
You begin by exploring design across physical, digital, and interactive media. You learn to research, generate ideas, build prototypes, and test them with real people. Then you choose a focus, graphic design or interaction design, and shape your studies around your goals. In advanced studios, you collaborate with peers, lead your own projects, and create professional-quality work for your portfolio.
GDI prepares you to thrive as a creative practitioner in a design field that never stops changing. You graduate ready to create responsive, responsible work in graphic design, interaction design, user experience (UX) design, publication design, and product design.
Our program builds careers
Graduates of our design programs have careers at companies like Apple, Google, Walmart Connect, Postman, and Veeva Systems. They work as senior product designers, art directors, packaging designers, editorial production designers, and senior visual designers. Students learn in six computer labs equipped with new Macs, Adobe Creative Cloud, and Wacom Cintiq drawing displays. They build and test ideas in a fully equipped makerspace. Faculty guide every student through hands-on studio courses with direct feedback and close collaboration.
Ready to start?
Joining is simple: declare the major, and you’re in. Become part of a vibrant creative community with deep roots in the East Bay.
Prospective students: Apply here.
See a sample roadmap.
Current students exploring a change of major: Contact Assistant Professor Zach Clark to find out if GDI fits your goals.
Current Interaction and Game Design students: Contact Professor Ian Pollock to find out if GDI fits your goals.
Already in a design major?
If you’re enrolled in the BFA Art, Graphic Design program or the BFA Art, Interaction and Game Design program, you can finish your current degree. You never have to change majors. Students who are close to graduation should finish in their current programs; generally the university does not allow switching majors if it will postpone your graduation. But, if you do not yet have senior standing, we encourage you to consider switching to GDI in fall 27.
Learn More about the BFA GDI
Program Learning Outcomes
Students who graduate with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Graphic Design & Interaction will be able to:
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Integrate and apply design solutions for technological interfaces by selecting and combining principles, tools, and technologies across print, screen, and interactive media to produce cohesive and purposeful design solutions informed by a human perspective.
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Generate, prototype, and iteratively refine innovative design outcomes using design thinking methodologies, user-centered design research, and creative problem-solving strategies that incorporate principles of usability, perception, and human-computer interaction.
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Analyze and interpret design practices within historical, cultural, theoretical, and geographical contexts, recognizing diverse and emerging perspectives.
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Communicate, justify, and present design decisions effectively using visual and verbal methods tailored to a variety of audiences, articulating how a human perspective and user research inform product design and the creation of technological interfaces.
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Demonstrate ethical responsibility, accountability, and collaborative teamwork when designing solutions, including product design and user-centered design, that address real-world challenges.
Admission Requirements
There is no application procedure to enter the Bachelor of Fine Arts program beyond declaring as a BFA student.
Required Courses
Lower Division Foundation
21 units of lower-division required:
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ART 100 - Fundamentals of Drawing - 3 units
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ART 101 - Photography I - 3 units
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ART 102 - 2D Processes - 3 units
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ART 103 - 3D Processes - 3 units
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ART 152 - Web Design I - 3 units
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ART 226 - Histories of Design - 3 units [Breadth Area: GE-3A]
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ART 251 - Interaction Design and UX - 3 units
Upper Division Foundation
34 upper-division core units are required:
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ART 301 - Sketching Interactions - 3 units
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ART 323 - Art and Media in Modernity - 3 units [Breadth Area: Social Justice]
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ART 326 - Contemporary Visual Studies - 3 units
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ART 330 - Typography I - 3 units
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ART 331 - Design Concepts and Narratives - 3 units
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ART 336 - Information Design - 3 units
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ART 351 - User Experience Theory and Design - 3 units
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ART 426W - Writing about Contemporary Visual Studies - 3 units [Breadth Area: GE-UD-3;UWR]
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ART 435 - Advanced Design Studio - 3 units
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ART 439 - Professional Practices for Designers -2 units
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ART 440 - Forum - 1 unit
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ART 440 - Forum - 1 unit
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ART 493I - Graphic Design and Interaction Senior Project - 3 units
Restricted Electives
Students choose one (1) set of courses for 12 units:
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ART 332 - Design for Production - 3 units
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ART 333 - Traditional Graphic Arts: Messaging and Materiality - 3 units
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ART 335 - Design Strategy and Collaborations - 3 units
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ART 430 - Typography and Publication - 3 units
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ART 352 - Responsive UX UI - 3 units
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ART 356 - Tangible Interfaces and Internet of Things - 3 units
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ART 357 - Designing with AI - 3 units
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ART 452 - Experiments in UX UI - 3 units
Art Elective
Students choose one (1) ART course for 3 units.
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New and updated courses:
Art 301 - Sketching Interactions (3 units)
Sketching as a tool for thinking in graphic and interaction design. Observe behavior in the field, map experience, generate many divergent directions, test them in critique, and build annotated storyboards and prototypes into a presentation-ready design rationale.
Art 333 - Traditional Graphic Arts: Messaging and Materiality (3 units)
Develop techniques in traditional printmaking processes while exploring the historical evolution of printed matter and its cultural contexts. Employ graphic arts methods to address topics of social justice, sustainability, and audience/user representation.
Art 352 - Responsive UX UI (3 units)
Design of interface systems that hold up across phones, watches, and specialized displays. Build component libraries and design tokens, author every interface state, implement working front ends with AI tools, HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, and test for accessibility.
Art 356 - Tangible Interfaces and Internet of Things (3 units)
Design and construction of objects that sense and respond. Programming microcontrollers, move from breadboard to soldered circuits, fabricating enclosures, testing devices in context across build cycles, and weighing what a connected object collects, discloses, and leaves behind.
Art 357 - Designing with AI (3 units)
Design of applications that incorporate generative artificial intelligence. Students direct and evaluate AI systems, compare hosted and local deployment, map application architecture, ship a working web application, and examine reliability, bias, environmental cost, authorship, and their own dependence.
Art 430 - Typography and Publication (3 units)
Advanced layout and typography design. Projects include historical and contemporary approaches to typographical design solutions, foundations of typeface design, and implementation of human perspectives, research, and conceptual thinking towards publication design for physical and digital media.
Art 435 - Advanced Design Studio (3 units)
Advanced collaborative studio addressing briefs from community, nonprofit, and industry partners. Teams lead a full research-through-validation process, evaluate decisions against inclusive design and behavioral frameworks, build high-fidelity prototypes, and deliver a public exhibition and written case study.
Art 439 - Professional Practices for Designers (2 units)
Portfolio development, ethical practice, client collaboration, career planning, and presentation skills. Refine personal branding, document processes. Search and prepare for internships, employment, or graduate study in design fields.
Art 452 - Experiments in UX/UI (3 units)
Studio in experimental, speculative, and critical interaction design. Prototyping wearable, aural, spatial, and extended-reality interactions where sight, sound, and touch carry both control and feedback, then grounding a sustained team project in primary research and evaluation.
Art 493i - Graphic Design and Interaction Senior Project (3 units)
Development of sophisticated and conceptually rich design solutions for technological interfaces, including print, screen, and/or interactive media. Emphasis on creative problem solving, evidence of user-centered design research, and attention to professional design standards.