ACADEMIC PROGRAMS
At MIAD, you’ll develop your skills, broaden your horizons, and pursue work in your field of choice. We’ll give you the tools you need to follow your creative path, and redefine the role of artist or designer in contemporary society.
MIAD offers undergraduate degree programs and non-credit programs. Find your fit.
Animation Track
Communication Design
Illustration
Fashion and Apparel Design
Fine Art + New Studio Practice
Interior Architecture and Design
Product Design
First-Year Experience
Undergraduate Programs
FIRST-YEAR EXPERIENCE: All freshman and many transfer students take First-Year Experience courses in the Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree program. First-Year courses teach students to try everything, and assume nothing.
CRITICAL STUDIES: In addition to studio coursework, all MIAD undergraduate students take critical studies (academic) courses. Critical Studies at MIAD serves as the bridge between the studio and the world, between the classroom and the community.
UNDERGRADUATE DEGREE PROGRAMS:
- Animation Track
- Communication Design
- Fashion and Apparel Design
- Fine Art + New Studio Practice
- Illustration
- Interior Architecture and Design
- Product Design
MINORS: All MIAD studio majors except Fashion and Apparel Design can be taken as a minor. In addition, students may receive a minor in areas such as Arts Management, Book Arts, Digital Media Production, Furniture Design, Sustainability, Advertising, Art History, Business, Copywriting, Humanities, Natural Science, Psychology and Writing.
- Learn more about MIAD’s minors
SPECIAL PROGRAMS: MIAD offers many mobility, study abroad, and cross-registration opportunities.
Non-Credit Programs
Explore MIAD’s Youth and Community Programs, such as Pre-College, Continuing Education and Design Internship, at ycp.miad.edu.
News
FYE Juried Media Arts Festival 2024 celebrates first-year student works
Seven students received awards at the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design’s juried FYE Media Arts Festival – an in-house screening and celebration of video, animation and sound design works by current and former First-Year Experience (FYE) students held on November 26. The 56 entries were judged by multimedia and filmmaking professionals Emma B. Barany, Gabe Leistekow and Sara Sowell.
MIAD professor brings love of branding to projects and students
Brian Bowles ’01, professor of Communication Design at the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design (MIAD), finds freelance projects “deeply fulfilling” and beneficial to himself and to his students.
Independence First and MIAD students produce adaptive clothing
Students in a junior-level Fashion and Apparel Design class at the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design (MIAD) collaborated with Independence First to design adaptive clothing. Two Independence First employees worked closely with MIAD students on customized outfits specific to their needs and preferences.
‘GQ Rebranded’ series is a hit for MIAD alum’s new studio
When Justin Thomas Kay ’04 (Communication Design) opened his own studio, JTK Studio, Inc., in New York City early this year, he hoped that his work “would contribute positively to helping to make things look nicer and more enjoyable and speak honestly to people broadly.” The new GQ Sports series “GQ Rebranded” turned out to be a good fit to do just that.
MIAD student support system receives national SMILE Award
Choose Mental Health, the national voice for children’s mental health, named the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design (MIAD) the 2024 SMILE Award–Organization Winner for the college’s commitment to promoting mental health and well-being among its students.