technology. message. identity.

Our world is embedded with information. It comes in so many forms: billboards, packaging, newspapers and magazines, on every television channel, in every corporate report, on the Internet and via digital applications. It is the intense and ever-changing visual world we live in, and as a creative director, art director or designer, our students create it every day. The Communication Design (CD) major begins with the study of two-dimensional design and ends in the creation of a professional portfolio. Our students study digital design, art and photo direction, typography, advertising, package design, and design for electronic and interactive media. They learn to create work that finds balance between the informative and the visually intriguing. Self-promotion, presentation and collaboration are all introduced.

Our CD students take on internships at advertising and design firms in Milwaukee and around the nation, and have the opportunity to build their portfolio with real-world experience through MIAD’s Visual Resources Studio. MIAD Communication Design graduates fill important positions in prestigious marketing communication firms and major corporations. Many head their own successful design firms and advertising agencies.

To the casual observer, a communication designer may seem relatively passive – sitting at a computer, clicking away, squinting at a screen covered with a myriad of crisscrossing lines and typographic forms. But to the designer, the world is incredibly active – an unending flurry of ideas, options, information and deadlines. Even in the simplest assignment – say creating a unique logo from initials – the choices are infinite.

Explore the CD major:

• Examples of Communication Design student work
• Program of Study
• Communication Design Major Studio Courses
• Alumni Success Stories