7 Things You Didn't Know About the Rasmussen University Graphic Design Programs

You’ve filled countless notepads with doodles and drawings over the years. Everywhere you look you see the potential for inspiration—the bright colors of spring, the packaging of your latest purchase and the over-the-top visual style of your favorite cartoon characters all get your gears turning. You’ve got the creative bug and you’re ready to turn your artistic inclination into the polished skillset needed for a lasting career.

Enrolling in a Graphic Design degree program is an excellent way to make that happen. So what makes the Rasmussen University Graphic Design programs worth considering? We’ve highlighted several facts and features that we think you’ll find appealing.

7 Features of the Graphic Design programs at Rasmussen University

There’s a lot to like about the Graphic Design programs at Rasmussen University—let’s dive into some facts you might find appealing.

1. Associate’s and Bachelor’s degree offerings provide right-sized options

The Rasmussen University Graphic Design programs include an Associate’s degree option and a Bachelor’s degree completion option. That means someone with zero or limited college experience can get their start in the field by first earning an Associate’s degree. With a Graphic Design Associate’s degree in hand, students will have the opportunity to highlight the credential and leverage it in their job search, even if they still intend to eventually earn a Graphic Design Bachelor’s degree.

This structure gives you the opportunity to take on your education in smaller portions. If you find a good fit for your professional goals after earning an Associate’s degree, that’s perfect! But if you do eventually decide a Bachelor’s degree is the right move for you, you’ll be able to seamlessly return and get right back on that path.

2. The programs are offered fully-online

Not every would-be design professional has a wide open schedule that can accommodate the traditional college classroom setting. You may have kids and family members to care for, work schedules to balance and a whole host of other things going on in your life competing for your attention. Rasmussen University’s completely-online Graphic Design programs can provide some relief on this front.

While you’ll obviously still be responsible for completing your work, this online format can help save you commuting time and will allow you additional flexibility in where and how your assignments get completed. That means you’re not sweating a conflict between your work schedule and class schedule that would otherwise require you to be in two places at the same time.

Additionally, many of the Graphic Design courses are offered in a competency-based education format that can provide an even greater level of flexibility. In these courses, you’ll have everything you need to complete your coursework from day one, and just one due date for your assignments—the end of the course term. This means you control the pace of your learning. For example, if you know you have a near-impossibly busy week coming up, you have the option to either work ahead or catch up the following week to ease your weekly to-do list.

3. Coursework is designed to prepare for professional certifications

Professional industry certifications are a staple of many fields, and graphic design is no different. They provide another way to verify your expertise and competence at a glance with employers, and can help you stand out from other applicants.

The Rasmussen University Graphic Design programs feature coursework that is a designed to prepare students for earning professional certifications for Adobe® software like Photoshop® and Illustrator®. These software applications are widely used by professionals within the industry—so certifications that demonstrate your strength with these tools is an obvious plus.

“Our programs allow students to explore the tools and practice the skills necessary to create graphics across multiple forms of media and channels,” says Rasmussen University Assistant Vice President of Undergraduate Education Jennifer Ayotte.

4. Graduates leave with a versatile foundation of skills

While technical proficiency with leading industry software tools is clearly an important part of working as a modern graphic design professional, you’ll need more than that to be successful. Creative professionals need a broad foundation of design theory and principles to prepare them for wherever their careers may take them—and that’s precisely what the courses at Rasmussen University aim to provide.

 “Each course has its own blend of theory and practice,” Ayotte explains. “We want to develop designers that have a greater understanding of the roles a design can play as well as the technical and professional skills it takes to meet them.”

Students in the Graphic Design Associate’s degree program can expect to take courses like:

• Color Theories and Applications
• Typography
• Design for Marketing
• Web Design Fundamentals
• Layout Design

In addition to those, Graphic Design Bachelor’s degree courses include:

• Advanced Image Editing
• Brand Development
• User Interface Design
• Design Business Strategies
• 3D Design and Animation

As you can see, these courses cover a lot of ground—and this is just a sampling. Along the way students will develop technical skills used in a variety of design career paths like web design, UX design, animation and more. Additionally, these courses are built to intentionally develop the transferable skills needed to navigate a modern economy—it’s not just a matter of knowing how to create a great logo, but also how to “sell” it and build business relationships with clients.

5. The curriculum designed by professionals with experience working for national brands

Simply put, the courses included in the Rasmussen University Graphic Design programs will prepare students for the professional workforce. How do we know this? Because the curriculum itself was shaped by accomplished professionals who’ve walked the walk by working for national brands such as the Minnesota Timberwolves®, New York’s American Museum of Natural History, Coca-Cola® and Hormel®.¹ They’ve seen firsthand what it takes to succeed in a professional design career and have used that experience to inform course content and the assignments you’ll complete.

Your course assignments will often mirror “real life” scenarios. For example, you may be tasked with developing a creative brief for a marketing project, creating a website layout, or crafting a comprehensive branding campaign. Each course layers in hands-on skills while teaching you the “how?” and “why?” behind the work you’re doing. These project-based assignments will help you understand the practical challenges designers face while developing the skills needed to hit the ground running as a design professional. 

6. Classes are taught by experienced instructors

It’s not just that the Rasmussen University Graphic Design programs offer students an opportunity to hone their skills through thoughtfully designed project-based coursework—students are also led by instructors with significant industry experience. This gives students an opportunity to learn from what their instructors have seen in the field and lean into their expertise. The projects you complete will be evaluated by professionals whose goal is to prepare you for the world of professional design.

7. Students develop a professional quality portfolio throughout the program

When seeking work in a creative career, showing, not telling, potential employers your ability is essential—and that’s where a professional portfolio comes into play. The beauty of a curriculum that incorporates realistic projects is that by the time you’re ready to graduate, you’ll have a variety of pieces to potentially highlight in your portfolio. The Graphic Design program at Rasmussen University features an entire capstone course dedicated to refining student portfolios and learning how to highlight their work.

“Students receive instruction on how to discuss their work in an engaging fashion, both in writing and speech,” Ayotte says. “Additionally, some courses also include best practices for showcasing their work online.”

Begin your graphic design education journey

Now that you know a little more about the Rasmussen University Graphic Design programs, are you excited to take the first step toward a professional design career? Visit the Graphic Design program page to learn more or request more information to connect with an admissions advisor.

¹2019 Graphic Design Associate’s and Bachelor’s Degrees Curriculum Design Summit, collected November 20, 2019.

Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator are registered trademarks of Adobe Software, Inc.
Minnesota Timberwolves is a registered trademark of Minnesota Timberwolves Basketball Limited Partnership..
American Museum of Natural History is a registered trademark of American Museum of Natural History
Hormel is a registered trademark of Hormel Foods, LLC.
Coca-Cola is a registered trademark of The Coca-Cola Company.