ASU Graphic Design Vs. Digital Culture

Any insight as to pros/cons, differences between graphic design degree vs digital culture degree? My daughter has strong fine art skills in traditional media (drawing, painting). She is also strong in math and science but has not really taken any computer classes beyond the basics (no coding,etc). She would like to use her art skills in some sort of viable career so she would like to do digital art of some kind. She is applying to the Visualization degree program at TAMU and you can focus a large range of things from graphic design to digital culture to animation within it. So that was an easy pick of major. She is also applying to UTD ATEC program and SMU either BFA art/graphic design or creative computation. She is also applying to ASU and they have graphic design (school of design) and digital culture (school of art, media, engineering) as separate program majors. Anyone with any opinions or insights helping someone choose between traditional graphic design program vs digital culture program?

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Following because we may have the same daughter. My D24 is highly gifted in math (three years ahead) and naturally intuitive in technology. She’s also artistically talented and on track for multiple AP Art credits. The Viz Lab seems like a natural fit for her but I’m trying to find similar programs because we can’t put our eggs in the Aggie basket and also she would like to go OOS.

I’m doing research into UTD’s program, and various product design/ industrial design programs (D24 is young still but I have a D23 and while we’re talking colleges, I’ve decided to just deal with both of them at once.)

As for straight up graphic design programs, my husband will NOT be okay with that. Long story short, a family member of his got a graphic design degree and never did squat with it. He thinks of it as a useless degree - which isn’t true, of course, but from our observation, it did seem to be a hard one to market if you were someone who was not extremely self-driven, or your school didn’t do a good job helping you find a path. Therefore, we’re going to be looking for ways for her to integrate tech w/ design, if that’s what she ends up wanting…

Hi! We’ve done a lot more exploring since I made this post. We decided against graphic design. Animation pays more and is a growing industry with a good job outlook. Animators can work in different fields: entertainment, forensic, medical, or business.

One of the challenges with this type of degree program is they are less standardized than other degree programs. So the names are different and the course work varies in what skills they learn. Some lean more technical, some more artistic.

Here’s where we are now:

ASU BFA Art with a concentration in Animation. Accepted to ASU and the degree program. This is actually a new degree program. It’s pretty similar to TAMU VIZ. Waiting for to receive acceptance from Barrett, the Honors College. Here’s the proposal from 2019 on why they designed this degree program. https://provost.asu.edu/sites/default/files/capc/3198/combined_final_proposal_to_establish_ug_concentration_-_bfa_in_art_animation.pdf

TAMU BS Visualization. Accepted to TAMU and VIZ. Solid well balanced program. Well established.

SMU Creative Computing and Art double major. Putting together the required art portfolio and will apply before the regular deadline of Jan 15. Heavy on computing (creative computing degree). Heavy on Art (Art degree). Light on design and animation. Could compensate by taking an animation class from the film department and design class from the graphic design department.

UTD ATEC: Accepted to UTD and ATEC. I’ve heard mixed things about ATEC. We haven’t ruled it out but we have moved it to the bottom of the list for now. We liked the tour but I’ve heard too many complaints about ATEC from too many different people to ignore. Life after ATEC uncertain for graduates – THE MERCURY and I’ve seen complaints in forums like Reddit from students. Whereas I haven’t seen complaints about the other schools programs.

There are pros and cons to each. We are doing additional visits this year to make an informed decision. Some we like the college overall better but the degree program less. Some we like the degree program more and the college less.

Here’s a useful tool for seeing where TAMU VIZ grads end up working after graduation. I wish ASU and SMU and UTD had a tool like this too! Go to link and the Who hires my major section? and select a term and architecture. In the results scroll down to VIZ.

https://aggiesurveys.tamu.edu/public/Reports.aspx

If you are looking for an alternative to TAMU to consider, check out ASU Herberger Art Institute. ASU is a solid option particularly if accepted to Barrett, the Honors College. TAMU’s honors program isn’t in the same league. By any chance is your daughter national merit or college board national recognition program scholar? ASU gives full tuition scholarship for both. TAMU only gives partial tuition scholarship but room and board is less so I did the math and our net cost is the same to send to TAMU or ASU unless she gets additional scholarship from TAMU which we will find out in the spring. SMU is dependent on a big enough scholarship offer that makes the net cost comparable.

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