undergradly.
Major · Visual & Performing Arts

The catchall corner of design education and applied arts

Design and Applied Arts, Other is an administrative bucket for design programs that don’t fit a named CIP — interdisciplinary studios, hybrid digital-craft tracks, or specialized concentrations a department codes outside graphic, industrial, fashion, or interior design. About 1,229 degrees are awarded annually across 67 colleges, with both associate’s and bachelor’s pathways available.

Schools offering
67
Annual completions
1,229
Typical degree level
Associate's + Bachelor's
Median earnings (5yr)
$49k

About this major

Design and Applied Arts, Other is exactly what its CIP definition says: “any instructional program in design and applied arts not listed above.” It is the administrative catchall for design programs that don’t fit the named four-digit siblings — Graphic Design, Commercial and Advertising Art, Industrial and Product Design, Fashion/Apparel Design, Interior Design, Illustration, or Game and Interactive Media Design. What that means in practice: program content varies considerably by institution. One school’s offering under this code might be an interdisciplinary studio combining design with another field; another might use it for a hybrid digital media or applied-arts concentration that crosses traditional boundaries.

The shared substance across these programs is the design foundation: visual problem-solving, studio practice, software fluency, portfolio development, and the iterative habit of moving from brief to concept to refined output. Beyond that foundation, the curriculum bends toward whatever specialty the department has defined. Students who do well here tend to be comfortable with ambiguity, willing to evaluate program substance over program label, and able to articulate what they want to make in a way the school’s specific track supports.

Nationally, about 1,229 degrees are awarded each year across 67 colleges, ranging from large public universities like San Jose State, CUNY Queens College, UCLA, and Virginia Commonwealth University to specialized institutions like The New School and Full Sail University — which alone accounts for 334 annual completions. The relatively thin national total reflects administrative grouping rather than scarcity: most design students are coded into the named CIPs, and this bucket captures the programs that fall outside them. Five-year median earnings of about $49,297 — with bachelor’s completers at $53,189 and associate’s completers at $37,186 — track the broader design family, signaling that outcomes follow the same labor-market logic as Graphic Design, Illustration, or Industrial Design.

Section 3 · Careers

Where this major leads

Occupations most often associated with this major, from the federal BLS+O*NET crosswalk. Job-growth projections and median wages are national.

No federal crosswalk data available for this major yet.

Section 4 · Earnings

Earnings at a glance

Median graduate earnings from the federal College Scorecard, 5 and 10 years out.

Median 5-year earnings

$49k

Associate's vs Bachelor's — early-career earnings

Associate's

$37k

Bachelor's

$53k

Who this major is for

You may thrive here if a specific program has caught your attention because of a concentration or interdisciplinary structure that the named CIPs don’t capture, if you can read a curriculum carefully and judge whether its substance fits your goals, if you have a defined creative direction that doesn’t map cleanly onto graphic, industrial, fashion, or interior design, if you’re drawn to design schools like The New School or hybrid programs at large universities like UCLA or VCU where this code often signals a deliberate concentration, and if you’re comfortable explaining what you study to employers who may not recognize the major label on its own.

Think twice if you want a clearly recognized industry credential — Graphic Design (7,841 annual completions), Interior Design (4,272), or Industrial and Product Design (1,222) carry more legibility in hiring conversations. Reconsider if you can’t articulate why a specific program’s “Other” coding represents a real concentration rather than an administrative artifact, since the catchall label only helps when the program behind it is genuinely distinctive. The earnings picture also matters: with bachelor’s completers landing at about $53,189 at five years and the broader design labor market under pressure from generative-design tools, the major name will not carry the credential — the portfolio, specialization, and specific program reputation will.

Section 6 · Where to study

Top colleges for Design and Applied Arts, Other

Ranked by annual completions at the associate's or bachelor's level — a proxy for program scale.

College Location Assoc. Bach. Total
Full Sail University Winter Park, FL 37 297 334
San Jose State University San Jose, CA 0 161 161
CUNY Queens College Queens, NY 0 115 115
California State University-San Bernardino San Bernardino, CA 0 51 51
The New School New York, NY 0 50 50
University of California-Los Angeles Los Angeles, CA 0 49 49
Virginia Commonwealth University Richmond, VA 0 43 43
California State University-Sacramento Sacramento, CA 0 42 42
California State University-Long Beach Long Beach, CA 0 39 39
University of Oregon Eugene, OR 0 32 32
Section 7 · Explore sideways

Related majors to explore

Graphic Design

7,841 completions/yr

Interior Design

4,272 completions/yr

Design and Visual Communications, General

4,248 completions/yr

Illustration

2,816 completions/yr

Fashion/Apparel Design

2,778 completions/yr

Commercial and Advertising Art

1,775 completions/yr

Game and Interactive Media Design

1,685 completions/yr

Industrial and Product Design

1,222 completions/yr

Considering this direction?

We've taken a hard look at the debt, earnings trajectory, and degree-level tradeoffs for the Design and Applied Arts, Other field. Read our verdict before you commit.

Is Design and Applied Arts, Other worth it? Read verdict
Section 9 · Frequently asked

Common questions

What do Design and Applied Arts, Other majors actually study?
There is no single answer — the CIP definition is literally “any instructional program in design and applied arts not listed above,” which means program content varies considerably by institution. At one school it might be a hybrid digital media studio; at another, a custom interdisciplinary track combining design with another discipline; at a third, a specialty concentration the department codes outside named CIPs. The shared core is foundational design thinking: visual problem-solving, studio practice, portfolio development, and software fluency. The specifics — print versus motion, fashion versus product, traditional craft versus generative tools — depend on which school you attend.
How does this compare to Graphic Design or Industrial and Product Design?
Named CIPs signal a defined curriculum and a recognizable industry pathway. Graphic Design (about 7,841 completions annually) covers commercial visual communication; Interior Design (4,272) and Design and Visual Communications, General (4,248) are the next-largest siblings; Industrial and Product Design (1,222) targets physical-object design; Game and Interactive Media Design (1,685) and Illustration (2,816) focus on their respective niches. This “Other” bucket holds the 1,229 degrees that don’t fit any of those — programs the department defines on its own terms. If your goal is to enter a clearly recognized field, a named sibling CIP is the more legible credential. The “Other” path is for students whose specific program offers a coherent, intentional concentration that the named CIPs don’t cover.
Why are completions so low — is this a niche or boutique major?
The 1,229 annual completions across 67 colleges is not a signal of exclusivity. It is an artifact of administrative grouping: most design students get coded into the named CIPs (Graphic Design, Interior Design, etc.), and only programs with deliberately non-standard structures land in the “Other” bucket. Some sit at large public universities — San Jose State, CUNY Queens College, UCLA, Virginia Commonwealth University — where this CIP captures specialty concentrations within broader design departments. Full Sail University alone accounts for 334 of the 1,229 completions, suggesting a single program’s coding choice can shift the national picture meaningfully.
Do I need a bachelor’s, or is an associate’s enough?
The earnings data shows a meaningful gap. Bachelor’s completers report median five-year earnings of about $53,189, while associate’s completers report roughly $37,186 — a difference of about $16,000. Most of the top-completing institutions in this CIP — San Jose State, CUNY Queens College, UCLA, The New School, Virginia Commonwealth — are bachelor’s-granting four-year schools. The bachelor’s is the more common credential and the one that opens broader hiring pipelines in design. An associate’s makes sense if the specific community college program targets a defined production or technical role, but the labor market in design generally treats four-year credentials as the baseline.
What jobs do graduates actually end up in?
Because this is a catchall CIP, there’s no single occupation list — destinations track the named sibling CIPs. Graduates typically move into the same roles that Graphic Design, Industrial Design, Illustration, or Interior Design feed: graphic designer, web and digital interface designer, art director, industrial designer, illustrator, fashion designer, or animation/special effects roles, depending on the program’s emphasis. Five-year median earnings of about $49,297 sit in the same range as the named design CIPs, which is the practical signal — outcomes mirror the design family overall, not a separate niche. The specific destination depends almost entirely on what the school actually taught and what the portfolio shows.
How much should generative AI tools shape my decision here?
Generative-design tools — Figma AI, Adobe Firefly, Midjourney, Krea — are reshaping junior design work in real time. Routine production tasks (layout iteration, image generation, basic asset variation) are increasingly automated, which compresses the entry-level rung. The practical implication for any design major, including this catchall, is that portfolio depth and clear specialization matter more than ever: graduates who pair design fluency with a defined concentration (motion, brand systems, product UX, illustration craft, design research) compete better than generalist graphic-production graduates. When evaluating a specific program under this CIP, look at how it engages — or ignores — these tools, and whether the curriculum builds the kind of judgment that AI tools don’t replace.