Bachelor of Fine Arts in Advertising (STEM)

at Academy of Art University USA

The School of Fashion offers ten BFA degree programs, each designed to prepare you for work in the fashion industry. They are: Design, Knitwear Design, Textile Design, Costume Design, Footwear & Accessory Design, Fashion Styling, Fashion Product Development, Fashion Visual Merchandising, Fashion Merchandising, and Fashion Marketing. Students in these BFA programs may choose an emphasis in Fashion Design or 3D Design Pattern Making. Coursework combines excellence in design, artistic production, and innovative technology to provide students with the skills necessary to fully realize their creative visions.

Pattern Making and 3-Dimensional Design
The School of Fashion's BFA program offers nine types of degrees: Fashion, Costume Design, Fashion Marketing, Fashion Merchandising, Fashion Product Development, Fashion Styling, Fashion Visual Merchandising, Knitwear Design and Textile Design.

The MA program provides professional study within focused fields of physical design. In addition to classroom and collaborative coursework, each student develops a professional portfolio that will be used to launch a career in Industrial Design.

The School of Fashion offers ten BFA degree programs, each designed to prepare you for work in the fashion industry. They are: Design, Knitwear Design, Textile Design, Costume Design, Footwear & Accessory Design, Fashion Styling, Fashion Product Development, Fashion Visual Merchandising, Fashion Merchandising, and Fashion Marketing. Students in these BFA programs may choose an emphasis in Fashion Design or 3D Design Pattern Making. Coursework combines excellence in design, artistic production, and innovative technology to provide students with the skills necessary to fully realize their creative visions.

Visual Merchandising is the physical method of promoting product and services to the customer for the purpose of increasing sales.  Visual merchandisers actively engage in developing floor plans, window displays, in-store presentations, store lighting and graphics.  Visual merchandisers work collaboratively with retailers to ensure that retail space is best utilized to maximize sales.  The Bachelor in Fine Arts degree will give students training in technical and conceptual skills to plan, design and manage visual merchandising and brand presentations for various fashion businesses.  Students will develop their ability to design and install in-store presentations, merchandising and displays, and to execute visual projects from concept to delivery to support companies’ goals and sales.  They will enter the field with an industry-ready portfolio that demonstrates proficiency in color and design, material selection and manipulations, concept development and execution, excellent oral and visual presentation skills, collaboration and current software applications.

The School of Communications & Media Technologies BA program provides a dynamic education of essential modern media skills including foundations in storytelling, broadcasting, journalism, and mobile platforms. Under the guidance of industry experts, students learn to shoot, edit, write, and host their own productions, and use the latest technologies to stream and broadcast them.

The School of Animation & Visual Effects BFA program provides students with the skills necessary to master today’s digital technology.

2D animation and Stop Motion
The 2D animation and Stop Motion emphasis BFA is designed for students interested in acquiring basic to advanced skills in either hand-drawn or stop motion animation. 2D animation focuses on digitally hand drawn and computer generated movement. Stop motion animation involves both digitally captured and generated work as well as a significant amount of hand crafted art.

The MFA in Sound Design is designed to provide the highest level of training in sound design for film, television, games and other visual media. Students will gain a complete overview of the audio post production process, recording and editing dialog, sound effects, and ambiences to create a sonic landscape which supports and informs the narrative, from initial recording to final mix. MFA students will complete a thesis project and portfolio in their final year, and graduate with a working knowledge of professional workflows to prepare them for success in the soundtrack industry.

The MA program provides students an opportunity to work in 2D Animation & Stop Motion, 3D Animation, 3D Modeling, or Visual Effects, while focusing on storytelling with an emphasis on exhibiting technical skills and eliciting emotional responses.

The Visual Development MFA program provides advanced coursework in still life painting, figure drawing, character design, concept painting, layout design for animation, and other core skills of professional visual developers. The goal of each graduate student is the completion of a signature thesis book showcasing design work for a story-based project.

Entertainment Art
Entertainment Art emphasis students will develop professional skills needed to provide intelligent and informative visuals for new market areas of web publishing, app building, e-publishing, and VR experiences. Students will create unique portfolios incorporating data driven visual problem solving as well as fluency in time based media. Beyond distinct style and problem solving skills, students will develop professional portfolios emphasizing conceptual skills, current digital tools, appropriate motion based imaging skills, and the ability to work individually and in teams for online applications and digital publications. Professional skills needed to enter and sustain a career in the online marketplace for both contract and staff work will be emphasized.

The Fashion Product Development MFA focuses on developing and managing all aspects of the fashion product development process. Emphasis will be placed on aesthetics, design, and product development strategies specific to companies and their target markets. Students will create product concept and lines based on their in-depth market and trend research, textile and raw material sourcing strategies, manufacturing strategies and shipping logistics to deliver finished products to stores and consumers. Students will learn the drawing, design, construction, technical, and industry standard software skills. Students will apply all of these skills to create a culminating thesis project that includes a complete product line and an implementation strategy. MFA Graduates will be capable of launching a new product line and applying high level strategic thinking to hold key positions in global fashion organizations.