Communication Design

The earliest courses in our design degree develop learners’ ability to communicate messages through creating compelling imagery and typographic layouts. Students learn to draw to test their ideas and explore creating various visual media. From the start of the Communication Design degree, students learn design research methods like interviewing, observations, and surveys, as well as rapid prototyping and testing to discover what and how to create so it meets stakeholders’ needs. Students at this level develop a refined sense of using color and typography to enhance communication and usability.

Intermediate courses build knowledge, thinking, and skills through creating designs that span logotypes, smartphone apps, website prototypes, publications, packaging, and service design. At this level, students become systems thinkers as they consider the impact and accessibility of their designs, with particular attention to how design affects the environment and society. Two of our intermediate-level courses prepare students with professional interviewing skills and networking opportunities with practicing professionals, equipping them to secure internships anywhere in the world.

During the upper-level years, Communication Design students participate in Highwire Brand Studio, a nationally recognized interdisciplinary program with students from Marketing and Emerging Technology in Business and Design who design real-world projects for for-profit and non-profit clients. Students can study away or abroad during one semester of their design degree coursework and not extend their time at Miami—enriching their understanding of design’s utility in different cultural contexts. Students conclude their design degree with a semester-long thesis project on a topic of their choice. This project challenges students to complete the design process: define a project, conduct research, then create and test a culminating prototype.