Other degrees like Creative Technology and Design

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I’m looking for a broad, cohesive, bachelor’s degree that will help me simultaneously get better at “making things” in both the creative and practical sense, through project-based learning.

A degree in a specific field of design (fashion design, industrial design, game design, etc.) is not very broad. And a lot of degrees in “design” are actually only graphic design degrees.

There are colleges that offer a combined program in engineering and arts, such as Carnegie Mellon’s BXA degrees. The problem with these programs is that they seem to just take classes from separate majors, for example, an art major and some engineering major, and mash them together to make a “new” degree. So you’re not practicing what you’ve learned about engineering in the art classes, and you’re not practicing what you’ve learned about art in the engineering classes. These degrees do not seem cohesive.

So many schools pay lip service to project-based learning, experiential learning, learning by doing, or other names for the same idea. But it’s harder to find schools that actually build a curriculum around learning and practicing by creating things throughout regular day-to-day classes. More often, it’s just a capstone project, and maybe certain classes have group projects.

The Creative Technology and Design program at the University of Colorado Boulder is the best program I’ve found so far. It seems to check all the boxes. I hope it’s not the only program that does!

If you know of any similar degrees, I’d love to hear them.

Thank you!

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Clemson has a program in packaging science that requires a mix of science and design. It appears to be hands on, with ties to industry.
Clemson University | Packaging Science Degree

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Wesleyan
https://www.wesleyan.edu/codes/

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OP- don’t overthink this. Someone trained in engineering- any aspect- is going to approach their art differently from someone who is not. And someone with an artistic background is going to be a very different engineer. The degree does not need to be “cohesive” in order to get you where you want to go.

There are folks who work in “Sustainability” for example. Some of them have degrees in materials science; some are actual licensed architects or civil engineers; some of them have a deep background in policy but have also covered off the climate science/water topics with various classes. What’s cohesive is in their brains… that’s what makes it all work. Nobody (at least right now) has covered off every single piece of expertise that’s required to reduce carbon, handle solid waste, prevent toxic chemicals from entering our drinking water, increase the tree canopy in heavily built areas, develop an airplane which uses less fuel, design a smartphone which does not require terrible mining practices to unearth the raw components, etc. But there are teams of people at different organizations with different areas of expertise-- that’s the “cohesive” piece.

You will most definitely use your art in some of your engineering classes. And the reverse. Find schools you can afford and can be admitted to with enough flexibility to either create your own major or do a major and minor in both Arts and Sciences and Engineering. That will knock off a lot of schools.

You’ll figure it out.

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This is not exactly what you want, but I could see majoring in an some sort of engineering (mechanical? robotics?) and minoring in design at a place like RIT (which has a lot of good engineering - obviously -but also has big photography, film and other artsy-design programs) I think you might get some overlap in kids - they have interesting majors like “imaging science” etc.

or Media X - BA or other “new media and design” majors which are pretty common? probably not engineering/building enough for you though.

WPI is very very project based but less about design…

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following

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Industrial Design Bachelor’s Program | RISD maybe? looks super cool

“emphasize the traditional values behind industrial design and current trends in the profession as you progress from creating developmental drawings to three-dimensional mockups and models, working drawings and prototypes that incorporate manufacturing considerations.”

It has a pretty serious workshop too Industrial Design Workspaces and Tools | RISD

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Hi, I’m a professor of interdisciplinary courses in computational arts at CMU and can tell you that this isn’t necessarily the case. It depends on the specific programs the student is attempting to combine — and it also depends on the student.

CMU’s BXA programs are designed to allow students to construct an integrated double-major from practically any arts discipline and any discipline outside the arts. In some cases we DO have numerous faculty and courses dedicated to research and education at those intersections (for example: computational art, mechatronic art, game design, bio-art, and UX/UI/HCI, among others). Personally, for example, I work closely with many of our BCSA (Computer Science + Art) and BESA (Engineering Studies + Arts) students. My art courses VERY MUCH require students to use their algorithmic and programming skills, I assure you.

However, CMU students sometimes invent and pursue BXA degrees that create some extremely unusual combinations of disciplines (for example: architecture and international relations; music composition and environmental policy; product design and chemistry). There may be very few people in the world who work at these unusual intersections. In such a case, it’s the job of the student to pioneer what it means to combine these fields.

To be fair, you’re right that there’s not much permeation of the arts into CMU’s engineering curricula; it’s mostly up to our arts programs to provide contexts for using engineering skills. And different divisions of our College of Fine Arts have different degrees of flexibility in accommodating our BXA degrees. It’s best to contact our BXA office to find out if what you want to do (specifically) can be well supported.

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@CmuBcsaExpert I read your post with interest, because my D26 is looking for a combination of game design and UX/UI/HCI that you mention.

Carnegie Mellon may suit her well – she is academically qualified. (Although she’s hesitant because it’s far from us, in a colder climate, and expensive.)

But question for you – for students with these interests that may not come from a traditional art background, does the school look for traditional art portfolios? She’s a creative kid who has dabbled in some digital art and fabric design, and she has some projects from an architecture/engineering class that might work, but nothing like what other kids present at National Portfolio Day. She doesn’t really have any interest in painting or ceramics or more traditional art.

Next year, she’ll be working on a year-long senior capstone project where she creates a video game for kids with specific motor disabilities. She’ll just be getting started on it in August, though, so I don’t know how much she’ll have to present by the time applications are due.

What kinds of things is Carnegie Mellon looking for from kids who are interested in these combo art/computer fields?

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@SpreadsheetMom, thanks for your questions.
I’m very familiar with the portfolio review process in the CMU School of Art and am happy to provide my perspectives. Please understand what follows as the opinions of just one faculty member — not an official statement from our School of Art, or College of Fine Arts, or CMU’s Office of Admissions.

Keep in mind that CMU has 5 BCSA degree pathways, which connect Computer Science with each of the 5 schools in our College of Fine Arts: Art, Architecture, Design, Drama, and Music. Each of those BCSA programs have their own admissions procedures and de-facto criteria for admission. I can only provide my perspective from the School of Art.

When a student applies to the School of Art’s BCSA program, their portfolio is reviewed by the School of Art, and must meet the School of Art’s rigorous but open-minded admissions standards. As with any other portfolio examined by the School of Art, we seek talent in the service of formally innovative work with original concepts. The conceptual dimension of your work is especially important: as a rule, the CMU School of Art places a high priority on the strength and originality of the applicant’s artistic voice, as observable in their subject matter and material execution.

In the School of Art, the BCSA program is intended for students with a serious interest in studying and creating new forms of artistic expression that could only be made possible by computational thinking. Since you are applying for a degree program dedicated to bridging arts and technology, your portfolio should ideally include projects in both areas — or, better yet, which also combine the two disciplines. A strong portfolio would therefore include artworks you developed using computation (scripting or coding) or other technological means — such as interactive artworks, 3D computer animations, computer games, p5.js applets, apps or web sites, Arduino projects, mechatronic sculptures, etc. Ultimately, the BCSA program is ideal for students who want to solve artistic problems by creating their own software.

CMU does not currently offer a first (home-department) major in UX/UI or Game Design per se. Instead, many students in the CMU School of Art are pursuing some sort of hybrid degree that connects Art studies with technology — including the BCSA, but also alternatives like minors or double-majors with HCI, or minors in Game Design.

Your D26 is making ‘a video game for kids with specific motor disabilities’. That’s great! But if the focus here is on analyzing and designing for the UX needs of a specific user population, and if your kid is not interested specifically in the artistic/cultural/critical dimensions of game design, it’s possible that this type of work might be better suited to a Design program. Check out the BCSA with the CMU School of Design, or the BFA in Game Development and Interaction Design at USC, or the BFA in Interactive Media Arts at NYU.

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Thank you so much for your response! That makes sense, and I’ll have her look at these programs further to investigate exactly what aspect interests her. :slight_smile: