Master of Fine Arts in Design & Visual Communications (MxD)

Design better, together.

MxD Workshop

Our MFA in Design and Visual Communications (MxD) allows you to dive deep into studio practice, research, theory, and methods to design with people and communities in context. We use design to understand and address complex systems—social, cultural, organizational, urban, ecological— and we engage Florida as our laboratory, working collaboratively and across disciplines to co-design solutions to people’s real-world challenges. You are encouraged to take advantage of the research breadth of a top-tier university to inform your design practice by exploring other interests. Our vision of design is interdisciplinary, collaborative, and co-designed. 

The program emphasizes studio practice informed by participatory research. We equip you to work on design projects in collaboration with public and private partners on urgent challenges like:

  • Reimagining health and wellness
  • Preserving biodiversity
  • Understanding migration and diaspora
  • Improving coastal resilience
  • Trust-building in civic institutions

You’ll learn to frame problems, navigate diverse perspectives, and create responsive design outcomes. Florida’s unique ecological and cultural landscape serves as both context and collaborator—an open invitation to design for and with the world around us.

Building on your background in communication design, graphic design, or visual storytelling, the MXD program expands your practice to meet today’s most critical design questions—with rigor, creativity, and care.

MxD alumni are qualified to pursue both professional practice and academic careers. Recent MFA alumni are teaching at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Texas Tech University., The Pennsylvania State University, University of North Florida, and Universidad de los Andes (Bogotá), working at Apple and Google, and have started their own design consultancies.

See full details in the UF Graduate Catalog.

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