Design BA
New and open to students starting in AY27-28
Design
BACHELOR OF ARTS
Design brings art, ideas, and research together to create new possibilities and address the questions shaping our world. Collaborative and driven by public purpose, it connects creative practice with technology, culture, and communities to turn ideas into action.
The Bachelor of Arts in Design at the Corcoran gives you the flexibility to build an interdisciplinary education around your interests. Drawing from graphic design, interaction design, and courses across GW, you’ll develop the perspective and practical skills to work across boundaries, forge new connections, and design meaningful change.
In Washington, D.C., where creativity, policy, culture, and innovation converge, you’ll study in a city and at a university that expand what is possible.
For students particularly interested in interaction design or graphic design, the program offers the opportunity to concentrate in one of those areas.
INFORMATION SESSIONS
Each academic year, we offer virtual information sessions led by faculty to help prospective students learn more about our programs, faculty expertise, and application process.
Program of Study
Curriculum
The Bachelor of Arts in Design degree begins with a strong foundation in design principles and digital technologies, then progresses to more specialized courses in design. Topics include a wide range, such as:
- branding/identity programs
- mobile apps
- web design
- interaction design
- systems design
- information design
- environmental design
- motion graphics
- typography
- publication design
Corcoran Foundations
All first-year students take Corcoran Foundations courses. For two semesters, you are an essential member of a tight-knit group of artists, designers and photographers. You will develop relationships across studio areas and foster multi-disciplinary approaches to making and problem-solving that can sustain a life-long investigative practice. Here you learn to think and communicate like an artist, take risks and challenge your assumptions, while developing the fundamental skills necessary to read and manipulate the complex language of images, forms and cultures that make up the world around you.
Skills You’ll Develop
Visual Communication
Turn complex ideas into clear and engaging visual experiences.
Interaction Design
Create thoughtful ways for people to engage with information, technology, and each other.
Creative Problem-Solving
Experiment and prototype to develop new approaches to evolving challenges.
Interdisciplinary Collaboration
Bring design into conversation with different fields, perspectives, and areas of expertise.
Where This Degree Can Take You
A degree in design can open doors across creative industries, technology, communications, public service, cultural organizations and beyond. With a foundation in visual communication, interaction design, research and interdisciplinary problem-solving, you’ll be prepared to bring a design perspective to a wide range of careers and fields.
Potential career paths include:
- Graphic Designer
- Interaction Designer
- UX/UI Designer
- Art Directors
- Product Marketing Manager
- Digital Content Specialist
- Visual Communication Strategist
- Multimedia Artist
Internship Opportunities
Washington, D.C. is more than where you study. It is an extension of the classroom. With museums, government agencies, nonprofits, media organizations, creative firms and technology companies steps away, you can pursue internships that connect design with the issues, industries and communities that interest you most.
These experiences give you opportunities to build your portfolio, expand your professional network, and see firsthand how design can shape communication, experiences, and change.
Design students have interned at:
- Apple
- Architectural Digest - Condé Nast
- Discovery Communications
- NBC
- National Geographic
- PBS
What You'll Create
NEXT Festival
Students at the Corcoran have exhibited their thesis work for more than 30 years. In 2011, the exhibition came to be known as NEXT in a nod to the public seeing “what’s next” in contemporary art and scholarship. In 2023, NEXT evolved into a festival format to encompass the diversity of all the school’s programs and provide more public facing programming for the DC community. See examples from past classes’ culminating projects and work.
CONTACTS
Campus Address
Administrative Offices, Flagg Building
500 17th St, NW
cdes
gwu [dot] edu (cdes[at]gwu[dot]edu)
202-994-0884
Program Information
Program Administrator
Sheila Robinson
cdesgwu [dot] edu (cdes[at]gwu[dot]edu)
Program Head
Andrea Dietz
cdes_headgwu [dot] edu (cdes_head[at]gwu[dot]edu)
Advising
Faculty Advisor
Marc Choi
marc [dot] choigwu [dot] edu (marc[dot]choi[at]gwu[dot]edu)