People respond to emotion, engagement, and strong design. Students will learn to combine their unique talents in digital media, expressive arts, visual communications, and business toward a career in media design for businesses, education or nonprofit organizations. Students will :

• learn media history and business foundations;
• work extensively in Adobe Creative Suite;
• practice effective visual composition and messaging, and
• create interesting imagery and tell compelling stories.

Projects require story development, original and edited still photographs, and original and edited audio and visual work in both still and time-based mediums. Graduates are prepared for immediate skill application. Successful completion of the C.A.S. meets prerequisites required for entry into the undergraduate programs for UM s Media Arts.

Student Outcomes:

• Gain foundational knowledge in digital and information technologies, the nature of business enterprise, media history, typography, visual symbols, art, and artistic aesthetics and expression.
• Create, edit, and design audio/visual work in both the still image and time based mediums that focus on artistic expression and its relationship to digital technology.
• Create business documents and publications using common business applications while following ethical, research, and industry standard guiding principles and best practices.
• Assemble web assets needed to construct a complete website using current W3C web html document type standards, Search Engine Optimization strategies, and best web practices for file and domain management, container layout, navigation, and attractive web arrangement using principles and elements of design in an accessible web format.
• Plan, create, and organize artistically pleasing and effective print layouts based on the intended audience, organizational goals, and sound design through typography and imagery.
• Use photo editing software to create, edit and customize digital images in appropriate image size, resolution, and file type for the intended publication medium.

General Certificate Requirements

Additional requirements for graduation can be found on the Degree/Certificate Requirements for Graduation page. 

Unless otherwise noted in individual program requirements, a minimum grade point average of 2.00 in all work attempted at the University of Montana-Missoula is required for graduation. Please see the Academic Policies and Procedures page for information on how your GPA is calculated.

Courses taken to satisfy the requirements of a major, minor, or certificate program must be completed with a grade of C- or better unless a higher grade is noted in the program requirements.