Design and Technology

SFAI’s program in Design and Technology fosters innovative conceptual strategies through which designs and technologies intervene meaningfully in the world, bringing together the ideas we live by and the things we live with.

Design and Technology students situate design in the realm of art, accepting distinctions between art and design that are relevant to our contemporary experience, while rejecting outdated ideas about the differences between artists and designers. Students are reminded that design is both conceptual and functional, producing objects or images that at once inform and constitute the very form of ideas in the 21st century. The program is oriented toward broad research strategies, and students transcend individual disciplines to create innovative work in graphic design, typography, illustration, motion graphics, film and video, interactive art, electronic sound, web design, and social media.

Collaborative and forward-looking, SFAI’s program emphasizes networks, systems, and connections—concepts at once high-tech and central to human relationships. Recently, SFAI has partnered with institutions in Paris to develop cross-cultural, multimedia projects such as the Art Collider and Hyphen. The wider Bay Area is a hub of artistic and technological innovation, home to Pixar, Apple, Industrial Light and Magic, KQED Public Radio and Television, the Exploratorium, and many design studios.

Facilities

Students have access to extensive Digital Technology Resources configured to meet the needs of projects using sound, photography, film, video, design, 3D modeling and animation, web, programming, and print.