Master of Fine Arts in Fashion Product Development

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.

With its focused thesis development process, the School of Graphic Design’s MFA program emphasizes advanced study of the field and encourages students to extend their design skills into content creation, authorship, entrepreneurialism, and social innovation.

The BFA in Fashion Product Development encompasses the process of fashion product development that requires understanding and knowledge of the consumer, market, and trends, textiles and raw materials, product concept and line development, and sourcing and manufacturing. Drawing from their design courses, students will apply a high level design aesthetic to develop products that are appropriate for a brand and their target customers.  Students will learn the hand drawing and drafting skills and the technical skills needed to produce detailed and accurate technical drawings and flat patterns using industry standard computer software. BFA graduates will be capable of working in various roles in a product development team.

The Visual Development MA program provides professional development with advanced coursework in still life painting, figure drawing, character design, concept painting, layout design for animation, and other core skills of professional visual developers.

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 MA in Sound Design provides students with focused studio training in sound design, digital audio workstations, and industry standard practices in creating sonic worlds for visual media. Emphasis is placed on creative sound design techniques, and editorial practices in layering sounds in synchronization with visual media.

The MFA program in Writing for Film, Television & Digital Media will fine-tune your ability to deliver compelling stories, characters, and scripts that grab the reader’s attention. The MFA is an intensive program that concentrates exclusively on writing, pitching, and the business side of being a professional writer. Complete a portfolio of feature and television scripts that can be used to market your skills as a writer.

The MA in Graphic Design & Digital Media emphasizes professional and career development with advanced study of the field and encourages students to extend their design skills into content creation, authorship, entrepreneurialism, and social innovation.

The Fashion Marketing M.A. program offers future fashion marketers and managers a firm foundation to gain strategic consumer and market insights and knowledge on the fast-changing fashion industry, and to identify emerging trends in fashion business, marketing, technology and consumer in a global context. Through hands-on projects and courses that emphasizes research and analysis, students will learn both strong foundation in theory and creative and analytical skills to develop real world applications to discover global trends and digitally connected consumers.

The M.A. in Web Design and New Media provides professional study for students pursuing a career in web design and new media. Progress is measured through a rigorous process to achieve a final project portfolio.

The Master of Arts (M.A.) program in Interior Architecture & Design is a thirty-six (36) unit program that will provide students with a dynamic learning environment and a curriculum to prepare them for professional practice. The curriculum covers all aspects of design, including programming, design analysis, understanding human social and spatial interaction, space planning, use of color and materials, preparation of construction documents and specifications, site observation, professional business practices, current methods of interior construction, building systems and components, codes and regulations, fixtures, furnishings and equipment.