JMU School of Media Arts and Design graduates tell the best stories. We prepare students to serve as creative, reflective and highly skilled media producers and storytellers, sensitive to the personal and social impact of the messages they create and to the important role media can play in advancing the public interest. Graduates of the School of Media Arts and Design work in media or in media-related careers. Program concentrations allow students to pursue interests in journalism, digital video and cinema, creative advertising or interactive design. The major also prepares students for graduate study in mass communication, journalism, advertising, visual communication or digital production. SMAD’s 39-credit-hour requirement allows students to pursue minors and second majors, to strengthen their knowledge about the types of stories they want to tell.

A Bachelor of Arts in Digital Media Design prepares students to meet the needs of the digital age as designers of content, systems, and products, where text, image, video, audio, graphics and animation converge. Starting from a generalized approach, students learn specializations in interaction design or digital video. In Digital Media Design, students engage with and apply digital technologies innovatively, in order to design products to communicate and enhance life experiences.

The BACM major crosses the boundaries between different digital media arts practices and combines critical studies and creative practice. You will acquire both breadth learning and specialist training in media arts and study courses in photography, computational art, gaming and interactive media, sound, animation, film and media art installation.

Our Creative Media Arts BA Honours is an exciting hands-on course that will see you produce art and make content including films, photographs, interactive installations, and immersive and digital media using creative technologies such as augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), projection mapping, 3D modelling, and game engines.

Students will learn to analyze, conceptualize and create video games and related components, such as animation, audio, non-linear stories, software interfaces, and user experience. All students complete courses in media theory, basic computer coding languages, visual art and design, and general education courses. They will choose an emphasis on visual design, audio design, narrative design, or a combination of the three. Culminating in a multi-disciplinary, year-long project, the degree will equip students with the skills, theoretical framework, and experience necessary to enter the gaming industry or pursue work in the related interactive media fields.

A major in Media Studies will provide you with essential skills in oral, visual and written communications. You will gain proficiency in critical thinking and social media, some of the top skills that employers seek in any career field. The program balances practical media skills with a solid academic path.

Creative Media Design (CMD) students will learn and develop an expertise in drawing, typography, packaging design, advertising design, photography, web development, motion design, video production, interactive design and 3D design. With these skills, CMD graduates will have the ability and knowledge needed for advertising and communication in various media, including the highly in-demand field of digital media.

Unleash your creativity with a media design degree! Immerse yourself in the fascinating world of visual storytelling and unique design. From illustration to motion graphics, you'll learn about the power of images and develop your skills. Our hands-on lectures will show you the power of shapes, colors, photography, and UX design. You can directly apply your learned knowledge to exciting practical projects. Become part of the creative community!

Digital Media Design explores the digital domain, including multimedia platforms, mobile devices, augmented & virtual realities, and establishes a rich, hybrid study area for the 21st century.

The Media Arts, B.A. program offers students a chance to explore the creative and technical sides of media production, focusing on developing skills in digital storytelling, video production, sound, a...

Media designers are the polyhistors of the 21st century. In the age of constant technological revolution their role is not only to follow, but to shape that with artistic sensibility: to make the new digital world digestible for us, from the World Wide Web, through the post-production of films to game development.

The study in the Bachelor's degree in Scientific Visualization conveys the conceptual, creative and methodological foundations for the contemporary communication of scientific content: the appropriation of realistic-illusionistic presentation techniques, the use of different media such as interaction, e-learning, 3D animation and virtual reality and cooperation with science.

This program focuses on developing skills in computer game modelling and animation through a practical, hands-on approach. You'll learn how to create characters, environments, and visual effects, gain...