Department of Design

Main Office
Art Building, Room 230

Mailing address:
1155 Union Circle #305100
Denton, TX 76203-5017
940-565-3621

E-mail: cvad.design@unt.edu
Web site: art@unt.edu

Hepi Wachter, Chair

Degree programs

Discover the graduate-level professional programs offered through the UNT College of Visual Arts and Design in the Department of Design. These programs share a common mission that prepares students to identify, meet, define and reinvent solutions for the fundamental challenges that impact their respective professions in and beyond the increasingly changing world of design. The pathways of study in each program have been designed to help future designers develop the conceptual, aesthetic, analytical and technical skills necessary to achieve these objectives.

Admission requirements

Prospective applicants for graduate degree programs must obtain admission forms from the UNT Toulouse Graduate School (tgs.unt.edu) and information from the College of Visual Arts and Design (cvad.unt.edu). Priority admission deadlines may be found at tgs.unt.edu/sites/default/files/21_003_Grad_Viewbook_Checklist.pdf.

Application requirements are two-fold. Applicants will not be reviewed until both steps are complete.

Step 1: Applicants must utilize the “Apply Texas” portal to apply for and be granted admission to the Toulouse Graduate School.

Applicants must supply official transcripts.
Applicants for the MFA programs in design with concentrations in fashion design or interior design must hold a bachelor’s degree from an accredited U.S. institution or equivalent degree from an international university in these specific areas of design or a closely related field. Applicants for the MA programs in design with a concentration in interaction design must hold a bachelor’s degree from an accredited U.S. institution or equivalent degree at an international university. Applicants to the MA in design with a concentration in interaction design program must also submit a statement of intent of between 500 and 750 words, a resumé or c.v., and a link to an online portfolio of their work. This portfolio can contain work completed in the user experience or interaction design disciplines, and/or it can contain work completed as part of professional or academic research, scholarly writing, or case studies that recount how the applicant fulfilled a specific role or roles on a work team that led to the creation of new products, experiences, procedures, systems, or services

MFA application requirements

Step 2 for MFA applicants: Applicants must also apply separately to and be accepted by the Department of Design into their concentration of fashion design, interior design or interaction design.

Applicants for the MFA programs in design with concentrations in fashion design or interior design must have a minimum of two years of professional experience in their area of study.
Applicants must submit a statement of purpose (500–750 words).
Applicants must supply a professional resumé that should list all relevant work experience, affiliations, etc.
Applicants must submit at least three reference letters from persons familiar with their academic or professional work.
Applicants must submit a portfolio of work relevant to their concentration area that includes representative professional work that exhibits their design knowledge and skills. Applicants should identify the responsibilities they fulfilled as a member of a team regarding any work they submit.

For more information about the materials that must be submitted to effectively complete an application to one of our graduate-level design concentrations, please visit cvad.unt.edu/design.

Applicants must submit their graduate-level design concentration-specific material (e.g., fashion design, interaction design and interior design) to unt.slideroom.com. Applicants should notify the graduate program coordinators of these programs via email once they have done this (fashion design: Chanjuan.chen@unt.edu; interaction design: Michael.gibson@unt.edu; interior design: Phillip.parker@unt.edu).

All application materials required by the Department of Design (resumes, statements of intent, portfolios or links to online portfolios, etc.) should be submitted at unt.slideroom.com.

MA application requirements

Step 2 for MA applicants: Applicants must also apply separately to and be accepted into the design research concentration.

Applicants must submit a statement of purpose (500–750 words).
Applicants must supply a minimum of one writing sample; however, two samples of the applicant’s writing are preferable, one of which reflects the applicant’s scholarly or research writing ability.
Applicants must submit at least three reference letters from persons familiar with their academic and/or professional work if applicable.
Applicants may submit a portfolio of work relevant to their discipline or concentration. Applicants should identify the responsibilities they fulfilled as a member of a team regarding any work they submit.

For more information about the materials that must be submitted to effectively complete an application to one of our graduate-level design concentrations, please visit cvad.unt.edu/design.

All application materials required by the Department of Design (resumés, statements of intent, portfolios or links to online portfolios, etc.) should be submitted at unt.slideroom.com.

Students are admitted to the MA in design with a concentration in interaction design in both the fall and spring terms/semesters. International applicants must submit their materials no later than May 15 if they wish to be accepted for enrollment the following fall, or August 15 if they wish to be accepted for enrollment for the following spring.

Funding

Each term/semester the Department of Design can provide a limited number of teaching assistant/teaching fellow positions for graduate students. If interested, individual graduate students should complete an application to fulfill one or two of these positions each semester (cvad.unt.edu/resource/graduate-scholarships-fellowships-and-assistantships).

Additional funding opportunities for Department of Design students may be available through the Toulouse Graduate School or sources outside of UNT.

Programs

Master’s Degree

Courses

Design

Quicklinks

Catalog