Graphic Design Major
At A Glance
Program Type
Bachelor of Arts (BA)
Accreditation
Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities (NWCCU)
Experience
100% of art and design students complete an internship in their field before they graduate
Award-Winning
First place in District XI’s 2024 American Advertising Federation’s National Student Advertising Competition
Ready to advance your creative career? As a George Fox design student, you will learn how to navigate the complete design process to create visual impact with a Christ-centered approach.
Learn how to use your creative voice by integrating faith and design to master your skills. Our graphic design students develop real-world experience through internships with companies and organizations that are leading the way, including Sprout Box, Nike and more. You will also gain full access to national organizations such as AIGA, the premier network for the creative industry.
National Student Advertising Competition
Recently, professors led a group of 25 students to Boise, Idaho, where George Fox made its debut at the National Student Advertising Competition.
Competing in District XI, George Fox earned first place – an impressive accomplishment considering the National Student Advertising Competition (NSAC) is the nation's premier college advertising competition, providing more than 100 colleges the real-world experience of creating a strategic advertising/marketing/media campaign for a corporate client. On this occasion, the partnering client was Tide laundry detergent.
“My experience at the NSAC was more than just an opportunity to learn about the advertising field and practice working with a real life client; it was an opportunity to grow as an individual and discover the importance of teamwork. My experience as a whole was nothing but positive, from hyping each other up before the presentation to flying home on the plane with a feeling of joy, pride, and gratitude, knowing how much our semester of hard work had paid off.”
- Sydney Simmons, Illustration/Graphic Design student.
Find Guidance with Faculty Mentors
Guided by faculty mentors, you’ll gain the expertise needed to become a creative, visually astute designer, knowledgeable in market-influenced and research-driven design practices. As a graduate, your real-world foundations will enable you to grow within a continually evolving, dynamic profession.
Our program has been built through careful study of the marketplace and is structured to offer students exposure to the methods and techniques that will be expected of them as they seek out professional opportunities.
Program Distinctives Why Study Graphic Design at George Fox?
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Benefit from a depth of coursework not common at other liberal arts and Christian colleges, including Creative Suite, a project-based course that focuses on intermediate to advanced techniques employed in the creation of raster-based images for use in illustration and design projects.
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Apply your creative mind to create images that communicate thoughts and address cultural issues, leading to a career that is creatively satisfying and meaningful.
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Participate in solo or group showcases and competitions, including YLW, which connects art industry professionals to students at a showcase at Wieden+Kennedy.
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Get the chance to take part in multiple community-based events, including an art retreat where majors travel to the Oregon Coast to spend a weekend of artmaking, worship and getting to know one another.
Courses / Curriculum What Will I Study?
Our spaces/Where Will I Learn?
Art Annex
We have great news for our future art students! The vibrant and growing art and design program – housing the university’s graphic design, studio art and arts administration, illustration, and cinematic arts majors – will have a new home in the fall of 2025.
The new 6,000-square-foot facility will be located between the Maker Hub and Pennington Hall and will feature a large studio for pottery and ceramics, another space for glass and sculpture, and a partially covered courtyard work area with a ceramics kiln. You could be one of the first classes to use this new space and make your mark on the art program for years to come.
Career Outlook What’s After George Fox
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, an 8% growth rate is expected in web and digital design between 2023 and 2033. Students trained in multimedia design applications, UI/UX design, web design and print media are highly employable. In addition to hiring freelance designers, most organizations also employ a team of in-house designers, which continues to drive the job market upwards.
Our students have gone on to launch design studios, work for design agencies (Faceout Design), and be in-house designers as part of major tech groups (Zendesk).
- Nike
- Ford Motors
- A-dec
- Bench Craft Company
- Stanton Studios
- Disney Cruise Line
- Kaitlyn J Photography
- Pivot Group
- Copper River Design
- Harvest House Publishing
100% of art and design students at George Fox complete an internship in their field before they graduate. Partners have also provided mentorship to students for one-off projects. Here's where some of our student interned in recent academic years:
- Portland Pickles Baseball
- GD Loft
- Jem 100
- Oceanway Church (Jacksonville, Florida)
- Calvary Christian Center (Ormond Beach, Florida)
- Daytona Beach Dream Center
- Troutman’s Little Treehouse
- Red Hills Church
- Cliff Creek
- SE Calvary Chapel
- Philadelphia Dream Center
- Oregon State University
- Columbia College Chicago
- Kent State University
- Washington State University
- University College London, England
‘Hope Dealers’
Standing like a jewel amidst the rubble of the Kensington area of Pennsylvania’s largest city, the Philadelphia Dream Center has become a beacon of hope for the hopeless – the addicts, the homeless, the hungry and the trafficked.
The formerly abandoned Catholic church – complete with vaulted ceilings and ornate stained-glass windows – has been transformed into a place of restoration, healing and soul care. Through its many-faceted outreaches, including an after-school program, a food truck ministry, a nondenominational church and a human trafficking support group, the center is, as founder David Dominguez describes it, “a place where God-given dreams are awakened in the birthplace of America.”
It was into this setting that a group of George Fox graphic designers, illustrators and studio artists from the School of Communication and Design traveled for a weeklong “SpiL Trip” – pilgrimages dedicated to immersing students in the contexts of others to learn and serve alongside ministry partners.
Lehman Pekkola
Visual Artist, Pic-Time LTD
My time at George Fox allowed for transcendence to take place – a transcendence that I hadn’t anticipated would take form, a transcendence that changed my entire perspective toward relationship, toward art, toward faith, toward the world. George Fox’s professors and peers allowed space and opportunities for me to become a better human being, which is something I’ll forever be grateful for.
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