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.
