Students in Advertising & Graphic Design work both with computers and by hand, taking courses in design, drawing, photography, typography, web design/development, social media, and print production using industry-standard software tools to earn their degrees and/or certificates. The program is offered both seated and online, or you can take a combination of both formats to best fit your schedule. 

You will be trained in the development of concepts and designs for promotional materials such as posters, newspaper and magazine advertisements, folders, business collateral, corporate symbols and logos, brochures, booklets, websites, multimedia, and the preparation of files for print or web delivery.

Our computer courses instruct using the primary industry-standard software and technologies for graphic designers—Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, Dreamweaver, InDesign, Premiere, After Effects and Acrobat Professional, as well as HTML5 and CSS3. Our program combines creativity and technology to prepare students for the wide variety of job opportunities in this exciting field. Courses are offered seated at Southern Wake Campus and online.  The degree and all certificates can be completed 100% online.

If you are a degree-seeking student, upon graduation the end product you will take with you will be a portfolio. Developing a high-quality professional portfolio will be essential to being successful in finding employment as a graphic designer. Keep all your course projects and assignments including thumbnail sketches, look for freelance work or design competitions or just practice for yourself to build a body of work for our portfolio class - GRD 280.  The following are examples of our graduates' portfolios:

• Student Portfolio Example (PDF version - opens in a new window)
• Shannon Brunson Portfolio (opens in a new window)
• Jena Chow Portfolio (opens in a new window) 
• Trevor Johnson Portfolio (opens in a new window)
• Amanda Hoffay Portfolio (opens in a new window)

To find out more about Graphic Design, check out What is Graphic Design?

The Advertising & Graphic Design Department graduated its first class in the summer of 2005. We were excited then and still are now to send out our grads out into the workforce or on to further their academic goals. Each student who graduates with an AAS degree in Advertising and Graphic Design takes with them their own professional portfolio of work (see an example portfolio). 

Our advisors in the local design community tell us that they are looking for employees who are creative problem-solvers, skilled in industry-standard computer graphics and web design software, with strong people skills to work with clients, and are able to wrap it all up with creativity that raises them above the competition.

Graphic designers create visual concepts, by hand or using computer software, to communicate ideas that inspire, inform, or captivate consumers/stakeholders. They help to make an organization recognizable by selecting color, images, or designing logos that represent a particular idea or identity or brand to be used in advertising and promotions.

Students who complete the Advertising & Graphics Design Program will be qualified in a broad variety of interrelated fields such as internal design departments of companies or organizations, web and graphic design companies, print shops, print publications, or advertising and marketing companies. Many web & graphic designers are self-employed and work as freelance designers.  Just think of all the visuals you see every day and know that there is a graphic designer behind them.