The Bachelor of Fine Arts is the professional degree in art and design. The B.F.A. emphasizes creative production and facilitates students’ abilities to produce and implement visual communication strategies necessary for careers in visual arts and design. Students gain advanced technical, creative problem solving, and critique skills through intensive studio courses, as well as a thorough understanding of relevant history and theory. Additional requirements that distinguish the B.F.A. from the B.A. include two Studio Art courses. In collaboration with the Art and Art History department, B.F.A. students enroll in ART 1030 Drawing I and choose one additional introductory studio art course from illustration, painting, photography, printmaking, life drawing, or sculpture. Twelve course credits in Art/Design/Film/Digital Media History/Theory are also a requirement of the B.F.A. degree.
By the third semester, all B.F.A. majors must declare one of five areas of concentration and register for the appropriate courses for their chosen specialization. As a senior capstone, all B.F.A. students must take six credits of Senior Project (fall/spring) and a Portfolio and Professional Development course. The students’ Senior Projects are publicly displayed in the DMD Senior Exhibition, the culmination of the B.F.A. degree.
Note: Game Design and 3D Animation concentrations are only available on the Storrs campus.
Admission
Slideroom portfolio review.
Bachelor of Fine Arts Requirements
Bachelor of Fine Arts Common Curriculum Requirements
All B.F.A. students share a common curriculum of 45 credits:
Course List
| Course |
Title |
Credits |
| DMD 1001 | Foundations in Digital Media and Design I | 3 |
| DMD 1002 | Foundations in Digital Media and Design II | 3 |
| DMD 1101 | Design Lab I | 3 |
| DMD 1102 | Design Lab II | 3 |
| DMD 3010W | Critical Perspectives on Digital Media | 3 |
| DMD 4040 | Agency | 3 |
| DMD 4025 | Portfolio and Professional Development: Putting it All Together | 3 |
| DMD 4075 | Senior Project (six credits) | 6 |
| ART 1030 | Drawing I | 3 |
| 1 | 3 |
| Life Drawing I | |
| Illustration | |
| Basic Studio, Painting | |
| Basic Studio, Photography | |
| Basic Studio, Printmaking | |
| Basic Studio, Sculpture | |
| DMD 2010 | History of Digital Culture | 3 |
| 9 |
| Total Credits | 45 |
Areas of Concentration
All concentrations consist of 33 credits of 1000/2000/3000/4000-level courses including all necessary prerequisites within area of DMD concentration as specified below.
Motion Design and Animation
Course List
| Course |
Title |
Credits |
| DMD 2200 | Motion Design and Animation I | 3 |
| DMD 2210 | Film and Video Editing I | 3 |
| DMD 2230 | 3D Motion I | 3 |
| DMD 3200 | Motion Design and Animation II | 3 |
| 1 | 21 |
| Total Credits | 33 |
3D Animation
Course List
| Course |
Title |
Credits |
| DMD 2200 | Motion Design and Animation I | 3 |
| DMD 2300 | 3D Animation I | 3 |
| DMD 2310 | 3D Modeling I | 3 |
| DMD 2320 | 3D Lighting and Rendering I | 3 |
| DMD 3310 | 3D Modeling, Lighting and Rendering II | 3 |
| 1 | 18 |
| Total Credits | 33 |
Digital Film/Video Production
Course List
| Course |
Title |
Credits |
| DMD 2200 | Motion Design and Animation I | 3 |
| DMD 2210 | Film and Video Editing I | 3 |
| DMD 2810 | Digital Cinematography I | 3 |
| DMD 3230 | Cinematic Storytelling | 3 |
| DMD 3850 | Digital Sound Design | 3 |
| 1 | 18 |
| Total Credits | 33 |
Game Design
Course List
| Course |
Title |
Credits |
| DMD 1060 | Fundamentals of Programming for Game, Web, and Interactive Media Design | 3 |
| DMD 2500 | Introduction to Digital Game Design | 3 |
| DMD 2542 | Introduction to Game Scripting | 3 |
| DMD 2580 | 2D Game Art | 3 |
| DMD 3500 | Interactive Storytelling | 3 |
| DMD 4500 | Advanced Digital Game Design and Development | 3 |
| 1 | 15 |
| Total Credits | 33 |
Web/Interactive Media Design
Course List
| Course |
Title |
Credits |
| DMD 1060 | Fundamentals of Programming for Game, Web, and Interactive Media Design | 3 |
| DMD 1070 | Web Design I | 3 |
| DMD 2470 | User Interface Design | 3 |
| DMD 3470 | Advanced Web Design and Development | 3 |
| DMD 3475 | Coding for Web and Interactive Media Design | 3 |
| 1 | 18 |
| Total Credits | 33 |
Independent Study
(DMD 3099 Independent Study) Open to fifth semester students or higher with a minimum departmental grade point average of 3.0 and no outstanding incompletes for any other independent study courses. Limited to a maximum of 15 credits total.
Internships
(DMD 4081 Digital Media Internship/Co-op) Fourth semester or higher students meeting departmental academic standards may earn credit for an external or internal internship.
Additional Graduation Requirements
- Senior Project (“C” or better required for graduation)
- Exhibited work in annual B.F.A. Exhibition.
Information Literacy and Writing in the Major Competency Requirements
Basic information literacy skills will be addressed in DMD 1001 Foundations in Digital Media and Design I, DMD 1002 Foundations in Digital Media and Design II, DMD 1101 Design Lab I, DMD 1102 Design Lab II and DMD 2010 History of Digital Culture. Students must successfully complete DMD 3010W Critical Perspectives on Digital Media.
Required Technology
Each DMD student must own a personal portable computer that meets or exceeds posted departmental performance standards. Refer to dmd.uconn.edu for current standards. Students are also responsible for purchasing and installing the latest version of Adobe Creative Cloud for Education on their personal computer.
University General Education Requirements
Every student must meet a set of core requirements to earn a baccalaureate degree, in addition to those required by the student's major course of study and other requirements set by the student's school or college. For more information about these requirements, please see General Education Requirements.
School of Fine Arts Degree Requirements
Students must meet a set of requirements established by the college in addition to the University's General Education requirements. For more information, see the School of Fine Arts section of this catalog.
