Animation & Illustration receive top rankings in Wisconsin & Midwest by Animation Career Review

In its 2023 rankings, Animation Career Review named MIAD’s Animation program as the top in the state, and the college’s Illustration program in the top ten in the Midwest. MIAD is the only college in Wisconsin included in that list. MIAD was also named the #1 Graphic Design School in Wisconsin, while ranking in the top 7% of design schools in the Midwest.

MIAD’s Animation track is housed in its Illustration major. Even before the launch of a formal Animation track, the college has prepared Illustration and Animation students for an ever-changing marketplace, whether as founders of their own creative businesses, or as key creatives at advertising agencies, design firms, publishing firms and myriad entertainment and tech-based industries.

Kelsey Robinson ‘21 (Illustration), for example, is a multimedia artist at Cynosure Creative Agency, a 2022 Emmy-award-winning firm whose creative director is MIAD alum and Trustee Xavier Ruffin ‘10. In 2022, Robinson’s animated video won first place in the “I Am a Voter” Wisconsin competition to design innovative social media marketing aimed at getting out the vote.

For her 2023 senior thesis project, Alexa Beiza (Illustration) rebranded the traditional Mexican bingo game Lotería to appeal to younger generations of Mexican Americans while bringing all generations together. After graduation, she has an internship at Kohl’s. Meet her on TMJ4-Milwaukee’s visit to MIAD.

Animation Career Review evaluates programs in Animation, Illustration and Communication Design based on the academic reputation, employment data, depth and breadth of program faculty, tuition value, and graduation and retention rates both of independent colleges like MIAD and of public universities.

In addition to the rankings in Animation Career Review, MIAD has been named a previous Top Design School by Graphic Design USA.

Learn more about MIAD’s Illustration and Animation programs and MIAD alumni success.