Graphic & Interactive Design

 

The Tyler School of Art and Architecture’s Graphic & Interactive Design (GAID) Department prepares students for successful careers in design and to become leaders in the field. Students learn to create memorable user experiences, communicate effectively to solve complex problems, and use their visual voice to open minds and address social and cultural issues.

Mentored by a passionate, award-winning faculty, Tyler GAID majors experiment and create original, human-centered and research-driven concepts across all areas of visual design, including branding, typography, packaging, illustration, digital media, virtual reality and experiential design.

Students develop a digital literacy that fuels their ability to apply existing and emerging technologies in their work – learning how to learn the ever-expanding software applications that power the field – and a thorough understanding of the changing nature of design and the integral role that technology plays in it. All students engage with the core software applications (Adobe InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop) as well as a wide variety of software for prototyping, animation, motion graphics, typeface design, 3D modeling, coding, website design, augmented reality, game development and collaboration. 

Students also find and hone their unique voices and have opportunities to wield their design expertise across Philadelphia—a city that’s a living laboratory for design-driven solutions and host to a booming design community with one of the largest national chapters of the American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA)—as well as nationally and internationally.

Students and faculty have been featured in numerous national and international design competitions and publications, and have won many awards and honors. Leveraging robust faculty and alumni networks, graduates find employment in studios and agencies around the country as well as abroad in areas that include:

  • Design studios
  • User-experience (UX) and user-interface (UI) design firms
  • Publishing companies
  • Streaming platforms and network television
  • Music industry and digital services
  • Motion and experiential design studios
  • Packaging design
  • Fortune 500 technology companies
  • Advertising agencies
  • Illustration entrepreneurs and start-up design businesses

Some of the companies that our students have worked at include Anheuser-Busch; Chronicle Books; Google; Hallmark; MTV; The New York Times; Nickelodeon; Pentagram; the Philadelphia Flyers (NHL); Philadelphia Museum of Art; the Philadelphia Phillies (MLB); Simon and Schuster; Spotify; URBN; and Vanguard.

Resources

  • Access to Adobe Creative Cloud and other industry-standard software.
  • Support available to experiment with emerging technologies such as augmented reality, virtual reality, blended reality and video game design.
  • A dedicated printing and production studio; a large, open space for interdisciplinary collaborative projects; individual work stations for making; and flat files for storage
  • Access to the Tyler digital fabrication studio and additional printing facilities
  • Access to the specialists, technology and resources of Temple—a leading public research university

Visiting artists and lecturers
Tyler GAID brings leading designers, illustrators and thinkers to enrich the student experience, providing workshops, presentations and one-on-one interactions for students. Over the years Tyler has hosted Louise Fili, Josh Goldblum, Jessica Hische, Kyree Holmes, Brad Johnson, Zach Lieberman, Andrea Pippins, Robynne Raye, Stefan Sagmeister, Paula Scher, David Dylan Thomas, Roberto de Vicq, James Victore and Loveis Wise.

The Hatchery
The most notable graphic designers today all have one thing in common—hustle. In The Hatchery, design students get to taste creative agency and entrepreneurship by bringing their ideas to market and working directly with clients. Semester-long experiences provide opportunities for hands-on problem solving and real-world projects.

In the past, students have created their own brands and sold their own products in addition to collaborating with companies and organizations like Boldfaced Goods, Career Wardrobe, Genuine Fred, Hallmark, Temple Law, Tyler’s Alumni Association and Victory Brewing Company.

 

Apply Now: Undergraduate First Year 

Apply Now: Undergraduate Transfer  

Apply Now: Graduate  

Upcoming Events

  • October 18, 2023
  • 6:00pm

Philadelphia-based contemporary artist Isaac Tin Wei Lin, whose densely covered surfaces of calligraphic, brushed and hand-drawn patterns...

  • November 15, 2023
  • 6:00pm

Lauren Kalman is a visual artist based in Detroit (USA) whose practice is rooted in contemporary craft, sculpture, video, photography and...

Lecture Series and Seminars

  • October 18, 2023
  • 6:00pm

Philadelphia-based contemporary artist Isaac Tin Wei Lin, whose densely covered surfaces of calligraphic, brushed and hand-drawn patterns...

  • November 15, 2023
  • 6:00pm

Lauren Kalman is a visual artist based in Detroit (USA) whose practice is rooted in contemporary craft, sculpture, video, photography and...

News

  • Dionn Reneé (BFA '04) Wins Design Contest with Sony's "Woman King" Film

    After entering a design contest hosted by Sony Pictures and Columbia TriStar Marketing Group, Dionn Reneé (BFA ‘04) was named one of 10 “Selected Creators” worldwide w...

  • Jessica Hische (BFA '06) On: Making It Work as a Professional Illustrator

    Jessica Hische (BFA ‘06) is a leading creator in her field, dominating every corner of text and typography, logo refreshing, and literary cover design. Her most acclai...

  • GAID Presents "Unplugged Design" with Gitte Kath

    Gitte Kath, a decorated graphic, textile, and set designer, will present 120 theater posters from the renowned Teatret Møllen to Graphic and Interactive Design student...

  • Undergraduate
  • BFA in Graphic & Interactive Design with Entrepreneurial Studies

    In partnership with Temple University’s Fox School of Business, Tyler offers a BFA with Entrepreneurial Studies as an option for students who want to learn skills for entrepreneurship, from innovative thinking to how to start a business, as p... More More about BFA in Graphic & Interactive Design with Entrepreneurial Studies

  • Graduate
    Alumni Spotlight

    Paula Scher

    paula scher

    Paula Scher (BFA), along with her husband Seymour Chwast, is a recipient of the Collab Design Award for Excellence from the Philadelphia Museum of Art. An exhibition of their work, Double Portrait: Paula Scher and Seymour Chwast, Graphic Designers, is on view in the Collab Gallery of the Museum’s Ruth and Raymond G Perelman Building through April 14, 2013.  After graduating from Tyler’s Graphic Design progam, Paula began her professional career as an art director in the mid-1970s designing record covers for CBS and Atlantic Records, developing an eclectic approach to typography that became highly influential. In 1991, Scher became a partner in Pentagram, the distinguished international design consultancy. Scher has developed identity and branding systems, promotional materials, environmental graphics, packaging, and publication designs for a broad range of major corporate and institutional clients including, among others, the Museum of Modern Art, New York City Ballet, the Metropolitan Opera, Jazz at Lincoln Center, the New York Philharmonic, Bloomberg L.P., Citibank, Microsoft, Tiffany & Co. More