Visual Communication Design Master of Fine Arts Degree
Integrate UX, motion graphics, and 3D design to shape the digital experiences of tomorrow.
Overview for Visual Communication Design MFA
This visual communication degree offers a comprehensive opportunity to investigate the intersection of graphic, interaction, and motion design. You will focus on conceptualizing and creating user-centered design wherever there is a screen or digital experience. This can include mobile phones, automotive instrument panels, medical devices, wearables, and more. This major reinforces the importance of user experience design by combining insight from all areas of design. Choose to focus your studies or combine course sequences from communication design, interaction design, motion design, and design studies. By combining historical, communication and aesthetic theory, principles, and creativity, your work will anticipate design evolution and lead innovation.
The MFA in visual communication design focuses on all areas of design, including graphic design, user experience/interaction design, design studies, motion graphics, and 3D digital design. The changing landscape of people’s everyday interactions has blurred the lines between respected design fields, giving designers new responsibilities to shape experiences. The MFA program embraces this new technology through its curriculum, which addresses these merging skill sets.
An Integrated Visual Communication Design Degree
The MFA in visual communication design provides a learning environment for the advancement in innovative research, user-centered design, and professional practice by focusing on the creative potentials of visual communication through a full spectrum of media. You will advance your design knowledge and technical skills by choosing an option in communication design, interaction design, or motion and 3D digital design.
The cross-disciplinary nature of the program offers a greater potential to foster innovation and creativity in visual communication design. The program reflects the current views and changes occurring in the professional design field. The skill sets required of graphic, interactive, and digital design have now crossed over and are interrelated.
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Join us for Fall 2026
Many programs accept applications on a rolling, space-available basis.
Careers and Experiential Learning
Typical Job Titles
| Cinematographer and Editor | Game Producer | Graphic and UX/UI Designer |
| Motion Graphic Designer | Product Designer | Senior Visual Designer |
| UI/UX Designer | User Experience Researcher | User Interface Designer |
| UX Designer |
Cooperative Education and Internships
What makes an RIT education exceptional? It’s the ability to complete relevant, hands-on career experience. At the graduate level, and paired with an advanced degree, cooperative education and internships give you the unparalleled credentials that truly set you apart. Learn more about graduate co-op and how it provides you with the career experience employers look for in their next top hires.
Co-ops and internships take your knowledge and turn it into know-how. Co-op in the College of Art and Design provides hands-on experience that enables you to apply your artistic capabilities in dynamic professional settings while you make valuable connections between classwork and real-world applications.
Cooperative education, internships, and other experiential learning opportunities are encouraged for graduate students in the MFA in visual communication design.
Creative Industry Days
Connect with Design Industry Leaders
RIT’s Office of Career Services and Cooperative Education hosts Creative Industry Days, which connects students majoring in art, design, film and animation, photography, and select computing majors with companies, organizations, creative agencies, design firms, and more. Creative Industry Days are a series of events that allow you to network with company representatives and interview directly for open co-op and full-time employment positions.
Featured Work and Profiles
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Portfolio Showcase
Visual Communication Design MFA students to dive deep into emerging and future design, technology, interaction and motion trends.
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Student work honored in international competition
RIT designers were heavily featured in the 2026 Graphis New Talent Awards, a juried showcase of emerging creatives around the world. A number of the honored projects will also be featured in a...
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Visual Exhibition - Juried Showcase of MFA Work
The College of Art and Design's annual Visual Exhibition represents exemplary work by students from all our MFA programs.
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From Google to Amazon: Jason Blythe Elevates Digital User Experience
Jason Blythe '02 (graphic design), '05 MFA (visual communication design) has built a successful career in user experience (UX) design, working for major tech companies like Google and Amazon. Now at...
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Visual Communication Design Student Work Reel
In this MFA program, students comprehensively investigate the intersection of graphic, interaction, and motion design. Students go on to create user-centered design for screens and digital experiences...
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'Creative Collisions' Design and AI Workshop
Students from RIT's new media design (BFA) and visual communication design (MFA) programs collaborated on an annual multi-day design challenge called "Creative Collisions." For the workshop, teams...
Read More about 'Creative Collisions' Design and AI Workshop
Curriculum for 2025-2026 for Visual Communication Design MFA
Current Students: See Curriculum Requirements
Admissions and Financial Aid
This program is available on-campus only.
| Offered | Admit Term(s) | Application Deadline | STEM Designated |
|---|---|---|---|
| Full‑time | Fall | Rolling | Yes |
| Part‑time | Fall | Rolling | No |
Full-time study is 9+ semester credit hours. Part-time study is 1‑8 semester credit hours. International students requiring a visa to study at the RIT Rochester campus must study full‑time.
Application Details
To be considered for admission to the Visual Communication Design MFA program, candidates must fulfill the following requirements:
- Complete an online graduate application.
- Submit copies of official transcript(s) (in English) of all previously completed undergraduate and graduate course work, including any transfer credit earned.
- Hold a baccalaureate degree (or US equivalent) from an accredited university or college. A minimum cumulative GPA of 3.0 (or equivalent) is recommended.
- Submit a current resume or curriculum vitae.
- Submit a personal statement of educational objectives.
- Submit two letters of recommendation.
- Entrance exam requirements: None
- Submit a portfolio. View portfolio requirements.
- Submit English language test scores (TOEFL, IELTS, PTE Academic, etc.), if required. Details are below.
English Language Test Scores
International applicants whose native language is not English must submit one of the following official English language test scores. Some international applicants may be considered for an English test requirement waiver.
Duolingo (DET): 130
IELTS: 6.5
LanguageCert Academic: 74
PTE Academic: 60
TOEFL: 88/4.5
International students below the minimum requirement may be considered for conditional admission. Deaf and hard-of-hearing test takers with significant hearing loss do not need to take the listening and speaking sections for the TOEFL and IELTS. Each program requires balanced sub-scores when determining an applicant’s need for additional English language courses.
How to Apply Start or Manage Your Application
Cost and Financial Aid
An RIT graduate degree is an investment with lifelong returns. Graduate tuition varies by degree, the number of credits taken per semester, and delivery method. View the general cost of attendance or estimate the cost of your graduate degree.
A combination of sources can help fund your graduate degree. Learn how to fund your degree
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RIT graduate's City of Rochester logo design carries enduring legacy
Lee Green's design of the beloved "Flower City/Flour City" logo is the centerpiece of a new documentary celebrating the impact of Rochester's 50-year-old visual mark. Free, public screenings of the film are scheduled into the fall.
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June 2, 2026
RIT continues strong showing in international design awards
Twenty-three students from RIT's graphic design and visual communication design programs were recognized in the 2026 Graphis New Talent Awards, a juried showcase of emerging creatives around the world. A number of the honored projects from RIT designers will also be featured in the awards' companion publication.
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February 19, 2026
Pioneering type design duo to receive RIT's 2026 Goudy Award
Georg Seifert (from Germany) and Rainer Erich Scheichelbauer (Austria), cited for their innovative work with game-changing font editing software Glyphs, will accept RIT's prestigious Goudy Award in April. The honor has long celebrated outstanding practitioners in type design and related fields.
