To be an exhibition designer is to be a storyteller
In the Master of Arts program in Exhibition Design, you’ll learn to create environmental experiences that inform, entertain, and inspire. You’ll focus on the designer’s role and relationship to other members of the exhibition team while considering the exhibition from the perspectives of communication, design, and fabrication. This intensive 3 semester program is designed for candidates with professional experience as well as for recent graduates. Drawing on a range of disciplines including interior design, graphic design, industrial design, exhibit production, architecture, and lighting, you will explore the methods, techniques, and technologies needed to create exhibitions for a variety of venues, from museums to trade shows to public spaces. A faculty of exhibition designers, content developers, graphic and lighting designers, and design historians offer current industry expertise. Courses blend classroom study, guest lectures, site visits, and hands-on experience. You’ll learn to plan and design professional presentations, master a variety of design techniques and computer applications, and construct three-dimensional models. Students execute full-scale projects, working with professionals in actual venues. You’ll also complete an independent, interdisciplinary qualifying project in your final semester. You’ll graduate prepared for a variety of careers with exhibition design and production firms, museums, corporations, and public venues. FIT offers the leading graduate-level program in Exhibition Design. Design experts participate in class presentations, lectures, studio projects, and host off-site trips. Close collaboration with leading industry organizations such as the Exhibition Designers and Producers Association (EDPA) and the Society for Environmental Graphic Design (SEGD) provides extensive internship and networking opportunities. Students have won national and international competitions sponsored by Elizabeth Arden, Procédés Chénel, the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, the Museum of American Finance, and the New York Botanical Gardens.
