Careers in Art & Design
Your Professional Success is Important to Us
For over 85 years, the New England School of Art & Design at Suffolk University has prepared its graduates for success as professional artists and designers. Our alumni have worked around the globe in an impressive array of roles– exhibiting work in New York galleries, hosting design shows for HGTV, illustrating books or designing for the NBA and the NHL. We’re proud of what our alumni have achieved, and what they continue to accomplish as members of the Suffolk community. And most would agree that it’s the training that began early on in their academic careers that has fueled their professional success.
In your very first semester as an art and design major, you’ll be immersed in class critiques and portfolio reviews where you’ll learn how to defend your ideas, build your public speaking skills, think critically and problem solve. A mastery of these skills is important no matter what profession you choose, and it’s a big part of why our graduates are in demand.
To prepare you for the work world, we offer courses in best business practices and portfolio development. Internships are available in every program, and we maintain lists of current employment opportunities. In today’s job market, the connections that you build at Suffolk are essential. Throughout your studies our faculty will serve as your mentors, and when you join our robust alumni community they’ll become your peers, further expanding your professional network.
Graphic Design
Our graphic design graduates work across all media and around the globe. Whether your studies lead you to become a web designer, a creative director, work in television or run your own studio, graphic design is a diverse and growing field. Our grads have held design positions at many notable companies, including the Boston Red Sox, Walt Disney, Reebok International, Arnold World Wide, HBO and the White House (yes that White House), just to name a few.
Interior Design
Our BFA in Interior Design program prepares students for a range of employment options within the interior design profession, including commercial, residential, institutional, retail and hospitality design. Some choose to start their own business, while others work for architectural firms or as in-house designers for companies and institutions. Regardless of their professional path, the training they received at Suffolk is recognized as some of the strongest around.
Fine Arts
Studio artists create, exhibit and sell their artwork locally, nationally and internationally and often begin their careers as studio assistants for professional exhibiting artists. Graduates of our BFA in Fine Arts program have gone on to work in the fields of education, curatorial and arts administration, art conservation and art therapy. In addition to exhibiting their work, our graduates are high school art teachers and college faculty, Disney animators, set and stage designers and visual merchandisers for companies such as Anthropologie and H&M.
Illustration
Illustrators’ work is literally everywhere– on websites and television, on CD covers and book jackets, in magazines and newspapers. Because their training blends skills in fine arts and graphic design, career options for illustrators are quite diverse. They are employed by design firms and book publishers, film studios and toy companies and by advertising and marketing agencies. You’ll find them working as graphic novelists, film animators, cartoonists and scientific illustrators, which are just a few examples to demonstrate the career versatility within the industry. We are pleased to offer our students a chance to pursue Illustration as a major and are excited about the quality of the training they will receive in the new BFA in Illustration Program, and the success they will find as professional illustrators holding a Suffolk degree.