Communication
Add studio craft and visual design to a strategy and writing major, so you can execute the campaigns you plan holistically.
Advertising Design Minor
Great advertising is equal parts craft and strategy. The Advertising Design minor teaches you both, pairing studio work in typography, layout, and design with coursework in visual communication and campaign strategy. You build the skills to make the work and the judgment to know why it works, on the kind of deadline the industry demands.
Why Study Advertising Design
This minor sits deliberately across two departments. In the studio courses, you learn design as a discipline: composition, type, color, and print and web production. In the communication courses, you learn the other half of the job: how a message is built for a specific audience and how a campaign is researched, planned, and defended to a client. Most programs teach one side well. Advertising Design is built so you graduate fluent in both, with work you can show.
Pairs Well With
A minor's value is in how it complements your major. Advertising Design pairs naturally with many artistic and marketing focused programs.
Marketing and Business Administration
Bring a designer's eye to brand, product, and promotion work.
Graphic Design and Studio Art
Learn how to use your fine art and design training to support commercial goals and solve client needs.
Interactive and Game Design
Help ensure the success of your studio’s projects by creating campaigns that effectively communicate the experience they have crafted.
Program Details
The Advertising Design minor is 20 credit hours: five required courses plus one studio course you choose. Faculty from Art and Design and from Communication teach across the minor.
Required Courses
| Course | Title |
|---|---|
| ART 1120 | Design Fundamentals |
| ART 2410 | Typography and Layout |
| COM 2500 | Visual Communication |
| COM 3410 | Advertising Creative |
| COM 4400 | Strategic Communication Campaigns |
Studio Course
Choose one of the following:
| Course | Title |
|---|---|
| ART 3410 | Advanced Print Design |
| ART 3510 | Web Design |
Beyond The Classroom
The coursework is built around industry problems rather than exercises. Advertising Creative is taught with an emphasis on agency needs and deadline-driven work, and Strategic Communication Campaigns has you researching and designing messaging for a real client or employer who is working toward measurable outcomes.
Outside of class, two long-running programs turn that coursework into a portfolio and a network. Lux12, Florida Southern's student-run digital marketing agency, produces real content for local brands and gives you agency experience before you graduate. AdFed, the student chapter of the American Advertising Federation, holds monthly campus meetings that bring local and nationally recognized speakers to campus and connect you with professionals working in the field. Students also tour advertising agencies and pursue internships in the Tampa and Orlando media markets, both within easy reach of campus.
Where It Can Lead
The minor builds a portfolio and a vocabulary. You finish able to produce professional design work and explain the strategy behind it, a combination that matters in agency creative departments, in-house brand and marketing teams, nonprofit communications, and freelance practice. For students headed into any field where an audience has to be persuaded, it is a practical, visible credential.
How To Declare This Minor
Skip to next section- 1
Meet with the program director to review the minor and map your sequence.
- 2
Because ART 1120 and ART 2410 gate the studio courses, and the studio course gates COM 4400, sequencing matters more here than in most minors, so plan your course choices accordingly.
- 3
It will appear on your official transcript.
Get in Touch
Questions about the Advertising Design minor? Connect with the program director.
Alex Ortiz, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Communication
- 863.680.3003
- 863.680.6244
- aortiz@flsouthern.edu
- Chatlos Building
Take the Next Step
This is a big decision, and we’re here to help you make the choice that’s right for the future you’re imagining. Choose a next step to explore the possibilities at FSC!