Notes:

• there is no foreign language requirement for BFA students;
• Including university requirements, the above program requires a minimum of 180 credits or an average of 15 credits per quarter for a 12 quarter, four-year program. The 180 credits are based upon the following assumptions: Students will have satisfied ENGL 101. If this is not true, then the student will have to complete up to five more credits of classes.
  • ART 213 Satisfies: a BACR for humanities and arts. 
  • DESN 490 Satisfies: senior capstone university graduation requirement.

  • 
    TECH 393 Satisfies: a university graduation requirement–global studies.

Grade Requirements: in order to receive a degree in design, students must earn the department requirement of ≥2.5 GPA in all DESN/TECH coursework.

The Department of Engineering & Design and the Department of Art offer an intercollegiate Visual Communication Design program founded on four major concerns: developing the highest levels of individual creative performance and professional education; providing courses for all students which develop ability in both technical visual communications as well as important core skills in the area of fine art; giving students a greater cultural and historical understanding and aesthetic appreciation of the function of design in the arts and in the world around them; and functioning as dual centers of emphasis and resource for the visual arts, visual communication and technology in the cultural activities of both the university community and the community at large.

Both departments are committed to working together to give students access to current technologies in the area of visual communication design, as well as experience in developing the necessary visual skills provided by studio art areas such as drawing, painting and sculpture.

The program ends with a three quarter senior year intensive studio experience for the preparation of portfolios for job placement or graduate school application. This includes midterm faculty review of student work, quarterly outside professional review and a final exhibition as the completion of the student portfolio of work.

Prior to declaring the BFA major, students must apply to the program by submitting a portfolio and academic transcripts. Application is recommended at the end of the sophomore year to help ensure that appropriate junior year courses are selected. Students need not be in the BFA to take DESN or ART classes, with the exception of the senior year three quarter class DESN 471/ART 471. This course requires previous acceptance into the BFA degree program.

University Competencies and Proficiencies

English 
Quantitative and Symbolic Reasoning
Placement and Clearance Exams 
Prior Learning/Sources of Credit AP, CLEP, IB

General Education Requirements (GER)

• Minimum Credits—180 cumulative credit hours 
  • 60 upper-division credits (300 level or above)
  • 45 credits in residence (attendance) at Eastern, with at least 15 upper-division credits in major in residence at Eastern
• Minimum Cumulative GPA ≥2.0

Breadth Area Core Requirements (BACR)

Humanities and Arts 
Natural Sciences 
Social Sciences

University Graduation Requirements (UGR)

Diversity Course List
Foreign Language (for Bachelor of Arts)
Global Studies Course List
Minor or Certificate
Senior Capstone Course List

All admitted students must officially Declare a Major by the time they reach 90 credits (junior standing).
Application for Graduation (use EagleNET) must be made at least two terms in advance of the term you expect to graduate (undergraduate and post-baccalaureate).

Use the Catalog Archives to determine two important catalog years.

SOAR calculates based on these two catalog years.

1. The catalog in effect at the student's first term of current matriculation is used to determine BACR (Breadth Area Credit Requirements) and UGR (Undergraduate Graduation Requirements).
2. The catalog in effect at the time the student declares a major or minor is used to determine the program requirements.

Students who successfully earn a BFA in Visual Communication Design from EWU should be able to do the following:

• be able to describe and respond to audiences and contexts that communication solutions must address, including recognition of the physical, cognitive and social human factors that shape design decisions;
• create a cohesive body of work on a level appropriate to entry into both graduate schools and design professions and have the ability to defend their portfolio work both orally and in writing;
• have an understanding of basic business practices, including the ability to organize design projects and to work productively as members of a team;
• have an understanding of multimedia tools and technology, including their roles in the creation, reproduction and distribution of visual messages;
• have basic skills to create a response to visual communication problems, including an understanding of the principles of visual organization/composition, information hierarchy, symbolic representation, typography, aesthetics and the construction of meaningful images;
• have the ability to draw on thoughts and ideas in relation to an art historical timeline, apply contemporary concepts in design to their own work and articulate and discuss art within our own culture and the art of other cultures;
• have the ability to solve visual communication problems, including the skills of identification, research and information gathering, analysis and generation of alternative solutions.