Has anyone ever told you:
“Wow, you have a great eye!”
“You should be some sort of a designer.”
“You are so creative.”
“OMG, You know how to create things so well.”
“Art was a passion when you were little. You always loved to draw.”
Or maybe you have found an interest in drawing, creating, and designing things since you were young.
Reading through 9 of the types of design degrees listed will help you understand what kind of classes you will take and what you will learn in each field of design.
If someone has complimented you on how creative and great of an eye you have, then finding your niche in design is a great idea to use those skills and look up different types of design degrees.
Art is truly a skill. It’s not always something that can be taught. I believe some people are just born with the skill to create and design. For this reason, I want to share different types of design degrees that you can major in!
You can major in any nine of these types of design degrees, but if any of them interest you, your college may allow you to minor in one of these areas too.
If you major in one of these areas you are learning the majority of skills you will learn, and a minor is something that focuses on the basic foundational skills of a certain piece of design. For example, illustration is one area of design you can minor in.
This post explains what you can expect out of 9 different types of design degrees so that you can filter out if majoring in design is for you!
Types of Design Degrees
1. Architecture
In architecture, you learn how to design buildings and homes through art and a design studio. Architects create homes that you drive by every day, from the layout, to how it will look in each room and be constructed. In other words, if you build a home, the architect brings your design to life.
Architects work out the fine details of building a home!
You learn the basics of designing buildings and homes.
Some of the relevant courses you can expect to take for a degree in architecture:
- Design Studio V and VI
- Small business management
- Structural systems
- Environmental systems
- Creativity
- Design Seminar
- ARE Exam
- Internship hours
- Architectural theory
- Materials and methods
You can choose to stop at your bachelor’s degree or obtain a master’s degree in architecture. As an architect, you will have options of different concentrations that you can choose from. Some of those concentrations may include working on church buildings. You can also go into construction management and open an architectural office or company, and more.
2. Art Education
Art education bridges the gap between and education. If you are passionate about art but want to be a teacher, then learn everything you can about different types of art and how you can teach it to students in Kindergarten through 12th grade through art education.
Once you obtain your degree in art education, you can work toward your teaching credential so that you can teach art!
The art education program goes over the different types of art from sculpting, ceramics, printmaking, color theory, painting, the camera, and more! You will learn all the elements of art that interest you.
Some of the relevant courses you can expect to take for a degree in art education:
- Printmaking
- Color, theory, and application
- Studio drawing
- Sculpture
- Ceramics
- The camera
- Film as visual art
- Fine art photography
Your university may allow you to work toward your bachelor’s degree and single subject credential at the same time. Doing so will allow you to finish your degree a lot faster!
Get more information on obtaining your teaching credential here.
3. Art Therapy
In the field, art therapy brings art and counseling together to help those you counsel work through life stresses using art as their therapy! It’s pretty cool if you want to counsel individuals using your passions of art and design.
You would need to take art electives such as sculpture, painting, and ceramics. But in the program, you mix different psychology courses with art types to understand the human mind and behavior and solving issues through art. Technically, art is therapy for your clients, and you get to practice both in the form of working through life situations.
Some of the relevant courses you can expect to take for a degree in art therapy:
- Life span development
- Cognitive psychology
- Abnormal psychology
- Art therapy studio
- Developmental psychology
- Social psychology
- Psychophysiology
4. Film
In film, you get to expand your knowledge on everything that has to do with moving images that captures special moments through videos!
You will learn the different terminology that comes with filmmaking and how to tell stories visually. Majoring in film will also teach you how to screen write and produce films through scripts. There is so much more to learn, such as directing, video editing, and storytelling.
Once you graduate, you can become a film editor, talent agent, producer, screenwriter, animator, press agent, industrial or independent filmmaker, and much more!!
Some of the relevant courses you can expect to take for a degree in film:
- Cinematography
- Film directing
- Screenwriting
- Audio recording
- Visual effects
- Video editing
- Directing
- Capstone project
If you love to write and bring stories to life through videos or have great ideas with words and videos, film would be the field for you!
5. Fine Art
In the field of art, you would use your creativity to design things with your art and fine motor skills. This is the physical side of art that is created by those that have a passion for painting, drawing, printmaking, and using their artistic craftsmanship.
You will learn how to enhance your techniques with drawing, painting, and creating sculptures. You can use these skills to teach others in college or create a business selling art that you create!
Some of the relevant courses you can expect to take for a degree in fine art:
- Sculpture
- Painting
- Color, theory, and application
- Aesthetics
- Ceramics
- Studio drawing
- Design color
- Creativity
- Art theory
- Figure drawing
6. Graphic Design and Visual Experience
In graphic design and visual experience, you will be taught by professionals how to use different software and programs to create beautiful visual designs. With this degree, you can open your design firm and work with design applications that help you to bring your ideas to life.
Some of the applications you will use in this program are Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign. You will also work with other software to help you work with spreadsheets, software, and more!
You will need knowledge and skill to look at photographs, work with cameras, color schemes, and understand visual language. This route can lead to working with large companies to bring designs and ideas to reality!
Some of the relevant courses you can expect to take for a degree in graphic design and visual experience are:
- Design and color
- Design technology applications
- Intro to graphic design
- Image visualization
- Basic Camera Techniques
- Portfolio
- Brand identity
- UI/UX Design
- Aesthetics
- Capstone
7. Interior Design
In the field of interior design, you will learn how to use design concepts. These concepts are used with graphics on a computer during the process of your design.
Your university will have you use interior Design Studio, which is a software program used on a computer to coordinate color schemes and ideas in different parts of a home. With this software, you can use your creative ideas to design kitchens, bathrooms, closets, living spaces, and all interior spaces of the home!
Interior designers can work for a design firm or develop their own business. If you haven’t watched Fixer Upper with Joanna Gaines or Dream Home Makeover with Shea McGee, both are very successful interior designers.
There are several ways to design the inside of homes with a modern, farmhouse, contemporary, and many other different styles that are used with your creativity!
Some of the relevant courses you can expect to take for a degree in interior design are:
- Design Communications
- Computer Modeling
- Creativity
- Design Studio I, II, III, IV
- Small Business Management
- Color Theory and Application
- Portfolio
8. Photography
In photography, you learn all about the camera and different techniques you can use as a photographer. There are so many different options in the field of photography. You can work for sports, at a studio, freelance, branding, or have your own business. But, whichever you choose make sure you follow your passion for the kind of pictures that you love to take!
If you love taking pictures of babies, work in a setting with babies. Or, if you are passionate about taking photos of brides, models for a brand, athletes, follow your dreams doing that!
Some of the relevant courses you can expect to take for a degree in photography are:
- Camera
- Studio lighting
- Visual storytelling
- Digital Printing
- Location Lighting
- Studio Practice
- Photography Business
- Portfolio
Along with any one of these fields that you can major in, there is also the opportunity to minor in illustration and some of these other fields that are offered in college.
9. Illustration
Illustration is a field that focuses on visual storytelling through graphics. The field of Illustration combines design technology applications to make pictures move.
This field requires a lot of technical skills to create designs through Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign so that you can use figures to bring your designs to life based on how people and pictures move!
There are two routes you can choose from, which are motion design or fine art.
Motion design allows you to work with the digital side using storyboards, frames, and software in a studio-like environment. Fine art focuses on your painting methods with different types of art such as acrylic paint, storytelling, building, and more.
Some of the relevant courses you can expect to take for a degree in Illustration are:
- Drawing
- Painting
- Advanced art
- Motion Design I and II
- Brand identity
- Graphic design
- Figure drawing
- Illustration
- Digital painting
- Graphic Novels
- Movement anatomy
- Portfolio
As you can see, almost every degree helps you build a portfolio to showcase your skills for when you graduate and apply for jobs in your field.
There are so many different ways in which art and design can be taught.
I hope you have figured out if one of these nine types of design degrees is for you based on your skills and interest.
Make sure you choose something you are highly passionate about, and you already have skills in. Having background knowledge through being self-taught or creativity in your blood makes it much easier to pursue a degree in the design field!
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