MCAD’s online master of arts in graphic and web design offers you a concentrated focus to explore questions and find answers through design. You will build your skillsets to meet professional expectations from start to finish, with approaches that include ideation, process, and the delivery of polished graphic design and interactive projects.
Throughout the program, you will research issues that engage your passion while developing your creative voice and establishing connections as part of the design community. Mid-program and final reviews provide you with valuable guidance through direct feedback from industry specialists.
The culminating project addresses a design challenge of your choosing, the solutions to which will be found through unique messaging accomplished with the skills and strategies you will acquire through the curriculum. You will emerge from this program ready to be a leader and innovator in the fields of graphic design and web design.
Online Learning
MA courses at MCAD are completely online with no on-campus requirements. While some courses are asynchronous, meaning you will not have set class meeting times, others will include a weekly synchronous, remote meeting. The weekly meeting may include demos, discussion, or critiques, allowing students and faculty the chance to meet in real time, get to know one another, and build community.
Online class sizes are small. That way, you get to know your instructors and receive the same personal attention you would find in a physical classroom. You will also have plenty of interaction with your classmates—other professionals that will expand your network.
Example Program Pathways
There are many ways to move through this master's program, since you can elect to study full- or part-time and start in the fall or spring. Courses are sixteen weeks long, and full-time students take two courses simultaneously during fall and spring semesters. Below are three example pathways.
Fall Start, Full-Time
YEAR | FALL | SPRING | SUMMER |
1 | Design in Context, Web Development | Typography, Programming for Web | Design Studio |
2 | Web Design, Motion Design | Experimental Interaction, UX | Capstone Project |
Spring Start, Full-Time
YEAR | FALL | SPRING | SUMMER |
1 | -- | Typography, Web Development | Design Studio |
2 | Web Design, Design in Context | Programming for Web, UX | -- |
3 | Motion Design | Experimental Interaction | Capstone Project |
Fall Start, Part-Time
YEAR | FALL | SPRING | SUMMER |
1 | Design in Context | Web Development | Design Studio |
2 | Web Design | Typography, Programming for Web | -- |
3 | Motion Design | Experimental Interaction, UX | Capstone Project |
GRAPHIC AND WEB DESIGN PROGRAM OUTCOMES
- Explain design principles and theories within a historical and contemporary context.
- Apply design concepts through typography, images, and form using industry standard tools and methods.
- Document process and communicate design strategies from ideation and research to final product.
- Manage client-facing projects while considering business goals, timelines, and audience.
- Create a professional design portfolio representing individual vision and a range of creative solutions.