Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts

ASU FIDM faculty with deep industry experience teach you the fundamentals of sourcing, buying, planning and understanding consumer behavior. Coursework prepares you to create and manage product assortments by selecting and overseeing the products offered to customers. You'll also gain expertise in using technology to design engaging visual displays across retail stores and drive strong financial outcomes.

This program also builds skills in:

• Cost management and negotiation.
• Open-to-buy management.
• Retail math (industry applications such as pricing strategies, sales forecasting and inventory management).
• Sustainable product planning, curation and management.
• Vendor management.

Upon graduating, you can pursue high-impact domestic and global merchandising roles.

Choose the right fashion degree for your career goals

All fashion majors gain an understanding of the industry, from creative design and technical production to manufacturing, distribution, merchandising and retailing. The right specialization for you depends on your career goals and interests. Available concentrations include:

• Apparel product development
  • Ideal for those who want to be involved in the entire product lifecycle from concept to consumer. As a generalist, you’ll focus on bringing products to market.
• Merchandising
  • Designed for those interested in the core of the fashion business. You’ll study merchandising through the lens of branding, planning and buying.
• Technical design
  • Best suited for those passionate about garment fit, construction and design. As a specialist in this field, you'll turn creative ideas into tangible products.

This program teaches you how to bring creative ideas to life by guiding apparel through the product lifecycle. You’ll learn to coordinate designers, merchandisers and manufacturers to turn concepts into viable products, ensuring they meet industry standards and consumer demands.

Gaining product development expertise can jumpstart your fashion career and open doors for growth. Exposure to the entire development process can further help you build industry connections and expand your skill set.

The knowledge and skills you’ll develop

Courses explore how to evaluate design choices for production feasibility, proper garment fit and suitability for mass production. You’ll develop an understanding of material sourcing and costing, as well as how to collaborate with merchandisers to position products for retail success.

The curriculum incorporates technology designed to enhance accuracy and efficiency in product development. You’ll use Optitex to develop patterns and analyze fit through 3D prototypes and Adobe Illustrator to create digital 2D technical drawings. Practical assignments also offer opportunities to gain proficiency in CAD, product lifecycle management systems and CLO 3D. Through this software and applied coursework, you’ll be able to:

• Apply the science of body sizing and scaling.
• Create production-ready tech packs (instructions for manufacturing garments).
• Develop grade rules that align with measurement charts.
• Use visual communication techniques in creative industries.

Choose the right fashion degree for your career goals

All fashion majors gain an understanding of the industry, from creative design and technical production to manufacturing, distribution, merchandising and retailing. The right specialization for you depends on your career goals and interests. Available concentrations include:

• Apparel product development
  • Ideal for those who want to be involved in the entire product lifecycle from concept to consumer. As a generalist, you’ll focus on bringing products to market.
• Merchandising
  • Designed for those interested in the core of the fashion business. You’ll study merchandising through the lens of branding, planning and buying.
• Technical design
  • Best suited for those passionate about garment fit, construction and design. As a specialist in this field, you'll turn creative ideas into tangible products.

Fashion is a dynamic industry that could lead to various lucrative career paths. Apparel technical designers, commonly called ‘garment engineers’, are experts in body shape, fit and apparel construction. Their work ensures manufactured garments are comfortable, functional and consistent, sized to fit target consumers and sewn together properly.

This program provides insight into the technical designer’s role in the fashion industry flow, from creative design and technical production to manufacturing and distribution. Now is an exciting time to enter a field needing professionals with digital and quantitative skills to convert ideas into products.

The knowledge and skills you’ll develop

As a student, you can expect to gain hands-on skills in the software used in the fashion industry. You’ll use Adobe Illustrator to create 2D technical drawings and Optitex to develop patterns and analyze fit through 3D prototypes. You’ll also learn the methodologies of fit and body shape. Other practical skills include developing industry-standard, production-ready tech packs to provide precise instructions for manufacturing garments.

With ASU’s first-of-a-kind partnership with Optitex, graduates will have one year of access to the software to continue honing their pattern-making skills, strengthening their portfolio and supporting their pursuit of fashion careers. Demonstrable experience with this software can give you a leg up when applying for technical design roles.

Choose the right fashion degree for your career goals

All fashion majors gain an understanding of the industry, from creative design and technical production to manufacturing, distribution, merchandising and retailing. The right specialization for you depends on your career goals and interests. Available concentrations include:

• Apparel product development
  • Ideal for those who want to be involved in the entire product lifecycle from concept to consumer. As a generalist, you’ll focus on bringing products to market.
• Merchandising
  • Designed for those interested in the core of the fashion business. You’ll study merchandising through the lens of branding, planning and buying.
• Technical design
  • Best suited for those passionate about garment fit, construction and design. As a specialist in this field, you'll turn creative ideas into tangible products.

Industrial design is broad and includes all forms of making and creating from sketching to 3D printing, bringing your ideas to reality. This discipline combines innovative and artistic vision with problem-solving abilities and technical expertise. With a commitment to improving the lives of human beings and the environment, industrial designers turn creative ideas into tangible products and services that benefit society. In this bachelor’s in industrial design, you’ll explore all aspects of the design process, including:

• Ideating.
• Implementing new products and services.
• Iterating.
• Developing.
• Prototyping.
• Testing.

The skills you’ll develop as an industrial design major

This program is adaptable and future-focused, ensuring you develop the skills to thrive in the ever-evolving industrial design industry. Courses emphasize design thinking, iterative design and product development. You’ll explore multiple mediums, including sketching, hand-making models and designing 2D and 3D models. Additionally, you’ll build collaboration skills by sharing ideas, receiving constructive feedback and offering input to others.

You’ll also gain proficiency in design software and tools including Adobe Creative Suite, SolidWorks, KeyShot, Rhino, and AI tools. To complete your courses, you’ll need access to a gaming-quality PC. While additional materials will be needed as you progress through the program, starting with basic equipment is encouraged.

What can you do with an industrial design degree?

Industrial design combines creativity, craft and research to transform ideas into innovative solutions. As a graduate, you’ll be equipped to create products that are not only visually appealing but also functional and meaningful. Your work can span UX design, transportation, health care, housewares, packaging, entrepreneurship and even space exploration — all while considering social and environmental challenges across industries. You’ll also have opportunities to collaborate with professionals, including CEOs, engineers, marketers and expert product users to bring ideas to life.

For aspiring entrepreneurs, this bachelor’s in industrial design provides the tools needed to jumpstart a path to success. You’ll gain experience brainstorming ideas, iterating and collaborating with others. Alternatively, you can apply your skills to positions such as an industrial or product designer, user experience designer, design strategist, illustrator, automotive designer, product manager, service designer and more.

This concentration provides you with a comprehensive understanding of the art form and business of filmmaking. Courses are designed as project-based learning experiences that train you in the use of innovative technology and equip you with the skills and knowledge base needed to pursue diverse career paths in the entertainment industry. You’ll graduate with a broad toolset in areas such as:

• Entertainment and media ethics.
• Feature, short and episodic screenwriting.
• Foundational production skills.
• History and practices of the film and media industry.
• Producing practices, including on-set production and production management.
• Production for feature films, television and internet content.
• Screenwriting for feature films, television and new media.

Who’s a good fit for this program?

This degree is a good fit for those seeking careers in the film, media and entertainment industries. As an ideal candidate, you’ll be a creative who’s interested in the interdisciplinary nature of filmmaking and the journey of a story from idea to intended audience. While there are film production courses that include hands-on learning with equipment, this is a generalist degree that will give you a broad understanding of the art form and industry.

Whether you have experience working in the entertainment industry or are making a career shift to pursue your passion, this program will provide you with the industry insight and educational credentials to build a lasting career.

What jobs can you get with a filmmaking practices degree?

With a filmmaking practices degree concentration, you’ll be prepared for a variety of careers in Hollywood and beyond, including media and entertainment production, producing, marketing, management and public relations.

This program will provide you with an understanding of what it takes to build a lasting career in the media industry, equipping you with knowledge of ethical practices and an appreciation for innovative storytelling on screens big and small.

As a digital society, there’s a growing need for professionals who understand the importance of art, media and technology in learning. In this concentration, you’ll explore how humans learn and the role arts technology plays in shaping the future of education. You’ll also learn how to drive innovation in settings ranging from libraries and science museums to after-school programs and adult education settings.

Additionally, you’ll gain insight into different types of media technologies and ways they can enhance education. Your courses will demonstrate how to use artificial intelligence, virtual reality and creative tools to facilitate learning. You’ll also develop cultural literacy, which involves understanding the sociocultural and environmental impacts of implementing technology in education.

The skills you’ll develop in this program

In this interdisciplinary program, you’ll expand your media arts and technical skills in the context of education. You’ll build competencies in programming for media creation, digital design, research, communication and collaboration. Additional skills you’ll add to your toolkit include:

• Aesthetic literacy, including form and composition.
• Computational tools and methodologies.
• Improvisation and rapid prototyping.
• Media processing and editing for video, audio and graphics.
• Modeling and inference.
• Physical computing.
• Visualization and sonification.
• User experience.

Who’s a good fit for this media arts and sciences degree?

This concentration can complement your skills whether you have a creative or technical background. For artists and creatives, this degree offers opportunities to increase your fluency with technological tools. If you’re technical-oriented, you’ll gain a foundation in the cultural and creative use of technology. Regardless of where you start, you’ll graduate prepared to reimagine learning experiences within communities, organizations and more.

If you’re interested in exploring media technologies outside of the context of education, ASU’s general Bachelor of Arts in media arts and sciences online is an option to consider. However, both the general program and the education concentration focus on cultivating your creative and technical skills, equipping you to make an impact in today’s digital world.

Architects combine artistic vision with technical expertise to plan, design and oversee the construction of diverse structures. In designing spaces, architects must balance aesthetics with social, cultural and sustainability impacts. This bachelor’s in architecture is developed with a curriculum rooted in inclusive design principles. You’ll gain the skills needed to tackle complex architectural challenges while remaining mindful of societal implications.

As an ideal candidate, you’ll have creative and technical skills, as well as a positive mindset, collaborative spirit and holistic approach to problem solving. You should also be interested in self-directed learning and understand the time-intensive nature of architectural studies. You’ll graduate prepared for a career that involves designing buildings while understanding how this work shapes and honors culture.

The skills you’ll develop in this program

This bachelor’s in architecture empowers you to solve multifaceted challenges in the built environment. You’ll gain architectural knowledge, including representation, history, theory and contemporary practices. You’ll also build technical abilities and explore the social, cultural and environmental impacts of design decisions. Transferable skills you’ll develop include:

• Advanced design proficiency.
• Community engagement.
• Cultural and contextual sensitivity.
• Graphic and multidimensional communication.
• Research and inquiry.

Additionally, you’ll expand your technical skills using software such as AutoCAD, Revit, SketchUp, Rhino, Adobe Creative Suite, Grasshopper and more. Note: To effectively run the software needed to complete your courses, you must have access to a high-performance PC with gaming specifications or a Mac from the Pro series.

What can you do with a bachelor’s in architecture?

This program will prepare you for career paths that involve turning ideas into tangible spaces and structures. The curriculum demonstrates how architecture integrates with disciplines such as construction management, urban design and interior architecture. You can pursue positions as an architectural or interior design intern, CAD technician, building information modeling (BIM) specialist, design professional and more.

Note: This preprofessional program provides you with foundational knowledge, but doesn’t meet educational requirements for licensure. To become a licensed architect, you must complete a two-year graduate program in architecture, such as ASU’s Master of Architecture (MArch) degree online.