About Design, B.F.A. at CSUSB
Turn Your Creativity Into a Career
If you’re ready to transform your artistic passion into a profession, the Bachelor of Fine Arts (B.F.A.) in Design at Cal State San Bernardino is the perfect place to start.
Choose Your Path
As a design student, you’ll tailor your education by focusing on one of four exciting concentrations:
- Interface Design (formerly graphic design): Branding, web, and app design
- 3D Design: Modeling, animation and digital fabrication
- Motion Design: Motion graphics, video editing, AR and VR
- Marketing: A unique collaboration with CSUSB’s Department of Marketing
Learn With the Latest Tools
You’ll train on state-of-the-art equipment while mastering skills in:
- Branding and advertising
- Typography and visual communication
- Application and website design
- Time-based media and motion graphics
- Cutting-edge fields like UX/UI, AR/VR, and digital fabrication
This broad preparation ensures you graduate as a multi-faceted designer with the creativity and technical expertise to thrive in a rapidly evolving creative industry.
Experience That Sets You Apart
The B.F.A. is a five-year program offered through CSUSB’s Department of Art & Design. You’ll have the opportunity to:
- Research and develop a self-directed design proposal
- Collaborate with peers and faculty mentors
- Showcase your work in a capstone thesis project that reflects your professional identity as a designer
Careers in Design, B.F.A.
These are just a few of the titles you might hold once you’ve earned your B.F.A in design:
- Artist
- Art/creative director
- Designer
- Graphic designer
- Industrial designer
- Commercial designer
- Interior designer
- Illustrator
- Animator/special effects artist
- Interior designer
- Fashion designer
- Web designer
- Digital marketer
- UI/UX designer
- Motion graphics designer
- Game artist
- Production artist
Sample Courses
Business of Creativity
This course introduces the best practices and professional standards required to be successful in creative careers or in building a creative arts-related business.
Digital 3D and Time-Based Media
Integration of digital 3D, immersive-video, 2D or 3D animation, virtual reality, and/or motion graphics for communication. Applied research, project planning, scripting, storyboarding, and storytelling techniques to create contemporary projects for the field.
Design Thinking - Problem Solving & Critical Thinking in Visual Studies
Introduction to basic design and production techniques to transform initial concepts and ideas into various formats for concept presentation and user-experience testing.
Meet Professor Matthew Poole, MFA
Opportunities for Students
At Cal State San Bernardino, you’ll have access to the Visual Resource Center (VRC) — a space designed to fuel your creativity and support your success in the Department of Art & Design.
Explore, Research, Create
The VRC is both a digital and analog resource library where you can:
- Access an ever-growing collection of 30,000+ digital images of works of art
- Browse books, journals and reference materials on art, design and visual culture
- Discover the Innovative Materials Library, featuring unique samples to inspire your projects
Facilities That Bring Ideas to Life
As a CSUSB art and design student, you’ll also enjoy:
- Studios and labs for painting, printmaking, ceramics, sculpture, glass-making, woodworking, furniture design, photography and video
- A photo equipment lending program so you can expand your creative practice without added costs
- Opportunities to showcase your work through dotphotozine, CSUSB’s student and alumni photography publication
Why It Matters
The VRC and creative facilities aren’t just tools — they’re part of the vibrant Coyote art community where you can research, experiment, and bring your boldest ideas to life.
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With more than 50 undergraduate degress at CSUSB, we offer a variety of programs that reflect the Coyotes' passion for learning. Check out where your curiosity will take you at CSUSB.