What Are the Math Requirements for Graphic Design?

Graphic design is often a desired career for people who are looking to be paid for their creativity. Day-to-day work for graphic designers can range from logo and website layout design to packaging and even character design in animation.

Although modern graphic design is computer-based, using specialty software and tools, the actual work rarely requires math to be calculated solely by the designer.

As a result, many schools don't include math requirements for graphic design.

Graphic Design Math Requirements

Most colleges and universities have no math requirements for graphic design majors. If your school does have a math requirement, it will probably be a related math course like geometry.

Because geometry is the mathematics of shapes, spatial relations, dimensions, and proportions, some schools might include it in their graphic design program.

The main calculations and primary theories of geometry make it applicable to graphic design, but it isn't mandatory in most curriculums.

When colleges are selecting courses for a curriculum, the main criteria used to decide if a class will be included are relevancy to daily work as well as being a part of a well-rounded education.

Even though math courses teach valuable skills that can be applied to a wide variety of situations, these skills aren't required to do the work of a graphic designer.

Why Don't Colleges Require Math for Graphic Design?

Design work does involve a fair number of math formulas. Proportion, scaling ratios, and other equations all factor into a professional design.

These skills are inherently math-based, as calculations will be needed to make sure that the final design product can be scaled properly while keeping proper aspect ratios.

Even with these skills being so valuable to a designer, colleges often don't include any math requirements for a few main reasons.

Programs used by professional graphic designers (like Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, and InDesign) all include tools that help perform these calculations automatically, limiting the need for designers to have these math skills.

There are also only so many credit hours that a degree path can have. A bachelor's degree in graphic design will have an average of 120 credit hours needed for completion.

To properly prepare students for their future careers, an emphasis is put on learning and developing the skills required to do design work.

Do Graphic Designers Use Math?

Math is a large part of design, but most of it isn't done by the designer.

To enable scalability with their finalized work, designers use tools like Illustrator to make vector images. Unlike pixels, a vector image uses highly advanced formulas to keep the edges of design elements smooth, regardless of how large or small the image is.

However, even though this process relies on highly advanced formulas, the designer doesn't need to calculate any of them. Vector-based design programs automatically calculate these formulas.

Taking geometry can provide benefits for graphic design majors because they can develop a better understanding of the formulas that the programs are using.

Math Use for Web Designers

Graphic design is a broad field that can include professionals ranging from more creative-focused designers such as animators, logo designers, and art directors to more technically based roles like website designers.

Although most graphic designers don't use math daily, and their degrees won't have any math-focused courses, there are some concentrations that might have math required. One of the concentrations that is more math-focused is website design.

For graphic designers who work in website design, there might be some math requirements as their design work is more technical than a designer who works in packaging or logo design.

Web designers aren't web developers, though, and they won't take nearly as many technical and math-related classes as a developer would.

Even for a more technical designer, the math requirements will be more specialized math classes around web design and development and less traditional courses like Calculus.

Finding A Graphic Design Degree Program That's Right for You

Even though graphic design is a vast industry, there are very few graphic design degree paths that have math requirements.

To discover the best graphic design program for your needs, start with Learn.org database of online education options. Our resources can help you learn more about graphic design math requirements so that you can earn the degree of your dreams.