Design is one of three majors in the UCLA Department of Design Media Arts, alongside Computational Art and Games. These three majors offer distinct paths through creative work with digital technologies: Computational Art focuses on computation as a material, method, and subject for artistic practice; Games focuses on games as a creative, technical, and cultural medium; Design focuses on visual communication and graphic design with digital tools.

The UCLA Design major offers a distinctive, expansive approach to contemporary design that integrates visual communication, interaction design, creative technology, critical thinking, and artistic experimentation. Rooted in the fundamentals of design while responding to a rapidly evolving digital landscape, the program bridges graphic design, interface design, environmental design, and publishing. Students learn to work fluidly across physical and digital media, understanding design not simply as problem-solving or commercial production, but as a cultural, social, and artistic practice.

What distinguishes UCLA’s Design major is its expansive definition of design. The program emphasizes both conceptual and technical rigor, encouraging students to move between screen-based systems, physical making, and emerging technologies. Graduates will be prepared to innovate across a broad range of creative industries and experimental contexts.

Design has long been central to the Design Media Arts curriculum, where graphic design, interaction design, digital publishing, creative computation, and experimental media practices have evolved together within an arts-based environment. The Design major formalizes and expands this approach, positioning design as a dynamic field shaped by technological change, artistic experimentation, and critical inquiry.

The Design major for DMA is unique and distinct from existing programs in several ways:

Design from an Expansive Arts Perspective:
This major approaches design as a broad creative and cultural practice that encourages students to experiment across disciplines and media.

Technical, Artistic, and Conceptual Expertise Under One Major:
Grounded equally in technical innovation, formal experimentation, and critical inquiry, students develop fluency in design systems, creative software, prototyping, coding, digital fabrication, and visual communication while engaging deeply with the conceptual and cultural dimensions of design practice.

Design Across Physical and Digital Media:
Unlike programs focused primarily on interfaces or branding, Design students explore interaction design alongside print, installation, objects, fabrication, publishing, animation, and spatial practices, understanding how design operates across environments, platforms, and scales.

Interdisciplinary and Technology-Forward Approach:
The program integrates design with creative coding, media art, animation, AI, electronics, digital fabrication, and contemporary art practices, encouraging students to explore how design intersects with emerging technologies and evolving forms of communication and creative production.

Critical and Cultural Engagement:
Beyond technical skills, the program encourages students to critically examine the social, political, and cultural impact of design. Students are challenged to think about how design shapes systems, identities, public experience, and access within contemporary life.

Together, these commitments prepare graduates to work across rapidly changing creative fields while developing original approaches to design practice in both commercial and experimental contexts.

The Design major begins with a rigorous lower-division course series that establishes technical, conceptual, historical, and formal foundations in contemporary design practice, with some courses shared across all three majors in the Department. Courses introduce students to graphic design, typography, interaction design, digital image-making, motion, creative coding, media and design history and theory, and material processes.

From this foundation, students pursue upper-division studio and theory courses focused on advanced design practices. Electives allow students to deepen their interests in areas such as interface design, branding, motion graphics, publishing, creative technology, fabrication, spatial design, design research, networked media, and experimental art practices. The program culminates in a two-quarter Senior Capstone Project and Senior Exhibition that supports independent research, experimentation, and portfolio development.

Most courses are taught as studios of no more than 20 students, encouraging individual growth, close faculty mentorship, and a strong sense of creative community within the department.

Preparation for the Major Lecture Courses
DESMA 8- Media Histories
DESMA 10- Design Culture

Preparation for the Major Studio Courses (ALL REQUIRED)
DESMA 21- Digital Image
DESMA 22- Fabrication and Materials
DESMA 25- Typography
DESMA 28- Interactivity

Preparation for the Major Studio Courses (1 REQUIRED)
DESMA 24- Video and Motion
OR
DESMA 27- 3D Modeling

Core Lecture Course
DESMA 104- Design Futures

Core Studio Courses (ALL REQUIRED)
DESMA 140-Word and Image
DESMA 141- Web Design and User Experience and Interface
DESMA 142- Design Systems
DESMA 144- Type in Motion
DESMA 145- Design Research
DESMA 150- Professional Practice

Elective Upper Division Courses (CHOOSE 2)
DESMA 101- Media Arts: Introduction
DESMA 107- Game Histories and Analyses
DESMA 110- Tangible Media
DESMA 111- Art and the Internet
DESMA 112- Performing User
DESMA 113- Generative Art
DESMA 114- Arts Research and Practice
DESMA 115- Art and Science Collaboration
DESMA 116- Sonic Media
DESMA 125- Game Design
DESMA 126- Game Engine
DESMA 127- Interactive Animation
DESMA 128- Worldbuilding
DESMA 129- Collaborative Game Lab
DESMA 130- Experiments in Virtuality
DESMA 131- 3D Modeling and Motion
DESMA 143- Disability and the Web
DESMA 146- Ecological Arts and Justice Practice

Senior Project
DESMA 159A- Senior Praxis
DESMA 159B- Senior Capstone Project

Please note that requirements are subject to change prior to the start of the 2027 - 2028 academic year

NEW UNDERGRADS

The Department of Design Media Arts accepts new First Year and Transfer applications for Fall quarter only for all three major programs: Computational Art, Design, and Games. Each applicant must complete the University of California Application and the Undergraduate Supplemental Application associated with the major program, including a creative supplement.

Application Process
Admission to the Department of Design Media Arts is a two-step process.

Step 1: Students must complete the University of California Application and put one of the following as their first choice major to UCLA:
Computational Art
Design
Games

UC Application Deadline: November 30, 2026 (11:59pm PST)

Step 2: All applicants for the Computational Art, Design, or Games major programs must also submit the program’s Supplemental Application in SlideRoom.

Supplemental Application Deadline: December 15, 2026 (11:59pm PST)

If you are a new UCLA student and have questions about the application process, please check out our comprehensive admission FAQ at www.uclaarts-admission.com.

Transfer Students

The Department has prepared a Help Guide For Prospective Transfers to Computational Art, Design, and Games: https://www.uclaarts-admission.com/dma-transfer-guide

Non-UCLA students may also take DMA preparation for the major courses here at UCLA during Summer Sessions: https://summer.ucla.edu/.

The Department of Design Media Arts will consider sophomore transfers. For more information about admission criteria, please visit https://www.uclaarts-admission.com/sophomore-transfers

CHANGE OF MAJOR

This process is for Current UCLA Students who wish to join the majors in Computational Art, Design, or Games.

Current UCLA students who wish to join the Computational Art, Design or Games major programs must submit a Program Change application in Winter Quarter to start coursework in Spring Quarter. Program Change applications will be considered only for current UCLA students who have successfully completed at least one quarter at UCLA/a UC campus and are in good academic standing. Students may not apply for admission to one of the Design Media Arts major programs more than two times during their residency at UCLA. Previous coursework in Design Media Arts does not guarantee admission.

The Department prefers that students have fewer than 90 units at the time of application to ensure a normal degree completion time. Students with more than 121 units (excluding AP and Design Media Arts courses) will not be considered. The supplemental application is a critical consideration in the admission process. Supplements are reviewed by department faculty, graduate students, and select alumni.

Students who would like to change their major to add Computational Art, Design or Games as a major must attend a mandatory information session on one of the dates listed below. Info sessions will be held on Zoom and will not be recorded. Please register through the link on the date you will be attending.

Change of Major Information Sessions:
Info Session #1: Monday, October 5th, 1pm - 2pm
Info Session #2: Wednesday, November 4th, 1pm - 2pm
Info Session #3: Friday, December 4th, 10am - 11am
Info Session #4: Wednesday, January 6th, 1pm - 2pm

The Department of Design Media Arts uses SlideRoom to collect Change of Major application materials. If you do not have a SlideRoom account, you will be prompted to sign up for one for free. There are no costs associated with applying for a Change of Major. When you are ready to apply, please use this link: https://uclaarts.slideroom.com/

If you are a current UCLA student and have questions about the Change of Major process, please contact Laura Young: lyoung@arts.ucla.edu

Useful Links
UCLA Undergraduate Admission
UCLA Transfer Admission Guide
UCLA General Catalog
School of Arts and Architecture General Information
Financial Aid Office
Scholarship Office
Housing Office
Center for Accessible Education
Registrar‘s Office
Undergraduate Tuition and Fees