The Department of Design at UC Davis is the only comprehensive
academic design unit in the University of California system. Our
department offers B.A. and M.F.A degrees in Design.
The Design major delivers a research-focused undergraduate
curriculum that fully integrates design history, theory and
criticism with design thinking, making, writing, visual literacy,
and creative practice. Studio courses include design as practiced
in exhibition, fashion, interactive design, interior
architecture, lighting, product design, textiles, visual
communications (digital, environmental, information, print and
screen-based) and sustainable design.
The M.F.A. program in Design unites theory and practice.
This two-year program encourages an interdisciplinary approach.
The Department of Design at UC Davis offers graduate students a
unique opportunity to work with a dedicated and renowned design
faculty within one of the nation’s top public research
universities. Our graduate students will have the option to focus
on intensive studio activity, work on collaborative projects with
other design students and faculty, focus on sustainability and
its relationship to the design practice, and/or take advantage of
collaborative opportunities with over 100 departments and
programs at UC Davis. These range from the arts and humanities,
to social science and politics, to biological science and
agriculture, or projects with the UC Davis Professional Schools
of Medicine, Law, or Veterinary Medicine.
The Design faculty strongly encourages students to study abroad.
Through this experience students can gain valuable knowledge
about design in other cultures and can develop a much richer
understanding of design.
The UC Davis Department of Design offers the Bachelor of Arts in
Design with discipline areas including Visual Communication and
Exhibition Design; Fashion and Textiles; Interior Architecture
with Furniture, Lighting Design options. Design also offers the
Master of Fine Arts Degree.
