design and technology

The graduate 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.

Research involves not only areas of use and distribution, language, and visual culture, but also broader questions of access and ethics.

Design and Technology students at SFAI 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of art, accepting distinctions between art and design that are relevant to our contemporary experience, while rejecting outdated ideas about the differences between artists and designers.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. Students are encouraged to build projects in different media that research the relation between humans and machines, infrastructures, devices, and their representations. Recently, SFAI has partnered with institutions in Paris to develop cross-cultural, multimedia projects such as the Art Collider and Hyphen. Closer to home, the Bay Area is a hub of artistic and technological innovation, giving students the opportunity to work with professionals from Pixar, Apple, Industrial Light and Magic, KQED Public Radio and Television, the Exploratorium, and other renowned organizations.

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.