As visual communication expands across intelligent platforms and dynamic screen environments, graphic design continues to evolve as a global profession shaped by digital transformation and emerging media environments. Designers are responsible for organizing, shaping, and communicating complex visual information across platforms.
The graphic design sequence of courses prepares students to accept this challenge by integrating and interpreting the language and syntax of visualization within emerging technology. Rather than limiting graphic design to print or static formats, the program emphasizes its role in motion, interactive, and screen-based media environments. This knowledge and skill have become the current entry-level requirement of the industry. New York Tech students will be well prepared at their first employment interview with portfolio in hand and on a web page.
The graphic design major will take courses in areas including advertising, editorial design, illustration, information graphics, branding, layout, motion graphics, packaging, typography, and web/interactive design, supporting fluency across both established and evolving digital formats, including intelligent design systems and adaptive visual platforms.
Department of Digital Art and Design
The Department of Digital Art and Design promotes the synthesis of technological tools and artistic expression. In the classroom and art media labs, students use state-of-the-art hardware, as well as a wide variety of two-dimensional, three-dimensional, and graphics software applications. Advanced tools, including motion capture, gaming, 3-D printing, and emerging technologies, are considered among the most advanced in the metropolitan area, supporting hands-on production across interactive systems and contemporary media workflows, including AI-assisted production tools and real-time digital environments.
In addition to receiving an academically rich course experience, students are introduced to practical concerns related to the professions of computer graphics and graphic design through the integration of industry-driven content into the classroom in the forms of real-world projects, internships, site visits, and industry presentations. This applied emphasis clarifies how the program differs from more traditional studio-only models by connecting design practice directly to professional contexts and evolving media environments. Digital Art and Design students' academic research is further enhanced with multidisciplinary, practical, and global experiences in the context of New York Tech's diverse regional and international communities.
A distinguished faculty of practicing artists and designers provide students with a meaningful and rigorous academic experience that fosters creative exploration, critical thinking, refined craftsmanship, and professional development in preparation for careers in digital art and design within an evolving landscape shaped by artificial intelligence, interactive systems, and emerging creative technologies. Admission is competitive. Digital Art and Design applicants are required to submit a portfolio of previous artwork in which samples are evaluated for art, design, and conceptual thinking skills.
All curricula are designed to increase student awareness of the entire field of visual arts and contemporary digital media environments. Prior to specialized study, each area requires the same first-year foundation curriculum, which establishes principles of artistic concepts through emphasis on color, design, drawing, motion, time, and visual presentation. In addition, foundation courses provide an art historical and theoretical context. This is followed by a focused course of study that allows students to refine their crafts in the areas of animation, graphic design, interactive/game design, and motion graphics, while engaging evolving digital production methodologies and emerging creative technologies.
International F-1 students who successfully complete this degree are eligible for an additional 24-month STEM OPT extension to work in the U.S. in an area directly related to their area of study immediately upon completing the customary 12-month post-completion Optional Practical Training (OPT).
Back to Top This program follows our general admission requirements, plus a portfolio review.
Portfolios
Portfolios should include assignment-based projects and/or self-directed work that demonstrate art, design, and conceptual thinking skills. The artwork should be original and cannot be reproductions of already existing artwork or designs.
Portfolio Requirements
- Ten original artworks in digital, traditional, or mixed media mediums that showcase an understanding of art, design, and conceptual thinking. Submissions can be entirely digital, entirely traditional, or a combination of mixed mediums.
- A description sheet that includes the following information for each submitted artwork: title, medium, dimensions, date of creation, running time (if applicable).
- (Optional) A document describing yourself as an artist or designer. Document could contain information such as your inspirations in art, your creative process, or goals you are looking to achieve in the fields of digital art and/or design.
Formats
- All artwork must be submitted in PDF file format.
- Description sheet must be submitted in PDF file format.
- Animation/Video work (max. three minutes) may be included as a link to an uploaded file on YouTube, Vimeo, or a personal website. Please include the URL in your description sheet.
Submit Your Portfolio
Application Materials
International Students Special Requirements