The Department of Graphic Design of Kosiv State Institute of Decorative Art was established in 2004 in response to the growing interest in this specialization and demands of the labor market. The focus of the program is adaptation of the long-standing experience of Kosiv Art School to contemporary professional challenges, including the modernization of creative tools and digitalization.
The ‘Graphic Design’ program ensures its relevance in today’s educational market by covering the dominant technologies and areas of professional activity in design. Its vector of development is a combination of fundamental and professional training, based on classical approaches within propaedeutic disciplines such as Drawing, Academic Painting, Fundamentals of Composition, Basics of Computer Graphics, Typography, and Graphic Craftsmanship. These disciplines provide students with essential specialized and in-demand competencies, including the fundamentals of printing, media literacy, and publishing. The students study key professional subjects such as ‘Communication Design’, ‘Book and Periodical Design’, ‘Packaging Design’, ‘Information Systems Design’, ‘Photography’, ‘Book Illustration’, and ‘Printed Product Illustration’, enabling them to be competitive both in the local job market and at the national and international levels. This is further supported by mastering work in modern digital environments, including proficiency in raster and vector graphic software, basics of animation and multimedia, type design, and construction.
As the program has been developed with consideration of employers’ demands, students acquire knowledge of advanced printing technologies, computer graphics, illustration, as well as classical, fine art, and experimental techniques. This fosters the development of competent professionals in advertising, visual communication, book art, project graphics, and modern information technologies.
A distinctive local feature of the program is its strong reliance on the aesthetics of decorative and applied arts rooted in the unique traditions of Hutsul Region, with a focus on preserving and developing cultural heritage of Ukraine. As a result, students produce unconventional works in printed materials, posters, packaging, and catalogs.
The institution ensures a high degree of program flexibility. A substantial block of elective disciplines within both fundamental and professional-practical cycles allows students to effectively shape their individual educational path. The goal of the program is a comprehensive exploration of professional issues, acquisition of practical skills, form-making, and working with various materials, as well as solving complex specialized tasks within diverse design projects.
Personalized approach to each student is an important factor, with a focus on addressing individual learning needs. The educational process takes place in graphic studios, classrooms, computer labs, and at partner enterprises.
Upon completion of the ‘Graphic Design’ program, graduates are awarded the qualification ‘Graphic Designer’ and are capable of working as graphic designers, packaging designers, multimedia designers, computer graphics specialists, artists, layout artists, typographic designers, illustrators, and animation artists.