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The VCFA MFA in Graphic Design Program Blog

Heather Snyder Quinn to present twice at No Boundaries Design in Barcelona

January 10, 2018

VCFA MFA candidate Heather Snyder Quinn will be presenting two separate pieces of design research at The Design Principles and Practices Conference—No Boundaries Design in Barcelona, Spain this March.

She will be sharing new research inspired by her VCFA MFA work in a focused discussion called “Methods for Encouraging Risk-Taking in Design Education.” Additionally, she will present a poster and paper titled, “Leveraging the Smartphone as a Teaching Tool,” which summarizes over a year’s worth of her student’s work from DePaul University’s School of Design (Chicago).

The Master of Fine Arts in Graphic Design is one of the nation’s first low-residency programs in graphic design that is built around a student’s individual interests and goals.

The MFA in Graphic Design is an immersive two-year graduate program that synthesizes five intense, one-week residencies with four six-month semesters of independent study with a range of faculty mentors. We educate students towards the broader context of design in order to investigate and reveal relationships. We see Graphic Design as a social tool and design education as a process of social transformation.

Our innovative, highly effective pedagogical model has its roots in the progressive educational philosophies of John Dewey. Our student-centered approach allows students to develop individualized study plans, addressing design issues that support their particular interests, values, and goals.

MFA students in our Graphic Design program will develop skills in form, content and craft, deepen and expand critical ability, build fluency in contemporary design discourse, and expand their ability to drive content with their work.

Graduates emerge with new research methods, critical acumen, and a body of design work that is personal and relevant; one which enhances their professional and academic path. They will have learned to continuously rethink design by considering cultural context, relationships between designers and their work, and the nature of education within design.