Graphic Design

From brand identity and packaging to mobile and print, graphic designers create using the evolving language of our intensely visual culture. Suffolk’s graphic design program will help you realize a creative vision uniquely your own. In small, collaborative classes that simulate a real design studio, you’ll shape your artistic and technical skillset through our project-based assignments and iterative design process.

The Student Experience

Students say it best. Learn more about the graphic design program and the student experience from a current Suffolk student.

Download video transcript [PDF]

Our curriculum combines technology with fine arts skills, providing students with a foundation in new software applications and industry trends, as well as typography, illustration, photography, and design history. Through a required internship, you’ll connect what you’re learning with real-world client projects, gaining valuable experience in the field. You’ll graduate with the professional know-how and creative toolkit to adapt to any industry.

As a graphic design major, you will:

  • Develop, test, and implement design thinking strategically and from an interdisciplinary perspective
  • Explore a wide range of making opportunities, from physical objects to digital products
  • Become confident utilizing industry nomenclature and professional presentation techniques
  • Learn from a faculty of working artists who bring years of experience into the classroom each day
  • Receive support and feedback from peers and visiting reviewers during group critiques

Experience is Everything

Program Options

The Major

All art & design students spend their first year completing our foundation studies program. As a graphic design major, you’ll take on a rigorous course of study, mastering industry-standard software and applications while developing skills in drawing, analysis, communication, and conceptual development. Classes are hands-on and project-based, offering opportunities for you to explore different artistic disciplines and modes of making using the art & design department’s wide range of cutting-edge machinery and materials.

Our courses also incorporate group critiques, during which students formally present their work to their classmates and instructors and receive constructive feedback. Faculty often invite local artists and professionals to participate as guest reviewers, as well.
View the Graphic Design Major Curriculum

The Minor

Learn how to think like a designer and communicate your message through visuals with our graphic design minor. Required courses include typography, graphic design, and computer applications.
View the Graphic Design Minor Curriculum

Internship Requirement

Internships are your opportunity to apply your skills and explore possible career paths. Graphic design majors must complete at least 120 hours at an internship site under the direction of a design professional and take our Professional Practice & Internship course to fulfill the requirement. Many graphic design students choose to complete more than one internship during their undergraduate degree.

Customize Your Degree

Graphic design students complement their skills with courses, minors, and occasionally double majors in areas such as:

View the Art & Design laptop requirements.

Beyond the Classroom

Mastering technical skills and design principles is important, but being able to communicate your ideas and see them resonate with viewers is the true measure of effective graphic design. That’s why our students show their work constantly—to each other, to faculty and alumni, and to the public via large-scale installations, pop-ups, fairs, and gallery shows.

In the last few years alone, our students’ work has been featured on the sides of buildings and inside storefronts in prime downtown Boston locations, and in juried fairs alongside independent artists and publishers.

Senior Thesis

During the fall semester of your senior year, you’ll create a proposal for your final project: a thesis exhibition in the Suffolk Gallery at the end of the year. Through research, design, review, and iteration, you’ll develop a unique body of work that represents who you are as a designer. Past thesis projects have included publications, applications, websites, clothing brands, and product lines. Once the exhibit is up, you’ll gain critical experience talking about your work with peers and industry leaders during an opening event with the Suffolk community.

 

Almost every field needs graphic design—but which one fuels your best work? Our students explore many options before they graduate to find the right fit, often completing more than one internship during their time at Suffolk.

Build your portfolio and refine your focus interning at companies such as:

  • Aveyo Avocado Foods
  • Brand Content
  • Boston Rescue Mission
  • Digitas
  • Harvard Education Press Group
  • Her Media Campus
  • Home For Little Wanderers
  • IBM ix Image
  • Unlimited Communications
  • Kel and Partners
  • Laidlaw Group
  • Mass Pirates Football
  • Mullen
  • Next Mile Project
  • Regan Communications
  • Small Army
  • Woods Creative
  • WHDH-TV News Boston
  • ZORA, LLC

As a graphic design student at Suffolk, you’ll form strong bonds with your classmates and faculty as you hone your design skills. You’ll also be welcomed into a creative community that includes hundreds of alumni who are working artists and designers in virtually every field. Together, you’ll learn to provide and receive constructive feedback to push each other to do your best work—and support each other throughout your careers.

Networking begins with your cohort in the classroom and the studio, continues when alumni and other industry professionals participate in critique sessions during your classes, and multiplies when you interact with members of the art and design world at gallery events and through your internships. Each connection can broaden your view for your future and offer practical help to reach your goals.

Center for Career Equity, Development & Success

The Career Center will help you explore career options, plan your path, and land your dream internship or job. You’ll find practical help, like how to write an effective résumé or LinkedIn profile, along with valuable connections to leading employers and successful alumni. A specific Career Community for Humanities and the Arts provides events and information tailored just for our students.

Success after Suffolk


Here's a sampling of recent graduates’ current job titles and employers.

Account Director
ASAP, Inc.
Graphic Designer
Essex Media Group
Junior Graphic Designer
Infotier
Apparel Graphic Designer
Logo Thread
Graphic Designer
NBC Sports Boston
Digital Designer
Congruity360
Creative Designer
Ethica Wines
Graphic Designer
The Field Company
Graphic Designer
Mercator Advisory Group
Junior Graphic Designer
OzTech Media
Associate Product Designer
Woods Creative
Graphic Designer
ZORA
Learn more about our Career Community

Questions? Get in touch!

Randal Thurston

Randal Thurston

Professor & Department Chair of Art & Design

Email [email protected]

Send a Message

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