Design Division
The Design division is a sanctuary for creative risk-taking, where wonder and imagination are amplified through rigor and craft. Learn the art and business of design here, amidst Bay Area creative studios, design firms, and technology companies.
📍 1111 8th St., 2nd Floor
Media Gallery
360° view of Hybrid Lab | California College of the Arts
360° view of the Fashion Studios | California College of the Arts
360° view of Furniture Shop & Fabrication Studios | California College of the Arts
BFA Fashion Design
BFA Furniture
BFA Graphic Design
BFA Illustration
BFA Industrial Design
BFA Interaction Design
🪡 BFA Fashion Design
CCA’s BFA in Fashion Design program is among the most highly regarded in the country, and is characterized by its location in the country’s West Coast technology hub as well as the program’s long-standing focus on sustainability. You’ll master traditional techniques while taking classes in critical studies, fashion history, and sustainability. Our fashion-design studios have the tools and equipment to support both traditional methods and leading-edge technologies, from needle felters and knitting machines to laser cutters and 3D printers.
🪑 BFA Furniture
The Furniture program prepares students for versatile careers, teaching craft-based methods alongside digital fabrication methods. You’ll learn how to make full-scale sculpture and furniture in our wide-ranging furniture and wood studios and specialized facilities, including a model-making shop, spray booth, and plaster room. With digital fabrication tools, such as CNC routers and millers, laser cutters, 3D printers, and plasma cutters, you can investigate different materials and create inventive design solutions.
✍️ BFA Graphic Design
Our STEM-designated Graphic Design program ranks among the best across the U.S. We teach students to become leaders in the field by emphasizing craft, creativity, and collaboration, and we encourage them to engage with pressing social issues and think critically about how their work shows up in the world. Our classrooms and studios facilitate a spectrum of design and making, from letterpress and hand-made zines to motion graphics and virtual reality.
✍️ BFA Illustration
In the Illustration program, you’ll learn the language of visual storytelling, develop an in-demand skill set, and find your creative voice. We provide access to cutting-edge software and digital tools, print and painting studios, shops, labs, and a community of thinkers and makers eager to work together to bring your visions to life. Hone your presentation by checking out cameras and equipment from the Media Center and doing high-end scanning and printing in the Digital Fine Arts Studio.
⚙️ BFA Industrial Design
With equal emphasis on design thinking and the craft of making, Industrial Design students learn the entire design process, from iteration to concept validation. You’ll develop essential skills in sketching and drawing, 3D and 4D computer-aided design, sewing, welding, prototyping, woodworking, digital rendering, storytelling, and presenting. We’re located in the hub of innovation in the Bay Area, in proximity to architecture and design firms, startups, and leading technology companies.
🖱 BFA Interaction Design
Interaction design thrives at the intersection of human experience and the built environment to create forward-thinking solutions. By learning investigative research, systematic thinking, creative prototyping, hands-on building, and presentation skills, you’ll be ready to succeed, and lead, in this growing profession. Bring your prototypes to life with sensors and motors in the Hybrid Lab, create next-wave mobile experiences in our high-end computer labs, or print your research and documentation in the Digital Fine Arts Studio.
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