Advertising Art Direction
About the BA and BFA in Advertising Art Direction
The Art & Design department offers a BA and a BFA in Advertising Art Direction. The role of the advertising art director is to communicate to consumers about the products, services, or ideas of their clients. The art director must impact this target audience through visual images appearing in magazines, newspapers, television commercials, billboards, the Internet, and related marketing materials. Through the classroom experience students learn multiple roles: creative director, market researcher, photographer, illustrator, copywriter, and television director. They are trained in visual problem solving, creative strategic planning, copy writing, marketing analysis, advertising theory, and advertising photography. Just as in the industry, students often work in teams to complete projects. Projects include advertising campaigns that cover: television commercials, collateral marketing, point-of-purchase advertising, out of home advertising, guerilla marketing, and related ancillary print materials.
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Art + Design Website
For Orientation
If you are attending New Student Orientation as a freshman you do not need to bring a portfolio. We do not evaluate non-college level work for incoming freshman. All AP credits will be evaluated by the Office of Degree Evaluation and do not require a portfolio review.
Students who are attempting to transfer credits for upper-level classes in Advertising Art Direction should plan to bring course descriptions and syllabi for those courses.
Students who are attempting to transfer credits for upper-level classes in the following disciplines should plan to bring a portfolio, as well as syllabi and course descriptions for those transfer classes. In addition, you may want to bring an additional copy of your transcripts:
- Graphic Design
- Advertising Art Direction
- Illustration
- Interior Architecture
- Fine Art
- Product Design
2nd BA students who took art and design classes as part of their undergraduate degree should bring a copy of their transcripts along with a portfolio of their work.
We regret that we are unable to register any student for upper-level classes without an in-person portfolio review.
More Information on Transfer Policies
Recommended First-Semester Classes
We recommend you try and take 2-3 of the following classes in your first semester as an Advertising Art Direction major:
- 22-1102 History of Art II: Renaissance to Modern OR 22-1105 Introduction to Visual Culture
- 22-1220 Fundamentals of 2D Design OR 22-1230 Fundamentals of 3D Design
- 22-1210 Drawing I
- 23-1111 Foundations of Photography
