Portfolio Review

Entry to Second Year

Incoming First Year

The Graphic Design program does not require a design portfolio for incoming students. It is through the first year in the program that students are prepared for this demanding and competitive profession. At the end of that first academic year, students are required to prepare and submit a portfolio of work from specific courses. Upon a successful review, those students will be fully admitted to the Graphic Design major.

The portfolio includes projects from the following courses:

Fall

  • GDSN 1100 Orientation to Graphic Design
  • GDSN 1301 Graphic Design Software
  • GDSN 1380 Foundations of Design

Spring

  • GDSN 1310 Image Lab
  • GDSN 1390 Typography I

Spring or Fall

  • ARTS 1301 Drawing I

Total = 16 hours >>>> Portfolio Review

Portfolio Review Application (pdf)

 

Transfer Students

Transfer students who wish to start the program have two options, depending on their background and graphic design courses they have already taken.

Option 1: Enter as a first year in the Graphic Design program, no transfer portfolio required.

This option is for transfer students without a portfolio or enough graphic design courses. They can start the 4-year degree with us and transfer their core courses. This option will take 4 years to be able to graduate. A meeting with faculty advisor is required to assess and coordinate transition. A portfolio review will be required after their first year with graphic design courses at UIW for official entrance into the program.

Option 2: Enter as a second year in the Graphic Design program, submission and approval of transfer portfolio is required.

This option assesses previous school work and course equivalency. If applicant is approved to start in year two, it will take 3 remaining years to complete the BFA. Here are the requirements:

  • Course Equivalency- Send a transcript that shows proof of courses equivalent to those in our freshmen year. Also, provide a link to the school’s syllabus or course descriptions.
  • Portfolio- Submit portfolio of projects. This can be link to a website, physical or a digital PDF. For PDF, make sure to provide work in a multi-page layout. Limit portfolio to 10 projects. See enclosed Transfer Student Portfolio Review Application with rubric of assessment.
  • Statement- Describe what you learned at your previous school and why you want to study GD at UIW (300-500 words).

Send all files to program coordinator, Doris Palmeros at palmeros@uiwtx.edu or email to coordinate a drop off if submitting a physical portfolio.

Transfer Student Instructions and Rubric (pdf)

Transfer Student Portfolio Review Application (pdf)

Laptop Requirements

All Graphic Design students that have been accepted into the program will be required to own (or show proof of ownership of) a laptop computer that meets the minimum system requirements specified below. If you already have a laptop, and it doesn’t meet the specifications you may be required to upgrade your system.

Requirements for Macs
Component Minimum Specifications Recommended Specifications
Processor Intel, Native Apple Silicon, Rosetta2 Supported Quad-Core Processor 8-Core or above for Multi-Frame Rendering
Operating System macOS Big Sur v11.0 or later macOS Monterey v12.0 or later
RAM 16 GB of RAM 32 GB
GPU 2 GB of GPU VRAM (Draft 3D requires discrete GPUs that are compatible with Apple Metal 2) 4 GB of GPU VRAM
Hard Disk Space 15GB of available hard-disk space for installation; additional free space required during installation (cannot install on a volume that uses a case-sensitive file system or on removable flash storage devices) Additional disk space for disk cache 64GB+
Monitor Resolution 1920x1080 1920x1080 or greater display resolution
Internet Internet connection and registration are necessary for required software activation,validation of subscriptions, and access to online services.* Internet connection and registration are necessary for required software activation, validation of subscriptions, and access to online services.*
Requirements for Windows Machines
Component Minimum Specifications Recommended Specifications
Processor Intel or AMD Quad-Core Processor (8-Core or above for Multi-Frame Rendering recommended)
Operating System Microsoft Windows 10 (64-bit) V20H2 or later Microsoft Windows 10 (64-bit) V20H2 or later
RAM 16 GB of RAM 32 GB
GPU 2 GB of GPU VRAM
Note:
For systems with NVIDIA GPUs, Windows 11 requires NVIDIA driver version 472.12 or later.
4 GB of GPU VRAM
Hard Disk Space 15GB of available hard-disk space for installation; additional free space required during installation (cannot install on a volume that uses a case-sensitive file system or on removable flash storage devices) Additional disk space for disk cache 64GB+
Monitor Resolution 1920x1080 1920x1080 or greater display resolution
Internet Internet connection and registration are necessary for required software activation,validation of subscriptions, and access to online services.* Internet connection and registration are necessary for required software activation, validation of subscriptions, and access to online services.*