Graphic Design Concentration BA

Last update: April 2026

Faculty Advisors

  • Takayuki Kubota

    Takayuki Kubota

      • Art

        • Assistant Professor / Art Program Operations Manager / Co-Faculty Advisor for the Art Major

          Programs

          • Undergraduate
  • Taro Nettleton

    Taro Nettleton

      • Art History

        • Associate Professor / Co-Faculty Advisor for the Art Major

          Programs

          • Undergraduate

With the introduction of a Graphic Design concentration to the Studio Art BA at Temple University Japan, students will be able to study the discipline in a location rich in history and culture. Tokyo, being a center of tradition and innovation in design, is a distinctive setting to study graphic design's dynamic history, culture, and evolution. 

Japanese design has historically shaped global visual communication from Japanese
Modernism's geometric abstraction, photomontage, to contemporary designers who are pushing the boundaries of visual communication. This concentration will also give students the opportunity to connect with Japan's vibrant design community by collaborating with local artists and designers.

Students in this BA concentration will gain technical competence and critical thinking skills. In addition to studying typography, layout, branding, and UX design, students will also gain a historical and theoretical background that will enable them to situate their work within the broader cultural and professional context. This array of classes will include four Art History classes along with elective offerings such as Relief Printmaking to UX/UI Design.

Laptop policy

For our students to be active participants in this ever-changing environment, we recommend a current model Apple MacBook Pro laptop. These are our minimum laptop requirements: Apple Silicon (M2,M3,M4) CPU/GPU of any class. 1TB internal SSD storage. 16GB Min RAM, 32GB or more Recommended. 

We recommend getting AppleCare+ with your system. Optional (helpful) hardware: A mouse, wired or wireless (while the trackpad on a MacBook is great, it’s no substitute for designing with a mouse)

Foundations Freshman Year

 Course TitleCredits
ARTU 1401Drawing I (Suggested Fall Semester)3
ARTU 15012D Design (Suggested Fall Semester)3
ARTH 2009Northern Graphic Design History3
ARTU 2811Art Photography: Digital3

 

Sophomore Year

 Course TitleCredits
ARTU 2000+Elective3
ARTU 2003Typography3
ARTU 2601Graphic Design3
ARTU 2835Motion Graphics3

 

Junior Year

 Course TitleCredits
ARTU 2000+Elective3
ARTU 2602Intermediate Graphic Design3
ARTU 3003Intermediate Typography3
ARTU 3603Advanced Graphic Design3

Electives

ARTU 2301 Relief Printmaking 
ARTU 2341 Screen-printing
ARTU 2351 Artists Books 
ARTU 2400 Manga class 
ARTU 2607 UI/UX
ARTH 2670 Zombies, Cults & Hoarders: The Dark Side of Design Theory