Ringling College of Art and Design

Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Ringling's AI Undergraduate Certificate equips students with a fundamental understanding of AI technologies, their application in art and design, and their societal implications. Students gain hands-on experience with AI tools and engage the responsible, ethical integration of AI into creative practices.

Author/Illustrator

Offered in collaboration with the Creative Writing and Illustration departments, this undergraduate certificate equips students with the skills to combine writing and illustration into market-ready books. Ideal for those aspiring to create children's books or comics and graphic novels, it emphasizes storytelling, design, and market analysis to build creative versatility and industry readiness.

Business of Art and Design

The Business of Art and Design (BOAD) program prepares students to be creative leaders who work at the intersection of art, design, and business. Students master traditional business skills while being immersed in studio courses, exploring strategic planning, marketing, entrepreneurship, production management, accounting, human resources, and economics.

Computer Animation

The Computer Animation BFA prepares graduates for existing and emerging career opportunities in computer animation, providing a balance of technical and conceptual skills. The curriculum emphasizes deep and focused study of communication through movement, enabling students to both create and produce animation.

Creative Entrepreneurship

The Creative Entrepreneurship Certificate empowers artists and designers to apply entrepreneurial thinking and business acumen to launch creative ventures or navigate entrepreneurial careers. Through a three-course pathway, students are introduced to the foundations of entrepreneurship as applied to the creative industries.

Creative Writing

The BFA in Creative Writing is a supportive, professional program of undergraduate study in which writers engage a range of aesthetics, global narrative orientation, and coursework in historical and contemporary literary forms. Graduates are versatile critical thinkers and communicators prepared for careers such as freelance writers, editors, grant writers, copyeditors, and creative content providers.

Entertainment Design

The BFA in Entertainment Design provides students the knowledge and competencies to conceive, visualize, and realize innovative design solutions that bring immersive entertainment experiences to life. Rooted in story, the curriculum reflects a collaborative and interdisciplinary approach focused on translating a narrative, concept, or theme into a real-world experience.

Film

The Film program provides an educational experience that mirrors the working world of the professional industry, with storytelling leading the way. Students gain skills across filmmaking disciplines including writing, directing, producing, cinematography, sound, and editing, using digital filmmaking to create well-told stories.

Fine Arts

The Fine Arts program is dedicated to the practice and scholarship of contemporary fine visual arts, preparing emerging artists for success in professional studio practice, graduate programs, and creative enterprises. Students are provided the professional tools, experiences, and environment required to realize a critical, self-directed body of work.

Game Art

The Game Art major provides students with the balance of technical and conceptual skills necessary to become innovative, responsible, and productive interactive entertainment industry professionals. Students acquire the ability to design, create, and analyze visually sophisticated game art that supports and strengthens the interactive experience.

Graphic Design

The BFA in Graphic Design provides professional preparation for entry into the profession or graduate-level study, preparing students for evolving roles in the information environment. The study of typography and its key role in the communication of information is the cornerstone of the curriculum, balancing pragmatic and theoretical aspects of graphic design.

Illustration

Illustration is expressive visual communication, a pictorial commentary that stimulates the viewer to reflect and react. Through a curriculum emphasizing the fundamentals of drawing, painting, design, visual concepts, and professionalism, the program offers an education applicable to a variety of disciplines in the visual arts and emerging communication fields.

Motion Design

The BFA in Motion Design provides professional preparation for entry into the motion design industry or graduate-level study, preparing students for evolving roles in visual information and communication. Motion Design is media in motion through the integration of animation and film techniques, and the program enables students to function at a professional level as motion design artists.

Photography and Imaging

The Photography and Imaging major offers students an effective blend of technical and conceptual skills, teaching contemporary imaging techniques as well as the photographic tradition and asking students to create meaningful images. (Note: the catalog states this program is no longer accepting students.)

Professional Lighting

The Professional Lighting Certificate equips students with the technical skills and conceptual knowledge to apply professional lighting techniques to their creative practice. Students work with studio lighting tools and equipment and industry-standard software, preparing for careers in fields such as commercial, editorial, fashion, product, portrait photography, or cinematography.

Virtual Production

The Virtual Production Certificate offers a comprehensive education in the emerging field of virtual production, combining traditional filmmaking with real-time game engine technology. Students gain hands-on experience with LED wall technology, real-time rendering, and virtual production workflows, bridging traditional film production and advanced digital technologies.

Virtual Reality Development

The BFA in Virtual Reality Development prepares graduates for existing and emerging career opportunities designing and creating immersive experiences. Students graduate with the ability to design, create, and analyze immersive experiences within the virtual reality medium that inform, educate, and entertain.

Visual Studies

The BA in Visual Studies is a liberal arts degree for the creative, entrepreneurial, and self-directed individual, embedding a liberal arts education in the studio model of teaching—thinking through making. It serves students whose work bridges disciplines and media outside program and department structures, allowing them to design an individualized program of study, including minors.