Graduate Communications Design

Pratt Institute’s Graduate Communications Design department has been educating graphic and package designers for over 40 years. We currently offer a 60-credit Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degree and two 48-credit Master of Science (MS) degrees. The program is ranked in the top 12 of over 200 graduate graphic design programs in the nation, as reported in U.S. News & World Report. Pratt is ranked 6th in the top 25 design schools in the world by Business Insider.

The department is located in Manhattan at 144 West 14th St., between 6th and 7th Avenues, and our student studios are four blocks north on West 18th St. The department’s faculty includes highly regarded, award-winning professional designers, authors, and media specialists. The faculty are important professional contacts for the students—several have written pivotal design books and articles, and many have been honored with design awards from prestigious arts and design organizations. A diverse body of students – over 28 countries are represented – come to Pratt to further their career in the design industry, become a design educator, or alter a career course. Our graduate programs provide students the opportunity to develop and refine their design process, design voice, and creative skills leading to professional competence and leadership.

Students have the opportunity to experience international collaborations and study abroad. The Danish Institute for Study Abroad (DIS) in Copenhagen runs every summer and graduate students can earn 9-credits in the Graphic Design studio—part of the Architecture and Design program. The program includes study tours in Denmark as well as a European study tour in either Sweden/Finland or Germany/Netherlands. And in the Spring semester students have the opportunity to apply for enrollment in a Special Studies studio that includes a collaboration with students and faculty from AKV|St. Joost Academie in Breda, Netherlands.

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The Master of Fine Arts (MFA), a 60-credit program administered over two years leading to a terminal degree, emphasizes full-time studio practice in Communications Design (print and digital media, artifacts, information, environments, systems). The components of the MFA program include an emphasis on studio practice, research and scholarship, design teaching methodologies, and academic studies of visual media such as history, theory, critical analysis, aesthetics, and related humanities and social sciences.

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There are three 48-credit Master of Science (MS) degree options available:

• The Master of Science (MS) in Communications Design deals with all aspects of transforming information and ideas into visual forms. Course work involves a wide range of verbal and visual language systems. Design projects relate to extensive communications applications involving various aspects of society. Representative solutions utilize graphic design, corporate identity, publications design, computer graphics, and typography.
• The Master of Science (MS) in Communications Design with an emphasis in Digital Design combines graphic design and time-based media. This emphasis requires a significant level of conceptual and technical competence in order to meet the demands of courses that utilize advanced computer-based technologies.
• The Master of Science (MS) in Package Design offers a broadly based curriculum centered on the decision-making process for new product/package development, featuring courses in packaging design, brand development, visual communications, digital technology, marketing, and form.

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Graduate Communications Design Department
144 West 14th St
New York, NY 10011
212 647 7573
Contact the Department

The application deadline for the MS Communications Design, MS Package Design, and MFA Communications Design programs is January 5. For international students whose first language is not English, a minimum TOEFL score of 575 (paper), 233 (computer), or 90 (internet) is required for the MS programs, and a minimum TOEFL score of 600 (paper), 250 (computer), or 100 (internet) is required for the MFA.