Design isn’t just about making things look good, it’s about making ideas move, connect, and matter. The BFA in Graphic Design gives you the skills and confidence to do exactly that. Throughout the program, you’ll balance hands-on studio art with digital design, interactive media, branding, and photography. This ongoing blend of traditional craft and contemporary design helps you develop both technical mastery and creative vision.
Unlike the BA, which encourages broad exploration across diverse design practices, the BFA provides the opportunity to focus deeply on a single area of specialization, pushing your skills and concepts toward professional and artistic excellence. You’ll move beyond experimentation to refine a personal visual voice and conceptual framework that defines who you are as a designer.
Every course is built to strengthen your creative process, technical skill, and professional edge. You’ll experiment, iterate, and collaborate while creating work that communicates with clarity and impact. Stackable micro-credentials let you highlight your expertise in areas like branding, interactive media, printmaking, ceramics, and photography, giving you tools to stand out in any field.
By the time you reach your senior capstone, you’ll have a portfolio that doesn’t just show what you can make… it shows what you stand for, how you think, and how your work can move the world. This is more than a degree; it’s the launchpad for your ideas, your career, and your impact.
To design like a professional, you need the tools professionals use. At Missouri Valley College, we’ve removed course fees for Graphic Design classes and use textbooks only when absolutely necessary…lowering costs so you can invest in what truly matters: your creative toolkit. Students should have access to a device capable of running Adobe Creative Cloud and an active subscription to the software suite. This approach ensures you’re not just completing assignments; you’re building the skills, experience, and tools you’ll carry into your creative career.
- Students will demonstrate mastery of core design principles, color theory, typography, composition, and visual storytelling, producing work that communicates effectively and purposefully across multiple media and platforms.
- Students will proficiently use industry-standard software, tools, and emerging technologies to create professional-quality work, solve design challenges, and adapt to evolving creative contexts.
- Students will apply research, user and audience analysis, experimentation, and iterative design processes to generate, refine, and evaluate innovative solutions that address real-world needs and client or project goals.
- Students will demonstrate professionalism, ethical practices, collaboration, and effective project management, while curating a cohesive portfolio that reflects their creative voice, technical skill, and readiness for professional practice or further study.
- BFA students will produce a coherent body of work centered on a single theme or concept, supported by a written exhibition proposal that contextualizes the work within contemporary design practice and addresses its significance, purpose, and relevance.
Major Requirements
Students must successfully complete a common review before continuing in the BFA program
Students select 30 credit hours from the following list of courses
Students, in their senior year, conclude their program with the following course(s)