The Program in Graphic Design at USF, St. Petersburg welcomed its first class of students in the Fall of 2002. This inaugural class will graduate in the Spring of 2004. During these two short years, our enrollment has almost doubled and the program is poised for new directions and exciting future challenges. Our students are dedicated to the critical and creative design process, while they challenge themselves to investigate new ways of solving complex, multi-layered visual problems. Our design courses are based on the studio model of education where students work together, examine outcomes, listen to informal lectures, and engage in passionate discussions. Ours is an active, participatory learning and making environment. The atmosphere is creative and relaxed while the projects are complex and demanding. Students supplement their coursework with additional projects from both community and university organizations. The faculty of practicing professional and experienced educators are committed to developing, in their students, a personal visual vocabulary based on the formal principles of design, conceptual and critical thinking skills, typographic excellence and the application of advanced digital technologies. Students graduate from the program with the skills, passion and imagination to become accomplished designers who are ready to challenge perceptions, redefine problems and embrace a diverse cultural audience. Joani Spadaro Director, Program in Graphic DesignGraphic Designers make communication visible. They give visual form to information by combining words and images into messages which will inform, persuade, and entertain individuals and Graphic Designers make communication visible. They give visual form to information by combining words and images into messages which will inform, persuade, and entertain individuals and audiences. The Design Program at USF-St. Petersburg is committed to providing an open and challenging environment where students are encouraged to freely explore (and possibly alter) their own relationship to design, culture, technology, and society. Click here to download the requirementsfor entering the program in pdf format.
The Graphic Design Program compliments the mission of a RESEARCH I university by preparing students to explore new technologies and information environments, recognize the potential of the creative process to effect communication, to evaluate and create messages that reflect the diversity of global culture, and to develop problem-solving stratagiesthat recognize communications as vital to integrated social structures. Design students prepare for employment in design agencies, corporate design departments, production design and new media design offices.
the Program in Graphic Design  
727.553.4873  
 		  USF • St. Petersburg: College of Arts and Sciences
  140 Seventh Avenue South, St. Petersburg, Florida 33701