check out this link....

http://www.aiga.org/content.cfm/education

seems UT-Austin is the obvious choice. faculty holds degrees from top design schools (Cranbrook, Yale, Glasgow), so the program should be solid. I don't have any personal exp with th eprogram, but that's my read from checking out their website.

UT-Austin does not have a graphic design degree, at least not that I know of unless they just started one...they do have a Fine Arts program...but they are not known for graphic design or communication art.

The best Graphic Design program in the state is Texas State University ...North Texas and The University of Houston are also known to have a pretty good programs as well...

Texas State (San Marcos - 30 minutes south of Austin:
http://www.finearts.txstate.edu/Art/academics/undergrad/ugrad-comdes.html

UNT (Denton - a little north of Dallas):
http://www.unt.edu/majors/ucmde.htm

UH (Houston of course):
http://www.art.uh.edu/undergrad/graphicComm/progDesc.htm

UT-Austin offers both a BFA and MFA in Design:
http://www.finearts.utexas.edu/aah/design/undergraduate_program/index.cfm

Being from Austin and having worked in the Graphic Design field for over 15 years I was merely saying that it is not something UT is known for...Communication Arts that is...i.e. graphic design...they consider it 'design' within the fine arts field. Austin Community College has a better graphic design program than UT.

From their site:
"With 60 hours of the total degree hours in curriculum outside studio art and design and with 60 hours of studio art and design course required, the B.F.A. Design degree is well suited for students who are primarily interested in developing their design skills to prepare for graduate study or a professional career in design or the visual arts."


If you want a solid Comm Arts degree the ones I listed are your best bet...Texas Tech is good too, but you will be in Lubbock.

Also from UT's site:
"Other Commercial Art, Design, or Visual Communication programs in Texas can be found at Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas Tech University in Lubbock, University of Houston–Downtown, University of North Texas in Denton,...

Commercial Art and Graphic Design education is not Visual Art...it is a bit different...at UT Austin you will do a lot less technical hours in the Graphics world...60 from the looks of it.

At Texas State you will do more than 80 hours and you start in your first year...UT takes you through academics and studio art first...it is more of a studio art degree...it just is not the same type of program.

Texas State is known in Texas as the best purely Graphic Design program...it has for quite a long time...the others listed are good too. And, Austin Community College has a great program as well with many professors who are working in the field, teaching. It is not a bad place to start.

I suppose it's a matter of pedagogy with regard to Design. I am a firm believer in a broad-based fine art approach to design in general (incl graphic design as well as architecture) at the undergraduate level. In the end, it comes down to what one wants from their education. The immense resources of UT and the value of the liberal arts are not things to be overlooked.

Designers need to be well-versed and well-rounded citizens with regard to culture and visual studies in general. And while technical courses are important to the discipline, it is shortsighted to focus on the how while ignoring the why.

Leadership in any field requires critical, creative, and technical ability. The placement of graduates into entry-level positions pumping Adobe all day should not be the goal of education. It is only through the training of the whole brain and being of students that we are preparing them to be leaders rather than followers.

Boy, that was flush with assumptions. Yeah, I am sure they don't have any of the rest of the college education at any school other than UT.

And, by technical I in no way meant programs like anything by adobe...I don't think any of the schools I listed above focus on "the how while ignoring the why."

I am merely answering the posters questions in regards to graphic design education in Texas...and UT is far from the best or only choice in that regard.

Well, I'll counter that with an assumption of my own... students who take as much painting as they take design of any sort will probably end up with shitty type skills.

If you want some good schools that do pay attention to the why as well as the how, and are at least public tuition (even if they're not in-state for you), I would look at North Carolina State, Virginia Commonwealth University, and Arizona State University. If further north is an option, I'd toss University of Washington and maybe MassArt (public despite the misleading name) into the mix.

BUT, the big caveat is that these are almost all very traditional, save-the-planet-through-publications sort of schools. If what he really wants is advertising design, then that's almost a whole other list. I just put this here because many undergraduate students don't realize there's a difference, and many schools that are good at Communication Design really despise Advertising Design, so if the kid happens to know up front which area is his bag it helps the selection process a lot.

"Well, I'll counter that with an assumption of my own... students who take as much painting as they take design of any sort will probably end up with shitty type skills."

Amen rationalist...and Graphic Design is not Architecture...if you don't know what picas, points, kerning, etc., are...I am not hiring you. Architecture is set up for people to learn on the job where as the graphics field is much more in the vein of having a skill set to even get a job...even if you are fresh out of school.

And rationalist makes a good point...most Comm Arts school consider advertising design in more of a marketing context, not a graphic design context.

There are a ton of great state schools all across the country...I was just sticking to Texas...but you definitely do not need to spend a fortune to get a great education in the field...and as I stated earlier...there are also lots of Community Colleges with very reputable programs where one can get his or her feet wet finding out what it is they actually want to focus on.

Another place to look at that is not degree based and is a two year boot camp type of program is the Portfolio Center in Atlanta...they do great work and have a very good reputation for placing their students in great job opportunities.

http://www.portfoliocenter.com/

The Portfolio Center does a nice job of merging graphic and advertising design learning...but again, there is no degree...but in the graphics field, you don't need a degree...I was an Art/Creative director at a Fortune 500 company with a little over a year of Community College...and a ton of self learning/doing.

NC State is a great school in rationalist's list...I know of many talented grads from there.

hmm, having looked at the Portfolio Center when I went through a search myself, I probably wouldn't go there in lieu of an undergraduate degree. For that sort of money, I would spend a couple of years at community college and transfer into the best undergraduate design program that would have me. Puts you out of school with the same level of debt, a well respected name on the diploma, and an undergraduate degree, which if not strictly necessary for graphic design, definitely helps: plus, undergrad degrees are becoming more and more necessary for all walks of life. A friend of mine actually worked for ten years in the field before going back for his undergrad degree because he wasn't being paid what he was worth for the very high positions he was getting into, and didn't feel as respected as those who had degrees. So even if it's not necessary, it sure helps.

They are pricey but their reputation it very high within the field and their job placement is well known. I know many people with degrees that went there just to get better job opportunities. That said, a degree never hurt anyone.

I'll partly agree with rationalist's assumption regarding Type -- although ANY program teaching even one iota of graphic design should be covering this, so my own assumption to add there would be that if you show up for a job interview not knowing picas, kerning, leading, ligatures, etc then you're probably a complete tool anyway.

yeah, but despite the fact that everyone teaches those things, there are still a surprising amount of "designers" who don't actually know how to apply that knowledge.

I know plenty of people who don't know the difference between additive and subtractive colors and all sorts of basic concepts that have technical repercussions - or even why it would matter and in what way it would have affect...I think knowing production is key...that is what a good technical foundation can give you...drawing nudes is only gonna do so much for you.

and chupa = jason...needed a change.

...as it is with most things. There are always going to be good and bad designers, architects, artists, scientists, whatever. The best we can hope to do is give a proper and solid foundation for the growth of the individual with regard to their particular discipline. This is not to say that education should not have as its aim the best education possible.

It is in the application of knowledge (critical/creative/synthetic -- the "why") that the designer finds great strength and ability. The mere manipulation of elements (formal/technical/reductive -- the "how") leads to a host of options clinging to false equanimity among them -- ie, we could do this, or this, or this, or... It is an option driven by the technology and ease of manipulation rather than a designer with a strong sense of aesthetics/ethics -- a "rightness" of design that acknowledges its power within the context of our visual environment and cultural history.

Of course, we must have the skill to generate those options, but the imperative and key ability is not their production, but their dismissal.

To return to the topic of the thread at heand -- it is imperative that as a designer your cousin seek out an education that is both broad enough to encompass the larger issues of aesthetics, ethics, and culture as well as one that provides the key skills necessary to apply those ideas. It is a tall order and one that demands a very individual approach to her specific interests, how she learns and the things she responds to. Look at everything and decide what fits best. And don't (as Jason did) dismiss UT.

Try posing this question on QBN

I never dismissed UT...I just said that there are better schools in Texas. I know plenty of talented people that went there...and, much of my opinions come from them and others I have known within the field in Austin.

I don't know what your bent against me it...but it is you who stated, "I don't have any personal exp with th program". While also stating,"seems UT-Austin is the obvious choice"...which together really don' make much sense. So, I merely chose to widen the conversation of possible school within Texas...I have no idea why you would take umbrage to that.

I think if you want to do advertising design, you should do a bachelors' in English or Comparative lit at a brand name university. Write an honors thesis -- on Foucault or Habermas if you are a conservative, or Zizek or Ranciere if you want to be hot. Then directly on to an MBA at a finance-focused top-twenty B-school, with an essay that reeks of how you want to learn business skills to make not-for-profits actually work.

Follow that route, and you should make creative director by 27 and exec director by 32.

I don't have a bent against you jason. I was just rattling your cage a bit at the end there. I do think we have some pedagogical differences regarding design, but that's all fine. we've both been around here enough to know sometimes these things go awry. sorry if it seemed I was getting too personal.